Absolutely.

That is why I like Paul Lo Duca the best. All business all the time, even with all the clowning going on around him.

Todd is the guy that needs to be replaced. The next time he says "for reals" he should be fired. Simon would be much better without that dipwhit as well.

Would anyone miss Todd if he left? I'm pretty sure the answer is no.

I tuned into TVG briefly earlier and that guy didn't shut-up from the time I started watching till I switched channels :D. In fact he kept yapping into a race in progress drowning out the track announcer. He apologized.
There has to be better TV host on some street corner somewhere in the country that at least knows when to shut the f--k UP !!

Notwithstanding Gino's lamenting of losing tickets, what horseplayer doesn't biatch about losing a bet?
And this notion that somehow the guy "hasn't paid his dues" is poppycock..
So Gino hasn't spent years plugging away in nasty OTB parlors makes him unqualified to have an opinion?...

I concur..Part of being a commentator is knowing when to let the pictures do the talking.

I'm just saying that's how a lot of horseplayers think...they don't want to hear from someone who hasn't been thru the wars like they have.

I have read many postings here about how bad TVG and/or HRTV are.

Yes, they could do things better BUT......

I remember many days in the 1970s and 1980s my dad and I betting with
a bookmaker during the winter months:

1. Seeing no races.
2. Seeing no odds.
3. Not knowing track condition changes.
4. Standing in the brutal cold waiting for the "Bulldog" edition of the local
newspaper to be delivered to an all-night diner to get the days results.

I will take TVG all day long.

PS Brittney is really cute.....leave her alone.

Love your attitude my man. Aces in my book.

I like Gino and appreciate his enthusiasm. He and Britney were a cute, fun, young pair this morning on TVG and the guy does love to bet, especially my beloved Delta Downs.

And fwiw you all do know he's a cancer survivor, right? I think that's pretty great, especially for someone my age. http://thesecondrace.blogspot.com/20...horse-for.html

I agree, if you're bashing on Britney, you gotta recheck that hetero card. :D

As far as taking TVG, sure, we all want TVG as opposed to nothing, but wouldn't TVG be better if they took gambling more seriously? We're not even asking them to pick winners, just stop the clowning around.

I enjoy TVG as an exclusive horseracing network, but some of the announcing unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. I think its obvious which are better then others when it comes to the delivering the finer points about a given race. What I find annoying is when they show prior race re-runs during the pre-race discussions in an attempt to prove a point that more often then not means absolutely nothing.

I’ve already written to the principals of the NYRA and to TVG about following the lead of racing in Hong Kong. They’ve really got their act together. And why not they’re only betting a 1/4 of a BILLION (Hong Kong) Dollars every day they run. There’s especially no excuse for TVG not to follow their format – after all they’re the network airing the Hong Kong races where the on site announcers keep it simple, to the point and add basic horse physicality to every race. Beyond that the Hong Kong Jockey Club offers free past performances and access to the tote board. For me its like betting on BC or Derby day every time they run: Big fields and of course good value!
.

Interesting you say this because i had someone tell me recently that there's a "difference" between the Sha Tin commentators and those doing the races from the far east. You're right, other than Maggie in NY, there's nobody talking about this type of stuff, true horsemanship type of comments, they're all about forcing pick 9's and pick 11s in your face, you got commentators who are based in one region of the country and are an expert on a certain circuit and yet, those people would be recommending a "pick 17" at a track 2,562 miles away....i don't mind recommending a play, but not THIS:

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=71604

we might have to adjust what it means to pay your dues since we've list 95% of the otbs locally over the past 5 years. We are down to 2 after having 3x that a few years ago

the tvg on air personalities at times make me switch to hrtv.Their commentary is more geared to the informationalaspects of the game and very rarely do they give out selections during the running of the races.They have shows on in the morning where certain hosts offer their best bets of the day....HRTV is less schtick...and more content

you make a few excellent points, mainly the free past performances and all the other information that you get just by visiting the Hong Kong website. over there they own all the data, in our country equibase owns it and charges for it. even when you get free past performances from adw's, the adw still has to pay.

i doubt if equibase wants to sell their data base to cheap, they have the monopoly on that. at some point when racing does really go even more backwards, some race track operator will buy them out and build up racing once more.

this game is at a point where the people that work in it only care about getting their paychecks on friday, and all the middlemen that make money from this game without any skin in it.

i happened to watch the live feed from Laurel yesterday and saw the lady Gabby run through a race. she commented on how the horses look and the past performance of the horse. i thought she was pretty good. but it was the very first time i ever watched her. maybe what i did like was that she had said some negative things about a horse that i was going to bet, it stopped me from making the wager and the horse ran dead last. i am going to listen to her all day today and see if i it was just a stroke of luck or real.