“Horse racing has reached its moment of reckoning and we wanted to know, can the sport really be reformed or is it too late?” Vega said as she opened the story. There was nothing hyperbolic about this statement. It is the question that hovers ominously over our sport and should have everyone worried about its future.
…
These things happened and by exposing them to the some 9 million people that watch 60 Minutes each week the sport looked terrible and likely inched closer to losing its social license to operate.…
The problems are real. Though fewer horses are breaking down, the numbers remain unacceptably high. And every time a trainer winning at 30% moves up a horse by four or five lengths in the first race after a claim, you’d have to have your head buried in the sand to think there isn’t something nefarious going on here and that it involves performance-enhancing drugs.Yes, 60 Minutes could have tried harder to have a more balanced report, and maybe that just didn’t fit its agenda. Yes, we are doing better. But let’s not pretend that our problems aren’t serious one that desperately need to be addressed. That was the gist of the 60 Minutes piece, and they didn’t get that part wrong.
TDN – Bill Finley – What 60 Minutes Got Wrong, and What It Got Right
TSN – CP – Alouettes rally to beat Blue Bombers to take 110th Grey Cup
TSN – Dave Naylor – Als leave ownership woes in the past with Grey Cup win
The Conversation – John Valentine – Grey Cup 2023: Canadian institution or antiquated tradition?
Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.
Pierre Trudeau
The elephant in the room that no one addresses is that the CFL was a much better league when the NFL was more racist. How many of the CFL greats only came to the CFL cuz they couldn’t get an opportunity with the NFL. They didn’t come for the peanut butter.
Phil has a question:
Have you seen a Grey Cup Pool ticket for sale this year.
Is your local watering hole having a Grey Cup Party.
Do you know who the half time show is.
Do you wager more on Alberta horse race tracks or US tracks.
SportsNet – CP – CFL commissioner Ambrosie says he still has energy to remain in current post
Phil has a question:
Is energy enough to stop the CFL’s slide into oblivion.
Does HISA / HIWU have a violation for flogging a dead horse.
If you talk, you only repeat something that you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something that you don’t know.
Bud Grant
2023 Grey Cup Festival
Cold is a state of mind.
Bud Grant
TSN – Fajardo relishing ‘second chance’ season with Alouettes as 110th Grey Cup nears
If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
Yogi Berra
SportsNet – Mike Koreen – Grey Cup Preview: What you need to know about Alouettes vs. Blue Bombers
All the buildup and hype, everything else, is foam. The game is the beer.
Marv Levy
Sports Business Journal – Winning the Next Wave of Sport Fans
World Soccer Talk – Kyle Fansler – Soccer surpasses NHL as 4th most popular sport in United States
Phil has a question:
How has Gary Bettman kept his position.
CFL – Priyanka Chaudary – The Future of the CFL: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
To live in the past is to die in the present.
Bill Belichek
What you do should speak so loudly that no one will hear what you say.
Marv Levy
Horse Racing Nation – Ed DeRosa – Who bet millions into Wednesday exotic pools at various tracks?
OPENING DAY HIGHLIGHTS
Free* Santa Anita Wall Calendar
Frontrunner Buffet
Craft Beer Trackside Festival
Loge Box Seats & Trackside Dining
Whiskey in Winter in the Chandelier Room
Winter Family Fun Zone
Premium Golden Road Pub
Showvivor Contest Begins
*With paid admission, while supplies last
Remembering Al Side
A memorial service will be held at Hilltop Farm in the Spring.
TDN – Letter to the Editor: Vicky Leonard
TDN – Letter to the Editor: Bloodstock Agent Jason Litt
Bloodhorse – Eric Mitchell – Following Sea to Stand at Rivard Stables in Manitoba
Bloodhorse – Bob Ehalt – No Fatal Breakdowns During Seven Months at Oklahoma
Garden and Gun – Sadie Chafe – Fourteen Thanksgiving Drinks
Garden and Gun – Sadie Chafe – Twelve Vegetable-Packed Sides for Thanksgiving
Garden and Gun – Sadie Chafe – Fourteen Comforting Side Dishes You Need at Thanksgiving
Garden and Gun – Sadie Chafe – Eleven Recipes for Your Main Thanksgiving Dish
Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.
Frank Zappa
Most sports journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read and when the people who can’t talk don’t say anything the people that can’t write make something up.
Frank Zappa updated by Phil
TSN – CP – Alouettes rally to beat Blue Bombers to take 110th Grey Cup
TSN – Dave Naylor – Als leave ownership woes in the past with Grey Cup win
Garden and Gun – Southern Women Spotlight: Rosalynn Carter
Horse Race Insider – John Pricci – THE LEGEND OF BOBBY USSERY
Paulick Report – Asmussen’s Youngest Son To Make Riding Debut Wednesday At Churchill Downs
Paulick Report – Jim Chavrat – Grass Racing Takes Center Stage Next Two Weeks At Del Mar
Bloodhorse – Molly Rollins – Nysos Oh So Nice in Bob Hope Romp
TDN – ‘TDN Rising Star’ Nysos Ascends Skyward In Bob Hope
Paulick Report – ‘A Real Pro’: Rising Star Nysos Powers Unchallenged To Bob Hope Victory
Bloodhorse – Laurel Winter Meet Includes 17 Stakes Worth $1.8M
The Ringer – Ben Solak – The Hot Read, Week 11: The Race for the No. 1 Pick Is Heating Up
The Score – Dan Wilkins – Key takeaways and analysis from Week 11 in the NFL
Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.
Mae West
Built Tough was crowned the 2023 Canadian Global Bull of the Year, also collecting a $10,000 bonus. The commanding bovine athlete concluded the regular season atop the standings with a 44.6-point average, 0.2 points ahead of No. 2 contender Langham Kid (Two Bit Bucking Bulls).
Built Tough’s outing in the championship round, which earned him a bull score of 43 points clinched him the year-end honor. He finished a razor-thin 0.04 points ahead of reserve Bull of the Year Blue Magic (Outlaw Buckers Rodeo Corp.).
Blue Magic and Grand Funk (Kinky Buckers) tied for the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the National Finals. Each animal athlete posted a National Finals-best 44-point bull score. Blue Magic earned the score when he teamed with Halverson (Gordon, Nebraska) for an event-best 89.75-point score in the championship round, while Grand Funk delivered the top marks in Round 2 when he upended Wyatt Gleeson (Sundre, Alberta) in 4.41 seconds in Round 2.
Nansen Vold was crowned the 2023 PBR Canada Stock Contractor of the Year for an unprecedented 10th time, including the past eight consecutive seasons.
PBR – Casie Albert – Dakota Buttar Crowned 2023 PBR Canada Champion
Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?
Groucho Marx
Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong
CTV – AP – Cheers! Bottle of Scotch whisky sells for a record US$2.7 million at auction
Phil’s quick arithmetic says that’s $3,600.00US a milliltre.
Secularism is categorically not saying that the religious may not speak out publicly or have a say in public life. It is about saying that religion alone should not confer a privileged say in public life, or greater influence on it. It really is as simple as that.
Richard Dawkins
Bloodhorse – Ortiz Jr. Posts Five Wins Nov. 18 at Aqueduct
The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.
Thomas Huxley
I was typecast for a long time. A lot of people thought all Divine could do was play a loud, beefy blonde.
Divine
Bon Appetit – Sommelier Tries a $1,500 Bottle of Red Wine
Phil’s quick arithmetic says that’s $2.00US a milliltre, the same price as a bottle of Two Buck Chuck.
Phil has a question:
Who got to drink the rest of the bottle.
Aren’t sommeliers supposed to look like some snooty arrogant French asshole with attitude.
Sports Illustrated – Pat Forde – Michigan Has Gotten Curiously Quiet on Its Sign-Stealing Scandal
If they think we’ve got an edge, we’ve got an edge.
Red Auerbach
Rolling Stone – Marlow Stern – The Rolling Stones’ Hell-Raising Original Ringleader
Rolling Stone – The 27 Club: A Brief History
Bloodhorse – Byron King – Outs Contribute to Drop in Keeneland HORA Sale Figures
TDN – Steve Sherack – Recent Maiden Winners Share Spotlight at Keeneland’s Horses of Racing Age Sale
TDN – HIWU Withdraws Cases Against Trainers Brion, Hendriks
Phil has a question:
Can all of the staff at HISA and HIWU including Lisa Lazarus be provisionally fired and then let back if they can prove their merits.
Garden and Gun – Sadie Chafe – Seven Sauces for Thanksgiving
Phil’s One Sauce for All Holidays
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
William Shakespeare
Front Office Sports – Michael McCarthy – Charissa Thompson’s On-Air Admission Sparks Controversy
Phil has a question:
Have you ever seen a bigger fucking blonde bimbo than Charissa Thompson.
Why has she not been fired.
Does she think she’s Tucker Carlson.
Did she not just confirm that the blonde bimbos are just there for their looks.
The Ringer – Dan Moore – The Long, Sad Story of the Stealing of the Oakland A’s
TDN – Post-Race Samples From 2023 Breeders’ Cup Cleared By HIWU
Phil has a question:
Will Jim Harbaugh be heading to the Patriots when Belichek retires this off-season.
TDN – Jessica Martini – ‘Pragmatic’ Keeneland November Sale Concludes with Numbers Down
Bloodhorse – Lauren Gash – Curtain Falls on Keeneland November to Slight Decline
The Ringer – Ian Cohen – The Hotelier Is Finding Home in All Sorts of Places
Bloodhorse – Mollie Rollins – Rich Strike Withdrawn From Keeneland HORA Sale
Garden and Gun – Sadie Chafe – Twenty-Two Thanksgiving Desserts
Southern Living – Our 71 Best Thanksgiving Recipes Of All Time
Phil M Stockmen
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