Nunzio,

How's it going. I wouldn't say the contest did ME more harm than good. Overall I would rate it a positive, especially when compared to some of the other stuff that goes on here. There were actual handicapping decisions made, and I definitely got something out of it. A lot of these arguments going on now have very little to do with the contest and more to do with stuff that was going on before, and this would probably be the case even if there was no contest.

I was at Belmont and I really enjoyed it. I was lucky enough to get there early and got a good parking spot and I got right out afterwards too. Nice crowd, and a lot of friendly people.

As for how Belmont handled it, where I was (1st level Clubhouse), you had to get on line right after a race to bet on the next one, and even then you could get shut out (I did once). I checked out some other spots and they were just as bad if not worse.

I would imagine the handle would have been bigger if they had staffed every window in the joint. I saw quite a few empty ones. Overall I give them a passing grade, as I had no problem getting beer. HP