Heaven picked up another horseplayer. My Dad passed away last night after a gallant fight with cancer. Little did he realize what he was doing when he took a 6 year old to the Fair Grounds 31 years ago but oh the places it has taken us! May he Rest In Peace
The Kentucky stewards are very consistent. That type of infraction would have warranted a DQ in any race, including the Derby. The people that are seemingly stunned by a horse coming out 4 paths and causing two horses to steady sort of blow my mind. The right call was made.
He may not win and I may not bet him but Mendelssohn running in the Cigar Mile is awesome. He runs in America more than our domestic horses and he’s stabled thousands of miles away.
Anyone who thinks every Breeders' Cup should be in California should go outside at Churchill and watch a race today. It's a perfect fall day in Kentucky.
I’m all about “innocent until proven guilty” but if you read even a fraction of those indictments it’s hard to imagine Servis, Navarro and the rest of those bastards will ever get to defraud us again. And I hope everyone left that hasn’t been caught is next.
My Dad passed away a year ago today, and I’ll admit I wrestled with whether to put anything about it on this platform. The overwhelming outpouring of support to this tweet and the well wishes spread to me and the donations made to TRF were nothing short of amazing. RIP Dad.
Heaven picked up another horseplayer. My Dad passed away last night after a gallant fight with cancer. Little did he realize what he was doing when he took a 6 year old to the Fair Grounds 31 years ago but oh the places it has taken us! May he Rest In Peace
Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this platform, but John Imbriale deserves better. The guy has dedicated his whole career to the game, is fiercely devoted to NY racing and has done a perfectly fine job on a big stage. NYRA is lucky to have him.
It eluded me until just now watching replays that Flavien Prat had 5 stakes mounts Saturday and went 3-1-1 with the two losses being Dream Shake and Hot Rod Charlie. This just in...he’s really good.
I just read the entire story about the whip rule in NJ in today's
@BloodHorse
and couldn't help but laugh at the notion things are done for safety and/or public perception in a state where Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro made a mockery of things for nearly a decade.
I spend plenty of time complaining about people not running their horses and short field sizes, etc but hats off to
@BloomRacing
for running Midnight Bisou at Hou, OP, Bel, Mth, Sar, and SA in a campaign that's almost unheard of by modern standards.
$37 million in handle, even with 2.7m in the P6 is insane. The Saratoga brand is so strong. Up 5 million from the opening Saturday of 2021. The racing was also terrific. Hats off to everyone involved and to the horse playing community for supporting the Spa!
The most telling question was when Baffert was asked if he'd publicly release the vet records, which would clearly exonerate him and further enable him to publicly act a victim, and he stammered and said, "I'll release them to the KHRC."
The Belmont being run at Saratoga and at 10 furlongs is the only real option during the development of the new Belmont. This has happened before and everything will be fine. In a few years it’ll be back at Belmont at 12fs. Breathe.
You can take whips away and stop allowing lasix, but if “public perception” is a concern then clean up the trainers using banned substances. It’s just that simple. You’ll never get a modicum of positive pub for reform vs negative backlash from situations like Medina Spirit.
When I was falling in love with the game, handicapping races
@TheNYRA
always required consulting the analysis page of
@DaveLitfin
. May he rest in peace!
I find myself listening to a lot of races nowadays just to hear word groupings, style, vocal inflection and vocabulary. I always come to the same conclusion, which is that, as good as I ever thought he was, Tom Durkin was even better.
What do I know, I’m just a guy who bets on racing and is an opinionated jerk but if the most high profile trainer in the game can’t get his act cleaned up then he needs to step aside. These “dog ate my homework” excuses are pitiful. And Gamine should be sidelined for 90 days.
The safest bet in years was that we’d finally get architectural renderings of the new Belmont and everyone on this app would hate it. That building looks absolutely perfect to me. Modern, suited for year round-racing. You know what building didn’t work? The current one.
Many replays still to watch but at first blush the gate break killed Rock Your World and changed the complexion of the race. Where the hell was Midnight Bourbon early? Sainthood? I mean when is everyone going to learn with this stuff. STOP RATING EVERYTHING!
It’s Sunday and I don’t have as much work to do so I was just thinking about how lucky I am to be involved in horse racing. The people I’ve met, the places I’ve been and the work I get to do is beyond rewarding. I consider myself a very lucky man. Thanks to all of you!
Big thanks to everyone for supporting
@SHRP
on our big day. Big thanks to
@TVG
and
@TheNYRA
for their coverage and to you, the horseplayers. I couldn’t be prouder of how we represented ourselves as a racetrack. Much love!
I'm going to be very interested to see how well the Del Mar racing office can keep up the momentum because the first two cards are better than anything we've seen at Saratoga in years and it's not even remotely close.
The horse-racing industry is trying to use the start of the Triple Crown season to convince fans that the safety issues that have overshadowed the buildup to the Kentucky Derby are being addressed
There's a lot of Saratoga chatter today. You don't go to Saratoga simply to watch racing. You go for the entire experience. The racing, the dining, the nightlife. You don't go for good sightlines or luxurious on-track spots. If you do, you'll be disappointed (1/2)
Jose Ortiz changed agents despite having 6 Grade I wins in 2022 vs. 7 for all of 2021. He wound up 3rd in the Saratoga standings in '21 and won at a 17% clip. He is currently 4th and winning with 16% of his mounts. He has never been a first call rider for a "top" barn. Weird.
With Arrogate, Chrome and Songbird getting inducted to the HOF today it really makes you appreciate the 2016 BC. Those three competed, Tepin, two of the best juveniles we’ve seen in the last 10 years in Classic Empire and Not This Time, also Highland Reel, Flintshire, et al.
I cannot thank all of you enough for the outpouring of support about my Dad. Some had asked about donations and we are proud and happy to announce that you can make a donation
@trfinc
in his honor!
Some of the horses I hope we see in the Belmont…Two Phil’s, Hit Show, Tapit Trice, Angel of Empire, Kingsbarns, Arcangelo, National Treasure, Skinner, and that’s just a start.
This might be unpopular, but it’s my take - I hope Secret Oath runs in the Preakness. She’s not even remotely close to fast enough to win and will kill the takeout.
It takes some serious chutzpah to have a major PR crisis on your hands that keeps getting worse, not know why it’s happening, and ultimately send a letter that is nothing but grandstanding garbage about a change that likely will have no impact on the current issue. Good stuff!
I really, really, really hope Swiss Skydiver is run in the Oaks. There's no reason to run her in the Derby. You almost certainly win an Eclipse with an Oaks win and she is not beating colts at 10 furlongs.
I am going to keep harping on high percentage trainers whose numbers are suspiciously bad since March 9. Saffie Joseph has now lost 20 in a row overall (18 at GP, 2 at OP). Only 2 of those GP starters were over 10-1 while 11 of them were 3-1 or less.
Echo Zulu vs. Matareya in the Acorn, Malathaat vs. Letruska in the Phipps, Flightline vs Speaker’s Corner in the Met Mile. Oh my what a day it could be on June 11!
Based on the nominations and the indications so far the Met Mile looks like (at least) Charge It, Cody’s Wish, Doppelgänger, Repo Rocks, Slow Down Andy, Taiba, White Abarrio and Zandon. That’s a good race.
Why wouldn’t the stewards at least take a look at this? I’m not a fan of DQs in general but at some point this has to at least be acknowledged, and perhaps, punished. I guess the other riders stay quiet so they get their chance in the future.
Final margin of 19 1/4 in the Pacific Classic. This should be the highest BSF recorded since Ghostzapper's Iselin. What more can you say? He's beyond great.
#Flightline
When horses like Gamine and Midnight Bisou win the way they did in the last week, there's a clamoring on social media for them to face males. Why? Midnight Bisou is 0-2 in the BC. Why not give her a shot to win one against her own gender?
Many of you that have had to suffer through almost 4 years of worthless nonsense from me started following me for analysis. Well, I’m doing it again...
It’s May 19, there hasn’t been an NBA game in over 2 months, hasn’t been a MLB game at all, the Masters is delayed 7 months and the Derby 4 months but there’s outrage about a rescheduled Belmont at a new distance.
The BC morning lines are done, pending final adjustments. I can't wait for the draw and subsequent commentary about them (and me). Happy Halloween everyone!
I just watched the replay of the last at Kentucky Downs to see the DQ. We have to be out of our minds betting on this stuff. That decision was absolutely inexplicable. No contact, no one was cost a placing, betting public got completely screwed. Absolutely disgraceful.
Nice to hear Keeneland will stream races free on Facebook and YouTube. With the abundance of Smart TVs out there offering YouTube apps it’s a great way to offer racing. I watch America’s Day at the Races on there during the FS2 portions.
Big thanks to everyone for the overwhelming support during our thoroughbred meet
@SHRP
. As I say every night signing off we couldn’t do it without the support of the wagering public, the horsemen and the tireless work of our staff. Much love to all of you!
Great time to be a racing fan! Keeneland draws their first card tomorrow, there are turf races carded in NY, 3 major Derby preps remain and we don’t have to worry about Gulfstream for 8 months. 😉
Kenny McPeek has obviously done an incredible job with Mystik Dan. I do find it funny that everyone is wondering if he’ll run in the Preakness. McPeek ran Swiss Skydiver 10 times in 2020, 8 of which came after a global pandemic had begun. Mystik Dan will be in Baltimore.
There are MANY problems with that decision. The worst is that the stewards are clearly trying to teach guys lessons with DQs when fines and suspensions are supposed to do that. Sorry, if you bet Imprimis you got completely screwed.
That's HORRIFIC. The 6 was clearly best and the 5's rider's acting job made them make a change. Fine and suspend Rocco is you want for not maintaining a straight path, but don't punish the bettors.
When horses like Omaha Beach, who SHOULD have been able to increase his value at 4, are being whisked off to the breeding shed, it starts to feel like the bad old days of early retirements and even more limited top level racing.
I’m trending back towards printing my PPs again after being a faithful iPad handicapper for 5 years. The problem is I need 4 different color pens and a pencil. How do you handicap? iPad, printed, paper DRF?
The guy that just rode the Met Mile winner perfectly was on his back 24 hours ago after falling off a horse. These guys are pretty damn tough. Amazing work.
@RSantana_Jr