A Quiet Sunday Read

While I continue to dig out of the 'Great Flood of 2014' in my home, I found this article from the Hartford Courant which talks about wagering in Connecticut.  I bring it to your attention because the story starts with Charter Oak Park, one of the nation's best race tracks located in Hartford.

Racing resumed this week at Harrah's in Chester this weekend.  Was the track fixed?  Who knows?  What we do know is all the drivers are back.  Unless they got private assurances that the track has been fixed, they are fools for continuing racing there; any mishap which occurs at this point is on the drivers'.


A letter to HRU this week says the PETA issue is overblown.  People get treated with medicine to improve their lives all the time, so what is wrong with a vet giving a horse medicine to improve their lives?  There is a big difference.  Let's start with the obvious answer; the human gives his consent for treatment with these medications.  I have yet to see a horse give their consent to treatment.  Secondly, a person can choose to live with the pain, take time off and improve albeit slowly, or chose those medications.  A horse has no choice and while the best path of treatment may be rest, the horse has no option but be given medication.  The so-called idea of benevolent medicating of the horse is really a question of getting the horse back on the track faster when rest or being retired is the better option for the horse.


Foiled Again wins once again in the Levy.  Why don't they call the Levy Series the Burke series as he won for the second week in a row three of four legs of the race.  The Levy is a perfect example of how Super Trainers, legitimate or not are killing the sport as a wagering game.  Yes, it is the owners who choose their trainers and in a business sense being able to levitate to a trainer of your choice makes perfect sense but when your survival, with slots or not, depends on the end user (the gambler) your choice of  trainers may help kill the sport.  Something needs to be done.  Why can't other trainers compete with these Super Trainers.  I know some will say pharmaceuticals, and there may be a bit of truth to it but it can't be the whole story.