ESPN coverage: What did you think?

[majxmom]

AND they showed Ferdinand's great race, without a word on his ending. Shameful!

[Tucumcari]

Why does everything have to be morbid? We need fans not haters!

[Rokeby Forever]

Do you now realize how crummy a telecast can be without the Beulah Twins?

[Tucumcari]

If I could use the "f"word I would say "_____ the beula twins."
MMMM Laffit. They should have used his pretty face more!!!

[Rokeby Forever]

"_______ the Beulah Twins?" Given the opportunity....I'd give 'em the most exciting two minutes in sports! Shaddap!

[majxmom]

Why does everything have to be morbid? We need fans not haters!

Well, our great sport now has a whole new crop of haters. Read this from a local guy here that takes TBs in:

http://www.tbfriends.com/

[Tucumcari]

But he says it well, you can't save everyone. Some people have a heart and others don't. Owners do not have to give their horses to trainers that have a history of large numbers of breakdowns. Owners don't have to put a horse back in training after several surgeries. Owners and trainers don't have to choose to run on a prestegious day just because they are there to run. They can scratch any time.
Like I said he'd have made a nice show horse.

[majxmom]

What I was disturbed about was the people that he quoted calling for an end to the sport because they all think we just use up a horse and throw it away. A little time spent on TV covering the retirement options for a horse, and showing the outrage people felt over Ferdinand and Exceller might have helped these people understand that many of us make sure all of our horses have a future beyond the racing industry.

[winds]

What people have to also consider, how many other horses ran on that same track or that very yielding turf course and didn't get hurt or broke down. Are you going to deny everyone the chance to run because of the conditions of the track?

Every jockey said the track was safe, even the vet said the track didn't contribute to his break down. When that filly bolted in the turf race my first thought was she bowed, but it was just confusion on her part.

We are now running on artificial surfaces to help protect our horses and they are still breaking down. Unfortunately it's a part of racing, not a nice part, but still it happens.

Don't think that I'm immune to horses breaking down, I've watched many horses breakdown, it still bothers me. I turn away and the tears flow, my stomach is in knots and I can't sleep because of the images. Am I going to let that tear me away from the sport I love, from my love of horses? No. I'll do everything I can to help this sport, even if it's in my own little corner of the world in how I breed my mare. It's not fun riding on the back of an ambulance with a 3 yr old that was one of the soundest horses you had in the barn. The only solace you have is that his injury isn't life threatening. You know his owners will do right by him. But you still hurt. Not right at the moment because you have to make things right for him and you are in nothing but action mode. But at night, when all is said and done, your heart aches. But you continue on because you love the sport, more importantly, you love the horses.

winds

[Tucumcari]

Ugh being in the ambulance is the worst. My last experience was awful for me as she was under my care. Somehow I could have changed it, and yet I couldn't, as it was ultimately not my call. But by the grace of God we saved her. 12 pins and a 10 pin plate later. I could tell you the LONG LONG difficult task it was to save her life, and I don't know how we managed it, so many things against us! Her good mind likely saved her life more than anything me and my staff had done.
Sometimes we push. Some push too hard knowing full well what they are doing. People associated with these horses hurt as well. We are so caught up in them. They are the reason we work tirelessly 7 days a week, 365 days a year, 90 hour weeks, on call incase of emergency 24 hours a day. There are people involved too. and their pain didn't end as quickly as his did.

[jellac]

First of all I didn't see any of Friday's races except for the last one and thought that between the weather conditions on site (Monmouth) and the age/tiny screen size of kitchen TV (only one I can get to work when the resident "clicker genius" is not home) were the reasons coverage seemed a bit 'foggy' and/or grainy. Saturday I was all set to devote the entire 6 hours in company of neighbor across the street - with one of those gigantic flat screen TVs - and a friendly competition to see who could get the most picks that hit the boards with points awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd picks in descending value - BUT seemed it was not to be until the start of the third race and then with near constant interruptions - trust me, ESPN's issues had nothing to compare with mine at home! (The alarm in the garage was going off and the police - who were answering a nearby call were coming to see what was up and that was just the start of it yesterday!)

Guess I'm so starved for serious horse racing on TV I hardly noticed some of the issues you are now discussing but in retrospect here are my comments:

1) It's the Breeders' Cup stupid - so why do we hear/get so little information as to the breeding of these horses?!?!? I think I heard no more than one or two comments as to a horse's breeding in ESPN's coverage - that is other than "Euro" vs. "N.Amercian", with some note of the only "Venezuelan" horse to be entered - but again nothing about that horse's breeding!!! I'd really like to hear more about the generally acknowleged attributes of the sire/broodmare/broodmare's sire as it applies to the entrants- at least those in top consideration.

2) Thank heavens I had the Past Performances in the most recent Bloodhorse and the program from local paper's Saturday AM edition and the complementary program also courtesy of The Bloodhorse - with all of those and minus any Beyers speed figs, etc. I thought it was not that hard to handicap BC Saturday races from Race #3 on thru the Classic - in large measure b/c of the rain/track conditions. At least to my way of thinking , except in cases of extreme class and peaking form (CURLIN) it ought to make a difference in who you bet. So that was what I did - crosssed off almost any horse that had previously run in "Off track" conditions and failed to hit the board vs. horses that had done so....then sifted through the ones with no prior history of off going to see if pedigree, size of feet, manner of appearance in the Post Parade, who they'd previously bested in recent outs, etc. gave any clues as to how they might do. Ginger Punch was the only winner I had all day but I was hitting Place and Show pretty consistently and that limited to no more than 3 picks per race. Very proud of my picks on Idiot Proof and Shamdanan - the French horse under Leperoux (how can you fault a French horse under a French jockey now very familiar with N. American racing who has had previous success in off conditions?), but overall it was a day of rather middling success. I would have come home a net loser if I'd been at the track I'm sure. I did find some of Jerry Bailey's comments/insights helpful (his comment about George Washington's feet being 'teeny tiny' coiming from his jockey was enough for me to change my pick there - very sorry to learn later of his having to be euthanized - RIP Mighty Miler), as were those by the rather nice looking young British commentator(oops! or was he Irish, now that I think about it?! sorry - no intention to offend!). Even some of the interviews with trainers/jockeys held a hint or two for the handicapper (even handicappers with no more at stake than who was buying who dinner). Have to confess I gleaned one or two tips (or confirmed those heard in other quarters) from comments by the orange haired mutton chop guy from England (if you can catch them in his feverish and heavily accented manner of speech - a bit difficult for those of us raised on this side of the Big Pond.). For instance, call me 'late to the party' but it was via the ESPN coverage that I first heard of the potential issue for Dylan Thomas of his not liking the heavy going, due in part to his massive size/weight - which was obvious once the film coverage got to the saddling ring - that horse is warmblood scaled! - but completely at ods with my layman's grasp that the European horses are generally good turf runners and in turf with a significant degree of cut to it. I stayed with him and sentimental fav, Tiago, after giving serious thought to Curlin and Hard Spun but chose to be stupid instead! My neighor had Street Sense already and we were tied in our points system going into the Classic so I saw no reason to share his pick as it would not assure a win for either of us, then decided not to be 'conservative' by picking other favorites despite thinking both Curlin and Hard Spun certainly looked the 'ready' part and were the horses to beat alongside Street Sense. Especially Curlin - he looked just great in the walk up to the Saddling Paddock. Besides there was that issue of the track's condition, nagging at me. Now the Classic was one race where the class of the horses really did tell at the finnish line, track conditions be damned. (No slam to Dylan Thomas - he was just really taken out of his game by how heavy and slippery it was, not to mention running around the oval in the wrong direction, etc. I still say he is a once in a lifetime horse when you consider what he has done.)

3) I happen to like Kenny Mayne - don't ask me why, I can't explain it. Initially he irritated the cr*p out of me, but over the years he's worn me down or won me over or something. He is by nature or assignment (who knows which?) awarded the task of making generally non-stop inane comments about - usually - nothing....the Jerry Seinfeild of N.A. horse racing....and yet, every now and them he comes out with a real gem of offbeat humor in that flat delivery of his that catches someones else offguard (often Hank Goldberg) - or irritates them to death (ofen Hank Goldberg). It used to be Randy whats-his-name that Kenny irritated visibally on air, but he obviously has enough clout/pull to have got a new assignment that includes never having to share air time with Kenny. Net result: he now comes off as kind of dull. And every now and then if you can sort wheat from chaff in all the blather Kenny Mayne will bring up a question about a horse (it's always a potential negative or question about a horse's readiness/fitness/level of class/heart etc.) that the other analysts/commentators seem to be steering clear of in some sort of 'political correctness' gesture towards the horse's owenrs/connections, trainer, jockey or the "powers that be" in horse racing. Who knows? But I happen to appreciate the frankness/honesty, even if it's delivered on the backside of weak at best stabs at his efforts to be a funny guy. I do hate it that he interrupts so badly - seems everyone does that now, the great ingress of "Talk Radio" into what I now deride as "Talk TV" - whereby everyone in front of a camera is intent on 'dissing'/talking over the comments of anyone/whoever is next up on that camera.

I can also deal with Hank though I find I only listen to him with half an ear - not because he doesn't have good handicapping skills/knowlege but b/c I don't think he explains it well. However on that score I was impressed when at one point he had managed to recover to within about $6 of his bankroll after being almost halfway through his $1000 bank. This without having had a particularly stellar day. His point was not doubt lost on many but he was 'managing his bankroll' very well - a skill more of us wannabe handicappers could benefit from learning. I'd like to see Hank coupled with a younger handicapper/analyst to see how the two go after the races at the end of the day - someone with a very different approach to how they manage they're bank. That might draw in a younger crowd and at the same time be more illustrative of how races are handicapped. I think Hank might do better if he had three prepared sentences as to how/why he was betting such and such in a so and so with an overlay. (The graphics to explain what he was doing were in my opinion kind of hard to follow with his chatter.)

4) Jeanine whats-her-name doesn't irritate me as much as she does some of you but she really doesn't add a lot for her ability to get in close to key players. Personally, I'd rather have that Santa Anita analyst: Millie Ball (is that her name?) doing some commentary, especially when there was so much turf racing/turf backgrounded horses in the program - she's very savvy about that aspect of racing to my experience/way of thinking and just as pleasant to look at as Jeanine for those who feel TV must offer up commentary that's kind on the eyes (if she can get that distracting whisp of hair out of her face!).

5) I too think Dr. Bramlage is kind of down to earth and comes off as dry and emotionless - but HELLO - who wants to make life and death decisions based on emotions?!? He's one of the best vets there is for traumatic injury to a racehorse and he doesn't "showboat" it. For that I'm grateful, but realize it's hard for the general viewing public to understand that there are some injuries where there is simply no doubt that the best thing you can do is euthanize the horse as quickly as painlessly/quickly as possible. I thought his repeated point about the blood supply to the foot having been cut off entirely was important. Not every traumatic injury on the track holds out event he slim possibility of success that Barbaro's held out. There's nothing good to come of that sort of injury for the horse and I thought his statement that the trainer concurred just as quickly as he knew of the horse's situation that they must put him down as quickly as possible in a humane way was well taken. OF course I'm part of that generation that was traumatized as a very young girl when one of the major national channels telecast live the dispatch of a badly injured Derby contestant by shotgun on national prime time Saturday viewing. My father spent HOURS trying to explain the wisdom of that horror to two small girls brought up on Disney movies.

[Easy Goer]

... OF course I'm part of that generation that was traumatized as a very young girl when one of the major national channels telecast live the dispatch of a badly injured Derby contestant by shotgun on national prime time Saturday viewing. My father spent HOURS trying to explain the wisdom of that horror to two small girls brought up on Disney movies.

Can you tell me what year this was and what horse? thx.