Talk About Tennis 2.0

JazzNU wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:32 pm

dryrunguy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:46 pm Just checked on the track conditions today at Churchill... It's officially rated as sloppy. I'd call it Sloppy on Steroids.

Though I go with this thinking anyway, now even more so - advantage veteran jockeys.

Advantage Essential Quality. Let's see how the track looks tomorrow. It should stop raining Friday morning, which should give the track some time to dry out. But it could still be a messy track late on Saturday.

EDIT: Oops... I hadn't seen the most recent post.

dryrunguy wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:41 am
Advantage Essential Quality. Let's see how the track looks tomorrow. It should stop raining Friday morning, which should give the track some time to dry out. But it could still be a messy track late on Saturday.

EDIT: Oops... I hadn't seen the most recent post.

I still think it's advantage Essential Quality, I so don't see Kentucky doing anything about this with their Derby cash cow. I think they'd have to void all the bets on that horse, so truly don't see that happening in a million years.


And I recognize the name so I think this might be the Sheikh that finances the tennis tournaments in Dubai. So, so creepy.

The first race at Churchill today is about 30 minutes away. The dirt track is set to fast.

King Fury is out of the Derby. He had a high fever and elevated white blood cell count this afternoon. It won't be official until tomorrow, but trainer Kenny McPeek announced it on Twitter.

Medina Spirit is absolutely beautiful. Even among this group of expertly groomed gorgeous horses, he's standing out like the belle of the ball.

John Velazquez with back to back Derby wins! What did I tell you about betting the veteran jockeys? Mother knows best.

Sad for Bourbonic, doomed by that 20th position. Hope they run him in another Triple Crown race.

I didn't think he was going to win anyway, but still thrilled Essential Quality didn't win or show.

I loved how Steve Kornacki came in from politics and straight away he was the only one of NBC's cast that correctly predicted the winning horse.

I am still trying to wipe the egg off of my face for saying days ago that Baffert didn't have a legitimate Derby contender.

Here's the race.

The jockey/ies went heavy with the whips towards the end but what an accomplishment for Medina Spirit leading all the way.

Heck, let all these millionaires prepare their own mint-julep...

ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 7:18 pm

In addition to the generous pay, it's a work environment where employee safety is paramount. As evidenced by the say 500 masks worn among the 52,000 people present even though there was supposedly a 100% mask requirement instituted for the event.


I will never understand places like Kentucky and West Virginia with straight up abject poverty voting for people that are adamant about keeping the minimum wage where it is. Those states ought to be single-issue voting states given the game changing aspect a raise in the minimum wage would make there.

People have decided that, if they are outdoors, they have nothing to worry about. You could see it as plain as day at Keeneland over the past month.

And a whole bunch of the jockeys who raced yesterday at Churchill were riding at Santa Anita today. Track-mandated quarantines have largely been abolished. Granted, most or all of the jockeys have already had some version of COVID already. But still... Given the uncertainty with the variants, it's a dangerous game on the roulette wheel...

dryrunguy wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 2:22 am People have decided that, if they are outdoors, they have nothing to worry about. You could see it as plain as day at Keeneland over the past month.

And a whole bunch of the jockeys who raced yesterday at Churchill were riding at Santa Anita today. Track-mandated quarantines have largely been abolished. Granted, most or all of the jockeys have already had some version of COVID already. But still... Given the uncertainty with the variants, it's a dangerous game on the roulette wheel...

That is clearly the case in many places.

Kentucky Derby was touting their safety measures in staging the highest attendance event since in the pandemic began, and to have a 100% mask rule and it be crystal clear they couldn't even get 10% to wear them was something to see. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are quite a few vaccinated people in attendance, but you can't convince me at all that the grand majority were 2 weeks after their second dose.

Gonna hope and pray this doesn't turn into a super spreader event, in particular because this is heavily attended by out-of-staters.

If I understand it correctly, tracks typically have a 100% mask rule for attendees EXCEPT when they are eating or drinking (or smoking). So attendees are eating or drinking non-stop, which is generally how it works at tracks anyway.

What gets me is maskless people who are screaming or yelling. That is still a legitimate risk factor--indoors OR outdoors.