Horseracing-Insensitive?NOT!

[superfecta]

I see my local track has carded races this week,in spite of what has happened.It may be insensitive to some folks,but I believe if you cower to terrorism,the terrorists win.In New York,they have better things to do now than race horses,but everwhere else needs to press on.

[smf]

Agreed. The sooner things get back to a 'routine' the better we're off as a country.

[PMian]

I agree totally, we must not let the terrorists win. I am a New Yorker and let me tell you that New York needs its diversions as much as any other place in the world right now. The people in this city are on edge. Thursday morning I was in Macy's when a bomb threat apparently came in. The panic inside that store was obvious. People were throwing whatever they had picked out onto the floor and running for the door while employees were yelling to get out of the store. Those who know would recognize this as very atypical behavior for New Yorkers, and yet altogether understandable when all there is to talk about, think about is what happened Tuesday.

[Tom]

They apparently tried again last night at NY airports.
I think I am just going to avoid large crowds for a while.
No telling how many of the sub-humans are out there running around. With the threat of war on their people,
no telling what they might do-they think they are fighting a Holy War (they are -they follow Satan himself
and the civilized world is going to take them down).
Good time to work on my database and update my speed figs. And read all the newspapers I have bought this week.
Tom

[PaceAdvantage]

Racing was canceled at Belmont on Saturday and Sunday.....

[Tom]

Finger Lakes jockeys refuse to ride
By DRF STAFF
Racing was cancelled Friday at Finger Lakes Race Track when replacements could not be found for a group of jockeys who refused to ride in deference to the recent hijakced airliner attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
"Some of the jockeys didn't want to ride, they are upset at the situation (in New York and Washington, D.C.). They asked not to ride and there were not enough riders to complete the program," said Chris Riegle, President and GM of Finger Lakes.

Finger Lakes raced last on Monday, cancelling programs on Tuesday and Thursday.

Riegle was hopeful racing would resume at the western New York State track on Saturday.
********************************************

This was on DRF.com tonight. Never again will I ever say a bad word about a jock at FL.

Tom

[Lefty]

I think the FL jocks set a bad precedent. We can grieve
we can worry, but we should not wallow in it. Time to
be strong and carry on. I understand only reason
Belmont not racing is govt. using it as a "staging" area
for rescue operation.

[PMian]

Gentlemen,

I understand that you are upset with what has happened over the last few days. We all are. What I am not sure I understand is this. By not riding on Friday, what was improved? Did the situation substantially improve because of your actions? Why not take your feelings and turn them into something positive? On another racing forum I recently proposed that the racing community get together and try to make something positive out of our feelings of hurt and sorrow.

I propose that all of the horse racing community; the owners, the trainers, the jockeys, the state racing boards, the track owners, the OTB providers, everybody, unite and create a fund that would come from some very small percentage of all of the money that changes hands at tracks across the country for the next few weeks or so. Use that fund to help clean up the mess, to help those who have lost and to help those who have helped.

I believe in this way we can not only go forward, we can emerge from this tragedy a little stronger, a little more united. Nothing could be more frustrating to those who peretrated this heinous crime against humanity than to see us getting stronger and more united as a nation, as a people. Let us look forward to a better way not backward to an old way.

[Tuffmug]

Crist took cheap shot at racing in DRF editorial. Compared racing to casinos. So I ask you, what's wrong with casinos?
Crist is a big time gambler yet acts like gambling is evil or something. He goes to races to win money yet is moaning that racing showed they are not a sport by not closing down everywhere this week. What a hypocrit!

Too many people are wallowing in self pity, anger, frustration, and fear. Let's get on with life!
I will never be as sensitive as some people but I don't ask or require the sensitive to be like me. If you want to cry go ahead but don't require me to cry with you!

The sooner we all get back to living the better! Bravo to the tracks that chose to continue in the face of adversity. They spit in the eyes of the terrorists and refused to be terrified!

Some whining pukes will label the tracks insensitive and chastise them for staying open and making money. Yet those same hypocrits probably went to work and made their daily bread now didn't they!

[ceejay]

Let's keep in mind here that different people will react differently to the disaster.

In considering the FL jockeys actions remember that Fri was a declared a national day of prayer and remembrance. If the jock's did not feel comfortable riding, I respect that.

I know that it was a different order of magnitude, but I was about 5 miles from the OKC bombing when it happened and felt the blast. I had clients and colleagues a block away. We all reacted differently. If my office were 4 blocks from the WTC (like DRF's is) I might (and probably would) feel like Steve Crist. That does not make him a hypocrite. Rather, it just makes him human.

[PMian]

I have always been a a big Steve Crist fan from the years he spent writing for the NY Times. I was very excited when he took over the Form and I think that for the most part his influence there has been very positive. Sure, they have made mistakes, some things haven't worked out as well as we would have liked, but in all I think it is a far superior paper compared to earlier products. If you don't agree, maybe you should try to get your hands on one of the papers they published for this weekend. Opening today's form is like taking a time machine back to 1985. Understand, then that I am writing not as a basher but as a supporter.

In this case, I believe the Steve was wrong. As I have stated previously on this and other forums, I believe that what we are dealing with here is the ghost of Pete Rozelle Past. Baseball announced it was postponing games until Friday, then the NFL announces that this weekend's games will not be played. Baseball's response is immediate, if Football won't be played this weekend, Baseball won't either. So now Steve steps up and says that racing has missed an opportunity by not joining this game of can you top this. He then goes on to denigrate this game that we love by saying that it has performed no better than casinos in this instance, implying that racing is bending to nothing more than the degenerate need to gamble whatever the circumstances.

I have to say that I am not certain the Steve totally believes everything he wrote. There must have been some pressure applied, whether it was from external or internal forces I can not say, to try sound concerned with the so-called big picture. That is all well and good but his criticisms are unfair on at least two levels. First, if he thought it wrong to run these races and bet on them, why publish the Form at all. Why abet what you think is a mistake. Certainly the hardship of the offices being in a closed off area of NY would have absolved the DRF of any contractual requirements. Second, if gambling is wrong at this time, then why is only racing being expected to stop. As Steve points out, casinos go on doing their business, and if the State of New York views it as an inappropriate activity during this time, and I am not saying that they do, then why do they still sell Lottery tickets? So if the government doesn't view this as harmful during this time of mourning and, hopefully, healing, why are we subjecting ourselves to yet another round of self abuse?

As I have suggested elsewhere, racing does have an opportunity here. Not an opportunity to skulk along in the shadows of the big boy sports leagues but a chance to do some real, positive good. Set up an industry wide fund, take a very small percentage from all the money that changes hands at race track and off track betting facilities and earmark it for healing the wounds of this past week. In exchange for free admission, collect food at the tracks to send to the people made homeless. Raise money to help the victims, raise money to help clean up the mess of this past week. Then when we look back on this period, racing can say we didn't just sit back and play it safe, we made a difference.

[Tuffmug]

PMian,

Good post and good suggestions! The world did not stop turning on it's axis on Tuesday. We must not stop living!

I also applaud the improvements that Crist has brought to DRF. I do not condemn the man but only his ill thought out editorial. He is not, as I misstated, a hypocrit. That is a label which I regret using. Such labeling is the source of much human misery.
His argument was hypocritical. I must acknowledge his ability to be fallible and misguided as I do also acknowledge my own faults.

[tanda]

There are many good reasons why sports should have continued (as long as logistically possible) on Saturday or earlier.

There are many good reasons why they should have not.

Regardless, it is the majority opinion in the public that events should not have continued. There is no right or wrong answer to how each of us should react or grieve. However, most people who are aware of racing on Wednesday did not approve of it.

Thus, it was a public relations mistake. A promoter of a sport shpould be concerened with not offending the public, even if the offensive act is justified by many good reasons. And even if the public's opinion is wrong.

[MikeH]

Churchill Downs Inc. is collecting employee donations for the Red Cross and matching them $$ for $$...

[takeout]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PMian
[B]First, if he thought it wrong to run these races and bet on them, why publish the Form at all.

Exactly. I also found it odd, in light of the editorial, that DRF never ceased to put out a product. And, a very incomplete one at that.

[Tom]

Originally posted by takeout
[QUOTE]Originally posted by PMian
[B]First, if he thought it wrong to run these races and bet on them, why publish the Form at all.

Exactly. I also found it odd, in light of the editorial, that DRF never ceased to put out a product. And, a very incomplete one at that.


And he still charged the full $5.00 for it!

Tom

[HorseLady]

I got the luxury to see the DRF PPs today (for tomorrow's races at Deleware and Meadowlands). They are very very different. I had to print them for a friend who handicaps for a newspaper (busted printer). As he looked at them, the first thing he mentioned was that they look just like quarterhorse PPs. It's tough the Daily Racing Form in my area right now, so I just took the $3 daily plan for the PPs.

I am quite amazed at how much is missing though and why they bother to put them out.

[Tom]

I wonder if they will extend monthly/quarterly subscriptions by 1-2 weeks, depending on when they start up with a full "paper" again?
Reminds me right now of the old Morning Telegraph, but that was $0.50. They should look into contingency plans for the paper-that is really common practice in most businesses. I can't even download the stripped down versin from the web page, so I am buying BRIS files for now, but that might be permenant depending on how they handle this down time.
Tom

[HorseLady]

I prefer BRIS PPs over DRF, but my friend refuses to use BRIS PPs, so I had to download the DRF PPs.

I tend to have better (bettor) results at the track when I use the BRIS Ultimate PPs than when I use the program or DRF PPs. The little tidbits of info they provide just give me that extra kick I guess.

I guess I should pick up the BRIS PPs since I'm heading to Belmont for the re-opener on Wednesday.