Bit-- I assume the reference to Ms. Ross went to my earlier proclamation here of undying love (to say nothing of lust), and if anyone wants to see the perfect woman (at least to a guy from ages 18 to about 30), check out the scene with her, Newman, and the bicycle in Butch Cassidy. But the scene between Branagh and Thompson in Hank V is great ("We are the makers of fashion", and "Take me, take a soldier. Take a soldier, take a King"). Goldman is good, but no Willy Shake. And Branagh and Thompson should really get back together, so they can have careers again.

Don't know whether this is true, but I've been told that some of the earlier film version of the play, starring Olivier, was censored (!!!-- this is Shakespeare we're talking about). It came out during or right after WWII, and some of the things Henry says in an earlier speech to get those under siege in a castle to give it up sounded too much like Nazi atrocities-- we'll crush your babies skulls, put them on spits, etc. Which brings us to Richard the "Lion Hearted"-- but that's another story.

Still grinning about LF as Falstaff. And Alydar/JJ has a little Hotspur in him...

SoCal-- Confusing is right, and not a further peep of explanation out of Jake. I have no idea what to make of it, or who actually should get credit for the claim, except I would take with a grain of salt any claims of "sheet connection" in the future. The problem Ragozin had in California (which LF does) back in 03 had to do with having 1 turn races too fast, relative to routes, and that wouldn't hurt them with this one. When I last looked it seemed they had made changes to fix the problem, which LF denied ever having.

CH and Bull-- Friedman and I were very good friends, and went to the track together hundreds of times. He was a very good guy (although a guy who worked for Ragozin for 25 years, since retired, vehemently disagrees with this). When I set up shop in 82, everything changed, and I became the devil. You guys only see what takes place publicly on the two boards, where I can refute allegations, but there was a 15 year stretch before that where some truly unconscionable stuff was directed my way on a daily basis in the field, and as I expressly said when we began this board, one of my aims was to get that stuff out in the open, where I could fight it. It worked-- the down side is that this place at times is a combat zone, but you almost never hear the kind of crap about us now that you saw on a regular basis just a few years ago.

Regarding making up-- a few years ago (I think 99), Len and I met in Union Square Park to discuss some kind of deal between the two companies (think Beckett and Henry II meeting on the plain). The first words out of Len's mouth were that he didn't know if they wanted to do a deal with someone of my "moral character". I calmy (really) asked him to provide me with an example of that character, and he brought up an incident from 1978 when, in Ragozin's office, I charged him a commission for advising on the claim of a horse he had an interest in, rather than giving him a freebie as a friend.

Then, about half an hour later, I informed him that an employee of theirs (Charlie Nebel, one of the ones we later caught on tape) was lying about us, in this case to the producer of the ABC Triple Crown telecasts, saying that we didn't use observers-- that we faked our ground. Len laughed, and said he believed it, Charlie didn't like me. I asked him if he would do something about it, and he said no, he had no interest.

So no, I don't think there will be kissing and making up any time soon.



TGJB