Bloodhorse – Regulations on Pari-Mutuel Withholding Adopted by IRS
Horse Race Insider – Pricci – Finally, a Win
The new rules state that the IRS will no longer consider just the base wager on winning bets of 300-1 or more. Instead, it will take into account the total cost of the bet. So if a horseplayer puts together a $1 Pick 6 ticket that costs $500 (and thus has 500 different combinations), and wins $10,000, the IRS would previously have looked at that as a winning 10,000-to-1 wager. The change in rules means that the IRS will now consider that winning bet a 20-1 wager ($10,000 divided by the $500 bet), and won’t automatically collect 25% of the horseplayer’s winning.
TDN – Marquardt – A Billion Dollar Boon?
Paulick Report – Race For Compliance: TwinSpires Likely The First ADW To Implement Tax Revisions
Sal says that an even bigger break for the horseplayers would be the trainers getting their stars out of the barns and onto the racetracks to give the fans better racing to wager on.
The only time these regulations will affect any Canadian is when you’re wagering on track in the US or through an American ADW while you’re in the US. With the withholding ratio changed Canadians won’t be forced to leave as much money behind on big wins and then pay some shadowy consultant to fight the IRS to get their own money back.
Sal says that the next time some Yank is bragging about how much lower tax rates are in the US remind them that the US is one of the few countries in the world that tax gambling and lottery winnings. Canada is bad enough where you wager with after tax dollars and then are subject to paying taxes in the takeout, but in the US you wager with after tax dollars, then are subject to paying taxes in the takeout and then have to declare your winnings as income and pay taxes for the third time on the same money.
Sal wanders how many Americans declare the income they make wagering on illegal offshore sites or through their bookies.
Taxes On The Farmer Feeds Us All
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.”
William Shakespeare
NY Times – Duckworth – After Retirement, Trêve Becomes a Stay-at-Home Mare
NY Times – Morenne – What to See and Do in Paris After the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
NY Times – Ray – The Perils of Peanut Butter
NY Times – MacNeille – Vancouver Island, Through an Artist’s Eyes
NY Times – Tanis – A Better Beet, Fresh From the Market
Everything I do, I do on the principle of Russian borscht. You can throw everything into it beets, carrots, cabbage, onions, everything you want. What’s important is the result, the taste of the borscht.
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
NY Times – Asimov – Your Next Lesson: Crozes-Hermitage
Sometimes I lie awake at night and I ask, “Is life a multiple choice test or is it a true or false test?” …Then a voice comes to me out of the dark and says, “We hate to tell you this but life is a thousand word essay.”
Charlie Brown
Last week, Ivan Dogliotti visited us from Castiglione Tinella, Piedmont, Italy. The Dogliotti winery was founded in 1870 by two brothers, Giuseppe and Marcello Dogliotti.
Garden and Gun – Horn – Eight Great Bottles of Bourbon
Sal says that next time some Yank laughs at us Canadians for using the metric system tell him to find a 26.
LA Times – Warning: Too many warning signs are bad for your health
Sal says that it’s not that there are more assholes around it’s that the assholes have access to social media.
Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised.
Marilyn Manson
Sal says that both Melania and this librarian fail the old hippy test: If you’re not part of the solution then you’re part of the problem.
Does Melania think that the public is so easily duped by her ill conceived limousine liberal photo opportunity token donation of a few books that cost less than her monthly shoe budget while Donald and the Republicans are taking a turbocharged weed whacker to the American education budget.
The librarian should have thoughbt for at least 3 seconds before she started barking and showing that she’s dumber than a sack of hammers and just another brick in the wall who would rather get her 15 nanoseconds of divisive narcissistic publicity than use resources donated to her and make an actual statement on the plight of public education in the US. Her comments on Dr. Seuss books being racist garnered zero main stream traction and helped both Donald and Melania gain further support from their right wing wackos.
Smile, shut your mouth, take the books, sell them and donate the cash to an inner city school in Brownsville that really needs it.
Then point out to the right wing wackos that it will be their kids and grand kids who will have no books in their libraries and no teachers to teach when the turbocharged weed whacker’s done.
The Atlantic – Wong – Trump’s Education Budget Takes Aim at the Working
You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
Newsday – Baumbach – Islanders submit plan for arena at Belmont Park
Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
No, I love Winx because she proves my point — or at least offers strong supporting evidence — that racehorses are not delicate creatures that perform best when given extended rest between starts.
Winx has raced on three weeks’ rest or less in 19 of the 29 starts following her career debut — that’s 65 percent. Compare that to recent US superstar American Pharoah, who raced on three weeks’ rest or less just three times in the 10 races subsequent to his lifetime bow (30 percent). (Incidentally, those races were the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes — otherwise known as the Triple Crown.)
…
There’s a reason that Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are not in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame — it’s because almost everybody in the world, including my grandmother when she was alive, knows what steroids do.
In 2015, Thehill.com reported that “recent polling found that while the vast majority of adults in the U.S. called horse racing both exciting and fun to watch, only 14% had a very favorable view of the industry.”
For those numbers to change, steroids and other drugs need to be eradicated from the Sport of Kings and star horses need to run and run often.
In the meantime, I’ll just watch Winx and dream of what was… and what still can be.
US Racing – Simon – Aussie Star Winx Exposes Racetrack Myth
TDN – BHA Survey to Measure Confidence in British Racing Integrity
Horse Racing Nation – Shifman – Breeders’ Cup 2017: Training Up to the Big Race
ESPN – DRF – Privman – Trend toward fresh horses changing the face of BC preps
Bloodhorse – Haskin – Why Are Trainers Abandoning the Prep Races?
Eight Grade I races will be contested Saturday, three at Belmont, five at Santa Anita. Across North America, 18 graded stakes races will be run this weekend. There’s a lot of money out there and that’s a lot of stakes races, yet not one horse currently ranked among the top 10 in the NTRA’s weekly poll will be racing this weekend. To find a horse on the NTRA list that will be competing, you have to go all the way down to No. 18, Oscar Performance (Kitten’s Joy), a starter in the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont.
The historic GI Jockey Club Gold Cup will highlight the Oct. 7 card at Belmont. It looks like it’s going to be a small field, with only one Grade I winner taking part, Keen Ice (Curlin).
There’s no need to explain what is happening here, but here goes: The Breeders’ Cup has become such an important goal for owners, trainers and breeders that races like the GI Beldame, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the GI Awesome Again, the Joe Hirsch and so many others have become almost meaningless.
Trainers are told that the Breeders’ Cup is the only goal that matters and most trainers believe that the best way to get their horse to racing’s championship day is to give them seven or eight weeks off beforehand.
TDN – Op/Ed – Bill Finley – The Decline and The Fall
In the new resting legislation, Silver will have the discretionary ability to fine teams for resting players in several instances, including sitting multiple players outside of unusual circumstances in a single game, and healthy players in nationally televised ESPN, ABC and TNT games.
When teams decide to rest players in games, they’ll be encouraged to do so for home instead of away games. Star players sitting out are expected to be on the bench during games and encouraged to be accessible to fans for interaction before the game.
The league announced that any violation of the new resting rule will be deemed as conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the NBA. Teams that violate the rule will be fined at least $100,000.
Silver suggested that the league would continue to tweak its rest policy in the coming seasons.
Sal says that Sal’s favourite league Commissioner Silver understands that it’s the fans that pay the salaries and the fans want the stars.
Sal says when Sal was gleaning through Phil’s dog eared archives Sal began to wander if Phil included Gary Bettman in the Killer Bs.
Sal has always liked MLB’s September roster expansion that permits teams to bring up their future stars and expose them and the fans to the Show.
Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong’. Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.
Charlie Brown
LA Times – Montero – O.J. Simpson released from Nevada prison
Sal says that in an interview before being released OJ said his plans were to get a good steak and buy an Iphone.
Sal thought his plans would be to recommence the search for the real killers.
TDN – Frary – Nathaniel’s Enable Routs Arc Rivals
NY Times – Baker – Trump Lashes Out at Puerto Rico Mayor Who Criticized Storm Response
Sal says just another instance of Donald calling the kettle black.
Bloodhorse – Juliet Capulet Prevails in Shadwell Rockfel Stakes
Brisnet – Reilly – Juliet Capulet plays leading role in Breeders’ Cup “Win & You’re In” Rockfel
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
William Shakespeare
Paulick Report – Rhododendron, Hydrangea Give O’Brien Prix De L’Opera Exacta
TDN – Galileo’s Rhododendron Battles to Opera Success
TDN – Frary – Churchill’s Sister Clemmie Takes the Cheveley Park
Brisnet – Reilly – War Decree enters Breeders’ Cup Classic picture after flawless Diamond
Paulick Report – Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: The ‘Serious’ 2-Year-Old From Canterbury Park?
TDN – Campo Relinquishes Role as Gulfstream GM
Borscht is more than a soup, it’s a weather vane. When my family says they want hot borscht I know winter is coming, and when they want cold borscht I know how far can spring be behind?
Gertrude Berg
DRF – Andersen – Santa Anita will implement single scratch time for autumn meet
Bloodhorse – €1.6 Million Frankel Colt Tops Strong Goffs Orby Sale
TDN – Berry – Galileo Filly For Godolphin At €1.2 Million
In a bull market, everyone becomes an expert! In a bear market, everyone becomes wise!
Amit Trivedi
Bloodhorse – Ron Mitchell – Bull Market for Yearlings in 2017
NY Times – Pennington – Trump Says N.F.L. Is Getting Soft. Players Hit Back.
Sal says that if Donald Trump wants to talk the talk he should have the balls to step onto the filed with a couple of 280 pound linebackers who he criticized for kneeling during the national anthem to protest the tweeting buffoon in the White House. You know that won’t happen cuz Trump like the Limousine Liberals that he criticizes is a do as I say not as I do Tweeting weasel full of nothing more than a tonne of bullshit bluster.
“The belief endures … that visible, affluent African-American entertainers are obliged to adopt a pose of ceaseless gratitude – appreciation for the waiver that spared them the low status of so many others of their kind,” Jelani Cobb wrote recently of these protests for The New Yorker, suggesting not much has changed since those who dared take civil-rights stances were labelled “uppity.”
I won’t claim to have spoken in enough depth to enough Bills fans to know if that’s a fair reflection of their thinking. I don’t know exactly how many have progressive views on race that were outweighed by what they interpreted, egged on by the league’s branding until about a week ago, as disrespect for veterans who fought under the American flag.
All I know is that African-American players were showered with derision for just as long as they used their platform to draw attention to prejudice faced by members of their community, then cheered when they went back to bashing their brains for their audience’s edification.
TDN – Roytz – Competitors Preparing for Thoroughbred Makeover
Sal says just a sobering reminder that it’s not only Americans who elect morons.
National Post – Colby Cosh: Why on earth are we fussing about kneeling during an anthem?
NY Times – Branch – Please Rise for Our National Anthem — if You’re Not Too Busy
NY Times – Private Emails, Private Jets and Mr. Trump’s Idea of Public Service
The Globe and Mail – Keller – Trump’s attack on the NFL could be a political touchdown
Sal says we’ll see if Trump can string together 2 ideas or if his brain has suffered too much damage from that toxic concoction on his head.
The Adidas college bribery scandal has blown the lid off the competition for top athlete endorsement.
Who makes the shoes that these athletes endorse. Some kid in a ghetto in Bangladesh earning $.25 per shoe. Who buys the shoes these athletes endorse. Some kid in a ghetto in Brownsville earning $.25 an hour peddling drugs for some Mexican drug lord. Who makes a tonne of dough from the shoe sales. Star athletes who don’t put a nickel back into improving the ghettos in Bangladesh or Brownsville but know how to take a knee when the American Anthem plays.
Sal says that of the star athletes taking a knee other than Kaepernick and Reid most are doing it to plug their biggest product – themselves and Sal says it’s only time til they’ll have their Adidas or Nike or Under Armour hat on when they kneel down.
Sal says that there’s a thoroughbred named after these guys – Limousine Liberal.
TDN – Thornton – Legal Landscape Shifting Around Bedrock Rules
TDN – Thornton – ‘Bucket List’ Sparks a Deferred Dream
This is Horse racing – Sean Clancy – My Summer Rental with Penny Chenery
As Game as a racehorse can be.
Southern Living – Yarborough – The Best Hallmark Movies of All-Time
Sal says that you can add Best Hallmark Movies to your list of best oxymorons of all time. Sal says with all due deference to Richard Bonnycastle that the Hallmark movies are even more formulaic than Harlequin Romances and if you’ve seen or read one you’ve seen of read them all.
Cowboys & Indians – Leydon – Bidding Farewell to Harry Dean Stanton
Sal says that even in today’s PC world there still is a magazine named Cowboys & Indians.
Sal’s Drink and a Flick
Sal’s says you won’t see no Hallmark movies in Sal’s Drink and a Flick
The wind is old, but it keeps blowing.
TDN – Bill Finley – Navarro Cleared to Race at Stronach Tracks
Music is the strongest form of magic.
Marilyn Manson
Sal says don’t rent or stream the original or read the book before you see the remake.
Sal’s waiting for:
NY Times – Tracy and Ruiz – In College Basketball Scandal, Follow the Money … and the Shoes
NY Times – Tracy – Rick Pitino Fired by Louisville Amid F.B.I. Investigation
NY Times – Drape – Chuck Person, With N.C.A.A. and N.B.A. Pedigree, Runs Afoul of F.B.I.
NY Times – Tracy – N.C.A.A. Coaches, Adidas Executive Face Charges; Pitino’s Program Implicated
Sal says that if the Pennsylvania Racing Commission needs someone who can look the other way Rick Pitino’s gonna be on the job market pretty soon.
NY Times – Clark – To Transform Your Weeknight Cooking, Turn On the Instant Pot
The Bitter Southerner – Rushin – Don’t Knock Knoxville
Southern Living – Rogers – 50 Books from the Past 50 Years Everyone Should Read at Least Once
Sal says forget the Road, if you want to read Cormac McCarthy at his best try No Country For Old Men or All The Pretty Horses or House of the Rising Sun by James Lee Burke.
Paulick Report – Former Head Clocker At NYRA Suspended 10 Years
I was sitting on my back porch on election night, and when it was clear that Donald Trump was going to win the presidency, I said to my wife, “The rest of the country is about to find out what we’ve always had to deal with in Mississippi.”
White supremacy groups raising their voices across the country. Check. A room full of men deciding what a woman can and cannot do with her body. Check. Weaker gun laws and plenty of social media “prayer” after another senseless shooting. Check. Healthcare and Planned Parenthood and mental health services under attack. Got it. A tolerance, and therefore promotion, of prejudice from the highest political office that gives hate and inequality a steady heartbeat, that leads to what we all saw in Charlottesville.
Welcome to Mississippi. We have long been the butt of the joke. The rest of the states poke fun at us. Judge us from afar. Rattle off stereotypes when they talk about us. But as of right now, if you are reading this anywhere in America, Mississippi should not be so funny to you anymore, because politically, you’re in it.
The Bitter Southerner – Smith – The United States of Mississippi
NY Times – McWhorter – Want to Know What Divides This Country? Come to Alabama
TwinSpires Blog – Handicapping Insights – Powell – West Coast proves he’s no one-trick pony
TDN – Songbird Breeder John Antonelli Dispersing of California Stock at Barretts
Horse Race Insider – Jicha – A turf specialist as 3YO champion? Not on my ballot
Horse Race Insider – Pricci – One Super Saturday Down, One to Go
Esta es para Jose:
TDN – Medaglia d’Oro’s Elate Dominates in the Beldame
Brisnet – Hanson – Bolt d’Oro electrifying in FrontRunner
Bloodhorse – Balan – Bolt d’Oro Untouchable in FrontRunner
TDN – Lightning Strikes Again For Bolt d’Oro in FrontRunner
Bloodhorse – Balan – Paradise Woods Cruises to Zenyatta Stakes Victory
TDN – ‘Woods’ Pillar to Post in Zenyatta
Bloodhorse – Seabhac Breaks Maiden With Pilgrim Victory
Bloodhorse – Wincze Hughes – Avenge Defends Her Title in Rodeo Drive
TDN – War Front’s Avenge Doubles Up in Rodeo Drive
ESPN – DRF – McGee – Awesome Slew edges clear to win Ack Ack
Bloodhorse – Balan – Mubtaahij Breaks Through in Awesome Again
TDN – Mubtaahij Gets His Grade I in Awesome Again
Brisnet – Scully – Mubtaahij secures Classic berth making first start for Baffert in Awesome Again
ESPN – DRF – Privman – Mubtaahij another potential BC Classic starter for Baffert
Bloodhorse – Wincze Hughes – Moonshine Memories Stays Perfect With Chandelier Win
TDN – Malibu Moon Filly Handles Two Turns With Aplomb in Chandelier
Bloodhorse – Honorable Duty Repels Competition in Lukas Classic
Bloodhorse – Ehalt – Takaful Punches BC Ticket in Vosburgh Stakes
TDN – Another Chadzacta as Beach Patrol Cruises in Joe Hirsch
ESPN – DRF – Grening – Beach Patrol clear winner in Joe Hirsch Turf Classic
TDN – Super Saver Colt Named ‘Rising Star’ Off Impressive Santa Anita Debut
ESPN – DRF – Dunleavy – Projected wins BWI Turf Cup, giving trainer Brown solid day
Brisnet – Hanson – Projected, Rymska give Brown graded stakes double at Laurel
ESPN – DRF – Dunleavy – Just Howard takes Commonwealth Derby with course record
Bloodhorse – Mayberg – Archaggelos Closes to Win Grey Stakes
TDN – Creative Cause’s Significant Form Runs Straight, Takes Miss Grillo
Hawthorne Sal
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