Around The Horn

Luck

I was getting into it.  It looked like it was going somewhere.  Character development was occurring rapidly.  Then a horse flipped and died.  A fluke accident.  Show was canceled.  A fight to keep it going would have occurred if not for the below par ratings.

Breakdowns 

Breakdowns have always been an unfortunate part of the racing game.  Intrigued about them when I was a kid at the track, but I've learned to hate them, and I actually become very uncomfortable watching a horse breakdown now.  I hate watching steeplechase racing, I find it almost barbaric.

That being said.  The industry needs to shut up trying to defend itself from the Times article.  Move on, and reduce breakdowns as much as possible.  End of story.

Drugs

Written about drugs in horse racing many times.  The Times article is going to force federal regulation, and I think that is necessary as the industry is too dysfunctional to get together and say enough is enough and Horsemen who seem to constantly defend the use of drugs are hurting the game immensely.  Again, apologists for drugs, shut up.  Lets get this game to grow.

We need uniform drug testing in every racing jurisdiction.  Cheaters need to be treated as criminals.  There needs to be a major deterrence to use those who experiment with drugs not being tested for. The appeals process needs to take days, not years.   Woodbine seems to be on the right track.

Track Takeout

We've seen takeout start to edge down recently.  Some tracks need to be applauded (Hastings, Charles Town, Beulah to name a few).  Still a long way to go to compete with other forms of gambling and grow the game properly.  Check out HANA's 2012 Track Ratings for Takeout info.

New Carryover Blog

Just about every thoroughbred and harness racing carryover can be found here.  Lots of good links too can be found on the sidebar.

New Horse Racing News Aggregator

Check out Goatzapper  Links to what is currently happening in the horse racing world.  Updated usually at least a couple times a day.