In the 2004 election, President George Bush successfully tagged Senator John Kerry a flip-flopper, comically supported by Kerry’s own recollection of having been for a bill before he was against it.
Good thing Bush isn’t running for office in Maryland, because, on the slots issue at least, there’s so much flip-flopping that it looks like a [...]
With six or so weeks until election day, the campaign to allow slot machines in Maryland is heating up. Sorta.
Actually, compared to the vitriol so prevalent in past years around this issue, things are surprisingly quiet here in the Free State.
Nonetheless, there’s plenty of news, which leads to a new feature on this website: Maryland [...]
Occasionally — as in, very rarely — someone will ask me how we go about identifying the horses we claim. Usually, this question is asked in a semi-breathless manner, as if I just might be about to give them the key to life, the universe, and everything.
As it happens, that’s about right. In fact, being [...]
Toiling, as we mostly do, among the claiming horses of the world, turnover is an integral part of the equation. In other words, horse today, gone tomorrow.
That’s not because we don’t want to keep the horses we buy. Very often, we watch them depart with more than a little regret.
It’s because surviving in this game [...]
Racing’s a sport where thought is rarely considered to be superior to knee-jerk reaction and where “cuz this is the way it’s always been done” is often considered a sophisticated rationale for continued futility.
So I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that, in the ongoing debate about how best to promote the safety and well-being of [...]
Horse racing has a problem — well, many problems actually, but just one that’s bugging me today.
The problem is this: Many people simply don’t believe that the game is on the level.
Racing has a long and inglorious history of crooked characters and their nefarious deeds. Doping horses, shoving sponges up their noses, and buzzing them [...]
Word came back yesterday.
Homefire is entered and will make her first start on Friday at Laurel (check here for details).
It’s an exciting moment in the life of a horse owner, the debut of a promising two year-old. At the same time, though, it’s a moment that requires feats of Orwellian double-think. Excited, but not too [...]
