Flow

Woodbine takes it hard from players regarding movement in their races (as we discussed below). But there is a nasty thing happening virtually everywhere with drivers. There is a habit forming at most tracks where a horse is pulled and they don't move forward. The driver just sits on the outside waiting on cover. This completely clogs up the outside and makes watching paint dry seem palatable. How 'bout enforcing a rule - the rule already there - where if you pull you move forward or we fine you $500? I think it would be fixed in about 48 hours.

Anyone agree, or is it just me?

Gathering the Wind asks the question. But I don't think there is anyone to answer him. I have said this for years and I believe it to this day: Our sons and daughters and granddaughters and grandsons will be reading about the business of racing and the period of 1999-2010 in MBA textbooks. And the case studies will not be complementary.

Flat Fees For Drivers & Winner Take All

There is a new rule being bandied about that drivers must go a second quarter within three seconds of the first quarter. As most know, on 7/8's mile tracks (it does not only happen at Woodbine) there is a huge first sprint, sometimes resulting in a 25 and change quarter, then an immediate back down of the pace. Fans and racetracks have been complaining for some time about single file racing on 7/8's. So much so that Woodbine recently went to 7/8's mile racing to combat this. In addition, lack of movement has been a bone of contention with fans who think that many drivers are not giving 100% effort. In an interesting suggestion Scott, a horse owner and kind and gentle poster at Harnessdriver.com, came up with an interesting suggestion to shake up the driving colony.

"Pay each driver a flat fee, no percentage. The percentage (5% of the entire purse) goes to the winning driver. The rest get their appearance fee. The thought being: Drivers would try quite hard to win the race. Second is not good enough."

Workable? Doable? Worth testing for a few months? What do you folks think?

Note: Rick Dutrow responded to Andrew Beyer's column today. It is worth a read. Here are the horses running lines.

Betfair, TVG Notes

New article on Betfair and TVG here. Nicholson from Keeneland seems to tepidly see this as an opportunity. And as expected, he mentions the customer. It seems to be customary to mention the customer in every statement if you work for Keeneland.

Keeneland Race Course President Nick Nicholson, whose Lexington track had an exclusive contract with TVG, said he knows some Betfair officials in part through his previous job at The Jockey Club.

Since U.S. betting is based on the pari-mutuel system, he doesn't think Betfair will "have any choice but to do that" in this country.

Whatever happens, Nicholson said the industry needs to quit the feuding and frustrating its customers.

He believes, as Betfair does, that television is still an important medium for racing.

It will be interesting to watch this business plan develop as we have been chatting about below. I think racing will see some neat innovative change. Change that we need.