When Racing was Racing

Beach Towel, the Remmen trained pacer from the early 1990's passed on this week. For those who weren't around the Toronto area back then, this was a great time for the sport. The North America Cup was in its 5th or 6th edition and because simulcasting was still in its infancy the on-track buzz was exciting for big races. In that edition, the US's best, Beach Towel, was against Canada's best, Apache's Fame.

Apache's Fame was trained by Bud Fritz. If Rick Zeron is married to a microphone Bud Fritz can be described as someone who was divorced from one. Bud was an old-time horseman. He wanted to show up, race, and then go home to bed. Ray Remmen was similar - a trainer driver - but he did a better interview.

Their horses were near co-chalk and the battle was sure to be good, but a funny thing happened. Beach Towel made a break just before the quarter. Apaches Fame set-sail and the rest was history. I remember the stunned crowd at Greenwood that night, me included.

Beach Towel would go on to post many top class victories from that point on, and he ended up with Horse of the Year honours. He was a good broodmare sire and sired the dam of Somebeachsomewhere. Here are his running lines and career stats (should be up for a day or two on Trackit).

Mythbusting Trends

When we chatted below about trends for big races like the Derby, we were noting that taking this backfitted stuff with a grain of salt should be the strategy. The Downey Profile looks at the phenomenon of breaking trends. H/t to Railbird.

Value

Nice pick 4 at the M last night - 55k. This is one of the only tracks that advertises their low rake for this bet right in their press releases. Nice work and people are noticing that Monmouth and the M are excellent value for players (the short fields on the runner side throws a wrench in that of course, but so it goes with Slotsville and Non-Slotsville tracks).