Friday Morning Notes
– Bob Ike finds the Derby picture crystal clear: “This year’s Kentucky Derby winner will be one of the following three horses: BIG BROWN, COLONEL JOHN or PYRO. Period, end of discussion.”
– Big news in the bloodstock world: Auction house Fasig-Tipton will be sold to Synergy, a Dubai-based company headed by an associate of Sheikh Mohammed. “Business will continue as usual,” said CEO Boyd Browning of the deal, before noting there would be changes (Blood-Horse).
– A reminder, in case anyone needs one, that speed figures are subjective.
– The on-track fatality rates reported last month at the Racehorse Welfare and Safety Summit, which initially showed little difference between dirt and synthetic surfaces, have been revised. In updated stats released on Thursday, “the rate of synthetic fatalities dropped 24.6% and the dirt fatality rate increased 3%.”
– With three weeks remaining until the Kentucky Derby, where do the prep results leave us? Dick Powell’s still not on the Pyro bandwagon, but “if it’s a last-man-standing contest, it’s to Pyro’s advantage.”
