Day 67

Windy but warm. Watching some of the races around the country this afternoon I was surprised at how few horses I was really that familiar with. One of the side effects of this business becoming more of a business is that horses simply don't run as much as they used to. I am not talking about the regular run of the mill horse but the good horses who you follow as they campaign. The Santa Anita Handicap which has lost much of its luster because of the timing of the Dubai World Cup was really Einstein and a bunch of middling turf horses. This used to be the top handicap race in the first half of the year, filled with the best of the west and occasionally an eastern shipper like Broad Brush. If you go to youtube and watch some of the Big Caps from the 80's and early 90's you will see a lot of really good horses. Now if you don't have the form in front of you you may not know 1/2 the field.