Weekend Musings as the pre-Derby lull begins soon
Real Writing on Racing 💯
The way things were, the way things are, the way things are gonna be…
A final horse made the last trip around the sandy oval at the now defunct facility originally known as Calder Racecourse this week. That nameless horse’s hoof prints were likely the last to be imprinted on the deep soil of the iconic track in Miami Gardens. Likewise historians will mostly ignore the Gulfstream Park West moniker that had been slapped on the decaying plant the last half decade, the result of a turf war that seems to have resulted in many losers and no winners, at least on the racing end of the equation.
Calder went out with a whimper, the last meet being “fanless” due to COVID protocols yet to be completely fair, at the very end, the place simply didn’t have much to offer anymore. CDI tore the grandstand down a few years ago, a stark reminder that Calder was in racing hospice, that the bitter end was near and that the landscape of the industry in South Florida was once again going to be altered. Gulfstream Park management kept the show going using a couple tents, a food truck with an very limited menu and not much else. They literally discouraged patrons from attending live racing, instead trying to funnel them over to Hallandale where the big track still had amenities and TV’s that didn’t show the races on a 10 second delay as the few remaining on-track ones did. If you want to make your head explode, try to watch a live race while listening to the call which is delayed by 10 seconds, your eyes and ears have a hard time processing the gap between what you see and what you hear.
No one will miss Gulfstream Park West, many will miss Calder Racecourse but the fact remains that the countdown to the juncture that we are now at, started years ago. The sports betting and decoupling news coming from Tallahassee this week should be a chilling reminder that while racing likes to portray that it’s a large industry in some ways, we are often reduced to a bit player in so many others. As we keep saying goodbye to venerable tracks such as Calder and Hollywood Park and Suffolk Downs with Arlington Park next in line at the guillotine, we also keep seeing our history and our reach as a sport diminished. The old Yankee Stadium was torn down, the Orange Bowl, the Boston Garden and so many other legendary facilities were too, but each one was replaced by a newer, shinier version that may lack the character of the old guard, but they still exist. In racing we keep losing tracks, we keep losing markets, we keep losing owners, we keep losing ground on the gambling landscape despite the growing handle in the pandemic rhetoric. You can view it from any prism you’d like but we are losing the war here, slowly but surely running out of ammunition.
What can you do as an owner or trainer or bettor or jockey or backstretch worker or breeder or fan or racing executive or some combination of those? I don’t have a really good answer because it’s likely that in some areas it’s already too late. Perhaps even if racing had been blessed with leadership with great vision and foresight (remember that it was racing establishment that fought the first OTB’s and racing establishment that set up the ludicrous simulcasting revenue splits that hamstring us to this day) it might have just hastened our decline. Doing what we have always done would seem to be the worst plan yet look around the industry and try to find an iota of move the needle innovation that isn’t driven by an outside source? Look at the way we regard integrity and transparency as a sport. Look at the ways that horsemen and their representatives still seem to be two steps behind because they didn’t adapt their structure to a rapidly changing market. Look at the way sports betting is being marketed and sold to a younger, more gambling hungry generation that we seem to have missed on. Look at how most of the success stories on the track management side are tied to revenue streams from sources other than people wagering on horses. Look at the mess that is our betting menus and takeout/rebate structure and how that has quietly painted the game into a corner.
“I wanna go back and do it all over again, but I can’t go back I know…”
-Eddie Money
When I think of horse racing in 2021, I feel like Eddie Money did writing this song. Yet we can’t go back in time and unscrew the screwups that plague us still. The sport, the industry, the business can’t survive without everyone working together to literally make things happen. The laundry list of issues and the complicated manner in which they are intertwined will never shrink until a cognizant plan of attack exists to best solve the problems using all of our resources and intelligence. It’s a long shot for sure but simply shrugging our collective shoulders and beating the drum for our own pet peeves isn’t going to stop horseracing’s ship from taking on water. There are no magic bullets available but plenty of icebergs on the horizon, making navigating these treacherous waters even more difficult and those icebergs aren’t melting anytime soon. I could give you a hundred more eye-rolling cliches but I won’t, I will just say this…if you aren’t working to be part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Arkansas Derby (Gr 1) $1000000 (100 point KY Derby prep)
Super Stock - A Dialed In colt from the Steve Asmussen army, he is a consistent sort, sporting a 5-1-1-2-1 record in stakes in his 7 race career. He mildly rallied in the Rebel last out to be fourth but not a serious threat to the winner. Has some tactical speed and will pass horses and has a decent chance to hit the board in this short field.
Caddo River - His performance in the Rebel was not nearly up to what was expected going in and the rating tactics employed by jockey Florent Geroux under orders from the connections were hotly debated in the aftermath. Trainer Cox is on record stating that they will not be taking a hard hold of the colt in this race and drawn inside of Concert Tour, it firmly tosses the ball into Joel Rosario’s court to see what he will do facing an aggressively ridden Caddo River. It’s an intriguing cat and mouse game that will have some Kentucky Derby implications depending on how it works out.
Hozier - Sat inside behind all the action in the Rebel and wound up second, earning some Derby points and with an on the board finish here would likely have enough to get into this years field. He isn’t particularly fast but if a speed duel develops between the top two, he might be sitting in the catbird seat to pick up some of the pieces.
Get Her Number - Showed some ability last fall winning the American Pharoh at Santa Anita while displaying speed after having raced on the grass his first two starts. His 3 year old debut in the Rebel was hard to gauge as he showed none of that speed while being taken under a firm hold. Castellano tried to get him moving from 6th going into the far turn, mildly rallying three-four wide while failing to change leads and being bumped pretty soundly at the 1/8th pole though he didn’t appear to be moving forward at that point. The smaller field and a faster pace may allow him to get a more comfortable trip at a big price.
Concert Tour - Joel Rosario won the Rebel when he sent this colt hard away from the gate and seized the lead from Caddo River, allowing the Street Sense home bred to set moderate fractions under no pressure and he ran away from the field at the quarter pole, winning geared down late. It was probably the second most visually impressive Derby prep this season behind barnmate Life is Good’s dominant San Felipe and vaulted Concert Tour to Derby future book favoritism. His speed figure wasn’t spectacular though as the Ragozin sheets gave him a 9+ compared to Hot Rod Charlie’s 9 for his Louisiana Derby win, Known Agenda’s 7- in the Florida Derby, Rock Your World’s 9 in the Santa Anita Derby and Essential Quality’s 6+ in last weeks Bluegrass. Other notable figs for Derby prep winners, Life is Good 5- for that blowout San Felipe win, Helium an 11+ for the Tampa Bay Derby, Mandaloun a 8+ for the Risen Star, and back in the San Vicente Concert Tour himself got a 7 sprinting. What does all that mean? Perhaps nothing as speed figures are in the past, what he runs this weekend and moving forward to May 1 remain to be seen, but at least on one measure he doesn’t appear to be quite as far ahead of the other contenders as the public currently believes. Does that mean he is a play or a play against on Saturday? At his likely price of 4/5 he clearly is a play against though Baffert runners seem to have magical powers in Arkansas at this time of the year. If he and Caddo River throw down and duel through a crazy 45 and change half….I don’t know. Perhaps Rosario can rate off of Caddo River and press past him in the lane? He rated him going 7f off of his stable mate, Freedom Fighter and did get past him in the stretch but it was a battle. He still is a super talented colt who should be fine with more distance, we should see exactly how much versatility he has on Saturday.
Last Samurai - Aptly named, overmatched colt who is very likely to be last in this group.
Sid Fernando on Rock Your World *
The great bloodstock writer Sid Fernando talks about Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your Work here
*(From the TDN)
Video of the Week