...is a term I have heard primarily on the golf course. The first time I heard
it, my father had just sunk a long, sharply breaking putt, concluding a hole on
which he had butchered every other shot he had hit, resulting in an 8,
a \"double par\",the dread \"snowman\". When I commended my dad on his putt, he
mumbled \"Like putting a scoop of whipped cream on a pile of horseshit\".
This colorful and descriptive turn of phrase came to mind after reading 3
articles which wrapped up the 2007 Saratoga meeting. These articles were Steven
Crist\'s DRF editorial \"What a Difference two decades makes\", an article
entitled \"Handle rises-- ontrack bets a record\" (DRF online, David Grening) and
\"Summer Fun at the Spa\", by Ed Fountaine, reporting in Monday\'s New York Post.
If you read Steven Crist, you know that his primary focus is New York Racing,
so it was almost not necessary to read his editorial to know what was coming.
Mr. Crist outlines the \"mores\" of Saratoga (and New York) racing: to summarize,
more \"cheap\" (conditioned and claiming) racing, more turf sprints, more races
per day, more days of racing, more grass races at all distances, more New York
bred racing. Mr. Crist concludes (sorry if you have already read this):
\"It\'s hard to see anything positive in these changes. None of them was
deliberately engineered, but taken together they reflect two discouraging
things: an increasingly fragile breed and a changing thoroughbred population,
even at what was and still is the sport\'s premier venue, of more chronic
nonwinners who are now in need of restricted company or conditions to thrive.
It\'s getting harder and harder to say that racing is improving the breed.\"
More on this later.
Moving on to Ed Fountaine\'s article, he investigates some \"salient points\" of
the 07 Spa meet. Discussing grass sprints, he points out the following--38 of
the 152 grass races were 5-1/2 furlong dashes. These 38 races drew an average
of more than 9 entrants per race. Of these 38 races, only 5 were won by post
time favorites (13%)(Ed could have given the average win mutuel on these 38
races, would have been interesting).
Fountaine mentions that a horseman\'s group led by Richard Violette was not
happy with the conditions of the Saratoga tracks for morning training:
Suggestion: these horses are the product of a diluted gene pool, are not
durable, and are being overtrained.
Also mentioned in Fountaine\'s piece is the highly publicized and successful
\"Baffert invasion\" of Saratoga. Let me get to the point here. Baffert purchases
horses which will race with the intent of maximizing their value as breeding
stock at the conclusion of their racing career. All of Baffert\'s winners at
Saratoga would have likely won similar races at Del Mar, but the final times of
these Del Mar wins would have looked quite pedestrian on a catalogue page,and
the breeding industry will be slow to let go of its attraction to fast final
times on the racetrack. Hence Miff\'s comments of a few months ago that he was
not certain how large a gamble breeders will be willing to take on synthetic
surfaces in the first few years.
Grening\'s wrap up mentioned the increases in handle and attendance. All success
stories here, driven by good weather which allowed for more turf racing and
bigger fields etc. The attendance gains of course are totally bogus, driven by
tote bag and bobble head spins. My opinion is that the handle has been driven
by the fact that as bad as the quality of Racing in New York has gotten in
recent years, there is very little Racing of quality being conducted anywhere
else. I read with interest that Laurel\'s reduced take out experiment was not
considered succesful; I would be interested to see the post mortem on Ellis
Park\'s Pick 4 experiment.
Back to the quoted Crist paragraph. I think,deep down,Steve is a true fan
of the sport of racing,and New York racing specifically. I think it bothers him
that the Racing in New York does not have the quality and importance that it
used to have, even though NY racing is arguably still the best year round and
day to day racing being conducted. I think it is of small consolation (no pun
intended) to Steve that large fields of anonymous runners are probably more
likely to produce Pick 6 carryovers.
Unfortunately, the angriest Steve can sound is to say \"It\'s hard to see
anything positive in these changes... It\'s getting harder and harder to say
that racing is improving the breed\". As publisher of Racing\'s venerable \"house
organ\", it is not practical for Mr. Crist to really come down hard on the
status quo of Racing, to ruffle any feathers, to hold racing\'s feet to the fire
on any of the hot issues which are discussed, sometimes reasonably, on this
board on a daily basis.
If you read between the lines in the paragraph lifted from Crist\'s editorial,
he is reciting a mantra which has been recited on this board by many posters--
too many mediocre and fragile horses being bred, too many unimportant races
being run, too many unprofitable and marginally profitable racetracks being
operated.
The sad thing is that Steve can not editorialize to make reductions in all of
the areas listed above, because the end result of less horses and fewer races
and fewer tracks is lower circulation and fewer advertising column inches sold.
Steve probably does not believe in breeding lightly raced, marginally qualified
stallions to unraced mares, and would probably avoid betting on the offspring
of such a mating, yet if the owner of the stallion, the mare or the resulting
foal wanted to buy some advertising in the Form, (s)he would not be turned away.
The observation I\'ve made about Steven Crist -- that any inclination he has to
raise his voice, whether he is addressing drugs in racing, or track surfaces,
or the decline in the general quality of Racing will likely be nullified due to
commercial necessity -- also applies to Jerry and Len and Barry Irwin and Ed
Fountaine, all of whom rely on the game in its current state of \"mass
quantities\" (remember the Coneheads?) of horses, races and racing facilities
for their livelihoods.
None of the Daily Racing Form, Thorograph, Ragozin, or a syndicate like Team
Valor would benefit from the contraction of Racing, even if we all know that
such contraction would restore the overall quality of Racing and the
thoroughbred breed.
