Talking to Dickinson on the phone was the single most miserable thing I endured in my days as a racing reporter.

Why because you couldnt understand him, or because hes such a buffoon

Please tell me U didn't just mention J. SANDERS and WINNERS in the same sentence.

she's on a roll.

He was as ridiculous as it gets.

I had the audacity to ask him questions about what kind of an impact his surface might have on bettors - if he expected one-dimensional speed horses might struggle to reproduce their dirt form - or if turf horses who've struggled on dirt in the past might not struggle on his form of synthetic. Stuff like that.

In a hilarious British accent he starts screaming "You're asking the wrong questions!" "This is ENTIRELY about safety!" "everything else is minor!"

He's bananas on the telephone. In person he was quite the opposite - and decent to talk to.

Why would he think impacting betting would matter in horseracing.

Whats harder to do, talk to Dickenson on the phone, or watch Tapits entire 6 race career on tape

Dickinson was and probably still is a great trainer. Not many others could do what he did in England, and the main way he did that was by caring for his horses and giving the best treatment possible for them.

His interest in breating a new surface was first and foremost in the interests of the horses welfare, he was one of the first to see that dirt was on a downfall and couldn't be around forever. Sure, he will have made money from it, but why would a man like himself be bothered about making all this money when he is already a very rich man? Maybe the surface hasn't turned out to be as good expected, but there is always time.

Like mmsc has said, he is a very nice and generous man. An individual who is inlove with the sport but realises that there is more in life than to be training horses. He has already achieved more than any other trainer can do in a life time.

I respect him greatly and i offer him all the best for the future.

The people who are saying jump racing is cruel...... you obviously know very little about it to have that opinion. That is all i can and will say on that matter.

I never forget the time when Dickinson hired a private investigator to follow H. James Bond shipping horses from I think Payson Park to Gulfstream Park for Breeders Cup in 1999, because he thought Bond was up to no good.

So there has been a drastic change in the quality of dirt? LOL!!

It's the breed that is going downhill. Synthetic surfaces are a bandaid to a sport that is bleeding profusely.

This is ridiculous. So basically you are saying that horses enjoy being whipped. Outstanding.

Hiring a PI to follow James Bond to gulfstream sounds like it should have been a movie.

We are talking about the "Mad Genius"

Last time i looked, horses were whipped on the flat, too :rolleyes:

A six race career for a Dickinson trained runner is a remarkable display of longevity.

When the favorite Cantrel fatally broke down in the first race ever run over a Tapeta surface - Dickinson actually pointed out later that night that the horse "had been training on dirt and not a synthetic" - and "if she had been training on a synthetic you don't know if this would have happened."

He's not exactly a man of straight talk - that's for sure.

TID, have you noticed the amount of horses who have been eased "but walked off" in the charts in Nor Cal. When did the chart caller start using that phrase, eased, but walked off with such regularity. Fortunately theres only been one horse breakdown in the afternoons, 4 in the mornings.

Yes 6 races for a Dickenson runner is outrageous. Maybe Bond should have been following him around, thats 4 races more than his normal staters average

Wow you're observant.

what, rich people don't want more money? sheik mo is loaded, but he's still after the breeding bucks, rather than the racing aspect of t'breds.

worse is seeing all his babies.....

Not me.

In fact, I kindly just gave $100 million back to my city.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311020,00.html

Big difference between someone like the Sheikh and Michael Dickinson.

what a guy!

Very nice of you, maybe they can build a couple decent restaurants there now.

Wow you being fair thats a switch. Glad the Dr. has your script program finally balanced.

Obviously Dickinson is passsionate about his baby as any inventor is of his or her frankenstein. I suggest Sir Dickinson is unwilling to use some medication that other frequent and that is the reason for 7 races every 15 months not tapeta?

My thoughts exactly when anyone "extols" the virtues of Dickinson.

How about tied for the worst Wood winner with... Tapit vs Buddha..one and out

Irgun?

I can't believe no one has mentioned Bellamy Road. Biggest bias/weather induced win in my history of life. A close second is the great Sinister Minister

Irgun would have dusted the likes of Adonis, Bob and John, and Storm Tower

Bellamy Road is light years from being the worst horse to ever win the Wood.

Sinister Minister's Blue Grass win was also FAR more bias induced.

And what great act of nature caused his unbelievable second place finish in the Travers off a virtual four month layoff?

Greatest training job ever is what that was, imo

why on earth would you try to be sensible? This is the wrong place for that.

Repent basically did the same thing - running a strong 2nd beaten a neck or so to Medeglia D' Oro - and I believe only had two published works in between the ILL Derby and Travers.

They are calling for him to be in the hall of fame in the DRF

Dick Jerardi is....not DRF.

I just read it off the drf website, so I said the drf. How does he figure for the hall of fame.

I can understand Tapit getting in

I agree.......Tapit is a better candidate.

I bring Tapit and "The Mad Genius" to the wire together. Really tough to separate those two Hall of Fame cadidates. Maybe they both belong

tapit had more entertainment value.

He did beat Dynever in an epic clash at Mountaineer after all.

That still gives me nightmares.

Of course, great talents like Dynever bring out the very best in their opponents.

oh hell no. the mad genious is a riot to be around cause he's so out there!