Handicapping Insights

HANDICAPPING INSIGHTS

JANUARY 22, 2010

by Dick Powell

It's now official that by a vote of 130 to 99, RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia

d'Oro) is the 2009 Horse of the Year over ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]). We can now go

on with the rest our lives.

I'm not big on awards shows. Not only is it impossible to determine that

movie A was better than movie B, but the subjective process is contaminated by

business agendas. Studios and networks pay a lot of money to schmooze voters or

just spend the most money on advertising campaigns to promote their product's

chances. The fact that "The Wire," the greatest drama ever performed in any

medium, in my opinion, was never even nominated for an Emmy makes me not take

any of them seriously.

All I'll say about Monday night's Eclipse Awards show is that it reminded me

of a Monty Python skit where the winner, David Niven, couldn't attend but

instead sent his fridge. They roll a fridge out on stage with a bow tie on it

and the host, Eric Idle, cries uncontrollably over this "typically selfish

gesture." It's not on Youtube but if you ever get to see it you'll laugh your

head off.

***

Gulfstream Park decided this year to run their turf races at two different

rail positions during the day, which creates an inner and outer turf course. It

is vitally important to know the position of the rail placement but we were left

scratching our heads on Monday for their 5TH race.

That particular event at 1 1/16 miles on the turf was originally scheduled to be

contested on the "inner" turf course with the rail set at 12 feet. However, when

the scratches and changes were announced before the races, we were told that the

rail for the 5TH race was going to be placed at 84 feet.

Luckily for me, later in the day I heard them announce that the rail for the

5TH race would be placed at the original 12 foot distance. There was nothing in the

crawl that lists scratches and changes about where the rail would be placed and there

is nothing on the Gulfstream Park web site that easily indicates the rail

placement. The only way to find out on their web site is not to check their

"scratches and changes" page but their "entries" page.

In the age of simulcasting, where 90 percent of the wagering takes place

away from the track and where many simulcast sites display only video and not

audio of the races, not having the proper rail placement information visually

available is inexcusable; especially so this year with two rail placements per

day to announce.

***

Now let's talk about that great, undefeated female whose name begins with a Z

and ends with an A. No, I'm not talking about Zenyatta, I'm talking about

ZARKAVA (Zamindar).

GOLDIKOVA (Ire) (Anabaa) was voted America's champion female turf horse Monday

night after winning the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) for the second year in a row. As

I have pointed out many times, Zarkava beat her with alarming ease two times in

2008 -- the first time going a mile. Since then Goldikova has won an amazing seven

Group 1 stakes, all going a mile.

Zarkava beat DAR RE MI (GB) (Singspiel [Ire]) by two lengths in the Prix Vermeille

(Fr-G1). This

was the race that Zarkava dwelt at the start and still passed all 11 rivals

while being throttled down at the wire. All Dar Re Mi did this year was win two

Group 1 stakes and then run a terrific third in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1), beaten less than two lengths by repeat winner CONDUIT

(Ire) (Dalakhani).

VISION D'ETAT (Chichicastenango) was beaten about four lengths in the Prix de

l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) when Zarkava handed him his first loss. Vision D'Etat

came back this year to win three Group 1 stakes, including the Hong Kong Cup

(HK-G1) at Sha Tin in December and was recently ranked the highest older,

intermediary distance horse in Europe.

ASK (GB) (Sadler's Wells) was sixth in the Arc behind Zarkava and he came back

this year to win two Group 1 stakes. GETAWAY (Monsun) was eighth in Zarkava's

Arc and he came back to win two Group 1 stakes this year. And, SCHIAPARELLI

(Ger) (Monsun) was beaten 14 lengths by Zarkava in the Arc and he came back to win a

Group 1 and two Group 2 stakes this year.

While we are discussing all-time great female runners, let's not forget

Zarkava.

***

Santa Anita had more problems on Monday with their hybrid, synthetic racing

surface. With heavy rains pelting California, the Pro-Ride racing surface, which

replaced the original Cushion Track, had trouble draining and racing had to be

canceled. With more rain in the forecast, it doesn't look good. Santa Anita has

announced that after the meet there will be a new, undetermined racing surface

put in.

Just like two years ago, when Santa Anita had to cancel a number of racecards

due to drainage problems, Golden Gate Park's Tapeta racing surface,

with the same weather, was able to race and train without interruption. Luckily,

all synthetic racing surfaces are not the same.

***

In 2009, CBS6 in Albany suddenly leaped past its three main rivals to be the

highest rated newscast. After much thought and analysis, the consensus seems to

be that the reason for their success was the fact that they were the first local

television station to broadcast their news in full-screen, high-definition

quality.

What makes this even more interesting is that there was no announcement or

publicity campaign to promote the fact that the CBS6 newscast was in high-def.

But, we all have remotes in our hands and we either gravitate to shows that are

in high-def or while we are channel surfing we tend to stop at the high-def

stations.

For horse racing, we now have internet broadcasts in high definition of

Keeneland, Churchill Downs and Fair Grounds. It is spectacular. And even on

television sets that do not have high definition, the Fair Grounds signal sticks

out with its clarity and brightness against the other signals it is up against

this winter.

The good news for the racetracks that embrace high definition is that they

will be visually superior to their competition and should attract more viewers

and their business. The tracks that have upgraded now have a big head start

against the competition.

The bad news for our industry is until we all broadcast in high definition,

we as a group will pale in comparison to other sports programming and lose

viewers and their business. With just about every other sport broadcast in high

definition, we might as well go to black and white if we are not going to keep

up with the latest technology.