A Letter to the California Horse Racing Board

Dear California Horse Racing Board,

While your stewards failed to find the causality in the chain reaction of one horse crashing into several others during the start of North America’s richest race – the Breeders’ Cup Classic – their inexplicable inaction certainly will have an affect on the sport you’re supposed to watch guard. But since you have already failed miserably at calculating how bettors, the lifeblood of Thoroughbred racing, are already leaving in droves or betting far less, I guess no one should be surprised by your widespread ineptitude. 

Allow me to review some of your recent lowlights. Annual track handle is down. Racing surfaces both real and synthetic have come and gone. Grass, the safer American surface, turned deadly at Del Mar and had to be closed. A 75-year stalwart on your racing circuit, Hollywood Park, shuttered its doors making room for a mall or condos, something besides racing. Your inability to decide on an almost two-year-old medication violation until the eve of Breeders’ Cup caused quite a stir when sanctions were handed out, but ultimately enforced by Breeders’ Cup Limited, not you.

That’s quite a run without even factoring in a well-known, glib trainer suffering an exponential number of equine deaths in a 16-month period in which no finding could be made by your organization. Of course, anyone following the California racing circuit knows there is one set of rules for Bob Baffert and then, another set for everyone else. 

So following the bumper car start of the Classic, followers of your board could expect something on the lines of the Twilight Zone. I feel bad for primetime newcomers watching for the first time in between college football games, scratching their heads at the stewards bizarre ruling and wondering why their time had been wasted on horse racing. How could they even consider ever making a bet on your product with no guarantee of responsible rulings? 

As you saw, when the Classic gates opened, Bayern and his mount Martin Garcia did what was necessary to increase their chances of taking home the winner’s share of $5 million. Rider and horse gunned for the lead from the seventh post. The problem was on their way to the lead and the rail, Garica and his charge took the quickest route, a straight line. This, of course, is where six other horses were trying to get the best possible positions, as well. You can see Bayern’s movements compromised their chances, can’t you? These were no ham-and-eggers either; they included:

• Post time favorite and likely Horse of the Year, Shared Belief 

• Travers Stakes winner, V.E. Day 

• Whitney Stakes winner and most likely competition to Bayern’s preferred on-the-lead running style, Moreno

Watching the replay it is evident V. E. Day loses all chance of running well. Shared Belief was knocked into an unfavorable position after being bounced inside, his rider, Mike Smith, checking before moving to Bayern’s outside the first time under the wire. Moreno was denied his running style, period, guaranteeing a favorable result for Bayern. You saw this didn’t you or were you sipping champagne while the race started?

In addition to all this movement, Toast of New York did some similar knocking around, but it followed Bayern’s initial foray, which anyone reading past performances knew increased his chances of winning dramatically. Bayern then did what he does well, carve out fast fractions, leading alone and then did something he hadn’t done yet, finish 10 furlongs faster than his competition. Kudos to him, but it did come at the cost of other horse’s chances.

In case your board was still munching on shrimp cocktail, Santa Anita’s longtime track announcer Trevor Denman was left to read this statement after the steward’s posted the inquiry sign following Bayern’s close victory over Toast of New York and Kentucky Derby winner, California Chrome. 

 “…the videotape is going to show that while number seven Bayern did break in sharply at the start causing interference with the horses on his inside the incident happened at a point in the race where it did not alter  the original order of finish.” 

You cannot argue this statement on logic alone because it defies it. Imagine sitting on a closed highway after a drunk driver starts a multi-car accident. Your commute stalled, late for a job interview or dinner with the family, but the drunken driver is not charged because at the time of his drinking, he did not alter your life. 

I admit this argument is crude, but it has it merits because we live in a cause and effect relationship in our world. Eat too much get sick to your stomach, that kind of stuff, you know.

On Santa Anita’s own feed, announcers Scott Hazelton and jockey-turned-commentator, Richard Migliore, were holding a frank discussion about the potential of a non-ruling after both agreed Bayern had compromised the chances of the horses inside of him with his wayward start. On the feed, Hazelton directly followed Denman’s voice.

“So do feel better now after that explanation, Richie,” Hazelton says.

“Nope… and I like the stewards here. I don’t agree with the call,” Migliore responds almost in disbelief, adding, “How can you say one point of the race is more or less important than another? ‘At that point of the race,’ any point of the race. It’s part of the race.”

Did Bayern’s trainer, Bob Baffert, really want us to believe the stewards were looking at another horse and not his during the inquiry period? Strike that, given his longtime favorable and preferential treatment from you over the years, he expects all of us to believe such utter nonsense. 

Baffert has played the media darling role well due to his ability to string together funny, sometimes self-depreciating, sentences that make for easy copy. The problem is the premature whitening of his hair yellows a bit more with each favorable ruling or non-decision you provide him. By the way, you’ve created a monster with him.

Since your board obviously haven’t figured out a force that Sir Isaac Newton defined centuries ago, allow me to provide the effects yesterday’s bailing out of your favorite trainer will produce:

• Less confidence by bettors who don’t trust stewards ruling, which equals far less betting

• Rougher race riding on all days of the week since rules are inequitably applied or not at all, which equals greater injuries to jockeys and horses

• Continued rule breaking on the backside because of the same inequities in trainer rulings, which equals less bettor confidence, loss of handle and increase of equine injuries

But don’t worry, the best that was yet to come, didn’t, and it’s leaving town for another venue next year, and personally, I hope it never returns to California. For my small part, I will not bet into your pari-mutuel pools any more. I’ll bet I’m not alone and you’ll feel these effects starting the day after the Breeders’ Cup packed its bags.

Sincerely,

Tony Bada Bing