Spitballing

Admitting one was wrong is one of the hardest things to do.

If the BC insists on holding two days of racing, why not split the days into the Juvenile and then the 3 and up. Run the races Saturday and Sunday. Create some continuity instead of the current haphazard arrangement of races where juveniles run then sprints then juvenile sprints then turf and juvenile turf; have the Juvenile day mirror the "Classic" day. Did the BC committees just draw the order of races from a hat? How the hell do they expect the new fan to follow any of this when divisions are mixed? How many of us have friends that have no idea that the Derby is restricted to three year olds? I forget how many people have asked me how many times Street Sense won the Derby.

Have the juveniles run on Saturday and market that as the future, tomorrow's KD winners or whatever the smartest people in the room come up with and then hold the premier day on Sunday. This late in the season, football teams have their bye's and really we get into the slow week or two when Detroit playing Miami is just not going to really stir those competitive juices.

I know, football is on Sunday but ABC doesn't carry football and I am sure they would love to get something for people to watch. They would, though, have to actually, you know, promote the bloody thing. They don't like Grey Goose? I am sure there are plenty of other family friendly corporations that could step up.

Or reverse the days, I don't care but if the two day format is going to continue then Friday is definitely a loser. The 'firstest with the mostest' is something the BC needs to adopt.

It is easy to dismiss the margin as just that and concentrate on the middle but attracting new fans without the help of those that are already in is misguided. The stupid name concocted by the BC is not going to make anyone more interested in the event and ignoring tradition and basic dignity is foolhardy. I wonder if the BC ever considered how many outsiders approached their "racing" friends and, not wanting to disrupt the Zen-like reverie of full on handicapping, quietly inquired about the weekend, only to be subjected to a profanity laced tirade about the idiots that run the game and the monumental stupidity of the whole schedule and how they will not be able to watch and how the whole damn thing is going down the drain and how this sentence is defying every grammatical rule out there...

I wouldn't give it a second thought either.

Why couldn't the NTRA develop an umbrella health care system? Some of their commercials state there are over 400,000 people working in the horse racing industry; seems like a big enough pie to get some real good deals on health care. Exclude the front side employees if you want and dedicate it to the backstretch. Tracks and owners could contribute to the fund as well as minimal amounts from workers. Absolve the trainer from carrying the burden of workman's comp.

What about starting a wiki-like thing for past performances. I have no idea what a wiki is or how it works but the hoarding of information by Equibase and the Jockey Club seems counterproductive. NTRA or Halsey Minor or whoever could provide the PP's at no charge. In this day and age the idea that one has to pay for information to then pay to play is ridiculous.

If you're betting then you contribute to handle. If you're not, then it doesn't matter anyway what the hell you do. The fundamentals of the system are out of whack.

Did it even occur to Avioli to beg Mr. Moss to ask Sting to play on Friday?

Leave Lewis Michael off your exotics at your peril.