Op/Ed

As a populist horseman, it makes me smile when a relatively obscure horse comes out of the hinterlands and beats up on a bunch of fashionably bred horses who are sired by generally over-priced, over-hyped, and over-bred stallions. And it turns my smile into a broad grin to observe that Mine That Bird is a mid-May foal.

I will leave it up to analysts more qualified than me to figure out whether Polytrack is safer than dirt, even though the initial evidence suggests that the synthetic surface has already saved the lives of many of our equine warriors. From my narrow perspective, however, if somebody can tell me the good part about watching races on Polytrack, I for one would love to hear about it.

Tomorrow starts the Masters golf tournament. Millions of people will watch this great show and then go out and increase their participation in golf. The Masters is the premier event in the structure of golf. When it started, there was no PGA Tour, just a bunch of golfers being jerked from one event to the next, kind of like racehorse owners today. When the major league PGA Tour was established, they decided the Masters, The PGA and the U.S. Open should remain separate, distinct events. In the Masters, the players'...

Pondering the possibility that Mafaaz could make the Kentucky Derby while Dunkirk is left in the cold, I have dusted off columns previously published elsewhere in May 2005, May 2007 and June 2008. Needless to say, the Derby's graded earnings rule has been one of my pet peeves for some time.

Don't you just hate politics? Seems like politics creeps into everything today. Banks, real estate, autos, you name it and politics is now involved. The Kentucky horse industry has thrust itself into politics in pursuit of slots at the tracks. For those of you outside Kentucky, adding slots at the tracks might seem a no-brainer for the center of the Thoroughbred industry. But politics in Kentucky, like everywhere, is complicated. My ad agency used to do political campaigns in Kentucky, including an amendment to the state constitution. During such campaigns,...

A year ago, fractional clockings for the 1 1/8 mile Fountain of Youth S. appeared suspiciously slow, and the suspicions were well-founded: the timing beam was triggered prematurely, and a new set of official times was released. This episode also brought to light that Gulfstream Park's oval is 17 feet longer than the intended circumference, due to a surveying error which necessitated a complex adjustment in the timing of nine-furlong races.

Survival of Thoroughbred horse racing on the scale we have known it may be in greater jeopardy than usual because of a confluence of events that is being fueled by the current economic crisis. Those of us who derive our incomes solely from the industry have come to fully realize horse racing is not an activity that is required for the existence of life. In the current climate, the only group outside of the game's participants that might like to see racing continue is the state governments where betting on...

Last week I challenged Kentucky Thoroughbred interests not to pursue alternative gaming (VTLs). I promised to show how a positive change to the racing environment through the introduction of a new bet would serve to get racing's fan base pumped up on a regular basis. My concept is far from original, yet proven in popularity. With a twist here and there, it can, I believe, jump-start our sagging game.

Bill Finley penned in the January 17 TDN an editorial that is the most chilling piece of racing journalism in a long time. For import and vision, the only comparison I can make was a piece Jimmy Kilroe wrote for "Sports Illustrated" in 1967, when he said one day nobody would go to a track to see the races, but would watch them at a tele-theatre. Who could imagine such a thing ever happening?

Fort Erie is like a lot of racetracks. It has slot machines, which make money, and horse racing, which doesn't. It seems that's no longer okay with the track's owner, Nordic Gaming Corporation, which is vying to end live racing at Fort Erie, a lovely little Canadian track that's been around since 1897. The slots, though, may not be going anywhere.

The new year begins with fresh hope and an opportunity for breeders to set an important example for the industry. As announced recently, The Jockey Club has established a “check-off” program for breeders to make voluntary contributions toward the care of unwanted or retired Thoroughbreds. Responding to requests from Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF), The Jockey Club will begin collecting monies from breeders at time of foal registration, and will distribute the funds through the TCA and TRF. Despite limited funding, both well-established programs...

The last few weeks have been an important time in the history of Thoroughbred racing, with the announcement in New York of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance. As both the executive chair of the NTRA and the president of Turfway Park, I often find myself viewing the Alliance from two distinctly different points of view. From the broad perspective of my role with the NTRA, I am exceedingly gratified that so many subsets of our diverse industry were able to put individual issues aside and collaborate for the good...