Tuesday Miscellanery

Jay Bergman of the DRF writes a column suggesting ways for Yonkers Raceway and their horsemen to make the Pick 4 a better wagering opportunity, suggesting guaranteed minimum pools is not the long term solution.  In particular, he suggests instead of offering a 20% purse bonus for races restricted to horses that have raced four of their last six races in New York, he poses the idea of using the 20% bonus for races with ten or eleven starters.  There is even one person who responded that came up with an idea to allow ten starters on the gate.  Of course, that assumes the Raceway would be willing to spend money on modifying the track. 

Do you follow the action at The Meadows?  A harness racing fan started a blog on his local Patch offering selections on the Daily Doubles as well as some educational information about the races.  Being the start up cost for such a blog is inexpensive, racetracks should consider taking advantage of this avenue to reach out to gamblers and potential customers. After all, social media comes in many forms.

Auckland Reactor is on his way back to the races after a six month layoff, getting ready to compete in the New Zealand Cup.  His trainer was pleased with his sixth place finish in a 2,600 meter trial (qualifier) won by Sleepy Tripp in 3:21.7 (mile rate 2:04.8) starting in the third tier with a 30 meter handicap, especially since it was his first effort back and the NZ Cup is two months away.  The Reactor is expected to trial once again next Tuesday.  I know some people think Auckland Reactor was over-rated when he had his failed attempt in North America, but I don't believe he had the opportunity to show his best here due to the overly ambitious plans the prior syndicate had for him.

Check Me Out returns to the top spot in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll after falling to second last week.  My question is why she fell out of the top spot in the first place at all?  Granted the 3yo crop is pretty even but even should not be considered weak.  You can't have a monster every year.  This filliy is pretty much living up to the preseason hype.

Andrea Horwath, leader of the NDP party in Ontario is upset that the OLG is talking to Hamilton city officials about a new casino without a public referendum, demanding all talks cease until the Hamiltonians have their say.  My question to Ms. Horwath is if she is so incensed about the way this is being handled, why didn't she bring the government down when she had the chance when the budget was voted on?  A cynic might think she is exhibiting feigned outrage. 

Same goes with PC leader Tim Hudak.  If he was so outraged that what he built (the Slots at Racetracks program) was being destroyed, why didn't his party bring the government down over this issue?  Apparently, he wasn't that outraged over this decision.  I tend to doubt either party would roll back the OLG decision on SAR if they had the opportunity.