It's no secret that the amount of space devoted to thoroughbred racing in the country's newspapers has diminished significantly in recent years. There are various theories for the slight to the sport of kings, but one of the major problems that nobody disputes is the decided lack of sports editors who grew up spending time at the local tracks with their fathers, or mothers, as the case may be. 

    Several decades ago, the New York press boxes were not only inhabited by one or more racing writers for each of the city's papers, but also by the sports editors of those papers. On any given day, Belmont, Aqueduct or Jamaica might be the hangout for such as Mike Lee of the Long Island Press, Ed Comerford of Newsday, Ike Gellis of the New York Post, or several others. Those denizens made sure racing was prominent in their respective papers. 

    With the passing of the old guard. the new sports editors are more interested in the NFL, and Major League Baseball, and the NBA, and (ugh!) NASCAR. With less overall space devoted to sports sections these days, racing is the sport that has taken the biggest hit. 

    The problem has not only resulted in less racing news, but a lack of expertise exhibited in the little space allowed. Unfortunately, the Ocala Star Banner, once a place where racing columns and racing news were plentiful, has a bunch of amateurs trying to keep Ocala's huge thoroughbred community updated. Not only is the news doled out sparsely, the way it is presented thrusts the amateurs into the spotlight.

    I could devote paragraphs to the Star Banner's lack of expertise, but I'll use just one instance, a caption under a picture of Justify winning the Preakness in yesterdays edition. Here it is:

    "Justify, with Mike Smith atop, wins the 143rd Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico race track, Saturday in Baltimore. Bravazo, with Luis Saez aboard, wins second while Tenfold, with Ricardo Santana Jr. atop, places." 

    I was in awe upon learning that Bravazo won second and that Tenfold placed. It's enough to make one want to barf, and wonder where this guy (or girl) learned his or her trade. Hopefully, sports editor Paul Kardasz will keep the culprit far from the racing scene from now on. 

    DRILLING IT HOME - Get Away Farm's freshman sire, the Lawyer Ron stallion Drill, celebrated his first winner yesterday when Drill Time went wire-to-wire in a 4 1/2-furlong, $27,785 maiden special at Golden Gate Fields. The Florida colt bred by Jennifer and Gillian Johnson put up :22.32 for the first quarter and went on to score by two lengths in :52.72. Drill Time collected $15,600 for the effort.  

    Five of Florida's seven freshman sires of 2018 now have at least one winner. Ocala Stud's Uncaptured has two.  

 

      

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