THE MESSAGE
As inexplicable as it may seem given the current economic climate, it’s actually a good time to own a standard bred racehorse. Especially if you’re within shouting distance of those slots fueled racinos where overnight purses are actually at all time highs.

Look at any program-especially the Monday program from Dover Downs and digest just how much money some of the regulars actually earn per annum in the “first” State. Understand, these are not necessarily free-for-allers but fast class overnight types like our alumni Art Director (Artiscape-Silky Satin) still going strong at age seven and exceeding the $100,000 level for this season. Art Director has earned over $725,000 lifetime much of which occurred in overnights within the state of Delaware.

Check the overnights at Pocono. The Open goes for $22,500, a non winners of $11,500 last five for $18,000 and Commissioner Scotty Tickets has his $20,000 claimer Eternal Revenue in a series exclusively for horses at that level with purses of $16,000 per leg leading to a $40,000 final.

The purses at The Meadowlands have stabilized and remain strong.. Chester will be offering excellent money and nice horses can earn big at Yonkers.

Seems like a message worth inundating the general population with as loud and as often as possible.

TRAILERS
As an addendum to Evan Pattak’s column concerning “trailers”, in the April hoof beats, was not exactly in favor of them to them back in my professional handicapping days.

Can still remember Town Drunk a notoriously poor leaver getting parked the mile from post two at Roosevelt as his normal tuck behind the fast leaving post one was negated by the trailing nine horse who now occupied the pocket spot.

Having a trailer often mandated a desirable inside post draw (especially post two) as precarious impacting the normal flow of the field into the first turn. That alone made position handicapping more difficult as one could no longer project just who might be where approaching the quarter pole, essential to successful half mile track handicapping.

OLD TIMERS
Found copies of the old Trotter Magazine dating back from 1964. While nostalgic in at setting perhaps, it’s impossible not to marvel at the authoritative manner in which harness racing was presented from both the participants and spectators perspectives. Moreover, it remains unfathomable that stellar journalists from that era like Wally Rottkamp, Warrren Pack, Bruce Gordon, Woody Lawlis, Gordon Forbes and so many others are not included in the communicator’s hall of fame.

BONEHEAD DRIVE MARS CANE
Can still remember the cub reporter in the Yonkers Press Box chastised for using that headline when filing his story by a venerable sage indignantly admonishing ”How can you say that? This guy is a hall of famer”.

Yeah but this hall of famer bulled off the rail approaching the half when visually boxed in and almost caused a major accident in the process.

But that’s the way it was. Anyone that even remotely veered from the party line was immediately ostracized to the grandstand unless of course it was an all-powerful columnist from a major daily- the kind that used to cover harness racing on a regular basis.

Oh yes, the back page of the bulldog edition of a just delivered major tabloid featured the following headline in at least 72 point type “BONEHEAD PLAY COST VICTORY” referring to some future hall of famer’s errant throw to the wrong base that allowed the winning run to score.

Good thing nobody stopped Woodward and Bernstein!

ARTRIVERDERCI
Every so often you notice a colt that falls into the category of unfulfilled destiny that who for a variety of physical ailments never reaches the elusive potential though for that brief shining moment reveals what might well have been.

Artriverderci (Western Ideal-Roman Art) was such a colt. Harold Howe’s Harness Edge Magazine did an exemplary job in documenting just what plagued this colt throughout his brief career.

Our sympathies extend to his owners and trainer Rene Laarman.

Artriverderci’s Rocknroll Hanover brother ROCKIN ROMO will sell at Harrisburg in November.

CURIOSITIES
Was there a differential in handle and attendance at Dover Downs on Classic series night?

There are those that wonder if a good card can actually still draw the people.

How come some of these “official” websites post inaccurate data more than just infrequently regardless of whether it’s point of origin may be a hastily written press release.

Sorry but a race for cheap claimers does not qualify as an open race given the significance of the open terminology.

Fascinating that Running Acres could use the ABC system in almost invisible fashion as unless one checked the overnight sheet, they’d never know it.

Bob Marks