Re: Betting Coup? That's rich... (499 Views)
Posted by:
TGJB (IP Logged)
Date: September 22, 2005 01:57PM
Hoarse--
1-- First of all, I agree with you, transparency should be paramount, whether we are talking about racing or government. The intended goal-- serving the public-- should really be the goal. And this extends all the way into properly dealing with the move-up trainers. If racing thinks they have a scandal now, just wait until somebody gets in trouble and starts singing.
2-- Having said that, the weight business is probably going on all the time, which is not to say it should. I've told the story here before about how Brandon Simpson, as a leading bug rider in the late 70s or early 80s, would ride at Pha at 109 in the afternoon, then be overweight and only make 115 every night at Meadowlands. The clerk of scales at Pha eventually moved to another track, and a week later Simpson went to the same place.
3-- All that aside, I want to point out the AMAZING hatchet job the Daily News did on NYRA in their editorial about this today. They called for selling off NYRA, just as they did after the February scandal and the earlier stuff, and dredged up all that crap all over again. They of course did not point out that NYRA itself called the cops.
I'm really interested in who is pulling the News' strings. Wonder if it was the same outfit that sent the anonymous letter to Spitzer asking him not to let NYRA off.