Business for Sale

Great opportunity for wannabe small business owner in Great American Western Desert...

Do you want to own your own shop in the glorious underbellied shadow of the nation's gambling capital? (h/t to Ted at Derby Digest).

Upset of the day in the REAL DESERT:

Miesque's Approval from the 12 hole in the "Duty Free".

Title-less Post

Before Equidaily or even The Racing Dispatch picks it up, I wanted to share this nice little horse story that was on ESPN's front page today. I am sure Alan has already read this - his horse Highland Cat, though not mentioned by name, is mentioned by "group":

"Introspect is one of five horses Turner trains for Castle Village Farm, a racing stable that distributes its horses to trainers in the New York area. Stephen Zorn, managing partner of Castle Village Farm, says Turner is "very, very patient."

Interesting to note that the writing credited is as follows:

Elizabeth McGarr is a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She can be reached at enm2107@columbia.edu

Usually these types of stories are "generated" with some sort of pr value behind it. I'm having trouble finding it here, though. Could it be that Ms. McGarr is a (gasp!) FAN of the sport and pitched the idea to ESPN? Is she connected to Turner, the subject? Maybe there's a connection to Castle Village Farm? It could be worth a quick email to give Ms. McGarr a little shout out/kudos on her efforts here. Also, nice to see a grad student get a lengthy, prominently placed piece in a major world-wide media outlet.

On another note, I found this interesting little bit over on BG's blog. I think it's worth a little perusal. I don't think I've ever looked at wagering in this manner:

"+$35 yesterday playing horses at Santa Anita and Turf Paradise. I hit the early Pick Four at SA, only to find out that there was a $400k carryover in the late Pick Four. Dammit. Anyway, that was a nice little pickup ($125 pay-out on a $1 ticket - I had played it eight ways), and my handicapping at Santa Anita was on-point all day long, having one of my top two win six of nine races.

But one situation in particular illustrates how far I've come as a horseplayer.

In race two there were six horses running, ranging in price from 2-1 to 7-1. On my oddsline, my favorite was the betting favorite, but as I had the horse at 2-1 on my line, she wasn't playable at the same 2-1 on the oddsline. My co-second choice was 3-1 in my book, but 7-1 on the board.

Now, sometimes you should just play the second choice at 7-1 on a win ticket and be content that you made a good choice regardless of the outcome. That's an absolutely valid approach.

Instead, I saw the fairly even spread on the oddsline and thought I'd look to the Place pool to see what odds I was being offered on that same 7-1 horse there. If I was willing to play that horse at 7-2 to win, I'd be thrilled to get 2-1 on the place, right?

Sure enough, I did the math and because the money was spread out amongst the six horses (as opposed to concentrated on the favorite), there was an opportunity to get a minimum of 2-1, and a maximum of 4-1 on my horse if I chose the much safer Place pool.

She won, and paid 3-1 in the place pool. Granted, 7-1 is nice, but it was riskier. It was a grinder's bet, and an opportunity I don't think I would have recognized a couple years ago. I felt really good about that play, despite "missing" a 7-1 win bet."

(editor's note: I copied the whole bit, b/c it actually shows up way down at the bottom of a larger, unrelated post.)

Interesting, me thinks.

It's funny how, "Great minds think alike."

Ok, so maybe it's more like, "Like minds think alike".

It was only a few short days ago that I was thinking this:

"The race has come up strong this year; it seems as if the preps are more competitive this year, doesn't it?"

Yes, I would agree... to a large extent.

I remember the last time I was this intrigued with the "Road to the Roses" I never got caught up in the prep races too much, though. This year, however, has been very different.

Maybe it's because of what I'm working on. And maybe it's just a natural progression. I'm sure being a "voter" for the Racing Dispatch Poll has contributed no small part. (BTW, I am not sure who still has Ravel in the Top 10, much less in FIRST!! But it isn't me!)

Overall, I am so jazzed about the coming weeks. Between the Derby Preps and the Dubai Classic, it's a grand time for the sport.

Beyond the races themselves, however, I have a strong feeling that this year will be a monumental one in terms of our sport's progression into the mainstream.

We've hit a plateau and I'm telling you all right now: We will reach our Tipping Point in the very near future. There are too many talented, caring people investing both time and money for this thing NOT to succeed.

I'm proud to be a part of the ongoing resurgence. I know a lot of you are too.

It' a great time to be a caring member of the thoroughbred community.

GO DUCKS!!

Happy Lane's End Day at Polyway Park

But of course, I've got something else to share...

A great article (link will probably expire in 10 days, so check it out NOW) featuring my local track AND a fellow blogger who should be enroute to River Downs as we speak.

And btw, I'm not sure if anybody's covered this yet, but how cool is this story from the DRF (written by the world famous Dave Tuley):

"Well, Mark Dufty, race and sports book director at Jerry's Nugget in North Las Vegas, has a way to take a little bit of the sting out of that possibility. Starting this past Wednesday, Dufty put up his future book with a 25 percent refund if the horse on your ticket doesn't run in the race."

Not sure if anyone's seen this yet....

UPDATED: 2007 Kentucky Derby Contender Video

UPDATE: PART 2 was FINALLY accepted by YouTube. See below for Part 2 of the Palm Meadows/Birdbirdistheword video.

This footage was taken earlier this month. It is two parts, so watch the first, then check out the second for the full effect. Special thanks to John McGuire, Brad Edwards, Ken McPeek and all of the Birdbirdistheword connections, and everyone who we came across at Palm Meadows for their hospitality and friendliness.

Part 1: Hope this one is enjoyable!!



Part 2: