Tuesday Notes

Some items that caught my eye in racing this past couple of days.

Dust up! Have you ever seen two owners go back in forth on a chat board before? Well the owner of Western Silk (Tom Hill) spoke about his filly being the best around, which was taken in a poor sportsmanship way by owner of Put on a Show, Richard Young. The two of them went at it and the fingers were burning. It's entertaining reading. For the record, I think Young's filly is much better than Tom's. But since they are both coming back in 2011 as 4YO's perhaps we will see if that is right or wrong.

Equidaily seems to be linking. I have read several times from bloggers that he has been less than supportive of the blogosphere, however two items say otherwise to me. First, he linked to my piece on not being a sport, which was not a puff piece. In racing, as some of you noted in the comments section, if you write something in racing that does not fit the industry narrative on a blog (no matter how good), you won't see the light of day, sans you regular readers. Not with Seth on this piece.

I have never been one for pure link bait (and I know how to do it; I work on the internet), because my opinions are mine and if you don't like them, that's ok. It's what the comment section is for. One of the best conferences I have ever been to was the SC conference in 2009 in Windsor. Moira Fanning - someone who loves this sport and who's passion is beyond reproach - stood up in front of a pile of insiders and said (paraphrasing) - 'we are not a sport, we are a gambling game fueled by alternative wagering, so stop calling us that.' I think we need people like that in our business. And I think we need less groupthought and more independent thought.

Along those lines: An organized boycott of California racing has been called. For more info you can read about it at playersboycott.org. Seth at Equidaily strikes again; it appears he is the only thoroughbred industry website that has linked it. The other? Standardbred Canada. Kudos to SC for keeping up on the news from the people who pay everyone's salary - you the bettor.

Of note: Cal Expo (it is noted on the site) is excluded from this boycott. They have been horseplayer friendly, and have said "no" to any takeout increase. In fact, they have lowered their pick 4 take.

Arlene Siegal passes. The long time owner of some really nice horses was wonderful for this game. They do things right, and in its spirit.

Remington handle was through the roof. The press runs the release as is, so I do not really blame them, but a commenter at Paulick (frequent commenter here in fact) "ITP" has the story correct.

"A track that got out of the Tracknet/CDI/Magna monopoly....opened up their distribution to price sensitive players while also reducing host fees which means lower takeout for them and MIRACULOUSLY....UP 53.9% on their export signal."

Lower prices, more signals = higher handle. Why is this rocket science?

Speaking of Churchill, they are in a fight with Tampa Bay Downs over that signal. Tampa has been making noise lowering takeout since 2002.

Doug McNair is searching for some wins, so he can hit the mark for youngest driver to 1000 wins. How important is power? Much was made about his trip to the M this past weekend, but he could not muster much. Sans one 5-2 shot, he was on bombs. Drivers don't win races, horses do, although sometimes we need to be reminded of that.

$500 for a $11,000 yearling share? That is a good deal; with all included. Frank, from what I hear, is an honest horseman.