Happy Holidays
… and best wishes playing the Pick 6 carryovers awaiting us Friday. See you all in 2009!
Intriguing
From Jennie Rees’ Courier-Journal blog:
Hayward also detailed how strives [sic] are being made minimizing the dysfunction that occurs in New York with the off track betting corporations being separate from NYRA and each other. While he didn’t indicate NYRA might actually own the OTBs some day, he said there is an initiative to streamline into one state-wide tote contract, one account wagering platform, etc.
Pay-to-Play
12/10/08 Update: More on the alleged pay-to-play scheme involving a horseracing bill this morning — “I’m shocked, disappointed and befuddled,” said Lanny Brooks, executive director of the Illinois HBPA. “This is a bill that we had every expectation would be signed within a week or two.” Also being reported — “before signing the bill, the U.S. Attorney’s office charged Tuesday that the governor wanted $100,000 campaign contribution, reportedly from a racetrack owner.” No confirmation on that last detail.
—
As if the story of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich being arrested on corruption charges wasn’t juicy enough, there’s a small horseracing angle. From the Justice Department news briefing on the case:
A second example [of pay-to-play] is legislation that is pending concerning horseracing. There is a bill that I believe sits on the governor’s desk that would take money from casino revenues and divert a percentage of it to horseracing tracks. While this was pending, the interceptions show that the governor was told that one person who he was seeking to have raise $100,000 also was working with a person who was seeking that money to have a bill pending.
And the governor was told that the person who wanted that bill — from whom they wanted money — was told the following: that he needed to get his contribution. And the quote was, “Look, there is a concern that there is going to be some skittishness if your bill gets signed because of the timeliness of the commitment,” closed quote. Then the person told the contributor, the money, quote, “got to be in now,” closed quote.
And when the governor was told this part of the conversation, his response was, “Good.”
Shortly thereafter, the person who was trying to get the contribution from the person who had the bill pending suggested that the governor call the person directly, that it would be better to get the call personally from the governor, quote, “from a pressure point of view,” closed quote, and the governor agreed.
As we sit here now, as far as we know, that bill sits on the governor’s desk.
The bill, which grew out of an earlier bill mandating casinos share revenues with the state racing industry and would release $80 million from an escrow fund to racetracks, passed the Illinois legislature last month. “[State Rep. Jay Hoffman] said Gov. Rod Blagojevich has always been supportive of the horseracing industry and he expects the governor will sign the bill” (Belleville News Democrat). Sounds like Blagojevich would have been happy to do that, at a time convenient for “Contributor 1.” (And who could that have been?)
Related: Ray Paulick catches readers up on the racing roots of Illinois corruption.
Forbidden
NYRA canceled race nine on Sunday due to darkness following a lengthy gate delay the race before. Not that officials had much choice. According to the New York Daily News:
Even had NYRA officials deemed the light suitable for one more race, a state law forbidding races after sundown meant no race could be run yesterday after 4:29.
Anyone know the original reason for the law, which seems awfully outdated? Leave a comment …
Kelso at Aqueduct
Kelso, center, with Never Bend to the left and Crimson Satan to the right. Photo by George Silk (LIFE).
The caption on this undated photo, found browsing the LIFE archive now on Google (via), is simply “Kelso Horse,” but the picture is almost certainly of the 1963 Woodward Stakes, then held at Aqueduct, which Kelso won by 3 1/2 lengths as the 1-4 favorite. It was his third win in the Woodward (Kelso would finish second by a nose to Gun Bow in 1964) and his eighth victory of the year; in 1963, Kelso not only won the Woodward, but the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Whitney, Suburban, and Gulfstream Handicap, going 9-for-12 and earning a fourth straight Horse of the Year title.
A crowd of 50,234 was at the Big A to see the famous gelding face a small, but deep, field that included two juvenile champions (Never Bend, second, and Crimson Satan, third) and 1961 Kentucky Derby winner Carry Back (fourth), who was then fourth on the all-time earnings list. Kelso was second (the retired Round Table led with more than $1.7 million in purses) and this Woodward marked the first time two horses with earnings of more than $1 million met on track.
The race was run much as expected, with Never Bend the pacesetter and Kelso taking over at the 3/16 pole. “Speed to spare,” reads the chart. According to the NYT, “When Kelso was guided by Valenzuela into the lead … he was hailed by a steady flood of applause … the cheers were steady and spontaneous, unlike the shrieking and hysterical shouts that are offered up to a pure betting representative.” That must have been something to hear.
A few other striking photos from the archive: Seabiscuit, after winning the Santa Anita Handicap, Busher, “having ankles strapped,” and trainer Sunny Fitzsimmons, “sadly gazing at racehorse Nashua.”
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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