(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.

     Of the five facilities that have been in operation, only Pompano Park and Hollywood dogs will not be affected by Miami Jai Alai. Flagler dogs will no doubt be hit the hardest since it is the closest of the five to the jai alai fronton. But Gulfstream Park and Calder Casino and Race Course figure to be affected to some smaller degree.

     Miami is owned by the Collett family, Benny Sr. and Jr., whose corporation is called Florida Gaming, and it's difficult to assess at this early juncture how successful their venture will be. The Colletts have not exactly been at the head of the class when it comes to overseeing pari-mutuel operations. In 1994, they purchased the first of World Jai Alai's four Florida frontons, in Ft. Pierce, for approximately $2 million. Four years later, they bought the other three, in Miami, Tampa and Ocala, for approximately $10 million. They promptly sold off Tampa's land to developers (Lowe's, as I recall) for $8.3 million, and the Ocala fronton to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. for $2.4 million. The Colletts were - seemingly - financially out after the two sales, but their monetary woes since have been well documented. To many insiders, it's been a major surprise that they were able to put together the financing for the new casino. Word is that it cost $87 million for the renovation.

     I mentioned the following figures a few weeks ago, but they're so stunning they're worth repeating. The Florida fiscal year begins on July 1, so revenue figures from the five casinos is up-to-date for them through Jan. 15. Those figures show that the amount of money put into the slots (combined) in that period of six months and 15 days is $2,923,442,018. That's just under $3 billion. Let's compare that to the new Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct, which has been open since Oct. 28. Through Jan. 21, which is one week less than three months of operation, the total play has been $2,019,928,076.

     Those numbers make two things perfectly clear. First, the Aqueduct casino is off to a phenomenal beginning. Second, the south Florida casinos are burying each other. That's not to say that the Floridians aren't doing well enough to make a difference in all their purse structures. Pompano Park remains the No. 1 earner of the five, showing a net slot revenue of more than $61 million, less its 35 percent to the state, which comes to $21.4 million. So Pompano has benefitted to the tune of nearly $40 million for the 6 1/2-month period. Not exactly chicken feed.

     Second-best thus far has been Flagler with just over $43 million, and $15 million to the state. Calder is third with $40 million and $14 million to the state, followed by Hollywood with $28 million and $9.8 million, and Gulfstream with $27 million and $9.5 million. But the Flagler numbers are destined to decline due to the Miami Jai Alai competition.

     Before a casino can open, it must pass a final inspection by the state of all aspects of its operation. Word is that the only casino that passed the inspection on the first try was Calder. Miami, whose grand opening had been set for this past weekend, failed its first inspection two weeks ago. Last Monday morning (Jan. 16), however, there was a second inspection and Miami passed. So the Colletts made a quick decision to open that same night. No advertising, no advance notice to anybody, just word of mouth around town. At 8 p. m., when the doors opened, there were about 100 people waiting to enter.

     The casino was built inside the fronton, there's no new building as at some of the other casinos. And those who have been there say it is quite impressive. One opening-night attendee said the line at the window to get a "player's card" was so long early, he waited for more than an hour before getting on line to get his card, and still stood on line for 20 minutes. He said that as the night wore on, more and more customers came through the doors as word spread of the sudden opening.

     Since the renovation began about a year ago, the fronton's card room operation has been shut down, and it, too, reopened this week. It's now located right in the middle of the casino.

     Speaking of card rooms, No. 1 in the state since the fiscal year began is Pompano Park's, with gross receipts of $6.8 million through Dec. 31. Orange Park Kennel Club in Jacksonville is second with $6.1 million, followed by Palm Beach Kennel Club with $5.8 million, and Daytona Beach Kennel Club with $5.4 million.

     Ocala Jai Alai's card room is No. 1 in the state among frontons with $1,852,296, followed by Ft. Pierce with $1,449,504.

     Gretna Racing LLC, the barrel racing people who, for some unknown reason, have elicited such a negative reaction from Florida's thoroughbred organizations, accumulated gross receipts of $178,176 in one month of its card room operation. But the total barrel racing wagering handle for the month of December was $30,312, so it's easy to understand why certain members of the thoroughbred fraternity in high places have been quoted as saying the barrel racing people are threatening the very existence of our sport. (That's a little editor humor).

     It's time to forget about barrel racing and concentrate on the important stuff, like boosting purses and halting the exodus of so many good stallions and mares out of Marion County. Several years ago, at the beginning of the breeding season, we could count on anywhere from 15 to 25 freshman sires who were ready to make their debuts in the upcoming season. Look at the Florida Horse Stallion Register for 2012. There are eight!

(January 19, 2012) - I finally did it. Frustration over the inability to watch the major winter racing from Gulfstream Park, Tampa Bay Downs and Santa Anita were the catalyst for two phone calls - the first brought Dish Network into my living room and the second canceled my DirecTV account. It should have happened sooner, but when TVG tried to extort more money from Tampa and subsequently dropped the races from Oldsmar, that was the clincher.

     On the negative side - wait, there is no negative side. Oaklawn Park has switched from HRTV to TVG, but Dish carries TVG, too, so I won't be missing anything from Hot Springs, a track I like to wager on.

     There actually is one problem with the racing fare on HRTV - there are so many tracks being shown that you have to handicap in advance in order to be able to make a substantial amount of bets. It is virtually impossible to try to handicap several tracks while the races are on, the racing is fast and furious.

     RESORTS WORLD CASINO ROCKS - The amount of play at the Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct can't be categorized using any other word but astounding. In less than three months, the amount of coins and dollars that have made their way into the now-5,000 machines through Jan. 14 is $1.96 billion. The net profit that is being divided among all the entities is more than $113 million. So, the 6.5 percent for purses has reached $7.39 million. The amount that has been set aside for breeders' awards, 1 percent, comes to $1.13 million. Now, if they could attain full fields for the winter racing period, all would be well.