horseracing

PORTER ON PEDIGREES, by Alan PorterThe Malibu Moon colt Odysseus embarked on what what might be an epic lead-in to a 2010 Triple Crown campaign when he captured the recent Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III).

Paul Pompa Jr.'s D'Funnybone handled a field of 3-year-olds at the same distance and over the same Gulfstream Park strip last month in his season debut, and now the colt is favored to do the same in the $150,000 Swale Stakes

Master Minded became the week's second 'racing certainty' to suffer defeat when trounced by Big Zeb.

Saw Claire Novak’s piece circulating on Twitter that Venezuelan champion filly Bambera would be racing Saturday at Gulfstream Park. The race is the $150,000 Rampart, and it will be the filly’s US debut. An audible was called by her camp after Rachel Alexandra was declared out of the Apple Blossom—the intended target for Bambera  and still a possibility—and instead [...]

Ruby Walsh is not used to being upstaged here by anyone, least of all his little sister, but for a while he had to give way.

There is another scratch in a pick six race at Santa Anita on Wednesday. In the seventh race, an optional claimer over six furlongs, Machismo has been withdrawn. The race is led by Canonize, who is 8-5 on the morning-line.

Christine Daae will try to prove she is worthy of the lofty expectations when she faces a solid field of " that includes graded stakes winners Amen Hallelujah and Devil May Care in the $200,000 Bonnie Miss Stakes

Mr. Fantasy, winner of last year's Withers Stakes (gr. III), makes his comeback after a nearly 11-month layoff March 18 in an optional claimer at Gulfstream Park.

By Ray Paulick Damon Thayer, the Kentucky state senator from Scott County and a Thoroughbred industry consultant, reminds me of the fellow with one foot on a dock and the other on a boat that’s ready to set sail.

Standing with both feet firmly planted on dry land is Thayer’s good buddy, fellow Republican David “Blackjack” Williams, the Senate president who seems bent on destroying Kentucky’s signature industry. Aboard the boat are members of that horse industry, people Thayer worked alongside for years during professional stints at Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky and later with the Breeders’ Cup. The boat is starting to pull away from the dock, and Thayer has to decided which side he’s on, or he’ll wind up in deep water with no one willing to throw him a life preserver.

That’s where Thayer finds himself today, having to choose between doing what’s right for the horse industry and standing up to the big, bad Senate president, or turning his back on his old friends and hiding under his mommy’s skirt.

Thayer, whose ill-conceived and poorly timed constitutional amendment calling for slot machines at Kentucky racetracks was always a non-starter, tried to redeem himself by inserting language permitting pari-mutuel Instant Racing machines in a bill being heard by the Senate State and Local Government Committee that he chairs. The committee approved the language, amending House Bill 368, sponsored by Louisville Democrat Larry Clark. That bill was designed to add a 0.5% tax on advance deposit wagers made by Kentucky residents, but the Senate committee amended it with additional language that could make Kentucky’s simulcast export signal weaker and result in even less revenue for Kentucky’s tracks and horsemen.

The Instant Racing language was added with the blessing of the Senate president, and seven Republicans including Thayer voted for the bill. Then, last night, Williams did an about face, saying the Instant Racing provisions would be removed from the bill by Thayer’s committee or it would not pass the full Senate. (So much for even attempting to disguise Thayer as anything but a puppet of the Senate president.)

Williams indicated that he wants the governor or Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to approve Instant Racing, but what he really wants is for the issue to wind up losing in a court battle, similar to what has happened with Instant Racing in Wyoming and Maryland. The legislative language proposed by Thayer would likely have allowed Instant Racing to overcome a court challenge.

Plain and simple, Williams is trying to set Instant Racing up to fail.

On Wednesday, the Senate State and Local Government Committee declined to take action on the Instant Racing provisions of HB368 because of a lack of consensus.

Where we go from here is up to Thayer and his fellow Republicans. Does the Senator from Scott County have the fortitude to stand up to Williams’ bullying tactics and tell him he is wrong? Instant Racing could be very beneficial to an industry that has been put at an extreme disadvantage by the presence of casino gambling on nearly every border of the state. The efforts that have brought the bill this far represent rare bipartisan cooperation in the Kentucky legislature.

Thayer could emerge a hero to the horse industry by telling Williams he is wrong, and by keeping the coalition together that supported the Instant Racing language in the committee vote.

Or he could end up all wet. It’s his choice.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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THE defeats of Cheltenham Festival hotpots Dunguib in Tuesday’s Spinal Research Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Master Minded’s flop in the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday has resulted in opposition to Kauto Star a

Only a few days after his Senate committee approved a KY horse industry aid bill including Instant Racing, Damon Thayer has withdrawn his bill from consideration. He now prefers that Governor Steve Beshear sign an executive order to bring the popular alternative to slot machines to Kentucky’s racetracks after opposition from anti-gaming groups.

It appears that Senate President David Williams has put the pressure on Thayer to withdraw the bill even after expressing the sentiment that it had bipartisan support.

"There’s still a chance (at passage)," Thayer said. "I just didn’t feel comfortable moving forward in its current form."

It begs the question, what has happened between six days ago when it came out of your committee and today Damon?

Read it at the Blood-Horse

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

Arlington Park, which introduced a season-long membership program on a limited basis last year, has announced an expanded "Arlington Racing Club" for 2010 with three different packages designed to offer an individual or family significant savings.

SONEVA, who last month won the third Group 3 race of her career at the Dubai Carnival on her first start for trainer Marco Botti, has been retired to the paddocks after finishing well beaten on Super Thursday at Meydan.

Champion Rags to Riches, winner of the 2007 Belmont Stakes (gr. I), delivered a Henrythenavigator colt March 17 in Ireland, where she is scheduled to be bred to Coolmore stallion Galileo.

Eleven horses have entered Saturday's Florida Derby, though the post-position draw won't be until...