Value Tech Blog

Finally!

 Secretariat stirs controversy – WDRB 41 Louisville – News, Weather, Sports Community
http://www.wdrb.com/story/18761250/bozich-secretariat-stirs-up-controversy-40-years-after-triple-crown

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Secretariat ran the fastest Kentucky Derby in 1973. He backed it up by blazing to another record in the Belmont Stakes five weeks later.

America loved the horse as well as the “Secretariat” movie. But the Secretariat script is still being written.         The only Triple Crown record that Secretariat doesn’t have is the Preakness — at least not yet.
    
That could change, beginning June 19. That is when the nearly four-decade debate about how swiftly Secretariat ran the Preakness will officially resume.

“I don’t want to appear greedy,” said Penny Chenery, who owned the horse at Meadow Farm Stable. “Secretariat’s legacy is strong as it is. But this would truly complete the story.”
  
The Maryland Racing Commission has agreed to review the controversy over the timing of the 1973 Preakness again. The official Pimlico Race Course electric timer credited Secretariat with a 1:55 over the Preakness distance of 1 3/16th miles.

Two timers for The Daily Racing Form immediately checked their stopwatches and questioned that number. They had Secretariat in 1:53 2/5. That would have been a Preakness record, the kind of remarkable number you’d expect the colt known as “Big Red” to deliver.

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Belmont Overnight Ratings Up 13% | BloodHorse.com
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/70483/belmont-overnight-ratings-up-13

Overnight ratings for the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) on NBC soared in spite of the scratch of Triple Crown-hopeful I’ll Have Another, topping last year’s overnight by 13% and the 2010 overnight by 74%. The  overnight rating for the June 9 event was the highest for a non-Triple Crown Belmont since 2005 on NBC.

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Big Attendance, Handle Totals for Belmont Day | BloodHorse.com
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/70477/big-attendance-handle-totals-for-belmont-day

A crowd of 85,811 wagered $13,777,920 on Belmont Stakes day races June 9, the second largest Belmont Stakes day on-track handle ever.

It trailed only the $14,461,402 wagered in 2004 when Birdstone broke the Triple Crown bid of Smarty Jones at Belmont Park.

The on-track handle was also the third largest ever at Belmont, behind only the $14,742,521 wagered on Breeders’ Cup Day 2005 and the 2004 Belmont Stakes day handle. It easily eclipsed the previous non-Triple Crown Day record of $10,581,093 set in 2001 by 30.2% and was up 36.4% over $10,098,573 in 2011.

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Union Rags Early Belmont Favorite | BloodHorse.com
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/70449/union-rags-early-belmont-favorite

With a little more than $39,000 wagered in advance on the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), Union Rags was a slight favorite over Dullahan early June 9.

A total $10,670 had been wagered on Union Rags to win, with $10,468 in the win pool for Dullahan, who was made the revised 5-2 morning line favorite following the stunning withdrawal of Triple Crown contender I’ll Have Another June 8 due to an injury.

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A blow for racing!

I’ll Have Another pulls out of the Belmont – Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/horseracing/13055608-419/ill-have-another-pulls-out-of-the-belmont.html

I’ll Have Another has pulled out of the Belmont Stakes after suffering a leg injury, forfeiting a chance at a Triple Crown, trainer Doug O’Neill told the “Dan Patrick Show” on Friday morning.

The horse was trying to become the 12th horse to win horse racing’s Triple Crown, but a front leg injury has forced the 3-year-old to sit out.

“I’ll Have Another is officially out of the Belmont,” O’Neill told Patrick. “He galloped yesterday and had a little swelling. This morning he galloped and looked fine but the swelling came back.”

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Winning horse racing’s triple is one of toughest feats in sports – BostonHerald.com
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/view/20120608winning_horse_racings_triple_is_one_of_toughest_feats_in_sports/srvc=sports&position=also

The late Woody Stephens, the Hall of Fame thoroughbred trainer, served up plenty of country-fried wisdom during his final years around the barns and tracks..

“You know, it’s funny,” Stephens would say in the days leading into the Belmont. “For a long time, I’ve been hearing about all of these great horses, and their trainers and jockeys. This was finally going to be it—the year a horse would win the Triple Crown.

“All I know is that when you make your way to New York, them buildings get pretty tall once you cross the Hudson River.”

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Belmont Stakes: Dullahan trainer Dale Romans rips New York decision to force all Belmont Stakes horses into same barn – chicagotribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/horseracing/ct-spt-0608-bits-belmont–20120608,0,6451240.story?track=rss

“The barn is ridiculous,” Romans, trainer of Belmont second favorite Dullahan, said Thursday of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board’s required housing for all 12 race entrants. “There’s too many horses in there doing the same things at the same times. There’s too many people in there. There’s three or four people for every horse and then everyone trying to walk in the afternoons and graze. It’s just ridiculous. “They could have found such an easier way to accommodate the horse. I don’t think anybody who set the barn up or made the rules was thinking about the horse.”

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NYRA and the Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers at Belmont Park reach deal, avoiding a strike – NYPOST.com
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/horse_racing/belmont_strike_averted_49xlzuJXfvyg6HUUM95e8O?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Horse%20Racing

Saturday’s Belmont Stakes — where I’ll Have Another has a chance to win horse racing’s first Triple Crown in 34 years — should go off without a hitch now that a contentious labor dispute has been settled.

The Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers had waged a two-year war with the New York Racing Association — which was trying to control soaring overtime and health care costs — and had threatened to strike just days before the historic race.

But Gov. Cuomo called on both sides to hammer out a deal, and federal mediator David Thaler oversaw negotiations until a deal was reached early yesterday morning.

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And that’s how morning lines are made…

With Triple Crown on the line, I’ll Have Another is 4-5 morning-line favorite in 12-horse Belmont Stakes field | NOLA.com

http://www.nola.com/horseracing/index.ssf/2012/06/with_triple_crown_on_the_line.html

ELMONT, N.Y. – This time, for the first time, I’ll Have Another will be the favorite.

I’ll Have Another, who with a victory in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday would become racing’s first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, is the 4-5 morning-line favorite in a field of 12 3-year-olds entered Wednesday for the third jewel of the Triple Crown.

In winning five of seven career starts, I’ll Have Another never was the favorite. He went off at 15-1 in the Kentucky Derby and 3-1 in the Preakness.

“Four-to-five is the price I had in mind as soon as they hit the wire in the Preakness,’’ Belmont Park line-maker Eric Donovan said. “I started with that.’’

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A sad day for racing. I’ve been to Fort Erie, and met with the Ontario Jockey Club, and it is a real first class racing organization and track. 

Fort Erie to close following this season – Thoroughbred Times
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2012/06/06/fort-erie-to-close-following-this-season.aspx

Fort Erie Race Track, home to the middle jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, is preparing to close permanently following the 2012 racing season. Jim Thibert, CEO of the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium’s board of directors, told niagarathisweek.com that discussions at the board’s annual general meeting on Tuesday centered around procedures for closing the 115-year-old track

Posted via email from Michael Pizzolla On ValueCapping™, Horse Racing, And Technology