Month: November 2021

As I type this, it is 2:00 a.m. local time. I simply cannot sleep, due to the ******** in the last race at Del Mar. I was one of many who not only had the 1 in the last leg of the Pick 5, but also had the 2.

I have been at this racing game for 43 years, and today was the last straw. I will be firing off several e-mails tomorrow, as i have decided I will not be attending my local track to play the Breeders' Cup Day 2 races, betting real money. I do not expect anything to change, but I will be asking prominent figures in racing to please take a stand for the bettor, do what you can. I have followed The Paulick Report for many years, and realized me firing off my e-mails tomorrow will mean little to those that will receive them. But notable figures like yourself, may make them at least consider their incompetence.

I will find another hobby, like sports betting, to quench my thirst, but I am through with the crap that goes on with racing. My mentor in racing 43 years ago once told me : If you can't win when you win, how in the hell can you win when you lose??? I truly feel like i was robbed yesterday, and I am done with this crap.
—Scott Schmid, former horseplayer

Good summary of events, but it misses the real problem. People who had Modern Games in the horizontal wagers had their pick changed to the post-time favorite, who didn't win. So people who hit the Pick 4 and Pick 5 with Modern Games in the last race ended up losing because of the substitution.

Even if Modern Games had remained a scratch, people would have had that pick as well changed to the (presumably losing) post-time favorite. That substitution rule is the real abomination in all this, not the “purse-money-only” rule.  Modern Games should have remained on those P4, P5 and P6 tickets.
—Dave Fox, horseplayer

One of the mindsets that needs to change within horse racing brass (i.e., racing commissions, stewards, track officials, etc.) is the absolute disregard for the betting public. I've been around the game for a long time, having pioneered the “simulcast” initiation in the Atlantic City Casino industry in the early 1990s and had been involved with owners/trainers socially even before that. One thing has always stood out — their “looking down their noses” toward “lay” people and/or betting public. You know, the people that actually create these parimutuel pools by virtue of wagering their money. I can assure you, they don't care what we think much less if we are treated fairly or not. It just hasn't ever really mattered.  I won't bore you with specific instances, ridiculous conversations with administrative or regulatory personnel, but believe it or not I have witnesses to conversations I've had with what I would call, limited capability regulatory personnel.

For the record, the debacle in the 2021 Juvenile Turf was caused by, yet again, a breakdown in communication along with a decided lack of focus on a world stage by a veterinary staffer, who just dropped the ball. You don't drop the ball like that, just like you don't allow someone with limited knowledge make decisions about when or if a professional rider should/could use a crop. This crap, like in New Jersey, where a “figurehead activist” is given the reins (pardon the pun) to head the NJ Racing Commission. As I predicted, that ruined a graded stake — this time, the 2021 Haskell with Hot Rod Charlie being disqualified.

I could go on and on but it seems the industry will continue to put players DEAD LAST in terms of the level of service we deserve.  We don't get nearly enough informative information as well and a colleague of mine had to request that DRF should give us “gelded dates” as well, which they finally decided to do. We have a lot more suggestions for the industry as well…they just don't care. They just don't get it. Taking a page or two from the casino industry's book wouldn't hurt these pompous ***** a little bit, in my opinion.

In a perfect world, they wake up but I won't be holding my breath.
—Michael Tabasco, horseplayer, Thoroughbred racing watchdog