STEINBRENNER PROVIDES OMEN
Not that they need it, given the power packed lineup at Yankee stadium these days but shortly before opening day, the equine version STEINBRENNER (Muscles Yankee-Peace And Quiet) may have served some notice at Woodbine via an impressive come from behind score in 1:55.3. Maybe we’ll hear more from Steinbrenner!

A WORDLY BEAUTY
Congratulations to Grandpa Mike Gulotta whose pride and joy Worldly Beauty delivered her first foal a bay filly by Western Ideal. Upon inspection, Dr. Peter Boyce proclaimed “nice filly. Has her mother’s head”. If she has her mother’s heart, watch out world!

Worldly Beauty next goes to Cam’s Card Shark so get ready Mr. Jeff Snyder!

Hey Nicky Kraft! Really enjoyed the Georgia Pacific article in the April Hoofbeats!
Always thought Georgia Pacific represented the epitome of what we’re searching for in horse naming him being a WESTERN Hanover from Armbro SAVANNAH…

Hopefully our good friends at Standardbred Canada will elicit testimony from a solid cross section of BETTORS in the TROT MAGAZINE industry report card survey devoted to the area of how the industry treats those supplying its handle.

There’s a huge differential between a track and a casino in terms of the approach to customer satisfaction. At casinos decors may differ but the basic product meaning the actual games are quite constant.

At the racetrack there’s the segment catering to the pari-mutuel customers independent of racing offices catering to horsemen. Thus many races may be backstretch friendly but not good betting propositions.

Also information about the participants is often offered to the bettors in varying degrees of sophistication and accuracy.

A track may be indeed a modern facility but with a marginal view. Let the program be semi-legible, the racing and judging inconsistent, you won’t have happy campers.

Then there’s that time placement factor. Owners usually want horses raced at a convenient time for their attendance. During stake seasons race offices often accommodate leading drivers so they can be two places in the same day. Fans on the other hand want features in the middle of the program and won’t hang indefinitely just to see a featured “stake”. Players abhor a succession of poor betting propositions replete with odds on favorites, “earners” and inconsequential preps and eliminations where winning is often secondary. Talk about tightrope walking, that’s a tough act to balance..

In some ways racetracks run by officials that never bet is tantamount to airlines run by officials that never fly…

The TROT MAGAZINE industry report card promises to be extremely comprehensive and we’ll be among the attentive readers.

Tell ya this when one of our horses is going for big stake, it’s always good when Steve Ronay backs it in the windows. After all these years, Steve is about as effervescent and vocal a rooter as you’re gonna hear.

Ever notice how thoroughbred players are so much more vocal than standardbred players. Visit ANY locale that offers CROSS BREED simulcasting and just listen...

Mr. Muscleman (Muscles Yankee-Meadowbranch Irene) made a successful debut in the Su Mac Lad winning in 1:53.3…. He could be the one to beat in the upcoming biggies later on and has been invited to the Elitlopp. Not bad for a $2,000 yearling purchase.
Right John Wagner!

For the record John Wagner purchased Mr. Muscleman in an early session at Tattersalls in 2000 and eventually sold him to Adam Victor and son for whom he blossomed into a world class trotter under the tutelage of Noel Dailey !

Heard that ELSU the Falcon Seelster champ down under is not coming to this hemisphere this year…Understandable but unfortunate as we’d love to get a closer look at him. Maybe they should breed his dam to McARDLE!!!!, Danny Boyle can assist in that happening if the connections desire!…

APPOLOGIES TO WOODY .
Spelled his name incorrectly in last week’s column. Actually did the unthinkable by spelling it two different ways in almost the same sentence. These senior moments happen more often than we’d care to admit. It is and always was LAWLIS.

Regarding that 70-30 split on the stallion limitation issue on the USTA website poll Didn’t get any of that when we were trying to whittle down some 450 applications into a manageable number during Malabar Man’s first year at stud. The prevailing theme was always “whatever you do, don’t reject my mare!” Been that way with Windsong’s Legacy too.

Is there another defunct racetrack with as many website testimonials as Roosevelt? Guess it wasn’t only me that loved that place.

ALUMNI ACTIVE
Was a busy weekend for some of the alumni, as Georgia Pacific (Western Hanover-Armbro Savannah) Articulator (Artiscape-Naraculous) and Maltese Artist (Artiscape-Hula Dancer) knocked heads in the Meadowlands Open. Then there was Artbitration (Artiscape-Serious Smile) a factor in the Thomas Strada hundred grander mares event at The Meadowlands. Armbro Bombay the first foal of our own Mattaroni alsomade her seasonal debut in that one. Articulator was stopped early last year since he wasn’t paid in to the major aged events and conserved for this year when he is paid in. We’ll be watching.

It’ll be RAINBOW BLUE day in DELAWARE on Monday April 11th according to Governor Ruth Ann Minner. No denying the worthiness of that Artiscape daughter who must be considered amongst the all time greats. Lets hope for good weather.

And a Happy 50th to John Campbell and was that a mild look of surprise when you returned to the winners circle last Wednesday with impressive Blossom winner Ideal News (Western Ideal-Whats New) to find owners George Segal, Marty Granoff and Myron Bell all waiting?

Here’s one that drives bettors batty! Used to be that free-for-all was free-for-all. Junior Free For All etc. Nowadays it’s Invitational, Open, Preferred in whichever order seems to fit. At some tracks Open or Open Handicap seems to designate the top class except when there’s a special invitational. And a junior class might be referred to as a preferred.
And at another track, PREFERRED seems to designate top class with OPEN the junior class at least according to the purse structure. A little uniformity wouldn’t be the worst idea.

Commissioner Scotty Tickets got his wish a brilliant spring chair day for Freehold on Saturday. Wonder if they appreciate just how much the commissioner and his legions like Jerry, Bobby Cohen, Artie Blutstein and the rest actually contribute to the handle each week. And it’s all HARNESS ACTION… We need thousands more like those guys who are literally throwbacks to the golden days.

See ya next week.

Bob Marks