Don't know why all the concern over the fractions and final times in
yesterday's Blue Grass. As Pat Day said repeatedly, "Time only matters if you
are in prison." I guess if you are interested in brilliantly fast times you will
have to go watch quarterhorses--or a 2YO in training sale.

I watched the BG yesterday without wagering. Actually a great race, a great
finish, with the top 3 all fully extended at the wire. Zanjero appeared to have
the lead for a brief instant. The top 3 showed the kind of gameness a racing fan
loves to see.

If I fancied the 2YO champ in the Derby, I saw nothing in yesterday's 1/2 mile
poly workout that would discourage me. He is a hard trying colt with a competent
handler and a big win (bias aided or not) at CD.

After the race, my immediate thought was that Hard Spun probably could have won
this race, on the lead, against the polyester bias. The plans for this colt seem
to change each day, but if HS tanks in the Derby, owner Porter might second
guess himself and say, "Gee, I could have won the Blue Grass and the Preakness."

Poly track will prove not to be a panacea; as I have said in the past it is only
dressing for a wound caused by a lack of competent trainers, a lack of competent
track superintendents, and a gene pool which has been stretched like a rubber
band.

If you read Crist's editorial in DRF, nobody is really interested in
resurrecting Racing, in NY or anywhere else. Our future as racing fans is
probably in our living rooms, watching races from the 10 or 15 racetracks which
survive in the US (optimistic view) plus racing from European and Asian venues.

Ironic that in 15 years, 2 old time racing fans will be playing VLTs at a
facility which used to host live Racing, saying that the spread of synthetic
surfaces killed Racing. This will not be the case of course. Poly just happened
to come along at a time when the Greeders, the Cheaters and the corrupt and
apathetic politicians had already begun to lower the coffin into the grave.

Bottom line-- no cogent future planning for Racing = no Racing in the future.