If God is watching, I wonder who he likes to fill out the super.

Oh my goodness.

well, that's all well and good, but what has any of that to do with eight belles?

In my heart He has a fav. But the Devil is in control of this game and it must be wrested away from his followers. There are great people in this game , that together, can do this. The sport will be so much better off for it. Real opportunity for all exists in a clean game.

g nite

pass the collection plate, sir.

I agree Hoss. Every thread, no matter the topic, ends with some ridiculous holier than though poly or drug rant. Its tiresome at best and borders on insanity.

It's getting crazier and crazier by the post too.

yeah, but i'm guilt free sleeping in on sundays.

Personally I think that this a terrible idea. Racing only makes it on to national TV a handful of times a year. Now on one of these days you are going to have a panel discussion on everything wrong and bad in the sport. They should be showing live races and promoting the game, the races, horses and people involved to the audience and any new possible fan base that is watching. Try to sell the sport and get people to the track, instead of scaring them away with talk of breakdowns, drugs and synthetic surfaces. I have nothing against a forum of things that need to be fixed in the game(there are real issues), but I do not think that this is the time or the place for it.

The Eight Belles breakdown was horrible and NBC should spend a few moments addressing the issue. Even though breakdowns happen in racing and it is a part of racing finding the definitive answer to why they occur is impossible. They could blame the dirt surface but breakdowns happen on grass too. Look back at the last few Opening Day 1st races at the Spa.

Hopefully Dr. Bramledge and Larry Jones will articulate a sensible response to William Rhoden's uneducated rant about how horrible horse racing is.

I would think that everyone on here wants a clean game, but what does that have to do with Eight Belles?

perhaps they could take a moment to remind everyone that his race has been run every year since it's inception in 1875 (133 runnings) with only one fatality ever in the field, eight belles.

But isn't that sort of the point? Horses are getting more fragile, drugs are corrupting the sport, etc. . .

Why is William Rhoden's uninformed opinion part of this panel anyway? Just because he wrote a column?

I think God plays pick 6's more..

Racing is broken and it needs to be fixed. As of right now, racing is dying a slow death. Tracks are closing down all over the country. Hollywood Park may be next. There are serious problems in racing and they need to be addressed.

The bettors and the fans are well aware of the problems. The problems are not going to go away until they are fixed. You can't just sweep them under the rug.

You guys have the whole thing backwards. You guys seem to think that if they just shut up about Eight Belles, then everything will be fine. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's just the opposite. If we just shut up and don't make any changes, we will continue to see Eight Belles type incidents and racing will continue to go downhill.

Instead we should seize the moment, and use the Eight Belles incident as a wake-up call to finally start making some of the changes that need to be made.

Having discussions on television is a huge positive, not a negative.

You're missing the point, IMO. It's WHO is speaking, not that the discussions are going on. I can't speak for everyone else, but I welcome open discusions about horse racing, its issues and what can be done to make improvements. But when uninformed people get a forum to voice an opinion, it does no good.
NBC should have chosen someone more aware of horse racing issues for this panel than Mr. Rhoden. Who's going to take him seriously?

Exactly, informed discussion is one thing. Ranting without any knowledge of the subject doesn't do an ounce of good.