I have to say I've never seen a worse jockey colony at any major racing circuit than the group assembled at Del Mar this year. What jockey can you bet on in So. Cal. and feel confident about? It's a shame for the owners trainers [i]and gamblers.[/i] You put in all that time and effort and money, and you're all ready for a top result, and then, say, Mike Smith feels like pulling the horse up and there you go. He seems to do on about 1/3 of his mounts these days by the way. Really amazing.

To contrast, Saratoga has about 10 jockeys I would say are among the best in the world, and on any given race you get one of those riders.

Del Mar's turf course is closed today by the way, something about it being unsafe. The poly is a no passing zone with track records falling in every race, too. Couple that with payoffs that are so low on exotics you'd think someone was hacking into the computers (again). Check out Thursday's pick four payoff (22.40, 33.60, 18.00 and 9.20 for 1900!). It's almost like you just can't play Del Mar for any reason, ever. Really sad what's happened out there.

I'm not venting here: what I see at Del Mar is borderline criminal. And I'd love to talk to a trainer who uses Smith and examine his thought processes. What was he doing on Soi Phet yesterday? I know, maybe the horse was no good and no one was beating Fed Biz. I get that, but he's inside with speed on a track that has favored speed on a surface which the horse loves, and he decides to grab the horse and try to stalk? You don't even try to get the rail and the lead, not even for a quarter mile? Seriously? It's like a movie where the jock is stiffing the horses because some guy named Tony has threatened to break some bones. Can he really just be that bad of a rider???