Pimlico Special Not Being Carded This Year

[Gander]

LOL! That punch reminds me of a drunk guy who went after me at a bar once.

[slotdirt]

I love how the guy just stands there after taking the swing like he is saying "oh, drat! I missed that Chop Chop guy!" I figure he would have tried to run.

[KirisClown]

Sorry to see it go, but one less option for the better horses out there is probably a good thing...

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by KirisClown

Sorry to see it go, but one less option for the better horses out there is probably a good thing...

The thing is this just encourages everyone to wait even longer to start a top horse. There are now no two turn G1s on the dirt for older males on the east coast between the Donn on 2/3 and the Suburban on 6/30. That is doing nothing towards improving the quality of racing year round.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

The thing is this just encourages everyone to wait even longer to start a top horse. There are now no two turn G1s on the dirt for older males on the east coast between the Donn on 2/3 and the Suburban on 6/30. That is doing nothing towards improving the quality of racing year round.

Except the Stephen Foster but I tend to agree with you.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Except the Stephen Foster but I tend to agree with you.

Seek Gold must have pushed that one out of my mind as a G1. Even worse though, make it June 16th instead of June 30th and now both the races will be diluted since no one is going to run in both. At least the Special gave you the opportunity to come back in the Foster or the Suburban.

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

Seek Gold must have pushed that one out of my mind as a G1. Even worse though, make it June 16th instead of June 30th and now both the races will be diluted since no one is going to run in both. At least the Special gave you the opportunity to come back in the Foster or the Suburban.

And the galling thing is that the Foster is only 9f (not a real test - under some conditions, milers can look like champs winning these) and not 10f, or the Pimlico equivalent. And the Suburban is not a 2-turn race, because it is run at Belmont.

The lack of a national authority mandating races of varied types around the sections of the country is another drag on the sport. As long as each track/state authority is free to move its races anywhere it wants, shorten them at will, cancel at will, scheduling chaos is always going to be a possibility.

[Dunbar]

That's disappointing. I was actually planning on going this year. I even mentioned that in a post a few weeks ago.

I hope it wasn't something I said!

--Dunbar

[ddthetide]

i live in western md. i'm 70-90 minutes from the baltimore tracks. we don't go down that way. the traffic is terrible, they charge to get into the track. they have a seat charge for the dining room and the cost of drinks were rediculous ($3.00 for soft drinks, per glass). not to mention the neighborhoods around pimlico are NOT the best anymore.

we can be at an OTB in Pa. in 20-30 minutes or go to charlestown in 45 minutes. we can have a nice dinner play the horses and my wife plays some slots. it's clean comfortable and the neighborhood is decent.

the represenitives from western md are against slots. part of the fight is, they don't want to open slots or OTB's acrossed the state. they are tring to keep them in baltimore at the tracks. so the rest of the state does not get the benefits of jobs created.

2007 slots are already a dead issue last i read BUT with the new administration they are willing to talk about it for 2008. thats just plan politics! the last adminstration fought tooth and nail for slots and could not get it through after promising magna it would.
this state WON'T wake up until the Preakness is gone!

[estreetposse]

Originally Posted by ddthetide

i live in western md. i'm 70-90 minutes from the baltimore tracks. we don't go down that way. the traffic is terrible, they charge to get into the track. they have a seat charge for the dining room and the cost of drinks were rediculous ($3.00 for soft drinks, per glass). not to mention the neighborhoods around pimlico are NOT the best anymore.

we can be at an OTB in Pa. in 20-30 minutes or go to charlestown in 45 minutes. we can have a nice dinner play the horses and my wife plays some slots. it's clean comfortable and the neighborhood is decent.

the represenitives from western md are against slots. part of the fight is, they don't want to open slots or OTB's acrossed the state. they are tring to keep them in baltimore at the tracks. so the rest of the state does not get the benefits of jobs created.

2007 slots are already a dead issue last i read BUT with the new administration they are willing to talk about it for 2008. thats just plan politics! the last adminstration fought tooth and nail for slots and could not get it through after promising magna it would.
this state WON'T wake up until the Preakness is gone!

All thanks to former Gov. PARRIS GLENDENING. This is the guy who shot down slots every year while in office, now people are following in his footsteps. Rumor has it, Glendening's grandparents were compulsive gamblers and he watched them go through ALL their money playing the slots ... so that's why he was so against the idea in the first place

IMO slots generate revenue and provide tons of employment as well as tax money. But, slots bring in a "bad element", as if maryland needed more help. I think crime would increase drastically. If it didn't help horse racing out i wouldn't care for slots at all. Sooo many times i go up to places like Charles Town and i see the out of state buses shuttling more and more people in, i say why not pay the extra $50 or so and head up to AC? When slots come into a race track it definitely brings a new breed to the grounds, one i don't care for much either

-bt-

[KirisClown]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

The thing is this just encourages everyone to wait even longer to start a top horse. There are now no two turn G1s on the dirt for older males on the east coast between the Donn on 2/3 and the Suburban on 6/30. That is doing nothing towards improving the quality of racing year round.

Maybe they'll be show up in the Met Mile or Stephen Foster instead...

If there's one thing racing does not need... it's more Grade 1s. The less the better at this point...

[slotdirt]

I don't think this is your average GI race though. Lots of history here.

[slotdirt]

Though I don't think any of us should be surprised. The once prestigious Laurel Futurity is no longer graded. This is the fate of Maryland racing.

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

I don't think this is your average GI race though. Lots of history here.

EXACTLY!! History and tradition are the one thing that horse racing has that many other sports don't have. Pro baseball has it; pro basketball doesn't. Racing was the sport of choice for our early presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Jackson); Congress recessed for a day to go see a match race in Maryland between two champions; the great North-South match between American Eclipse and Henry in the 1820s drew tens of thousands of people from all over the country to the Union course on Long Island before the days of railroads.

Long histories of stakes races allow us bring of the names of winners of the past who have become immortals, implying the same fate is possible for today's winner. The Pimlico Special (like the Saratoga Special) was originally a winner-take-all race - no purse money for second, third, etc, which made it truly special; only horses who really had a chance to win would run. Maybe a return to that sort of race for $300K would generate some interest and still open up some money for overnight purses.