Breeders’ Cup president Craig Fravel:
I would love to see the industry create a venture capital fund to nurture new technologies directed at racing and gaming and in so doing utilize the expertise of the many talented people with experience in those areas who own and love horses.
Capital isn’t the only obstacle to innovation in the industry, though. Social gaming bonus points for all involved if unfettered access to Equibase data for the purpose of development were part of any incubator or fund.
Posted by JC in Industry on 09/28/2011 @ 12:01 pm / Tagged #freedata, Breeders' Cup, Good Ideas, Innovation, Technology, Venture Capital / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Farewell to the rivalry for this year:
While Blind Luck’s rival Havre de Grace will likely use the Beldame as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) against males, Hollendorfer said there is no way his filly will run in that race.
“I’m not running her in the Classic,†he said. “I don’t believe in that. If others want to do it, God bless them. If we win the Ladies’ Classic, that’s plenty good for us.â€
Farewell to Horse of the Year, too.
9/22/11 Addendum: About HOTY, Hollendorfer? Hovdey inquires. “If I did the right thing for my horse, I’d say that nothing would make a difference.”
9/29/11 Update: Interesting — the rivalry could resume in 2012. According to their connections, both fillies are expected to race as 5YOs.
Posted by JC in Racing on 09/21/2011 @ 2:16 pm / Tagged Blind Luck, Distaffers, Havre de Grace, HOTY, Rivalries / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Dick Powell on the Lasix debate:
But rather than ban it, I think we should mandate it.
Nearly all Thoroughbred race horses bleed. If you think we can breed our way out of this by separating the horses that bleed from those that don’t and breed a new racehorse that doesn’t bleed and doesn’t need Lasix, you would have to ban it in training as well which nobody wants to do.
And, how do you explain banning it to the animal rights activists that view our sport as being cruel and inhumane? …
Or, as trainer Rick Violette has said:
“Horses bleed. That is a fact. To force an animal to race without it is premeditated, borderline animal abuse.”
Arguing that a Lasix ban is abusive raises the question — if it’s inhumane to race horses without a drug, then isn’t it inhumane to race horses at all? If horses need a drug to mask the conditions in which they’re bred, trained, and raced, then shouldn’t the focus be on changing those conditions?
I don’t have answers; I merely ask.
Posted by JC in Racing on 09/20/2011 @ 9:30 am / Tagged Lasix / Follow @railbird on Twitter
