The last time you all heard from me, I was posting my now infamous BC wagers. Needless to say, I had one exacta (Juvenile) that minimized my overall losses by about 33%. I won’t revisit the entire day, as my compadres in blogging and horse journalism have aptly covered all of the highs and lows of racings biggest and brightest day.
Sticking with the horse scene, (this IS a horse blog, don’t forget) I am extremely happy to welcome Brad from the city by the bay who is our most recent “joinee” of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance.”
Check out “Tote Board Brad’s” blog here:
If you’ll notice, Brad is an owner. And if you’ll take even a closer look, Brad posted on Tuesday about “his” horse running at Golden Gate on Wednesday in a $17,000 claiming race. Upon further review (hindsight really) you can see that Brad’s horse took the 8th race at GG yesterday and paid a VERY handsome price. Congrats and welcome Brad!
EQUIBASE:
Currently, I am riding the ol’ Amtrak from Seattle to Portland. Known as the Cascade line, this three hour journey usually takes place around the first of the month, every month.
I am actually so happy to finally have some free time to work on this blog. It is sometimes demoralizing how little time I get to spend doing the things I love.
Maintaining this blog has (as anyone and everyone who maintains/has maintained a blog knows) been-and continues to be- a labor of love.
Recently though, I have struggled to devote as much time as I would like to contributing to both the blog community at large, and more importantly the world of horse racing.
Rest assured, although I may not be posting as regularly as my co-horts, I still actively pursue and peruse the various blogs and news stories pertinent to the sport/life I love.
Once again, I applaud my fellow Bloggers in their persistence, creativity, and sticktoitiveness.
There are so many issues facing the sport of kings these days (as is WELL documented via the TBA and other horse racing media outlets). The sport we all love is facing so many challenges; both locally AND regionally; financially and politically.
Thoughts and ideas bouncing around my brain very much like the old science videos showing neutrons or atoms careening off of each other when heating up. (Since I never could follow anything going on in any of my science OR math classes, please bare with me on the previous analogy! Hopefully you got the image I was trying to portray).
From NY (NYRA) to San Francisco (Bay Meadows), and north to my adopted hometown of Portland (Portland Meadows) trouble is a foot.
Alan, over at Left at the Gate does an amazing job of detailing the daily travails of the hapless NYRA. Click below to read some of his entries regarding the current debacle that is the NYRA.
For a glimpse into the troubles surrounding the current meet at Porltand Meadows, and racing in the state of Oregon in general, I highly suggest you read this:
(please note exactly WHO started the thread)
Cheers to Jolene and Michael for maintaining such a vital piece of the Oregon racing communities heart and soul.
3 comments:
Many thanks for plugging my blog. I also enjoyed reading about the state of racing at PM. I've been to the track a coupla times and enjoyed myself, but was amazed at how small the pools were and how few patrons were at the track. Based on the PM calander, it looks like they don't offer as many weekday cards now, so maybe those depressing Thursday afternoon cards when it's pouring have been jettisoned.
I think I was last there in late winter 2004, and I do remember full fields. I can't imagine how anyone can pay the feedbill with those purses, though. Even if you win and get 60% of a $3500 purse, that wont cover a months training. Perhaps trainer day rates are a lot less up there. Here in NorCal, you can count on $55-$70/day and in SoCal, $55-$100/day.
At any rate, I'm hitting PM again this winter. I'll give you a shout around February.
-tbb
Thanks for checking in Brad. Def. look me up when you venture northward for some horse action!!
Jolene from Oregon Racing News would know better than I, but I think trinaer rates here in Ore. are like $35/day...but don't quote me on it.
Welcome aboard!!
I think we pay $30/day. Our boy's out of training at the moment so I don't have a fresh bill in front of me. ;)
We definitely do it because we love the sport. If we were waiting for our racehorse investments to pay for themselves, I have a feeling we'd be waiting awhile. :)
Post a Comment