For the week ending Jan. 28, play reached more than $207 million, fourth best since the casino opened on Oct. 28. For the week ending Feb. 4, play reached a then-high of $228-million -plus. The best week of the 15 came last week, ending Feb. 11, when play soared to $238-million-plus.

     The total play for the 107 days is $2,685,457,048. When the activity sheet is closed out after the play of this Saturday night, the total will be more than $3 billion. The "net win" for the casino to be divided among the various stakeholders is $160,667,830. That makes the 44 percent funneled to education thus far $70,693,845. The 6.5 percent allotted for purses is $10,443,408. The 1 percent going for breeders' awards is $1,606,678. Purses at Aqueduct have soared since the new money became available, and the breeders' awards program has gone through the roof.

     In contrast, the total amount sent through the south Florida slots from the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1 to Feb. 5 is $3,304,852,536, and that includes the new casino at Miami Jai Alai, which opened in January. The state's take in that period is just under $80 million.

     Miami Jai Alai, thus far, doesn't seem to have hurt Flagler dog track, its nearest competitor. Miami is averaging just $135 per machine in its early stages. All the south Florida casinos have seen an early spike in play in February.

     MORE ON CALDER VS. GULFSTREAM - In the previous blog, I alluded to the disparity in the number of winners by Calder-based trainers between December of 2010, when Calder ran the south Florida dates, and December of 2011, when Gulfstream took over those same dates. A further perusal of the results showed that Florida's breeders took it on the chin, too.

     In 2010, there were 138 Florida breeders' awards paid out. In the corresponding period, with Gulfstream open two months ago, there were 61 Florida breeders' awards paid out. That's a reduction of 77 awards now matter how you look at it.

     DERBY POTENTIAL - Last year's Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom, is by Leroidesanimaux, who stands at Stonewall Farm Ocala. Todd Pletcher's Thunder Moccasin stamped himself as a legitimate Derby contender with his romp in the Gr. II Hutcheson at Gulfstream on Saturday. Thunder Moccasin is by A. P. Warrior, who also stands at Stonewall Farm. What are the odds?

    (February 8, 2012) - The Florida HBPA has never made a secret out of its desire to align itself with Frank Stronach and Gulfstream Park over Churchill Downs and Calder Race Course. And when Stronach opted to put in for the December racing dates for 2011, which Tropical Park and then Tropical-at-Calder had held since the beginning of time, the FHBPA board of directors couldn't have been more jubilant. Especially considering the part they played in pushing for the change. Calder's horsemen were in total agreement, as far as any of us knows.

     If there were horsemen who did not agree with the move, and I have to assume there were some, they didn't let it be known. I don't recall one report, either in a newspaper, a magazine or on a blog, where any Florida horseman expressed an opposing viewpoint. Which brings up the age-old maxim, "Be careful what you wish for, because it may come true."

     At the suggestion of Gene Stevens, I checked the winners for Calder-based trainers vs. those who ship in for the winter for the last two December meetings, to see if there was any difference in who won and who lost. The results were astounding.

     Here's what I discovered: With Calder running the dates from Dec. 2 of 2010 through Jan. 2 of 2011, horses whose last start had come at Calder won 125 races. Horses whose last start came at any other track won 26 races. There were certain categories that I didn't count when compiling the numbers; they included first-time starters, horses who hadn't started for eight or nine months or more, and horses who won who had already made a start at the meeting that began on Dec. 2. I could have included those horses if I had the time to research each one individually, but the number of hours that would have taken made it impossible.

     Now for the results from Gulfstream Park for this meeting, from Dec. 3, 2011 through Jan. 2, 2012, using the same parameters. Horses who made their last start at Calder won 55 races in that period, down 70 from the previous year. Horses who made their last start at any other track won 108 races, up 82 from the previous year.

     All kinds of conclusions can be drawn from those figures, but the two numbers that are indisputable are Calder trainers down 70, other trainers up 82. That's a major swing. I wonder if the Calder trainers - and owners - are as ecstatic now that they have digested the results as they were when they were hailing the switch to Gulfstream. That switch, by the way, will continue into December of 2012, as we learned when the Calder schedule was released last week.

     Here are a few more numbers that might put the situation in further perspective. At the Tropical meeting from Dec. 2, 2010 to Jan. 2, 2011, before a concentrated influx of northern horses and trainers, Steve Dwoskin saddled 15 winners. At the current Gulfstream meeting, through Jan. 2, he went 1-for-28. Luis Duco won four races last season, this year he went 0-for-9. Bill White won five races last time, this time he went 2-for-19. Antonio Sano dropped from seven winners to 2-for-30. Kathleen O'Connell won four races last year, this year she went 2-for-11. Stanley Gold won five races, this time he went 0-for-14. Eddie Plesa won 12 races, this year he went 4-for-29. Milton Wolfson won four times, this time he was 2-for-8. Ronnie Spatz went from four winners to 0-for-13. Jose Pinchin won six races, this time he went 1-for-10. David Fawkes didn't fare quite as poorly, last year he won four times, this year he went 3-for-31.

     I'm sure different people will be able to come to different conclusions derived from the above information, but it's hard to ignore the facts. The FHBPA got its wish, I wonder if they all think it was worth It?

(February 2, 2012) - The early consensus concerning the highly-touted HBO series "Luck" seems to be nearly unanimous that after just one episode it is a major hit despite the negative light it casts on racing through its cast of nefarious characters. But I have the same objections to this project that I have had for most of the racing flicks of the past.

     Here are some of them:

     (1) Richard Kind plays the flaky agent, Joey Rathburn. Richard is best known for his comedy roles on Mad About You and Spin City, and in this one, they told him to stutter - for some reason. Coupled with his rapid-fire chatter, it makes about half of what he says unintelligible. Kind watches five seconds of the stretch run of a workout by a horse trained by Nick Nolte and the first words out of his mouth are: "I just saw a Derby horse."

     (2) Nick Nolte puts a jockey named Rosie on the "Derby" horse and tells her to take him around the track the wrong way, which would be clockwise. Rosie (Kerry Condon) promptly takes him around the right way.

     (2) Tom Payne plays apprentice jockey Leon Micheaux. It's not bad enough Payne is so big he has to weigh 135 pounds, he's a 10-pound bug and will have to make 10 pounds less than the assigned weight of any horse. Reminds me of the TV movie about the Yankees when the actor who portrayed George Steinbrenner was about 5-foot-5. In addition, Payne plays the role with the confidence and wise-mouth of a jock who's been around a lot longer. Ten-pound bugs, in real life, don't open their mouths to trainers, owners and agents.

     (3) Dustin Hoffman, as Ace Bernstein, has just spent three years in prison, but he walks out the door and has a $2 million horse waiting for him at the track. There's no explanation as to how he happened to come by this horse while sitting in his cell.

     (4) At the start of the day, there's a huge pick 6 carryover at Santa Anita, about $2.2 million. In real life, that pool would end up being anywhere from $4 million to $6 million by post time, yet, when the possibilities are shown after five races, a single ticket taking home the whole pool is worth $2,687,000. Sometime during the day, there's a sign on the infield tote that says the pool could be worth "up to" $2.8 million. The whole sequence is totally bogus.

     (5) Four degenerates trying to raise enough money to bet the pick 6 - Marcus (Kevin Dunn), Jerry (Jason Getrick), Lonnie (Ian Hart) and Ronzo (Richie Coster), accept Jerry's picks, written on a napkin, as if he is the Messiah of handicapping. The night before, Jerry had lost his whole $390 stash playing poker. Yet, nobody disputes any of his picks or asks to add a horse or two. One of Jerry's picks is the 5 horse in the second pick 6 race. The horse is trained by Turo Escalante (John Ortiz) and hasn't run in two years. We never have an explanation of why Jerry has put this horse on the ticket, and why is he singled? If Jerry is such an insider that he knows something about Escalante's horse, how come he's always broke? After the horse wins, Escalante is shown cashing two tickets worth about $40,000. Before the bet is made, Jerry goes up to a track cop, who is also a loan shark, and borrows money from him. The cop pulls the money out of his pocket and hands it to Jerry standing right in the middle of the ground floor of the grandstand, in full view of anybody standing around.

     (6) The foursome is going to win the pick 6 with the lone ticket, worth $2.6 million, and only three of the races involved are shown. In all of them, the reaction by the foursome is so tame it belies credibility. After they win the whole pool, only Lonnie displays any real emotion, instead of the exuberant celebration that would unfold in real life, especially with this group of misfits.
 

     Luck has the possibilities to be a major smash. but only if the writers make the upcomig episodes more believable. It has been written that a second season has already been approved, but real racetrackers need to be treated as though they have a brain. Here's hoping the insiders, like Hovdey and Perrotta, pay more attention to the finished product and explain to Milch and Mann the importance of credibility.