Stirring

Loss and regret bring existence into stark relief.

Imalexus broke her maiden a few weeks ago and within twenty-four hours my world caved in on me; absolutely nothing has mattered since. Blackwatch Stables is no more; Imalexus was claimed a few weeks later. Those two events are mutually exclusive.

Pretense and ego fall away when what one believes true is ripped from the sanctuary of home. I was a fool; enamored with my hubris, I wasted away everything that truly mattered until it was gone. How easily everything becomes ancillary and those extremities are severed when true loss blindsides you.

The soul is laid bare on life's stage and there is no exit. How painfully I look back, now, piercing through the veil of ignorance and selfishness I wore. I spent too much time on this game thinking it could make me whole; dreaming on clouds of fancy; Ozymandian in my vision; neglecting the absolute gift I already had, the wealth of nations at my doorstep. A king's ransom the likes of which has never been seen nor likely ever will be, since the sharing is the true gift.

I visited Arlington today; the first time in months I could bring myself to even care about horse racing. The day overcast and cold, the sun hidden and sullen; as if this place I foolishly called home knows it can no longer be that for me. I am still welcome and can shelter here from time to time but the comfort I mistakenly thought I could find here was somewhere else all along.

The horses still run, as they always do, and there is comfort in that. The faces are familiar and the flow of the day is wonted. The stubborn consistency of this game, today, is welcome; I am even wearing my coffee again. Not five minutes after I arrive, I am pierced by the loose horse siren but mercifully see nothing.

The drumming beat of hooves, that I thought was the tempo of my life, is now a poor substitute to the cadence I know I lost to pride. The beat I had is gone and I can no longer find my rhythm. Not having with whom to share this leaves a bitter taste and a dead, hollow echo.

In the dying embers of my cigar I lose the desire to stay; they haven't even started the renovation break.

As I leave the track , the sun breaks out and pours itself on the green. For that moment, Arlington is once again a promise. It won't ever be the same; nothing in this world remains constant. It changes, as all things do, inexorably becoming what we need them to become, as we dance like dust specks in the last of the light, drifting on our own eddies.

I am not yet ready to find my way back and I no longer know that I care enough to try but there is an exquisite pain in loss and redemption.

Empty words and failed promises are all I have left.

For now, they will have to be enough, because the horses do still run.

Becalmed

Adrift in the horse latitudes, an albatross around my neck, I find myself lacking anything of value to contribute; not for a lack of material, just inspiration. As Coleridge wrote and Iron Maiden covered:

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

I am furling my sails for now, content to outlast this malaise.

Down dropt the breeze,
The sails dropt down,
'Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

There are a plethora of quality blogs at the TBA homepage. Brooklyn Backstretch is a must read, whether you care about NYRA or not. HANA is making inroads in letting the industry know the bettor is a force to be reckoned with(I am late in getting this out but there will be other events. Watch this space). Railbird 2.0 is back with a vengeance and the game is better for it.

Opinions are diverse but a fundamental right. Bloggers, journalists, industry insiders and casual fans all have something to add; it just takes someone to listen, respectfully. I have not done much of that and am taking myself out of the game.

Read, read a lot, educate yourself...about anything. This game is old and will endure but it could be so much more. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Racing in the United States is now so big an operation that it may be endangered by its own size. It sprawls and grows bigger and bigger, and there is no possibility of intelligent centralized growth or of its lesser problems. The challenge now is to make possible, through access to information, intelligent decisions at state and local levels. With adequate knowledge at hand, we should be able to salvage the best of our traditions and discard the worst of them. The folklore of yesterday is not a sound basis for the racing of tomorrow. This is the age of automation, and the time has come for automation in racing...Why is the population of this country so fascinated by baseball? Because it knows baseball and it knows baseball because organized information is always available."
-Joe Estes speaking at the Thoroughbred Club of America, 1962

I am done for now. To those of you who stopped by on occasion, I am humbled and grateful; to those who returned, well, that's your own fault. This was never intended as a forum or much of anything really and now it will rest.

Maybe someday I will resume, on a following sea; sails reefed and on a beam reach. Until then...

But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made :
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.

It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring--
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too :
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze--
On me alone it blew.

Please continue to hold...

Your call is very important to us. Your approximate wait time is...

Flashing lights everywhere

This is too good to pass up.

How much would it cost, do you think, to wire up everyone at the NTRA, Jockey Club, state racing commissions, Magna and CDI?

Quick hit

I have not been in the mood to do anything, as it pertains to posting or racing. I will snap out of it, maybe.

I just thought someone should pass this on to Alex Waldrop. Clock is ticking.

Betfair's end game?

Jockeys are supposed to be amazing athletes. Imbued with a classical pianist's hands, an acrobat's poise, a longshoreman's strength and the self preservation of lemmings; they balance, on the balls of their feet; on a half-inch metal bar; on top of a 1000lb animal, moving close to forty miles an hour; while steering, jostling and whipping.

Blah, blah, blah...can they do it while twittering?

I want to know who is full of run. Who is riding at the 5/16_th pole? Who tucks in behind Chantal Sutherland just for the view?

Then I might be inclined to actually log on to my twitter account.

Flotsam and Jetsam

1. Winstrol...it's what's for dinner.
2. Limiting your options...always a good idea.

   In a footnote, Shepherd also questioned the authority's initial rationale that jockey advertising could challenge "the time-honored traditions and splendor of thoroughbred racing" for a race that itself is now sponsored by Yum! Brands.

3. Something you will never hear at CDI or Brisnet or DRF or....

   “We could raise our prices to make money,” she said. “But that’s not in our mission statement.”

4. What if Stronach did this when Magna dies? Here is the link for the Injured Jockeys Fund(ht...MR)

   With no heir, the late Herbert Blagrave, a philanthropic racing figure, left his family fortune to a trust, along with orders that the money should be spent on sick children, the elderly and injured jockeys.

5. Any US trainers that do something like this? (check the byline)
   
6. Rumor has it the BC is shopping around for a host track to replace Santa Anita this year, should the Magna situation take a shit. I'm just saying.
   

An appeal for virtue

Practical wisdom is the combination of moral will and moral skill.
-Aristotle

In aviation, there is a maxim, 'You're only as good as your dumbest competitor.'

The race to the bottom is frantic and pervasive. Nobody is willing to charge what it actually costs to get that plane from point A to point B because the other guy is going to undercut you and take your market share, so the miasma of mediocrity suffuses the friendly skies.

The racing industry is no different.

Purses are nice and owners like them to be bigger. Handle covers purses but handle comes from bettors. Bettors like full fields because they provide value and need it in this game, burdened as it is with taxes. Tracks like big purses because they attract more horses and in theory increase handle but don't want to pay for them. The tracks, seeking a profit, thus might cut purses when handle declines. States and communities don't like tracks but they like taxing them; when receipts fall, governments, unable to balance a checkbook, seek to raise taxes to maintain revenue. There is no Pareto optimum.

We dance around the issues, ignoring the fact the music has stopped and the band is packing up. States and tracks cannibalize each other for that last scrap of handle. Casinos and slots are thrown around as the panacea and nobody is thinking of the fundamental problems. Transfusions only keep a bleeding patient alive for so long; eventually the blood runs out. The symptom needs to be addressed and yet, it is escaping the conversation.

Why is horse racing given short shrift? Because the perception of the industry is of an unethical group of social misfits, lying, stealing and drugging their way to the top.

The first thing to come to mind is gambling, and gambling translates to moral turpitude. For all intents and purposes, we might as well be on the deck of the Exxon Valdez; smoking a crack pipe, watching porn, clubbing baby seals-when we aren't injecting them with cobra venom, hoping to cash in on the natatory daily double.

The industry does itself no favors by perpetuating the stereotype and urging people to come out to the track and cash in on a longshot. Catering to the lowest common denominator is not a sustainable practice.

Instead of selling what is good and wholesome about the game, they peddle the exact product putting people off.

Buddhism teaches the Noble Eightfold Path. (I am sure there are other practices out there)

1. Right View
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

Ray Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Interface, Inc., the worlds largest manufacturer of commercial floor coverings, describes his corporate identity change here.

" ... Business is the largest, wealthiest, most pervasive institution on Earth, and responsible for most of the damage. It must take the lead in directing the Earth away from collapse, and toward sustainability. ... "

If a manufacturing giant, dealing with chemicals and petroleum, can undertake the goal of creating a sustainable corporate culture, surely a pastoral game can do the same.

The Malden Mills factory burned down on December 11th 1995, CEO Aaron Feuerstein decided to not only use his insurance money to rebuild the factory, but also to continue paying the salaries of all the now-unemployed workers while the factory was being rebuilt. By going against common CEO business practices, especially at a time when most companies were downsizing and moving overseas, he achieved a small degree of fame. ^{[1] Wikipedia}

Will Magna do the same?

Money is fungible and while members of congress might not understand that concept, they do understand a sound bite. Perhaps changing the argument from 'We want slots to increase purses.' to 'We want slots to fund drug testing and after care for jockeys and thoroughbreds.' might grab their attention.

Tracks should be investing in recycling and green energy; sustainability is the new black.

Tracks should become corporate citizens, stewards of the community and develop outreach programs. The demographics, while discouraging at first blush, can be used to advantage. Institute programs where AARP members can host their meetings and receive discounts. Create big brother/sister days. Have the elderly partner with the next generation and learn from each other. Build yourself a future customer and the elderly can learn what ROFLMAO means.

Bring librarians to the track and put them to good use, showing you how to run a community resource on limited funds, while maybe cashing in the occasional exacta.

No politician is going to look good trying to raise taxes on, or shutting down, outreach centers.

Horses will still run and bettors will still curse the jockeys for getting shut off at the rail. The game will not change, but without some thought into what exactly racing is doing as an entity, it might just go away.

Formulator 2020

You definitely need to see this. It's a game changer. (ht...MR)

Of course, the game needs to be around in ten years but...

Heels down!

I had my second riding lesson today. We started jumping. I hope my wife is happy with the number of kids we have.

Illinois might soon allow online wagering. One argument against this:

Anita Bedell with Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems says online gambling will lead to more people losing money, because people won't have to leave their homes to place bets.

Now I don't know about addiction but if your argument is people might lose money at home as opposed to anywhere else, maybe you shouldn't be arguing this case.

Ms. Bedell is obviously not an avid reader of HANA , Cangamble or the TBA.

Bedell says that the state should instead raise money by taxing racetracks.

332 more people who won't be making any breeders' sales this year.

Ten racing cards for ten bucks at DRF. Promo code tbablogs.