Life Happens: The woes of a dreadful blogger

So between being sick, changing jobs (this is my last week at the old job), putting a new roof on our house, and fixing our air conditioner... I've been a little busy. And with all of this amidst the approaching birth of our first baby, I really haven't had much time for blogging.

I guess it's a good thing I don't try to cover the Saratoga beat... Actually, one of my occasional Pick 4 Syndicate players is suggesting a NYRA boycott thanks to the increase in takeout on Pick 4s and Pick 6s to a whopping 26%...

Hell, Magna lost another executive who has been with the company for six months and I didn't have the time or energy to post about it... if this blog isn't for ranting about Frank's crazy antics, than what good is it? (Note: Tom Chuckas is on the clock...)

That being said, I'll be back to full strength soon, as I'm taking a week off before I start the new job.

In unrelated thoughts, while everyone is raving about the new Radiohead video for House of Cards (at the concert I went to, Thom said it was about the Bush Administration), I actually like the video that came out a few months ago for All I Need Better a little bit better... Enjoy the Olympics.

All I Need

House of Cards

Kruytbosch Funeral will be held at Churchill

Churchill Downs announced today that the funeral service for track annoucner Luke Kruytbosch will be held in the Paddock Garden on Monday July 21 at 1 p.m.

Kruytbosch, 47, passed away this weekend at his Evansville, Ind. home, the cause of death was likely heart-related.

From Churchill Downs:

Kruytbosch’s remains were cremated Thursday and his ashes will be spread at Churchill Downs, which, according to friends, was Kruytbosch’s wish. Monday’s service will be open to the public and guests should enter the facility through Gate 17 adjacent to the paddock. (Note: The service may be moved indoors to the Triple Crown Room on the fifth floor of the Jockey Club Suites if there is inclement weather).

Donation can be made in Kruytbosch’s name to either the Kentucky Race Track Chaplaincy (9013 Lyneve Drive, Louisville, KY 40272) or Race Track Chaplaincy of America (P.O. Box 91640, Los Angeles, CA 90009).

Jackson Asks Public to Vote on Curlin's Future Plans

Jess Jackson has set up an online poll asking the public to vote on Curlin's future plans. The options are:

Turf Campaign
Dirt Campaign
Synthetic Campaign
Retire

Vote at http://www.stonestreetfarms.com/

When I voted Tuesday night, about 4% of the voters had selected "retire," which I think is really just one voter (Rick Dutrow), clearing his computer's cache and voting over and over again...

Curlin's Arc Odds: 16-1

Irish bookmakers have placed Curlin's odds for the Oct. 5th Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at 16-1 -- prior to the Man o' War the odds were set at 12-1.

According to The Daily Racing Form:

On Tuesday, Ladbrokes listed Montmartre as its 4-1 Arc favorite with Zarkava co-second choice at 6-1 with Soldier of Fortune and the Epsom Derby winner, New Approach. It then quotes the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, winner Youmzain at 10-1; Getaway 12-1; and the French Derby winner Vision d'Etat 14-1. Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has Montmartre and Zarkava as 9-2 co-favorites with next week's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes favorite, Duke of Marmalade, at 6-1. Curlin, 12-1 with Paddy Power before the Man o' War, has been pushed out to 16-1. He is, however, 8-1 with online bookies bet365.com, suggesting that someone, somewhere, is still very high on Curlin's Arc chances.

Should Curlin run in the Arc, chances are that any American money bet on the race will not be co-mingled with the international pool, so even if he were to go off at such long odds internationally, chances are we won't get anything close to that... This also means that it will be worth comparing the international odds to the domestic ones when trying to identify any over/underlays.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves... owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen have said that all options are open which could mean staying here for another turf prep like the Arlington Million or Sword Dancer; shipping overseas for a prep like the Irish Champion Stakes at Lepardstown or the Prix Foy at Longchamp; or staying here and switching back to dirt or synthetic before the Breeders' Cup.

Enough already, lets do this and take the horse to France or Ireland.

Louisville Mourns Wagner, Kruytbosch

Louisville learned of the loss of two people who were influential of the Churchill Downs area yesterday, with the new that came early in the day that 70-year-old Pharmacist Lee Wagner, the long time owner of Wagner's Pharmacy (and more importantly lunch counter) died on Saturday after a long bout with diabetes.

Nick Zito told The Courier-Journal, "To me, you go to the Derby Museum, then your next stop is Wagner's. It's part of America. ... It's an institution."

From The Courier-Journal:

The business at Fourth Street and Central Avenue near Churchill Downs serves the area as a popular short-order grill for breakfast and lunch; a tack shop through its sister store Becker & Durski Turf Goods; an outlet to buy Kentucky Derby souvenirs, tip sheets and liquor; and a place where stable employees could cash their paychecks when no one else would.
"There were hundreds or thousands of horsemen that he's helped through the years with problems, whether they were related to a horse or to their own medical problems," trainer Don Winfree said.

Then the news followed later in the day that 47-year-old race caller Luke Kruytbosch was found dead in his Evansville, Ind. home -- presumably due to his heart.

Again, from The Courier-Journal:

Kruytbosch never got tired of being at the races, regularly going to River Downs on Churchill Downs' dark days. Horse owner Mike Pegram, Kruytbosch's close friend, said the announcer would leave Turf Paradise several days early each spring so that he could stop at tracks in New Mexico and Texas on his way to Louisville.

"Luke was a race fan before he was an announcer," Pegram said. "I hate to call it that he was the common man's race caller, but that's what it was. He just got the job done day in and day out. … What I loved about it was it didn't matter if he was calling the Kentucky Derby or a $3,000 claimer at Turf Paradise, he gave it his best."

Kruytbosch left Hollywood Park to become Churchill's fifth announcer. When he called the 125th Derby his first year, he became the first to call both the Derby and quarter-horse racing's biggest event, Ruidoso Downs' All American Futurity.

"My favorite memory of Luke was from his first Derby back in '99," Churchill spokesman John Asher said. "His lifetime goal was to call the Derby, and he'd finally done that; he'd brought Charismatic home before 151,000. You'd think after a day like that, you might want to sit back and relax a little bit, congratulate yourself on a career accomplishment. The next day he was at River Downs, watching races and betting bottom-level claimers.

Ellis Park Tape Delayed on TVG

My partners and I hit the early Pick Four thanks to some superb ticket building by one of my partners, however, I didn't get to see the final leg until 15 minutes after the race was over...

Apparently TVG would rather show graphics and talk for five minutes after the post parade for the Solano County Fair and show repeated replays of (EXCLUSIVE) Ruidoso Downs than show Ellis Park... with all of the down time between races, there really is no real reason to wait so long to show a race.

I don't doubt for a second that this is some sort of "punishment" for Ellis not being a TVG exclusive track. That being said, I've yet to even see the track mentioned on HRTV, which should also have the track available.

No wonder Ron Geary is having a hard time turning a profit... no one can find his product.

UPDATE: They just showed the delayed video for the 6th race almost 20 minutes after the race went off... what a joke.

UPDATE 2: Going into the late Pick Four at Ellis (Race 7), as the horses were being loaded into the gate in Henderson, instead of showing the race TVG spoke with Frank Mirahmadi from Solano about a race 14 minutes before it was to go to post. Seriously folks, this is worse than being forced to watch a barn burner during the NCAA tournament while another game is close or in over time... why would TVG choose to pass on live racing for what is more-or-less idle chatter?

Ellis Park: Support the pea patch on opening day (one week late)

A week later than expected, today is the opening day for Ellis Park.

If you gnashed your teeth or complained about the fact that owner Ron Geary announced last week that he was closing Ellis Park over a dispute with horsemen, now that a compromise has been reached and racing will continue, then I think you are obligated to play the track this weekend, at least try the two Pick Fours for fifty cents...

My Pick Four Partner (and our occasional third partner) will be playing the Henderson track this weekend, and will also take a try at the early Pick Four carryover at Arlington.

Tough Field in Man O' War Stakes

Alan may not have been far off earlier in the week when he predicted Curlin is going to lose in the Man O' War Stakes at Belmont Park this weekend.

As reported by The Daily Racing Form, Curlin will likely face the 2004 and 2006 Breeders' Cup Turf winners Better Talk Now and Red Rocks, as well as Grand Couturier, Interpatation, Sudan, and True Cause.

I think this is the tough level of competition Curlin will need to face (and beat) if owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen really want to send the colt against top European turf horses in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October.

The Man O' War Stakes will be televised live on ESPNews this Saturday.

Not So Fast: Ellis Park to Reopen

Ellis Park owner Ron Geary and Kentucky horsemen have reached a deal that means that the western Kentucky track will reopen on Friday.

From The Courier-Journal:

Geary’s offer included the horsemen agreeing that Ellis races would be available to the 10 account-wagering companies with which Geary had made deals, including TVG and Churchill Downs Inc.’s TwinSpires.com.

In return, Geary would give horsemen the entire share of account-wagering handle that he normally would split with them.

“Basically I’m turning everything over from (account wagering) into the purse fund,” he said. Geary admitted that that the deal means he will lose money this year.

“I’m taking a short-term loss, but I also think it may not be as big as I think,” he said.The deal could give Ellis races more exposure on the racing cable channels TVG and HRTV, which could prompt people to bet more on Ellis at times when they go to traditional simulcast facilities — where Geary would get a cut of the revenues.

Now that Geary and the horsemen have reached a deal, I challenge everyone who gnashed teeth over the lack of racing in Kentucky this summer to support the Ellis Park meet. The first of 11 stakes races will be the $50,000 Audubon Oaks on Saturday. The only graded race of the meet, $150,000 Gardenia Stakes (GIII), is on Aug. 16.

Goodbye Ellis Park

The Courier-Journal's Greg Hall reports tonight that Ellis Park owner Ron Geary is closing the Henderson, Ky racetrack for good.

From The Courier-Journal:

Geary said he made the decision after a federal judge denied his request for an injunction against Kentucky horsemen that would have allowed him to offer the track’s races to national account wagering outlets.

“I don’t have any plans on opening it again as a racetrack,” Geary said in a telephone interview.

“That’s for sure.”About 400 horses are on the grounds in anticipation of the meet. How long the stable area would remain open was unclear.

The writing was really on the wall for Ellis Park, with the combination of the horseman's dispute that would have limited the already struggling track's signal (and profit) and the fact that the state legislature failed to expand casino gaming at racetracks earlier this year. That being said, I certainly didn't expect the track to close this soon, I thought there were at least one more summer meet left... this year would have been the track's 85th meet.

The closure of the western Kentucky track means that there will be no racing in the commonwealth between the Churchill meet that closes this weekend and the Turfway meet in September.

Curlin's work: coming up for air

No, I've not stopped blogging -- I've just been real busy -- flying back and forth to Washington, D.C. for the past week (I am actually blogging from a hotel room now). To make a long story short, I've taken a new job and am in the process of training my replacement for my old position... more later on how the new job will effect my blogging availability.

Curlin worked seven furlongs over the Churchill turf today, marking the start of what could end up being a try at the Arc de Triomphe at Lonchamp in France this October.

From The Daily Racing Form:

With his regular jockey, Robby Albarado, aboard, Curlin breezed seven furlongs in company with a 4-year-old stablemate named Hawaii Calls. With the "dogs" spaced far out on a firm turf course, Curlin spotted his workmate a length or two when passing under the wire the first time on the seven-furlong course. They stayed that way for the first half-mile or so, after which Curlin crept closer from the outside. Turning for home, they were virtually even, after which Curlin edged away to finish about a neck in front when passing the wire a second time.

The final clocking for Curlin was 1:31.20, which Asmussen called a "very good time with the dogs out as far as they were." Equibase clockers caught the final quarter-mile in 24.20 seconds and the final furlong in 12.20. The gallop-out time for a mile was 1:45.60.

Although this time was nothing special, Steve Asmussen is a trainer who is known to send his horses out for conservatives works leading up to a race... so the fact that the time was reasonable, means that Curlin showed he didn't hate the surface and should prove good enough for those watching the workout tab.

The colt's next start will come on July 12th in either the Man O' War (GI) at Belmont Park or Arlington Handicap (GIII) in Chicago, and a work leading up to that race will be on the dirt. Obviously the age-for-weight Man O' War is a better selection for the colt, although his minority owners Shirley Cunningham Jr. and William Gallion, the partners in Midnight Cry Stable, have license issue in New York state as they are currently in a Kentucky jail and are on trial charged with fraud related to the fen-phen class-action case where they bilked some $60+ million in funds from over 400 clients.