Big Day For HANA Tomorrow and a Terry Jordan Interview

We at HANA could have taken a more secretive approach at the risk to not even come close to humiliating ourselves. But we opted out of doing it that way. Instead, we decided to publicize our POOL ATTACK BUYCOTT which begins tomorrow and hopefully lasts and grows for many weeks to come.

The plan is to pick one race a week and show the powers that be that we have unity and strength in numbers.

So tomorrow, March 31st, 2009, HANA has advised its close to 700 members that we hope they join in and bet on the 6th race at Will Rogers Downs.

Personally, not only have I not made a bet at Will Rogers, but I've never seen a race from there in my life. I had to check out where the track is located. I found out it is in Oklahoma (coincidentally that is where American humorist Will Rogers was born as well). I then had to look to find out where Oklahoma is on a map.

I did my research, and being a team player, I'm in.

Unfortunately, HPI doesn't take bets for Will Rogers, so many Canadian HANA members will not be able to participate in this one. I do know many big bettors in Canada though that have accounts through friends and family in the US, plus there are a handful of ADWs which take Canadian customers as well (Sorry WEG, you are not the monopoly you think you are).

I wouldn't be going through HPI regardless, because their rebates are very small, and since I live in the Fort Erie home market, I don't even qualify for their piddly rebates anyway.

HANA has negotiated for lots of free handicapping help for the 6th race tomorrow at WRD, including Platinum Plus Past Performances (thank you Craig at Trackmaster).


A message from HANA President Jeff Platt:

I'd like to clear up some misconceptions about what we are doing and why.

This (hopefully) will be horseplayers showing the ability to act cohesively as one.

This is NOT a donation.

We ask that Each player handicap and bet the race just as you normally would in your routine betting.

Initially wagering amounts were talked about and it was suggested that a range of somewhere between $25-$75 would be optimal. However no one should feel obligated to bet outside of their comfort zone. Handicap and bet the race as you normally would.

A wager of any type and amount on this race will be appreciated.

Last Tuesday race 6 here is the pool data:

Mutuel Pool 10,174
P3 Pool 622
EX Pool 6186
QU Pool 390
TRI Pool 7181
SUP Pool 4,099

It is hard to say what a success for HANA would be, but I'm pretty confident that the Will Rogers racing execs will be saying "what the heck just happened" after the race, and "I wonder what it would take for this can be an every race occurrence."

Doing quick handicapping so far, I've come up with the 10 and 3, but there is still plenty of time to look at the race more closely (it goes off at approximately 5:30 tomorrow).

Bill Finley has just given the Will Rogers BUYcott idea some excellent publicity.

Hey, he could have mentioned HANA (Horseplayers Association of North America) in the article. I'll forgive him this time.

"If track managements watch this grow and every week the amount we bet grows, they're going to have to say, 'Hey, we better pay attention to these people,'" said (Mike) Mayo, a horseplayer residing in the Dallas area. "All we want is to have people sit down and listen to us."

He says that if horseplayers don't flex their economic muscles tracks will never take their problems seriously.

"The problem is track managements think we're all a bunch of degenerates who are hooked like druggies and alcoholics," Mayo said. "They think we can't give it up and are just going to keep coming back. Well, there are a lot of people who are giving it up or betting a lot less than they used to."

Terry Jordan Interview

I found this really interesting interview of Terry Jordan on Youtube. With Woodbine set to open soon, I figure this a good timely material:


Terry Jordan only had 30 wins at Woodbine in 80 starts last year, and only another 35 wins from 115 starts at Hastings. Regular readers know how I feel about any trainer hitting at over 18%, let alone 33%. But I don't think Jordan uses anything that has tested positive, since to my knowledge, he hasn't had a positive I can remember (though it is hard to get that kind of information since it isn't available on the internet no matter how much one searches).

Lets just say Terry Jordan is a Super Trainer, able to train much of the time from long distances, almost telepathically. His program is superior to the training program of almost every other trainer in Ontario by a country mile. And his British Columbia bred horses are also superior to the Ontario, Kentucky, and Florida breds that are all over Woodbine's backstretch.

He might just be real lucky in that he found the only owners in horse racing who only care about winning races.

Or maybe he has found the secret to training horses, a secret that no other trainer knows about.

Is it April Fool's Day yet? Almost.


Simon Husbands Trial Update

Perry Lefko is covering the Simon Husbands trial. Simon Husbands faces a year suspension for a questionable ride on November 30th of last year. Check out the coverage here.

I rechecked the times for the day and that race was very very slow, not only for the class, but also based on the past performances of the horses in that race.
It was the third race and it went in 1:27 (the class was maiden 3 up 25,000 claiming). Two races later, 2 year old maiden 25,000 fillies went the same distance in 1:26. It should have been the other way around.

That is just one example for the day. There are others. 7 furlong races went pretty fast that day, except for that one race.

I also viewed Bug's Boys second last race, and I didn't see the horse flatten out because of the whip. He seemed to flatten out well after initially responding to the whip.

The ORC should be investigating the betting of the race. It has all the earmarks of a boat race, though it could all be coincidence.