Tuesday is Here; And Quite a Bit is Happening

The No Mo disclosure arguments in interweb land have continued this morning, carrying over from Gary West's piece, and a knock down, drag out discussion on twitter.

Alan over at LATG writes:

"Whoa, touchy, touchy, Mike Repole. For one thing, with all his talk about not disclosing, that's exactly what he did when it was convenient for him! When he was trying to concoct an excuse for the colt's shockingly poor performance in the Wood. Now, with Uncle Mo seemingly on the road to recovery, Repole doesn't want to disclose any details about the horse's gastronomical condition that he brought up in the first place!"

The full transcript of Repole's thoughts are a decent read. He makes one solid point, I find. What if something does happen to Mo and it is released before the fact that he had a procedure or two done? The PETA types are all over it, when you and I know that getting a cryo or an injection has little to do with the mishap.

Having said that, I do agree with Paulick Report commenter "Tinky".

"…the media has to do a better job of [presenting] more positive stories," he said. "Why do we only get the negative stories?"

Absolutely idiotic. That's precisely the approach that the industry has emphasized during its deep decline over the past 30 years, and yet this billionaire entrepreneur suggests doubling down. "

Whatever happens this is a good discussion to have. Multi-milllions are bet on races like the Derby. If we respect that and respect the public who is betting that money, only good things come of it. Stock markets without full disclosure would have sorry volumes and be considered nothing more than a mugs game.


More Notes

Clocker Bruno was not thrilled with Mo's work yesterday.

Arlington Park is going to a lower rake on super high fives and pick 5's this meet, at 15%. They also have a new "last call" wager which is interesting. I have long been a proponent of using uncashed tickets as a rebate mechanism (e.g. allow them to be used for a rebate before the last race to juice last race handles), but free drinks are a good start. Interestingly enough, AP is a CDI track and this is the second CDI track to offer lower takeout this season.

Hec Clouthier, former head of a racing industry association is going back to politics, running in the Pembroke riding. I have met and chatted with him many times, and he is a good man with a lot of passion. I drove through the district a few weeks ago (if you ever get the chance to drive on 17 between Ottawa and North Bay, do. It is gorgeous) and saw sign after sign after sign with his name. He has done a good job getting noticed. With a lot of people in the district not wanting an NDP coalition I suspect he will be hard pressed to win this, but if anyone can he can. He wants to change the CPMA, which is great news for bettors, and he wants to double our loss claims as horse owners, which helps us as owners.

Comments are still firing away on the Betfair report at the PR. I think my favorite one is from Phil:

3 million customers in 227 countries, 6 million transactions a day. And the People’s Republic of America’s racing industry wants no part of it. No part. Instead they have lobbied for 10 years for slot machines. To grind grannies social security check into artificially inflated purses for the trust fund horsey set’s favorite hobby.

The Meadowlands tellers have finally embraced reality. They signed and the M might be back on track.

There is a super high five carryover today at Keeneland, for those inclined.