5:50 PM

Horsemen's hours are catching up to me. Seems to be the case most days lately. No biggie, I mean I'm at the track doing what I love, right?

Sat in on the ESPN press conference earlier. It was Bailey, Fowle, Len DeLuca (the old Mark Schapiro) and Dave something-or-other, the Exec. Producer of Saturdays ESPN telecast.

The call was pretty uneventful in itself. ESPN is super happy with thier promotion levels and won't budge from that assertion. They keep touting tomorrow night's football game as there coup-de-grace, but I still believe they could have done more (as do many others). I am still trying to conect with Chip Tuttle and hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow.

I asked Fowler, being the non-resident horse guy, how the NTRA, etc. can tap into the younger demographic that he so often visits on College Gameday. His response revolved around "getting people to the track." Not really what I was looking for, but it's hard to get genuine answers with his bosses hovering over the call. Chris was a bit bummed that he will be missing his first Saturday Gameday and the fact it was down at Texas A&M doesn't help. From what I hear, that place is crazy on Saturdays for football.

I asked Bailey about making the jockeys the stars of the game and he was all for it. He also added that he tries to do that inhis broadcasts. Good answer, Jerry. I will definitely be broaching that when I speak with Dwight Manley Friday morning.

It's almost 6 pm and it's REALLY cold. I was just outside for a while (doing a little touting/betting - not winning!) and my hands are pretty f-ing numb. So numb in fact, I can barely type!!