What just happened? Musings on ‘08
Posted Under: New Year, Observations, That's Amore horses
In which we ramble disjointedly from topic to topic…
The top local racing story — by a landslide — was Maryland voters’ approval of a constitutional amendment to allow slot machines in the Free State. Maryland racing will now, at long last, have the tools to compete on equal footing with slots-enriched tracks in Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New Jersey. Whether we’ll take full advantage of this opportunity or not, however, is a different question…
Yet another year with no Triple Crown winner, reinforcing a) just how hard it is to win all three, at three different distances, in three different states, in a span of just five weeks and b) just how special the 1970s were, with a trifecta of champions, often racing against extremely talented competition. That makes five two-of-three winners in this decade, with two of them — Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex, that rare bird who won two but not the Kentucky Derby — coming within a whisker of nailing down all three…
While there are certainly worse things in the world, the moment when a horse you own, sent off as a heavy favorite and deservingly so, runs badly and straggles home up the track is a pretty dismal feeling. You feel a little bit like you’ve been hit in the stomach, but with the added confusion of not knowing why. “What just happened?” you wonder…
Of course, that feeling is just a prelude to the joy of winning a race. That’s why you need to hoot and holler when you win: it’s so hard to do, and even the best lose way more often than they win. You’d better enjoy it when you can…
Owning horses makes you a better handicapper. It gives you useful insights into the minds of trainers, helps you analyze races more accurately, and provides a much greater understanding of class and the relationships of horses at one level to horses at a different level; the notion of a horse’s value — what you’d pay to own him — can be a helpful handicapping tool. Of course, when all of your money is tied up in horseflesh, your improved handicapping skills are more theoretical in nature than of actual use…
The terrible story of Eight Belles’ demise was one of the key subplots to the racing season, and it caused even the normally somnolent cardinals of Capitol Hill to wave a shaking, mottled fist in racing’s general direction. While some good — in the form of improved drug rules — seems to have come out of her death, it’s hard not to wonder if this is the way the racing world ends: when a society, increasingly distant from its rural and agrarian heritage and increasingly inclined to romanticize animals, finds itself repulsed by another high-profile breakdown and demands an end to the “cruelty.” Fair? No. Out of the realm of possibility? Hmm…
European horses loved the fake dirt at Santa Anita this Breeders’ Cup, and it’s a good bet that — economy permitting — we’ll see even more of them next year. The more interesting question is how many confirmed dirt horses we’re likely to see…
One of racing’s big, though often unremarked, problems is that there are no true jackpot bets. The casual gambler — say, the person who plays the slots or the lottery — is looking to make a minimal investment with the possibility of a gargantuan payoff. He’ll accept the near-certainty of loss if you dangle a big enough prize in front of him. Tracks ought to partner with state lotteries to make bets more accessible — say, at the convenience store — and to provide jackpot bets. Wouldn’t the Pick-4 or Pick-6 seem more attractive if one lucky person not only won the bet but also got a couple hundred grand on top of that?
My Iphone tells me that it’s 70 and sunny in Hallandale, FL, today, which is where our about-to-be four year-old colt, Kim’s Dixie Tune, is spending his winter. I’m staring out a window in Connecticut at falling snow and a four-inch blanket on the ground. Seems like Kim’s got the better end of this deal…
I like holiday racing; the track seems more festive somehow. We’ve had winners, in past years, on Thanksgiving Day and on New Year’s Day. We’ll try it again tomorrow as Kim races at Calder…
Some folks are up in arms over the Eclipse in photography, awarded to a picture of Frankie Dettorri flyingly dismounting following his victory in a race that the Breeders’ Cup folks apparently believe is called the “Junenile” (at least, that’s what the signs behind Dettorri said). I’m having a hard time getting excited about that, but then again, I have a hard time getting excited about who wins Horse of the Year or any of the other myriad “Of the Year” awards. Except for the time that Ken Ramsey won the Owner title the same year that he was fined and suspended for trying to pay another owner-trainer (a former nun, no less!) to scratch out of a race so that his horse could get in; that year, I had at least a root-against interest…
As ’08’s juveniles are poised to become sophomores, a lot of racing fans are beginning to think Triple Crown thoughts. It’s a little too early for me — but I am excited about our turning-three filly Homefire and our turning-two filly, by Peace Rules. They’re still pure potential, so you can’t blame me if my imagination gets a little ahead of me…
Finally, Happy New Year, one and all. May your 2009 be filled with health, happiness, win tickets, and win photos!
Reader Comments
Never knew that about Ramsey. Class.
Safe journeys for all.
Happy new year.
It is not in the state’s interest to allow racing to partner with Lottery so tickets can be sold at convenience stores. That would be canibalizing its favored product. If the state had such a true interest in racing, it would never have allowed Lottery to start the RaceTrax game, which mimics the horse racing experience. Even when racing, in dire straits prior to the slots passage, asked the state for a supplement using the RaceTrax revenue, it was rebuffed. I accept slots, but I don’t like slots. What would have been wise — and this is pie in the sky, because what is done is done — is the state should never have grown Lottery into a giant. Instead, it, as you suggest, should have grown its horse racing business using the Lottery format. It should have made race playing ubiquitous — thereby getting the gambling tax base it clearly wants while creating a robust racing and breeding industry. Gee, why didn’t I think of that?
The idea that racing my be outlawed because of yet another calamitous, high-profile breakdown strikes me as very real. What will the outcry from no-nothings be if we have the front-runner break down in the stretch of a Triple Crown race this year? The spotlight, currently, is too harsh. But what is it reflective of? A sport that is too weakened to defend itself. Then again, racing could go so far down that its athletes could die, like boxers do, and no one will be barely paying attention. I hope to God to never see it, but what would the reaction be if a player died from a lethal hit in the NFL? Yes, there would be tremendous media coverage, and likely some phony baloney self-examination, but the sport is too big and too popular to be moved. Racing, however, has actually begun, very slowly, to make real changes to address some of its worst issues. The drugs are that first step. Now, however, who can fund the lab work in this economy?
Happy New Year! — John
p.s. — Off topic, but I want to write it somewhere at the moment: The Fountain of Youth has been scaled back to a mile. Sounds good on paper until you remember it’s a one-turn mile, the kind of brutal race that can knock out a young horse. That’s not the kind of prep a Derby prospect needs. It is, though, another example of wrongheaded approach to building racetracks that Magna has employed. Maryland is running “about 1 1/16-mile races right now, but they are bastards, to be sure. Routes are becoming obsolete at Gulfstream and Laurel. Talk to the trainers and they tell you they ship to Charles Town just for the two-turn races! And we’re talking seven furlongs! It’s waaaaaay too late to bring it up (again) but maybe Magna should have built the turf course OUTSIDE the dirt course instead of the other way around. Sweet dreams.
Winston (NR) - yup… a pretty bad scene, but I guess that’s how far out of touch the poobahs can be.
John - your point on the lottery is well taken. That’s why I’d suggest that racing work with the lottery — maybe if racing and the lottery jointly create a new product, the state can allow racing to profit without feeling as if they’re cannibalizing their favored product, and it would help racing. And probably it would be better for the lottery than, say, sponsoring various races, as it currently does…