Why R.I.P. Racing?

By Jude T. Feld

Craig Bandoroff, master of Denali Stud in Kentucky, wrote a Blood-Horse worthy piece for their Final Turn segment. It is well worth reading if you haven’t already.

http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/finalturn/archive/2008/07/01/It-Isn_2700_t-Dead-Yet.aspx

So much that you read and hear about racing is negative but just like the rest of the news, the nice things that happen don’t pay the bills. Here are a few more positives:

Kentuckysoldierboy attracts 40 people to Churchill Downs on a Thursday afternoon to watch him make his racing debut in a $50,000 maiden claimer. The syndicated beast finishes second and is then promoted to the victory by the stewards after being knocked sideways by the first-place finisher at the eighth pole. The crowd goes wild when the $60 mutuel pops up on the tote board and almost every syndicate member gets their first victory as an owner.

Coolmore’s nearly $5 million bid for Milanova breaks the Australian record for a Thoroughbred sold at auction.

Congo Kaye makes her racing debut in the Juan Gonzalez Memorial Stakes at Pleasanton, a California Fair racetrack. She is left at the post and makes an Arazi-like charge to win going away. The daughter of Congaree was a $45,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase and after several inquiries to buy the filly, her trainer, John Anderson, reportedly turned off his cell phone when the offers had escalated to a cool half-million.

Ellis Park will open for racing after all and horseplayers will be able to bet on the Summit of Speed races from Calder Race Course – both situations were odds-on not to happen last week.

It would be wonderful for Bandoroff to keep posting all the positives he encounters in racing as a rebuttal to all the neigh-sayers. It could be called, “Craig’s List.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 9:14 am and is filed under Featured Articles. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.