Friday, July 31, 2009

At the Spa!

I'm at the Spa for my 16th annual trip! And guess what it's doing outside - raining! Surprise, surprise. All but one turf race is off and the track is sloppy. Since four out of the first five races are maiden events, I'm taking a pass until the sixth race.

For the few accessing this site, I have a new handicapping website. It's www.coasttocoasthandicapping.com It offers insights, news and a handicapping product for Saratoga's entire meet. The site is not totally live today, but it does have an introduction posted and a free Play of the Day. (I will provide a free play every racing day). Like all analysis on the site, The Play of the Day is provided in video format. Take a look if you get a chance, provide feedback at info@coasttocoasthandicapping.com or come back on Tuesday to look at the fee-based video handicapping product.

Later today I will provide a link to Best Bets - the handicapping analysis you may purchase - so you can see what it looks like.

As always thanks for clicking through.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sorry

For those few following this blog, I've been away for few weeks. I've had good reason - a child added to our family and working on a handicapping website. Next week you may access the site at www.coasttocoasthandicapping.com. I'll be offering video race analysis for each and every race at Saratoga this summer...and at very reasonable rates.

I'll keep you updated and be adding onto this blog by this weekend.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Declaration of Interdependence

The wraps are on another 4th of July holiday - the day, the weekend filled with burgers, beers, baseball and horse racing only the most devoted fans and handicappers follow - in celebration of our independence from the Brits. A quick reread of mostly Jefferson's words to crazy King George reveals bitches, moans and mostly minor infractions in addition to the most famous paragraph, starting with, "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."

And while Jefferson and his mates broke the mold on monarchy rule, they were in a time and place that allowed them to get away with their strong words. They were separated by an ocean, had plentiful natural resources and were self-sufficient beyond indentured servitude. Of course they had the balls to follow through on their demands by laying waste to the most powerful army and navy on the planet through guerrilla warfare and help from the French. 

In the multi-tiered and fractured world of Thoroughbred horse racing in these United States, I argue there is the desperate need for just the opposite sort of declaration, if the Sport of Kings (pun intended) is to survive far into this next century - a Declaration of Interdependence is necessary. 

The nature of the Thoroughbred business has operated in stark independence. Jockeys ride at will, trainers gather many clients hoping to hold onto enough to earn their keep, horse owners hire and fire on whims, tracks with casino or slot support offer purses several times over the claiming tags of their horses, small venues without such support rely almost entirely on fans they never see and big tracks on each coast just seem to do as they please. States all have their own commissions, rules, take out percentages and sanctions for infractions. 

The only constant in this horse flesh mess is the bettor - someone who is not as well organized and probably not as well educated as our Founding Fathers to cast off the many-headed kings of the industry in order to start a more perfect race track. The bettor needs all the players of the Thoroughbred industry to provide the venue for his hobby or vocation, and as we have witnessed in many recent days, there is no body - governing or otherwise - to watch over the industry from bettor to back stretch employee

Instead of the vast array of rules and procedures for each state, Thoroughbred horse racing needs a more unified connected body of people, rules and sanctions, if it is to survive and thrive. As I have argued before, one of the few ways to get this done is through federal legislation. 

Except for the largest or most religiously followed venues, the vast majority of race tracks earn their money through simulcasting their signals to bettors all over the country. Simulcast betting was created through federal legislation allowing for such interstate gambling. Thus the only way to get unified rules and/or a governing body on Thoroughbred racing is for the Feds to hold up the life vein of the industry for consistent rules and consequences from everything from medications allowed to racing dates to sales ring procedures. 

I know allowing greater, unified federal control to a fiercely independent industry is a frightening prospect. Unfortunately, I see no other way to create a symbiotic relationship throughout the industry for horse and human alike.