Wednesday will be a mandatory live appearance for Richiebee at Aqueduct. Twice a
year, Mrs Richiebee flies back to the old country. We go through the same routine
each time, with me graciously offering to sit with my wife in the terminal at
JFK for 3 hours awaiting boarding and my wife even more graciously allowing me
to leave right after she gets checked in.

Which should allow me to arrive at the Big A in time for race 4, the first of 3
CONSECUTIVE maiden races. The 4th is your basic MSW NYB for 2YOs. The 5th is an
open Maiden claimer for 2YO fillies which attracted a field of 11, which includes
6 NY breds and a Colorado bred.

The 6th race is an open MSW for 3 and up. Among the firsters in the field is
Ever Shifting, a Darley owned runner by Tale of the Cat. Ever Shifting was
purchased at a 2YO in training sale for 5.2 MILLION dollars, meaning that he was
probably able to "breeze" 1/8th of a mile in 10 or so seconds.

$5.2 MILLION for ONE animal. Consider, if you will, that the State of New York
recently extended the SS NYRAtanic a $30 million loan so that the 2000 or so
horses stabled at Aqueduct and Belmont can continue to have a roof over their
head and a place to race.

On Tuesday, the Navy will once again try to free the USS Intrepid from its muddy
berth in the Hudson River; the Navy will be assisted by the Army Corps of
Engineers, the Coast Guard, my pals at McAllister Towing and the highest tides
of the year.

New York racing is also stuck in the mud, sinking under the weight of two
obsolete facilities, an apathetic state government and the possibility that a
lot of issues will be tied up in federal courts for many years to come.

The key to Tuesday's attempt to free the Intrepid will be that all parties will
be pulling TOGETHER, trying to utilize favorable tidal conditions to free the
Intrepid from the muck.

The factions involved with NY racing have spent years pulling in different
directions; the resulting current state of New York racing is alarming and
shameful, and like the Titanic and the Intrepid and other huge ships, is not
capable of being turned around quickly.