11 June 2008

Big Brown Log: The Blame Game

BIG BROWN LOG CONTINUED
Beyer blames the trainer. Hey, didn't I blame the Dutrow, before the race? Here is what I said: "I just don't like the foot problems Big Brown experienced after the Preakness. It had to take away from his training. Also, Richard Dutrow has been very cocky going into this race which could be a negative."

Meanwhile, Dutrow blames Desourmeaux. Dutrow isn't classy enough to blame himself or at least take part of the blame.

PETA may be happy with the pulling up of Big Brown, but if it became a common happening to pull up horses who the jockey "didn't think" would hit the board, how would that look to the public? There are some jockeys that already have the reputation of taking it easy on horses in the stretch somewhat if they don't think the horse will be first or second. Lots of leading jocks have a lot of wins but very few thirds.
It isn't good for triactor or superfecta players.

Bill Finley sarcastically slams Canadian and North American racing

'Not doping horses is Un-American.'

Live video outage at Mountaineer on Monday leads to a 67% drop in handle And there are still many tracks that don't give their video out for free? Again, racing execs are collectively STUPID. Fort Erie has a free video stream link for anyone to view. At least they do one thing right there.

Ginger Brew romps in Oaks, expected to miss the Queen's Plate Her number wasn't that good anyway. She beat up on a weak field. The Stronach boys are at least slightly better than her.

Pimlico Handle Drops 17%
17% seems to be the average these days. The business model is busted and the racing execs are still clueless. Nobody wants to take the lead to fix things.

New Leaf Coach Ron Wilson Grew Up In Fort Erie
. He jokingly blames his departure from Fort Erie on the Leafs 40 plus year Stanley Cup drought:
"I left Fort Erie in 1967 right after the Leafs won the Stanley Cup, so it might be my fault."
I was a big Ron Wilson fan when he played with the Leafs. He just seemed to make all the right moves from the point on the power play. Just a real smart player, now wonder he became a successful coach.

Baymount Announces Results Of Annual Meeting

Woodbine Pick 7 Still Up For Grabs (Carryover is now $145,000)
Could go tonight. It is really a Pick 6, if Drunken Love runs to form (first leg). He is at least 6 lengths superior to the field in the second race.

WOODBINE BIAS REPORT
The inside has been pretty good of late, especially in sprints. Horses just stalking the leaders had the advantage last week.
Trainer Norman McKnight is on fire. Meanwhile his former boss Colebrook Farms continues to struggle badly at Woodbine as Ashlee Brnjas is 2 for 53 (though Brnjas is 5 for 10 at Fort Erie).
Jerry Baird is the hot jock right now. That won't last.
Owner Bruno Schickedanz, who in the last few years has been use to winning at above average percentages, must be feeling a lot of pain this year, as both his Fort Erie and Woodbine operations have yielded sub par results to date.
Is Josie Carroll really 2 for 60? She finally got half a million dollar purchase Sarcasm to break her maiden. Had to take her to Fort Erie to do it in a fake maiden allowance race. But Sarcasm's time was very impressive. Another 50 wins like that and the owners will be close to even on her.

Baffert, Lucas, and Zito to train for Legend Fund What? No Dutrow?

Don't forget about checking out the online version of Down The Stretch. Lots of stories related to horse racing in Canada, of course the bulk of the stories have to do with Woodbine.

Pretty funny. BetUSA is giving odds on the next NFL Arrest. You can bet the team that the arrested player is on (no surprise, you only get 5-1 if you bet on the Bengals), or the type of offense the player will be arrested for (only 2-1 for a drug arrest versus 25-1 for tax evasion).

Crime Stoppers Gives Award To ORC
Not sure how the relationship which began last fall is working. There was a recent big bust of a steroid dealer (Harnick) but no follow up I'm aware of. Who did Harnick sell to, and where are the subsequent punishments?
In fact, is there any link to ORC fines and suspensions when it comes to thoroughbreds?
I can't find them on the ORC site.

Part Three Of The Behind The Scenes Dealings To "Save Fort Erie Race Track"
Fort Erie has only one chance: the government has to force Nordic to sell the track to someone who gives a rat's ass about racing.
Personally, I can't wait until the Sadinsky Report becomes public. If Sadinsky doesn't come out and say that the number one reason the game isn't growing, is due to pricing (ridiculously high takeouts), it means the report is pretty useless.

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