Steve--
1-- I didn\'t have caller ID in those days, you might just have mentioned using the Florida sheets, and I might have remembered it as your being there. If that\'s an important point to you I stipulate it, and apologize. I do not remember the later interview (we stars do so many), but I\'m sure you are right, and the fact I don\'t remember would seem to indicate there was no friction, or if there was, that I\'m getting Alzheimer\'s.
2-- If you would prefer, we can substitute berate for scream in the initial call. On the points you covered in the post above, at length.
Having said that-- you bring up an important factor, namely Steve Nagler. Steve was briefly hired by us to get us some PR, and even after that got free data from me for a long time (data which helped earn him an Emmy in 1987-- he was producing The Derby, and said he had one iso camera left, and asked whom he should train it on, I said Alysheba, whom I bet. Hence the closeup of McCarron almost getting pitched. Steve got another Emmy later-- it was his idea to put the camera there for \"Mrs. Genter, Mrs. Genter, you won the Derby, Mrs. Genter. I love you, Mrs. Genter\").
Anyway-- as you undoubtedly know, back in those days Nagler could be incredibly annoying. His idea of getting us PR with racing press and other experts (yourself, Steve Crist, etc.) was to stick our sheets in their faces every time he had a winner and tell them how great we were, loudly. Many found it annoying,and he ended up alienating a whole bunch of people towards our data and concepts. When you gave me a hard time, I knew right away what had happened.
By the way, Steve got pretty sick recently, but it looks like he\'s going to be okay.
3-- The conversation at the Expo was brief, I did remind you of the initial phone call. You were sitting at a table (possibly signing books), we started talking about one of the panels (maybe rebates), we disagreed completely, and the temperature went up immediately. I ended the conversation politely, no harm no foul.
4-- There is no proof in any result in this game, just evidence, and I would be very surprised if nowhere in your books do you point out an example of a race and result as showing a cause and effect relationship (pace, bias, etc.). I will almost guarantee that you and every one else in this game are more guilty of doing this than I am. What I did was lay out percentages IN ADVANCE-- and with two more examples since then, over 90% of the starters off those big efforts have now not been able to repeat the effort. Which is the kind of thing that for practical purposes gets you to a cause and effect relationship.
5-- Your points about figure drift and the breed require a longer answer, and I would strongly suggest you take a look at \"Are Racehorses Getting Faster\" in the archives section of this site. You will find, among other things, that many if not all racetracks are SLOWER now than they were, due to increased percentage of sand vs. clay, and greatly increased cushion depth.
6-- We hope to have a study some time soon about breakdowns that will give an answer to whether the TC races should be spaced further apart. But if you were reading this forum a couple of weeks ago, you would already know that there was a study done by veternarians that showed that increased frequency of racing and workouts dramatically increased the chance of injury, something like five fold. If anyone can find that and wants to repost it, it wouldn\'t hurt.
7-- For the most part I don\'t take issue with the handicapping work of others unless it\'s in an area I know a lot about-- like figure making.
