Fri, 18 October 1996
Hi Al,
Well, time is hurtling by. I got caught by surprise when I discovered that
this weekend is the TTBA breeding stock sale. Of course, the reason I got
caught is that I never got a catalogue (grumble grumble). I always used to
get all the catalogues automatically. Probably computer error :) Anyhow,
I hear that around 400 head is catalogued, which means that two days are
required. First day is mainly weanlings, second day broodmares and
yearlings, I gather. Of course, there will be seasons to some big
stallions offered, as well. Course, I can't tell you *all* about what is
offered, since I don't know what is selling. :( Worst part is, the whole
family has been sick, so I don't know if I'll be able to go.
Yesterday, D. Wayne Lukas came for a visit to Lone Star Park. He toured the grounds, made some suggestions, and talked with folks there. My understanding is that he is planning on bringing horses to run in stakes events here. This is good news--hopefully we'll hear about alot of other big trainers that will come, too.
Sam Houston is up and running with the TBs again. I had accessed the SHRP web site a few weeks ago and was unable to get entries and results. I sent an e-mail to them, and was hapy to receive a prompt reply from Reid McClelland. Reid was kind enough to keep me posted on the status of things, and sent e-mailed me his "Purple Power" analysis of the current days' entries and his picks for each race. Recently, the problem accessing entries and results was resolved, and Reid let us know that his Purple Power will be listed under the Milos Tips portion of the SHRP site. Reid, in addition to being an extremely nice person, seems to have a good feel for the horses running and their capabilities. I encourage you to check out his stuff.
In the breeding news, I saw that Summer's Mill has picked up a new stallion--a full brother to Miesque. Once again, for the life of me, I can't remember this horse's name. Was I just recently mentioning to you that I'm having a harder and harder time keeping all my research for this in one place?
On another note, a fellow @derby lister clued us in to the fact that the 10/16 internet issue of The New York News has an article concerning TX racing. I read the article, which evoked quite a response in me. The images the article evoked were stark and less than what one would want for the image of TX racing. That is, the images that were evoked of Retama and SHRP were less than wonderful. The image painted of LSP, however was very good. Some of the information contained was not perfect. For instance, the article talked about the bankruptcy reorganization of all three tracks. What was not made clear, however, was that SHRP and Retama reorganized after racing opened. LSPs reorganization came amid legal disputes over the license itself. There has been no reorganization since the track obtained the license and began building. The other information that wa less than perfect was the data on the average daily handle, both projected and actual. The article stated that the projected handle was $1.7M per day. I think that was per week. And the reported actual daily handle was said to be $3M, which according to what I see in the Dallas Morning News, is closer to a weekly figure. Overall, I'd have to say the article was pretty much right on target, looking at the reasons TX racing did not take off as expected, yet. The article did seem to hold some optimism for the future.
Well, that is al I can think of for the time being. Hope all is well on the home front.
Later,
Jill
Jill Tittle 
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Life is not a spectator sport
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The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com/)