Some five decades ago, or more, one of the most-watched detective shows on the air was called "The Naked City," featuring New York detectives and their daily trials and tribulations. Each week it opened with a voice reminding us, "There are eight million stories here in the Naked City."

    Racing may not have anywhere near eight million stories, but it certainly has a great many more than those we read about daily, the ones chronicling graded stakes races, promising 2-year-olds, the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup. Two of those off-the-beaten-path tales, both spotlighting Florida-breds, and cheap ones at that, played out in the last few days. One came at Finger Lakes, the other at Gulfstream Park.

    Alcanudance is a 10-year-old by former Florida stallion Alke, bred by Cloverleaf Farm II, the acreage originally developed by Bob Brennan as Due Process Stable and these days known as Woodford Thoroughbreds. On Monday at Finger Lakes, Alcanudance made the 81st start of his nine-year racing career and went wire-to-wire in a $5,000 claimer, passing the furlong markers in :22.19 and :45.99 and scoring by half a length while racing five furlongs in :59.02 and paying $6.90. It marked the 30th victory of Alcanudance's career, to go along with 15 seconds and 17 thirds, and he raised his earnings to $300,977. He has won at least once in every one of those nine years, with the best coming in 2012 and 2015 when he won six times in each. He's averaged $3,716 per start competing at the bottom of the ladder.   

     Pink Mama is a 4-year-old filly by Mass Media, bred by Mary and Richard Tortora. Mary is the former Mary Russ, who became the first female rider to win a Gr. I stakes in the U. S. when she piloted Lord Darnley to victory in the Gulfstream Park Handicap in 1982.

    Pink Mama was claimed by trainer Gerald Bennett for owner Juan Castro for $6,250 at Tampa Bay Downs in December, and on Sunday, she won an optional claiming starter allowance at Gulfstream by 3 1/2 lengths. It was the filly's sixth straight victory, the first two coming at Tampa and the last four in Hallandale Beach, and the combined margin of victory has been 31 1/4 lengths. Sent off at 1/9, Pink Mama rated in third place under Samy Camacho, moved three wide heading for home and jogged to the wire by herself to raise her record to 10-4-0 in 19 starts, and her earnings to $134,720. All 14 of those firsts and seconds have come at Gulfstream, Tampa or Gulfstream West, providing 14 breeder's awards for the Tortoras.

    Not all the heartwarming stories in the Naked City have purses in excess of $100,000.    

    Florida's pari-mutuel fiscal year is 10 days from winding up, and it turns out that the casinos down south will experience more than just a minor increase in several major categories.

    In the last fiscal year, total "credits in" for the eight facilities reached more than $8.2 billion; through May 31 of this year the number is nearly $7.8 billion. With more than $700 million a month currently being generated, this will be a record year again, somewhere around $8.5 billion. The highest previous total for any one month was $795 million last year, this time around $800 million was reached three times, in October, December and March.

    Last year, the state's 35 percent tax generated $187.9 million in revenues - this year taxes will exceed $192 million. That's good news because the state's regulation of the pari-mutuel industry has been so outstanding that we now have additional phony quarter horse racing at once-revered Hialeah Park, and the state should be rewarded.  Among the many items that are swirling around in various gaming bills in Tallahassee is one that would reduce the tax on each facility to 25 percent. They should pass that one by itself as long as the fatheads are sitting around and doing nothing at all on the other changes. 

    PLEASANT MILESTONES - Two more Pleasant Acres freshman stallions now have their first winners. Brethren was represented by Feisty Embrace at Evangeline Downs on June 16, and Poseidon's Warrior by Firenze Fire at Monmouth Park on the 18th. Both came in maiden specials. 

    Feisty Embrace went off at 1/2 and won by a length in 1:00.02 for the five furlongs. She had finished second in her previous start and now has earnings of $20,800. Firenze Fire sat second in the early going at Monmouth and was a ton the best with Antonio Gallardo in the stretch, getting five furlongs in :58.37 and earning $21,600. Nearing the wire, track announcer Frank Mirahmadi bellowed, "Firenze Fire wins from here to Florida." 

    Following are some indisputable facts about Tapwrit.

     1. He sold for $1.2 million to Bridlewood Farm, Robert LaPenta and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners at the 2016 Saratoga sale.

    2. His Belmont victory boosted his earnings to $1,143,902, so one more race and they're out as far as the price is concerned. 

    3. He's 4-1-0 in 8 starts and has won two stakes other than the Belmont - the Gr. II Tampa Bay Derby and Pulpit - and finished second in the Gr. III Sam F. Davis.

    4. He's the third son of Tapit to win the Belmont in the last four years.

    5. The Malones weren't able to be there for the Belmont, but Bridlewood manager George Isaacs looked really suave at the trophy presentation sporting another of his stylish straw hats.

    6. There are two sons of Tapit standing in Ocala - Woodford's He's had Enough and Hartley/DeRenzo's Rattlesnake Bridge. Tapwrit has already earned more than those two combined.

    7. What if Robert LaPenta and the many entities represented by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, neither of which owns a farm standing stallions, I don't think, told John and Leslie Malone they could stand Tapwrit at Bridlewood when his racing career ends, at least for a couple of years, like Mr. Prospector, Stormy Atlantic, Successful Appeal, Yes It's True, Northern Afleet and more recently, Kantharos, etc. It would have to be listed under the headline Always Dreaming, but what a boost it would be to the Florida breeding industry.

    It won't happen, of course, for several reasons, two of which are obvious. First is that the colt appears to be of such a caliber he could go on to win many millions more and that would take him out of the Florida mix. Second is that he would stand for a stud fee too high for the area to support. There are only two stallions in Ocala with fees as high as $10,000. It's been quite a while since there was a high-priced stallion here, possibly not since Codex, and before him In Reality. 

    Ocala hasn't had a Belmont winner standing since Sarava (he won in 2002) and three decades earlier it was Peter Kissel's Pass Catcher, who won in 1971 and stood at October House Farm. Needles, of course, was the first. But Sarava was a one-hit wonder, wasn't well-received, and didn't last long in Florida.  

    Hey, it was just a thought.

    RAINBOW RISES - The Rainbow 6 jackpot has reached $842,532 heading into today's Gulfstream program. If there isn't a single winner today, bettors will have three days to keep trying before there's a mandatory payout on Saturday. If it reaches Saturday intact, the pool will be gigantic - again. 

    GOOD PROSPECTS - Ocala Stud's Prospective became the third Florida freshman sire to get a winner when Happy River scored in a $25,000 maiden claimer at Gulstream on Friday. Bred by Robert Shoukry, the filly raced five furlongs in 1:00.64 under Emisael Jaramillo and won by nearly four lengths, earning a check for $14,400. 

    The biggest surprise emanating from Gulfstream Park yesterday was not that nobody hit the Rainbow Pick 6 jackpot again, but that Tyler Gaffalione's mount in the second race - Rey Astray - paid $15.40.

    Getting a price on the talented young son of former rider Steve Gaffalione and grandson of former rider Bob Gaffglione has become quite difficult, especially since the northern jockeys have headed north for their summer engagements. Tyler rode four more winners yesterday and now has 72 for the current meeting, 20 ahead of his nearest competitor, Edgard Zayas. It's another 18 back to third-place Emisail Jaramillo, who has 34. 

    To show the respect the bettors have for Tyler, seven of the nine horses he rode went off favored, so he doesn't win them all. Aside from his four victories, he had three seconds, a third and a fourth. His owners do get everything out of a horse when Tyler is aboard. He has ridden in 240 races, so he's winning at a gaudy 30 percent. He also has 39 seconds and 43 thirds, an in-the-money percentage of 64. He leads the jockey colony at Gulfstream in every category, by a mile. 

    By the way, the Rainbow jackpot is up to $556,055, so another millionaire could be crowned shortly.  

    GRATIFYING SCORE - I always find it intriguing to follow the early careers of horses that bring big prices at the sales, although there are so many these days it's difficult to do so. One showed up at Finger Lakes earlier this week, a 3-year-old filly named Gratifying bred in Kentucky by Atlanta real estate entrepreneur Peter Blum, who has been doing it for about five decades. 

    Gratifying, a daughter of Bodemeister, was an RNA at the Keeneland September yearling sale in 2015. She showed up again at the OBS March 2-year-old sale in 2016 in the consignment of Ocala horseman Paul Sharp and she went for $200,000 to Gold Square LLC. Sent to the track, the filly finished fourth and sixth in two tries at Parx, fifth in a race at Aqueduct and ninth at Belmont Park. She earned all of $5,360 in the four attempts.

    Next stop - Finger Lakes. Running in a maiden special upstate, Gratifying took to the sloppy track under Joshua Navarro, galloped behind the pack down the backstretch, went four wide on the turn and jogged home by 6 1/2 lengths. She paid $2.50 and collected a check for $11,400. She's now earned $16,760 for Gold Star, a long way from her purchase price, but it will be interesting to see if this was the wake-up call she needed.  

    I have tried and failed to find a list of broodmares who have produced the most million-dollar earners, assuming there is one somewhere. But is it possible that Charlotte Weber's Win Approval is the all-time leader in that category?

    When World Approval won the Gr. II, $250,000 Longine Dixie Stakes just prior to the Preakness, he went over the $1 million mark in earnings, becoming the fourth millionaire for the daughter of With Approval, who produced 10 foals in all during her career in the Live Oak Plantation breeding shed. World Approval, a foal of 2012, is the last of the 10, and his 2 1/4-length victory Saturday was a thing of beauty. But Julien Leparoux often rides stakes-winners to perfection.

    The 5-year-old gelding is now 8-2-4 in 20 starts with earnings of $1,103,763 and his stakes record is impressive: competing in 16 stakes, 11 of them graded, he has compiled six victories, two seconds, three thirds and three fourths. Trainer Mark Casse gave him a rest of 5 1/2 months, and in his return on April 2, World Approval came back to win the EG Vodka Turf Classic at Tampa Bay Downs on the Florida Cup program, so he's 2-for-2 this year.

    Win Approval's other millionaires are Miesques Approval ($2,648,879), Revved Up ($1,548,653) and Za Approval ($1,904,666). She has produced four other winners, one foal who didn't win in four starts, and one who never raced. The nine who did have now won 68 races, led by Revved Up, who won 20 times, and Miesques Approval and Winabull, who won 12 times each.

    The way World Approval is performing, all those numbers should rise this season.

    FRENCHIE STILL GIVING - The tale of Ocala advertising exec Kathy Taylor's rescue of nine horses from the busted Eddie Martin Stable South in 2010 has been chronicled here often. Seven years later, the exploits of the son of Shakespeare that she bred from one of the rescued mares continue to balloon.

    After selling eight of the rescuees for a ham sandwich each, Kathy bred the Storm Bird mare Cent Nouvelles to Shakespeare and French Quarter was born. Kathy raised him, and two years later, the fiesty colt didn't reach his reserve at OBS and he was sold privately to Canadian owner Howard Walton. French Quarter began racing at Woodbine in the summer and Gulfstream in the winter, although the winter forays have not been nearly as frequent.

   A few months ago, Gulfstream trainer David Fawkes claimed Frenchie for $62,500 and has since raced him three times. The third came on Saturday in the $100,000 Big Drama Stakes and Frenchie was competitive, as he usually is, finishing third in a tough field of 10 sprinters. He is closing in on $300,000 in career earnings.

    From Kathy's point of view, the claim was a blessing - a blessing known as breeder's awards. Since his return to Florida in December, Frenchie has raced six times for the two barns, with two victories, a second and two thirds (both in $100,000 stakes). In his Gulfstream career, he has four firsts, two seconds and three thirds in 13 starts. That equates to nine breeder's awards of varying denominations and goes a long way to taking the sting out of what it cost to care for the original nine in 2010 and 2011.

    And, like World Approval,  Frenchie is still going strong.  

    A few decades ago, the late Red Buttons got a great deal of mileage out of a recurring TV schtick; he'd put his hand over his ear and declare, "Strange things are happening."

    Red would have loved the 2-year-old race at Gulfstream Park last Friday - a bunch of first-timers plus one who had started, appropriately named Rocky Strange, and he was the 6/5 favorite based on a lone third-place finish. 

    One of the first-timers was Uncle Runt, a gelding by First Dude owned and bred by Rory and Gay Miller's Flying Finish Farm in Ocala. First Dude has been a remarkable sire since arriving at Double Diamond Farm in time for the 2012 breeding season. His $5.5 million in earnings leads all the sires from the same year, and he's not only Florida's leading third-crop sire this season, he's second on the general sire list behind deceased Wildcat Heir. In short, he's been terrific.  

    That's why it's hard to understand how the bettors allowed Uncle Runt to go off at $104.10-1 in his debut. The gelding had three listed workouts, a 49.80 breezing from the gate for four furlongs on April 9 (best of 8 works), a 51 breezing on April 29 (second of 8), and a 38.40 breezing on May 6 (first of 3), six days before his first race. All the works came at the Ocala Horse Complex and a sharp handicapper would have noted that two of the works were bullets. 

    So the combination of First Dude and Uncle Runt's works weren't enough to get people to jump on board and they paid for it. With Jose Garcia aboard, the gelding rushed into the lead and just kept going, reaching the wire 1 1/4 lengths in front and paying $210.20, $31.40 and $14.20. Assuming that 99 percent of owners bet on their horses, especially the first time out, the Millers no doubt enjoyed a great trip to Hallandale Beach. The winner's check was $34,000 and the breeder's award is still to come.

    Runner-up in the race was Bal Harbour, named after the glitzy shopping area located not far from Gulfstream and owned by Hialeah Park's John J. Brunetti. Bal Harbour collected $8,400 for second. 

    First Dude already has piled up more than $1.3 million in progeny earnings in 2017, with 41 winners, and it's only May. It will be interesting to see if the upcoming Dude 2-year-olds receive a warmer welcome at the windows.  

    We all are aware that the sport is dying, the older players are leaving us and no new players are being invented. I quote other outlets here regarding the subject about twice a year. So it turns out that wagering on the Kentucky Derby surpassed $200 million for the first time ever - $209.2 million to be exact. That's 9% higher than last year's $192.6 million and 8% higher than the previous record of $194.3 million set in 2015, the year of American Pharoah. The race was so wide open going in it's possible that a great many of the people who have left us came back for just one more crack at it. 

    Even with the rain and cold that began prior to Saturday and severely hampered the attendance on Oaks Friday, 158,070 showed up to watch Always Dreaming win his fourth in a row and appear to be much the best of the group he faced. Of course, the mud had a lot to do with the strung-out field, as mud so often does, with the horse who finished 19th, State of Honor, so far behind they wouldn't have been able to find him with binoculars. The 20th horse, Thunder Snow, winner of the UAE Derby, apparently didn't care for his trip across the Atlantic, and refused to run for his Godolphin interests.  

   And, who knows how close Classic Empire might have been at the end if he hadn't been mugged from all sides leaving the gate and losing all chance. That Julien Leparoux was able to get him home fourth was a great tribute to the French rider whose name is mispronounced by 99% of racing's analysts and announcers. It gave me a warm feeling when the jockeys were introducing themselves on NBC before the race to hear Julien say "Le----paroux," instead of Lay-paroux or Leppa-roux. But the mispronouncers probably weren't paying attention. Classic Empire's trainer, Ocalan Mark Casse, says his colt is 90% sure to go to Pimlico for the Preakness.

    On another note, reports are that the Derby telecast viewership was the largest since 1889, according to Nielsen, an average of 16.5 million, peaking at 19.1 million from 6:45 to 7 p. m. when the race was being run and then dissected. That time frame resulted in a peak of 17.9 million for both 2015 and 2016 (Nyquist).

    I have never believed in those Nielsen numbers because they have no way of taking into account the number of players who are watching on TV at racetracks around the continent, in OTB parlors, and in the various casinos. Adding in those people would make the percentages significantly higher.

    The top markets listed by Nielsen were (1) Louisville, (2) Ft. Myers, (3) Cincinnati, (4) Buffalo, (5) Knoxville, (6) Dayton, (7) Pittsburgh, (8) Cleveland, (9) Richmond, and (10) West Palm Beach. Seems to be an odd collection, especially without New York, Los Angeles and Chicago in the mix.

    Whenever someone pulls down a nice Rainbow Pick 6 jackpot at Gulfstream Park, there's always a good story following concerning how much the ticket cost, the number of players involved, how the horses were picked, etc. Last Thursday, the jackpot was hit again on a single ticket, and it paid a juicy $180,853. 

    There were only eight races that day, so the first race in the Pick 6 was No. 3, which was won by Overdriven Cat, bred by Ocala's Beth Bayer, and the price was $4. Everybody was still in the mix.

    It became a little more complicated after that, but not out of reach for most, with the next four winners paying $21, $10.40, $18 and $8.80. A couple of the wins were very close and if the second-place finishers had won, there would have been many more live tickets going into the finale.

    A 3-year-old Gone Astray filly named Dixie Grits foiled all the hopefuls except one, leading all the way and paying $53.40. Bred by Sara Lynn Yutani and her daughter, Marti Haught, who owns the Tack Shack just north of OBS on Airport Road in Ocala, Dixie Grits was on just the one ticket, good for the $180,853 payout.

    On TVG, analyst Paul LoDuca received a phone call from a friend in New York who told the former ballplayer that he had the ticket, purchased at the Nassau OTB, which is the name of the slots parlor opened at Aqueduct recently and the cause of much concern among horsemen. But the really interesting facet of the call was that LoDuca's friend told him he hit it with a 40-cent ticket. He had two horses in the third race, followed by singles in the fourth through eighth. 

    That is some serious handicapping, to go along with a great deal of luck.

    WAS PUTIN INVOLVED? - Speaking of TVG, and the many things about it that infuriate me as a long-time bettor and one who watches the races on TV more than most, here's an incident that occurred on Friday. Back on March 24, I bet on a horse at Gulfstream named Golden Decision, ridden by Luca Panici. The 3-year-old colt by Skipshot was making a strong late move on the grass when he got murdered from all sides in the stretch. He finished fourth. 

    I made a little note of the incident and was ready on April 20 when he returned, this time with Magomet A. Kappushev aboard. (That is not a joke). It was then I noticed that the owner was Rasul Korkmazov and the breeder/trainer was Mikhail Yanakov. 

    Although I am a strict jockey follower, I wasn't going to let this guy go because Russia was intervening in horse racing, too. So I bet him to show. What I found out was that Magomet A. Kappushev is either one of the worst riders I've ever seen, or one of the best at setting up a horse for his next try. He had Golden Decision all over the racetrack, at odds of 13-1, and I wondered where he got his license.

    Just eight days later, my horse shows up again and Magomet is still his rider. He was about 8-1 in the morning line and I figured I'd better try again, just in case. I bet $3 to win, $4 to place and $20 to show. On the first flash of the board, Golden Decision was 2-1 and I thought, "Here we go." He started drifting up until he got to 5-1 as they were nearing the gate. When they were on their way, he was suddenly 2-1 again, and when they hit the line, he was 3-1. But that's not the only point of this tale.

    Magomet put my horse on the lead and did everything possible to keep him there. However, he got tired late and two others passed him in the last sixteenth, on his outside. But I noticed as they were nearing the wire that the horse inside mine checked somewhat and had to take back. Golden Decision finished third; at least I was going to get my show bet cashed. I hoped. 

    I waited patiently to hear if there was an inquiry or objection, or both, but the sharp analysts on TVG never said a word. They were too busy praising Keeneland, and interviewing a trainer, airing commercials, and just plain blabbering. I waited many minutes for the results crawl across the bottom to go from Gulfstream 4 to Gulfstream 5 but it wasn't happening. I knew the stewards had to be watching the stretch run, but nobody said a thing.

    A long time later, Gulfstream 5 reared its ugly head and sure enough, my horse was not listed in third place. I had to check the charts later to learn he had been disqualified and placed fifth. The TVGers still have not mentioned it. I understand they love to interview Todd Pletcher and Jerry Hollendorfer and Dale Romans and many others, and crow about Caton Bredar making her paddock picks, but this network was born and is supported because of horseplayers making wagers.

    My first order of business concerning TVG is to watch races and it should be theirs, too.  

    Wesley Ward has been heralded as the king of the early 2-year-old racing season for many years, getting his youngsters ready to roll when racing secretaries at Keeneland, Gulfstream and Aqueduct card rich maiden specials that anyone can take advantage of. Ward took advantage of three of them at Keeneland last week, and now Carlos Munoz and his trainer, Javier Negrete, has done likewise at Gulfstream.

  In Gulfstream's first 2-year-old event on Wednesday, with a purse of $50,000, Munoz entered a pair of runners and got a little lucky when only five others joined the fray. He won the race with DiMaria, a Kentucky-bred filly by Data Line who paid $31.60 to win and collected a check for $24,000. DiMaria drew away from the others late and was clocked in :51.50, not far off the track record of :51.07 for the 4 1/2 furlongs.

    The other Munoz-Negrete entry was La Chica Ripool, a Florida-bred filly who became the first starter for freshman sire Soldat, who stands at Woodford Thoroughbreds. La Chica Ripool set the pace, putting up fractions of :22.16 and :45.12 before tiring to finish third, 6 1/4 lengths behind her stablemate, and Munoz picked up another $4,400.

    On Thursday, another owner/breeder who likes to pick up some of that early money, Fred Brei, sent out Slacks of Course to win the second 2-year-old event at Gulfstream. The colt is by Brei's stallion, Awesome of Course, who now stands at Ocala Stud Farm and has been responsible for some major paydays for his owner in the past several years. Slacks of Course paid $2.80 under Tyler Gaffalione and earned a check for $34,000 for Brei's Jacks or Better Farm. He was caught in :52.03. 

    The reason for the difference in checks for the two winners is that DiMaria is a Kentucky-bred, and didn't get to take advantage of the two $5,000 bonuses for Floridians that Brei received for Slacks of Course. 

    The honor of getting the first Florida 2-year-old runner of 2017 goes to Bridlewood Farm's freshman sire, Corfu. 

    I'm Corfu, owned and trained by Wayne Rice and bred by Donna Burnham, finished fifth at Keeneland Wednesday in a $60,000 maiden special at 4 1/2 furlongs, earning a check for $1,341. The race was won by McErin, a son of Trappe Shot who went off at 30 cents to a dollar and scored by 7 1/2 lengths in :52.41. Corfu, by Malibu Moon, was bred to 55 mares and has 29 registered foals in his first crop. 

    BANG-UP MEETING - The Gulfstream Park Championship Meeting that just ended set an all-sources handle record of $867 million, up 7.34 percent over last year's previous record of $807 million. It seems that it wasn't that long ago, when Doug Donn owned the track in Hallandale Beach, and prior to full-card simulcasting, that the handle reached $100 million for the first time amid euphoria among track officials. 

    The meeting produced a record opening-day handle, and a record $40.2 million was wagered on the highly successful Pegasus World Cup day. Todd Pletcher won his 14th consecutive training title, a remarkable feat, and Luis Saez took the riding title with 102 victories. He was just the third jockey to surpass 100 victories at the meeting, following in the footsteps of Javier Castellano and Paco Lopez. 

    Word from Gulfstream Park is that there were a great many disgruntled people cashing Pick 6 tickets after the last race on Saturday. The disgruntles didn't understand how they could hit six winners in a row and collect a measly $89 and change for their troubles. Which means, of course, that they didn't understand how the Rainbow Pick 6 works. 

    Here's a quick course. There was $1,045,673 wagered into the Pick 6 on Saturday as bettors were looking to make the big score - a single ticket on six winners that would grab the carryover of nearly $2 million, plus Saturday's pool. First, we have to account for the takeout - I'm not sure what it is, but let's use 20 percent, it really doesn't matter that much for this exercise.

    After the takeout, which reduced the pool to $850,000-plus, the figure is now reduced by 30 percent, since only 70 percent is paid out to winning bettors when there is more than one winning ticket. That means the pool to be distributed was somewhere between $560,000 and $600,000. Sounds like a lot, but not when you study the succession of winners.  

    The eventual payoffs took a hit right from the start when Farz (Jose Lezcano) and Lukes Alley (Luis Saez) finished in a dead heat in the ninth race. That immediately cut the payoffs in half because they had to pay out twice as many tickets than they would have if there had been just one nose on the wire. That was followed by Celestine, who paid $2.60 under Jose Ortiz, and literally knocked very few tickets out of the mix.

    It didn't get much better in the 11th race, where Joel Rosario brought Salty home at $4, and most every ticket was still alive. Dover Cliffs, at $4.40, won the 12th with Ortiz, then players got some slight relief from the string of favorites with Sadler's Joy ($9.40) in the 13th, with Julien Leparoux. 

    When Always Dreaming won the Florida Derby and paid $7.40, it helped the payoff somewhat, because with even-money Gunnevera winning under John Velazquez, the $89 would have been cut in half again. Imagine the wails if the price had gone up under $50.

    Aside from the obvious, the short-priced winners, the most popular riders at the track (other than Javier Castellano) were aboard - Leparoux, Velazquez, Ortiz, Rosario, Saez and Lezcano. There were no 7-pound bug boys or 3 percent riders involved. Dividing the pool by the payoff of $89, there were somewhere around 6,500 winning tickets, give or take.  

    Fast Forward to Sunday, when it was all to be given away, and betting reached a phenomenal $7.336 million, contributing to a Saturday-Sunday all-sources handle of more than $48.792 million, more than $8 million greater than last year. Derby Day handle surpassed $30.614 million, second highest in Florida Derby history, which spans 66 years. The Pick 6 winning tickets were each worth $48,881 and nobody can be upset about that. I think. 

    MARE WINS LIVE OAK APPROVAL - When Revved Up was born at Live Oak Stud Farm in 1998, no doubt Charlotte Weber never imagined she would still be enjoying the exploits of his dam, Win Approval, some 19 years later. But when World Approval captured the $100,000 EG Vodka Turf Classic at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday, the 5-year-old gelding moved closer to becoming the fourth millionaire out of 10 babies produced by the daughter of With Approval. 

    With Julien Leparoux aboard, World Approval outclassed the field in the 1 1/8-mile race over the turf course, raising his record to 7-2-4 in 19 starts and his earnings to $953,763. It was his first start since October, and he's now 2-for-2 at Tampa. In his last six races of 2016, the son of Northern Afleet competed in Gr. I company at Woodbine, Arlington Park, Monmouth Park, Belmont Park and Churchill Downs. He won the United Nations at Monmouth, was second in the Turf Classic at Churchill, and third in the Manhattan at Belmont and Northern Dancer across the border.

    When he gets his next good paycheck, World Approval will move into the millionaire's mansion along with Miesque's Approval (41-12-10-5, $2,648,879), Za Approval (34-9-9-4, $1,904,666) and Revved Up (43-20-9-1, $1,548,653). All told, Win Approval's runners have won 71 races and earned $7,338,208. Eight of the 10 have have visited the winner's circle at least once and just one, Highest Approval, didn't race. World Approval, at the age of five, has a chance to significantly increase all the numbers if trainer Mark Casse can keep him healthy.   

more to come - 

    There remain just four days for someone to become an instant millionaire - again - by solving Gulfstream's Rainbow Pick 6 on a day when nobody else can. There were multiple winners on Sunday, each hitting for $885, the 23rd consecutive day without a single winner. The carryover leaped to $1,354,776 after $479,499 was bet into the pool.

    If no single winner emerges through Saturday, there will be a mandatory payout on Sunday, April 2, and the pool will reach enormous proportions, especially since Saturday is Florida Derby day, when there will be nine stakes in all worth $2.45 million. Betting will be astronomical. Of course, that all hinges on whether somebody gets lucky between Wednesday and Saturday. The $6 million bonanza won by the late Dan Borislow is still fresh in the minds of all Gulfstream's regular Pick 6 players.

    Tyler Gaffalione reached the 500 victory mark on Sunday and it's hard to think of any jockey who accomplished the feat more quickly. The 22-year-old who grew up in Davie rode his first winner at Gulfstream in mid-2014 and his positive impact on the local scene has been unquestionably as great as any rider in recent memory. On Saturday, he won the Gr. III, $500,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park aboard Fast and Accurate, who could be a supplemental nominee for that big race at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

    Yesterday, Tyler won the fourth race on More Front ($10) for victory No. 500, then added Extravagant Kid ($31.60) in the eighth and Budding ($4.40) in the 11th to boost his total to 502 in a hurry. He has 61 wins at the current meeting, and he tries as hard on 20-1 shots as he does on favorites, with much success.

    Tyler certainly has every reason to be as accomplished as he is. His father, Steve Gaffalione, rode successfully in Miami for years, and his grandfather, Bob Gaffglione, was a stalwart at Calder, Gulfstream and Hialeah in the 70s and 80s, especially with his success aboard the fabulous filly Hickory Gray. The reason for the different spelling of the last name is due to a birth certificate glitch when dad Steve was born and it was never changed. 

   When Bridlewood Farm manager George Isaacs asked owner John Malone if he was going to come to Tampa Bay Downs to watch their $1.2 million purchase, Tapwrit, compete in the Tampa Bay Derby, the boss said, simply, if the colt runs well, he would come for that other Derby in Louisville.

    Tapwrit ran well, alright, making one of the most stunning moves ever seen in these parts on the final turn of the 1 1/16-mile race, a move that reminded some of Arazi when he won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in what seems like eons ago. The 3-year-old son of Tapit lagged behind early in the field of 10 and when Tapwrit went wide under Jose Ortiz turning for home, he inhaled the leaders in what seemed like a matter of seconds and was comfortably in front when they straightened out in the stretch. He won by 4 1/2 lengths and his clocking of 1:42.36 broke the stakes record of 1:42.82 set by Destin in winning the race last year.

    Tapwrit was a $1.2 million purchase at the 2015 Saratoga sale and was a collaborative effort of Bridlewood, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and long-time owner Robert La Penta. When the colt finished a distant 10th in his career debut at Saratoga last September, many eyebrows were raised, considering the price. But Tapwrit went to Gulfstream West in November and broke his maiden at seven furlongs, then added the $75,000 Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream Park before finishing a fast-closing second to McCraken in the Sam F. Davis. He now has more than enough points to be eligible for the Run for the Roses, and John Malone, reputedly the largest owner of acreage in the United States, will be there. As will George Isaacs, who has worn a smart-looking fedora to both the Tampa races, and will no doubt continue to be fashionable in Louisville.  

  SUPREME EFFORT - In 1996, Hank Steinbrenner bred the stakes-winning Kinsman Stud Farm broodmare Spinning Round to Seeking  the Gold and the resultant foal turned out to be a dream supreme. In fact, that's what they named the filly, Dream Supreme, and she went on to become a multiple graded stakes-winner, compiling a record of 9-2-2 in 16 starts. Among her victories she numbered the Gr. I Test, Gr. I Ballerina, Gr. III Gallant Bloom, Gr. II Distaff Breeders' Cup Handicap, Gr. II Humana Distaff Handicap and Gr. III Princess Rooney Handicap. All told, Dream Supreme competed in 13 straight graded stakes, winning six, finishing second in two, third in two and fourth in two. She earned $1,007,680.

   In the sixth race on the Tampa Bay Downs Derby program Saturday, the eighth of Dream Supreme's 10 foals turned up racing in the colors of Lanes End Racing and Kinsman Stable. The 5-year-old is named Gold Shield, by Medaglia d'Oro, and he came into the optional claimer on the turf with a record of 2-3-2 in 12 starts and earnings of $136,005. He had been racing in New York for most of last year and won at Belmont Park on the grass in May, which was his last visit to the winner's circle. Idle since Oct. 6, Gold Shield drew the 10 post for trainer Shug McGaughey with rider John Velazquez, who had been aboard for the victory in May.

    And the talented veteran did it again, giving Gold Shield his third victory, and adding $15,500 to his bank account. 

    THE OLD COLLEGE TRY - Two races later, millionaire Stanford made his second start of the year in the $100,000 Challenger and not only overwhelmed the opposition, but broke the track record for a mile and one-sixteenth that McCraken had set a few weeks earlier in the Sam F. Davis Stakes. The 5-year-old by Malibu Moon was clocked in 1:41.75, again under Velazquez, while posting his sixth career victory and surpassing the $1.3 million mark in earnings. Stanford had been sitting on the tote board at 1/5 for much of the wagering, but "soared" to 1/2 by post time and paid $3. Many felt like it was a steal.   

    There wasn't a parking spot to be found when the first race at Tampa went off Saturday, and the crowd of 10,079 wagered $865,204 on-track. The total all-sources handle reached $12,123,021. But the two major Frank Stronach tracks stole the day, as Santa Anita's total was $18,379,346, and Gulfstream Park's $15,460,422. Aqueduct took a back seat with a handle of $8,287,237, while Oaklawn Park wound up a tad under $4 million.

    WHO WOULDA THUNK IT? - In one of the biggest disgraces in the continuing downturn of the former St. Pete Times, now the Tampa Bay Times, there wasn't one advance word about the track's major attraction in the Saturday paper. This, despite the many thousands of bucks TBD spends on advertising. Word around the track is that the once-revered paper, which for some unknown reason bought the Tampa Tribune and before that spent a reported $20 million to name the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning "the St. Petersburg Times Forum," is in deep trouble.       

    After a highly successful run that began a decade ago, it appears that the South Florida racinos may have reached their apex. Seven months into the fiscal year, it looks like most of the slots venues are going to experience a slight downturn, with the possible exception of Calder and Hialeah Park. With five months remaining, however, it's not etched in stone, but a major upturn doesn't seem realistic. 

    Statistics supplied by the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering list Calder ahead of last year, although not by much, even after its takeout was lowered from an outrageous 9.11 to an outrageous 9.05. Same for Hialeah Park, although John Brunetti kept his takeout at a reasonable 6.51.

    Pompano Park, the perennial leader down south, is about on pace to equal last year's projections, with a minor takeout increase from 9.02 to 9.03, also in the outrageous category. Miami Jai Alai is down slightly despite raising its takeout from 6.20 to 6.42, and Flagler dogs is down a bit despite raising its takeout from 6.13 to 6.47. Gulfstream is still down after lowering its takeout from 7.61 to 7.09 and Hollywood dogs is down after raising its takeout from 8.05 to 8.41. Dania Jai Alai is still in deep trouble, and always will be, as it sits between Pompano, Hollywood and Gulfstream, and within a stone's throw of Hard Rock.

    To complicate the problem, FTBOA lobbyist Matt Bryan reported in a recent Wire-to-Wire article that knucklehead senator Bill Galvano has introduced a bill that's in committee that would allow slots in eight more counties in the state, and two more in the South Florida area. I will assume that some Vegas interests are pushing Galvano in his quest. Just what Miami needs, two more casinos to take revenue away from the rest. Good move, Bill.  

    Gulfstream Park's  Rainbow 6 jackpot left the building Thursday and without further verification, it may have gone out in the pocket of a real player, Frank Carl Calabrese.  

    There were just three single tickets alive heading into the 11th-race finale, and when Calabrese's Nick the Cardshark loped home by 5 3/4 lengths and paid $57.40 under Carlos Montalvo, the pool was hit for $324,179. Sound reasoning would lead one to believe that the only person alive with the 27-1 shot would be the owner, especially since Calabrese is known for his wagering prowess.   

    Of course, Ken and Sarah Ramsey might have been alive for the finale based on the results of the first five races, three of which were won by progeny of their fabulous stallion, Kitten's Joy. After Live Oak Plantation's Kabang, a Tapit gelding, got things going at $18.80 in the sixth race, the Ramseys won the seventh (owned and bred) for a payoff of $7.20, West Point Thoroughbreds the eighth at $17.40, the Ramseys the ninth (owned only) at $6.20, and the Ramseys the 10th (bred only) at $17.40. Could Ken and Sarah be holding the winning combo? Or Frank Carl Calabrese? Word will probably leak out shortly, if it hasn't already. 

    HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? - The conspiracy theorists had cause for further dismay at Oaklawn Park Thursday when First Thought went wire-to-wire in the second race. When he broke out of the gate in the six-furlong race, First Thought was sitting on the board at 5/2. He continued on top with a two or three-length lead down the backstretch and around the turn, and as they hit the top of the stretch. That's when the odds changed on the TV screen and he was 2-1.

    I know the tracks swear they can monitor when and where all bets come from, but a change when they hit the top of the stretch? Come on.  

    BO OVER BOW - A horse showed up in the 10th race at Gulfstream on Thursday - Bow Town Cat - by Cowtown Cat out of Clara Bow, by Way West. Todd Schrupp and Simon Bray reminded us oldies that everybody under 45 or so believes that the world began the day they were born. That's why they laugh at the Fabulous Fifties, Elvis, the Bee Gees and disco, are positive that basketball originated the day Michael Jordan came to town, and constantly spout that today's athletes are "bigger, faster and stronger." (They always leave out "fatter.") I can't imagine finding any football player today who is faster than Bob Hayes (Cowboys) or Henry Carr (Giants) of the 60s.

    Todd and Simon deliberated over the pronunciation of the Bow in Bow Town, whether it should be like cow, or bo. They clearly had no idea of who Clara Bow was. Thankfully, track announcer Peter Aiello got the bo right. By the way, Pete, who used to announce the quarter horse races at Hialeah and was the track's PR director, has become quite proficient during his stint at Gulfstream. He has a great announcing voice, speaks clearly and picks up horses who may not be close to the leaders when they begin making a move from the rear. Good choice. 

    After being unable to find any answers last week concerning the relationship of the Aqueduct casino and the Nassau OTB casino, I finally solved the first major question: just where is the Nassau casino? Answer: It's inside the Resorts World Casino New York, or Aqueduct. 

    It seems that in 2013 Nassau OTB was granted the right to offer slots, but protesters and community groups stood in the way of implementation. However, in April of last year, a deal was struck to place 1,000 Nassau OTB machines at Aqueduct, although only 460 have been placed. I don't know why. That boosted the number of machines at Aqueduct to 6,400.

    From what I can determine, without someone clarifying it for me, OTB is not obligated to contribute to NYRA, with one caveat. If revenues at Resorts World decline to to levels of 2013, negatively affecting the horsemen's association, then there will be a contribution. Genting, which owns Resorts World, is managing the OTB machines separately from its own. Then there's a provision that I cannot comprehend, something about "divvying up" $9 million to OTB for two years and $25 million a year after that. I think the writer doesn't understand the meaning of "divvy" and probably meant fork over. 

    P. S. I have now found a December column by Dave Grening in DRF clearing up several points.

    "Under the deal, which was included in the state budget passed last spring, Genting can designate up to 1,000 of its current 5,450 VLTs as belonging to Nassau County OTB. Nassau OTB will receive $18 million from Genting over two years and up to $25 million in the ensuing years, and it will use some of that money to pay down part of its $12 million debt.

    "Meanwhile, racing would only get revenue from those machines if revenue from the other machines falls below 2013 levels. Racing industry officials are estimating the impact could be $16 million to $18 million, with purses taking as much as a $12 million hit." 

    There's the straight scoop.

     Based on industry leaders' comments in Grening's column, nobody was sure at the time just how much the deal was going to affect purses and breeders' awards. One puzzling facet of the extra machines: currently, the Resorts world machines have been generating a profit each day of anywhere from $322 to $398, but the Nassau OTB machines are generating at least double. For the week ending Feb. 4, in fact, the OTB machines generated $1,009. Why are the OTBs doing better than those of Resorts World? That will take a little more detective work.

    P. P. S. I might have read Grening's column in December if the Racing Form didn't cost $11 a day.  

    From time to time, the success of the Resorts World Casino New York City at Aqueduct has been chronicled here for the purposes of assessing its impact on the purses at Saratoga, Belmont Park and the Big A. Yesterday looked to be a good time to address the latest update. Guess what to my wandering eyes did appear? Somewhere along the way - last October - the New York scenario changed drastically, and I've been trying to sort out the details with little success.

    Here's the scoop. The first thing I noticed was that the Big A casino was sailing along toward another record year as of the Oct. 8 figures, which was 28 weeks into the fiscal year. The weekly "credits played" varied from a low of $365,409,003 for the week ending June 25, to the high of $425,598,771 for the week ending April 2, which was the first week of the fiscal year.

    However, for the week ending Oct. 15, the figure tumbled slightly to $357,838,894, and the next week it went into freefall at $257,017,432. A quick check below that showed that the figures remained below $300 million right through Feb. 4. A little detective work followed, and I stumbled upon another chart, labeled "Nassau OTB at Resorts World Casino," and the first week of figures listed was through Oct. 15. Aha. Only $16,439,404, but enough to see why the Big A casino dropped that week.

    After that 16 more weeks of figures, from a low of $108,216,130 to a high of $128,192,171. Obviously, that's why the Big A casino's numbers plummeted. I guess I missed any announcement in October of what was transpiring, so I started to dig. Was this a new casino? I found an article from Newsday dated Oct. 5 with the headline "NY gaming commission approves Nassau $26M casino deal."

    What followed was a dizzying review of the terms of the deal, citing so many different figures it made my head spin, but all designed to help bail out Nassau OTB, which apparently has several branches. Nowhere, however, did it explain where the Nassau OTB figures were coming from. What physical plant were players going to in order to give Nassau OTB its own page in the lottery section, along with the casinos at the Big A, Saratoga, Batavia, Vernon Downs and the other New York casinos?

    The original Resorts World Casino and the Nassau OTB Casino have different phone numbers. I tried both, and the same message, in the same voice, answers both. "All representatives are currently busy with other customers," the voice said. Surprise. It told me to hold on, and someone would be with me shortly. Shortly turned into hours as I made repeated calls to both. So I tried the New York Gaming Commission, and a young lady told me someone would get back to me. That was at mid-day yesterday. I'm hoping it will be in this lifetime.

    By the way, the Big A casino's credits played was at $15.2 billion through Feb. 4 and there are seven weeks remaining to the fiscal year. Last year's record was $20.4 billion. They won't come close. Nassau OTB has credits played of $1.8 billion thus far.

    Maybe there will be some further explanation today.  

   3 P. M. today - I finally had someone answer the phone at Resorts World Casino New York. A very nice young lady had no idea what I was talking about. She couldn't even refer me to someone else, or she didn't want to. 

    A pair of 3-year-olds will be in the spotlight tomorrow at Gulfstream Park, one who will be closely followed by the entire racing community because the sophomore debut of the last juvenile champion is always viewed with great interest, and the other to determine if Florida's best from the previous year is going to progress and become competitive on a national level.

    Classic Empire, the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and subsequent 2-year-old champ, makes his debut for trainer Mark Casse and owner John Oxley in the Gr. II, $350,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes at a mile and one-sixteenth. The son of Pioneerof the Nile, a $475,000 Keeneland September yearling, hasn't started since his neck victory in the Juvenile at Santa Anita, and he's been brought along slowly by Casse, with a 1:00.75 five-furlong drill at Palm Meadows his fastest work so far. Classic Empire won four of his five starts at two, and earned $1,485,000.

    The only race Classic Empire lost can be easily forgiven. In the Gr. I Hopeful at Saratoga, in his third start, the colt wheeled at the break and lost rider Irad Ortiz, and Practical Joke went on to win. He had revenge in the Juvenile, where Practical Joke finished third. Classic Empire has drawn the 3 post with Julien Leparoux, who is still trying to find a TV analyst who can pronounce his name correctly. 

    Florida's great bay hope is Three Rules, the son of Northwest Stud's Gone Astray who won his first five starts at two, including four stakes, highlighted by a sweep of the Florida Sire trilogy in which nobody got close to him. But Three Rules bombed in the Breeders' Cup, sitting close to the early pace but having nothing left when the real running began. It was almost a mirror image of the performance turned in by California Chrome against Arrogate last week in the Pegasus World Cup.

    Trainer and co-owner Bert Pilcher is bypassing the Holy Bull with Three Rules in favor of the Gr. II, $200,000 Swale Stakes, which will be contested at seven furlongs, seven races earlier. Cornelio Velasquez will be aboard the colt, who is 7/5 on the morning line. As opposed to Classic Empire, Pilcher has let his colt run in his morning drills, and Three Rules has posted four bullet works, a 34.10 for three furlongs, 47.20 for four furlongs, and 58.72 and 58.95 for five. No excuses here that he isn't ready for his return.

    The Holy Bull and Swale are two of five stakes slated for another stellar Gulfstream program, and, although the handle won't approach last week's record $40-plus million, it should draw the most attention around the continent for handicappers who love to bet on stakes and turf races contested in the sunshine. The other three stakes are the $200,000, Gr. II Forward Gal for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs; the $100,000, Gr. III Sweetest Chant for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on the grass, and the $100,000 Kitten's Joy for 3-year-olds at a mile on the grass, which, naturally, has drawn Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Kitten's Cat, who is 5-1 on the line. 

    The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. will be breaking new ground tomorrow with an unprecedented 11-race program scheduled for its "Week of Champions," highlighted by eight races that feature pari-mutuel wagering.

    In the three previous years, wagering has been allowed on just the first two races, the first for quarter horses, the second for thoroughbreds, and including a daily double on the two. This time, there will be wagering on the first seven races, for quarter horses, and the eighth, the six-furlong, $50,000 OBS Sprint Stakes for fillies. There will be win, place and show betting, plus exactas, and rolling daily doubles through the eighth race.

    In 2014, just under $16,000 was bet on the two races, and that jumped to more than $21,000 the next year. Last year, the total wagered was $23,532, with win-place-show bets totaling $10,469 on the thoroughbred race, along with $5,892 in exactas. There will be a great deal of interest from all corners concerning tomorrow's betting, not the least of which will come from those who feel that a short pari-mutuel meeting would go over well in Ocala.

     After the filly Sprint, the final three races will be the $50,000 OBS Sprint for colts, the $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes for fillies, and the $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes for colts, the latter two each at a mile and a sixteenth.

    Several of the nation's top trainers have horses entered, including Todd Pletcher, Mark Casse, Eddie Plesa Jr., Kiaran McLaughlin and Mike Maker. Among the jockeys, John Velazquez, Julien Leparoux, Paco Lopez, Jose Lezcano, Jose Ortiz, Joe Bravo and Luis Saez are all up from Gulfstream, along with Tampa Bay Downs' leading rider, Daniel Centeno.

    All the runners have to have gone through an OBS sale, whether or not they were sold, and many are by out-of-state stallions. Current or former Ocala sires represented are Gone Astray, Biondetti, High Cotton, Crown of Thorns, Circular Quay, Yes It's True, Wildcat Heir, First Dude and Kantharos.

    Former long-time Calder race-caller Bobby Neuman will again handle the announcing chores - after a brief respite from a full-time job, he's back again calling races at Golden Gate Fields.   

    (Sorry for the delay since the last column - had a little bout with pneumonia to take care of).

    There's no sense going into the arguments - pro and con - surrounding the disqualification of Masochistic from second place in the Breeders' Cup Sprint because of a positive from a drug taken 68 days prior to the race. However, part of the wording of the ban on trainer Ron Ellis leaves me baffled.

    Here's the paragraph that has me confused, and, I will assume, others, too. " It's from the Paulick Report: "Breeders' Cup also said that any horse that has been transferred 'to any other person associated with Mr. Ellis for the purpose of competing in the Breeders' Cup will similarly be prevented from entering and running in the 2017 event.' "

    What does that mean? If Ron transfers a horse to another trainer tomorrow and in October the owner wants to enter the BC, he or she is not allowed? Or in February, or March, or April? Or does it mean Ron can't train a horse through the summer and then have it go to another trainer? In any of those cases, why should the owner - and the horse - be penalized because of this ruling against Ron? Will they give the owner back the money he has already put up? Not a chance.

    I think the whole thing stinks! Why not sentence Ron to life in prison without parole for this dastardly deed.

    And just for the record, Breeders' Cup geniuses, why would you say in the ban "prevented from entering AND RUNNING in 2017. If you've been prevented from entering, of course you can't run!!!

    As for the haters who are smelling up the internet with their anti-Ellis vitriol, they're the same people who bash Tiger Woods, and who screamed for Hillary to go to prison although they had no idea why. Trump said it so it must be true. The same Trump who still hasn't produced his tax returns during the longest audit period in the history of the IRS. That is, if it was the IRS who was conducting this phantom audit.  

    IS IT REAL OR IS IT MEMOREX? - It's been a while since we last explored the reasons why so many believe that the Sport of Kings is dying, and nobody bets anymore and the old players are succumbing to age and no new players are replacing them. The report from Gulfstream the other day about wagering in 2016 must be part of the Fake News coming out of Russia and other nefarious organizations.

    The news was simple: a record $1.774 billion was wagered through Gulfstream Park in 2016, a 9 percent increase over the previous record of $1.625 billion the year before. And, a record $1.508 billion was wagered on its live racing in 2016, a 13 percent increase over the previous record of $1.338 billion in 2015. 

    Since the doom and gloom set won't be able to comprehend why this happened, they came to the right place to find out. Here's the answer: All the people who have been betting on racetracks around the country decided they no longer wanted to bet on those tracks and they're all betting strictly on Gulfstream now. We should be hearing, in the near future, of the imminent closing of Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga, Del Mar, Santa Anita, Keeneland, Churchill Downs and many others who no longer have a base of players to wager on their races. 

    Sound stupid? No more stupid than the notion that everybody has abandoned the game for other forms of entertainment.  

    Just when you thought 2016 could go out without another bizarre tale muddying the waters, comes the news that Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up Masochistic will be disqualified, owners Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Jay Em Ess Stable will have to give up the $255,000 purse, and trainer Ron Ellis, one of the really good guys in racing, will be given a fine and a suspension.

    And what is the cause of such great concern that the aforementioned steps have become necessary? Masochistic was found to have traces of the anabolic steroid stanozolol in his system in both blood and urine post-race samples. Now, on the surface, if that steroid is banned, it would seem that any repercussions are justified.

    However, as the tale unfolds, it seems (1) that the 6-year-old gelding was given the stanozol treatment 68 DAYS BEFORE THE BREEDERS' CUP, and (2), there were just "low picogram" levels detected. It turns out that the recommended time to administer the steroid is 60 days or more from race day. So Ellis added eight days. What did the guy do wrong?

    Then the bigger question arises - what is a picogram? If you look it up, it's one-trillionth of a gram. That's what it says. And if you look at a picture of a gram, it's about the size of the cap on a ballpoint pen. So a picogram is one-trillionth the size of the cap of a ballpoint pen. It has to look like Claude Raines (he was the Invisible Man for those who don't go back that far). 

    Here's my point, and anyone who has read this column knows I don't pretend to know a thing about the medications that make the game go, other than bute is like an aspirin and lasix helps horses who are bleeders. But I do know this: there isn't a person alive, in the medical field or elsewhere, who can prove to me that a picogram of stanozol given 68 days before a race, that is still lingering in a horse's system, made that horse run any faster in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

    Prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt, or give the owners back their $255,000 and let Ron Ellis go back to training and giving out sound handicapping advice on TVG. How many black eyes can a sport stand? Good horsemen are being victimized by a rule which defies the imagination. But, in Florida, a group can apply for slots and a poker room by running fake horses out of a fake starting gate down a fake racetrack in front of a fake audience. Go figure.  

    For sheer excitement, quality of racing and all kinds of wagering opportunities for the betting public, Gulfstream Park's Claiming Crown is probably second only to Breeders' Cup day. Following are some of the salient points gleaned from last Saturday's program.

    1. There was only one race out of nine - the Jewel Stakes - that had a field of nine, the other eight had 10 to 14. In all, 111 runners left the gate, an average of 12.3 per race. It was a handicapper's dream.

    2. Because of the large fields and all those wagering opportunities, the all-sources handle for the day reached $11,115,864.

    3. Winners came from everywhere - four bred in Kentucky, two in Ontario, one in Florida, one in New York and one in Great Britain.

    4. Ken and Sarah Ramsey were prominent, again. They own and bred the Kitten's Joy who won a maiden special on the first race of the day, before the Claiming Crown began; they bred Defer Heaven, who won the Express Stakes, and they own and bred the winner of the last race, Keystonevictory, who captured the Emerald Stakes.

    5. The bettors got it right on five races, which were won by favorites, although Keystonevictory ($3.30-1) and Defer Heaven ($2.40-1) were just lukewarn choices. 

    6. The race that knocked most out of every exotic pool was the fifth, the Glass Slipper Stakes, which was won by the lone Florida-bred to visit the winner's circle, Tormenta de Oro, who paid $91.80.

    7. Two winners were college graduates, Tormenta de Oro having been bred by the University of Florida Foundation in Zuber, and Distaff Dash winner Spectacular Me by the University of Kentucky.

    8. There was no lack of exciting finishes, with three of the earlier races being settled by a neck and two by one-half length. The final race, the Emerald, featured a major rush to the wire, and the first six horses were separated by one length. In fact, the horse who finished 10th, Andalusite, was just 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner.  

      DOWN TO THE WIRE - Florida's freshman sire race is going to go down to the wire with Woodford Thoroughbreds' Biondetti and Ocala Stud Farms' Overdriven as the only two contenders. Both have nine winners with 23 racing days remaining, and Biondetti leads Overdriven by just over $36,000 in progeny earnings, $345,545 to $309,198.

    Don Ming's Gary D. has just three starters for the year, and all three have won.   

    This is what appeared in the Sunday sports section of the Tampa Bay Times concerning horse racing: "Connect beat Divining Rod by a head at the end of a stretch duel in the $500,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. The time was 1:35.34 in the final Grade I stakes of the year in New York. Connect earned $300,000 for the win, lifting his career earnings to $1.25 million for owner Paul Pompa."

   It wouldn't be so pathetic if not for the fact that Saturday was opening day of the Tampa Bay Downs meeting. This is certainly not the first time I've lambasted the Times for its horrendous coverage, while at the same time Don Jensen taking reams of space to inform the public about a dog at Derby Lane, or an owner, or a race. The Saturday matinee at Derby Lane drew a crowd of 1,344 and the all-sources handle was $204,981. Attendance for the Tampa Bay Downs opening was 4,010 and the all-sources handle was $3,578,062, without benefit of a stakes race.

    I guess that's the Times' editors thinking: if there's no stakes race at Tampa, there's no need for coverage, even though it marked the first day of what promises to be a bang-up meeting. On Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby day, and Sam F. Davis day, and Florida Cup day, to name a few, they draw more people and handle more money than Derby Lane does in a month. 

    Since the last meeting in Oldsmar, the one that ended in May, the Times merged with the Tampa Tribune and I wrongfully guessed that it might make a difference in the racing coverage. Apparently not. We'll see if anything changes, but I'm not hopeful.

    GULFSTREAM ON DECK - The Championship meeting at Gulfstream Park opens Saturday and it, too, promises to be a blockbuster. Anxiety has been building for months for the $12 million Pegasus at the end of January, and the prospect of seeing California Chrome's swan song is certain to bring out the players in droves. The smart phones will be clicking from the time he walks over from the barn area until he makes tracks the other way when it's over. There won't be an empty space at the walking ring prior to the race and they will be five or six deep. 

    The final weekend at Gulfstream West has passed with a handle of $4,629,931 on Saturday and $3,768,897 on Sunday. Just in time, too, because a great deal of turf racing really tore up the course and the huge clouds of dust that ensued made it difficult to appreciate the racing.

    It may just be wishful thinking but I am still hopeful that Gulfstream will give up the two months at ye olde Calder and let John Brunetti have a boutique meeting at Hialeah. Of course, I'm not privy to the particulars and it may be that there are roadblocks to the idea that only the principals know about.  

    More than two months has gone by (Sept. 8) since Barbara Banke announced she was moving Kantharos from Ocala Stud Farm to Hill 'n' Dale in Lexington. A great loss for Florida, because the son of Lion Heart was far and away the best freshman of his crop, the best second-crop sire, and this year, not only the best third-crop sire but second on the general sire list behind the late Wildcat Heir. Based on Florida-Kentucky history, Kantharos appears to be another in a long line of superior stallions to practice in Ocala - it began in a serious manner with Mr. Prospector - before moving into the big leagues of the bluegrass and making it big-time.

    The Blood-Horse has changed the farm name on Kantharos' stallion page, but has yet to remove him from all of Florida's sire lists. I guess it gets a little hectic there in the cold, cold north and they can't pay attention to all the details too soon.

    A while back, I wrote that the 'Upcoming Entries' sections on the Blood-Horse stallion pages weren't giving us all the horses coming up for the particular sires in the next few days. I pay close attention to certain stallions for business purposes and I noticed, while watching TVG, that many of the runners for those stallions weren't being listed, yet were showing up in races and I was missing them.

    The Blood-Horse's Eric Mitchell answered that column with the explanation that stallion owners don't want to list entries when their stallion's runners were entered cheaply. How come, I wondered then and now, when one of those cheapies wins, it IS listed in the 'Recent Results' column, right next to upcoming entries? That includes winners in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Venezuela with their purses of $5,000, and Finger Lakes and other U. S. tracks, with their purses of $9,000.

    Back to business. Saturday's $100,000 Sunshine Millions Preview at Gulfstream West turned into a cakewalk for Mr. Jordan, a 4-year-old gelding by Kantharos who has compiled a record that can only be described as enviable. At odds of 1/2, Mr. Jordan got out cleanly in the race at 1 1/16 miles, sat a comfortable third along the rail, moved three wide on the turn, and cantered to the wire nearly four lengths in front. His clocking of 1:42.52 set a track record. (Notice I didn't use the redundant term "new" track record, as so many of the uninformed do. I also call a first-year college student a freshman, not a "true freshman," as all of the uninformed college football announcers do, so as to distinguish him from a "redshirt freshman." The way you separate those two is quite simple - you call the second guy a redshirt freshman). It ain't rocket science. 

    Mr. Jordan has put together an 'enviable' portfolio - 17 starts, six victories, four seconds and five thirds, with earnings of $513,735. The only two times he was off the board were in the Gr. I Haskell, when he finished seventh behind American Pharoah and Keen Ice, and the Gr. III Hal's Hope, behind Mshawish. If trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. keeps him away from the big guns, Kantharos will have a millionaire on his page in the near future. Plesa bought Mr. Jordan for his three owners for $155,000 at the 2014 OBS April sale, and it's turned out to be a wise move. 

    By the way, Kantharos will stand for $15,000 in his first season at Hill 'n' Dale, and at that price should get one of those monstrous books like they do so often in Kentucky.

    And finally, the competitive Gulfstream West program Saturday produced a handle of just under $6 million, despite the fact that the races began at noon, long before many bettors are plugged in, and the first few races suffered from it.  

    In scanning the Breeders' Cup entries, one thing becomes painfully clear: Florida-breds, Florida stallions, Florida owners and Florida breeders are quite conspicuous by their near absence. In fact, there are many more entrants represented by stallions who used to stand in Ocala but are now plying their trade elsewhere, such as Congrats, Northern Afleet, Harlington, Cowtown Cat, Put It Back and Successful Appeal. 

    The first runner with Florida ties goes tomorrow in the Juvenile Turf. Wellabled is a Kentucky-bred colt by Shackleford, and was a $340,000 OBS April purchase for Carolyn Wilson, owner of Bay Tree Farm on highway 225-A. Wellabled is just a head away from being unbeaten in four starts, and he took the Gr. III Arlington-Washington Futurity by 7 3/4 lengths. The three races he has won are by a combined 17 1/4 lengths.

    Also on the docket tomorrow in the Juvenile Fillies Turf is Victory to Victory, a 2-year-old Florida-bred owned and bred by Charlotte Weber at Live Oak Plantation. The daughter of Exchange Rate broke her maiden in the Gr. I Natalma at Woodbine in her third start on the grass. Trained by Mark Casse, she has Julien Leparoux in the saddle.

    Saturday's Juvenile marks the true test for Shade Tree Thoroughbreds' Three Rules, the unbeaten son of Northwest Stud Farm's sensational second-crop sire Gone Astray who swept the three divisions of Gulfstream Park's Florida Sire Stakes without so much as drawing a breath. He's the leading money-winning 2-year-old in the country with nearly $700,000 in the bank, and has turned around the fortunes of co-owner/breeder Bert Pilcher. Cornelio Velasquez will try to make it six in a row for the colt. The Santa Anita line-maker isn't too thrilled by the Florida efforts of Three Rules, and he's 8-1 in the morning line.

    Only three Florida-breds have ever won the Juvenile, the last being Brocco in 1993. Before that, it was Gilded Time in 1992 and Tasso in 1985. 

    Also in the Juvenile is Term of Art, bred in Kentucky by Ocalan Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm, and a $220,000 Keeneland September purchase by Calumet Farm. 

    Noted and Quoted, a Florida-bred daughter of The Factor bred by Gilbert Campbell at Stonehedge Farm in Williston, will contest the Juvenile Fillies for trainer Bob Baffert with Rafael Bejarano in the irons. The $375,000 OBS March 2-year-old won the Gr. I Chandelier at Santa Anita.

    Delta Bluesman, a Florida-bred by Bridlewood Farm's Wagon Limit, is 10-10-7 in 45 career tries, but has won four of his last six outings. The 6-year-old gelding captured the Hall of Fame Stakes at Parx in :57.45 for 5 1/2 furlongs, and the Gr. II Smile Sprint at Gulfstream in 1:08.94 for six.  

    Finally, there's Florida-bred Pure Sensation, 5-1 in the morning line for the Turf Sprint. The daughter of Zensational comes from the barn of Patricia Generazio, a New Jerseyite but a long-time Florida breeder of exceptional runners. Pure Sensation sports a record of 7-4-2 in 18 starts with earnings of $838,415, and he's on a three-race winning streak. In the Gr. III Jaipur invitational at Belmont Park, at odds of 18-1, he set a course record of 1:06.76 for six furlongs on the grass, and in winning the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational at the same distance, he was clocked in 1:07.10.  

    Not a huge turnout, but a chance for some glory, nevertheless. 

    We would be hard-pressed to find any previous running of the Breeders' Cup Classic with a cast of characters as accomplished as the one coming up at Santa Anita next week. The talented field has won everything racing has to offer, and the combined earnings of the 14 runners - $49,084,202 - has to dwarf anything from the past.

    Here's a thumbnail sketch of the participants:

    Arrogate: 5-4-0-1, $784,600. Won the Travers by 13 1/2 lengths, defeating Gun Runner, Destin, Creator and Exaggerator in a track record 1:59.36 for the mile and one-quarter and his return since that one has been highly anticipated.

    California Chrome: 24-15-3-1, $13,432,650. Racing's all-time money leader is 6-for-6 this year, including the Dubai World Cup, and has been untouchable.

    Effinex: 26-9-3-4, $3,247,950. Won the Suburban and Oaklawn Handicap this year, second to American Pharoah in this race in 2015. 

    Found: 20-6-11-2, $7,250,405. Galileo filly is 9-2-6-1 this year, has a penchant for seconds, won Breeders' Cup Turf last year.

    Frosted: 18-6-6-2, $3,912,800. Won the Whitney and the Metropolitan Mile (by 14 1/4 lengths in a spectacular performance), second in 2015 Belmont Stakes to American Pharoah.

    Gun Runner: 10-5-1-2, $1,573,300. Won the Louisiana Derby, third in the Travers.

    Highland Reel: 18-6-5-1, $5,100,647. Second in Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. 

    Hoppertunity: 22-6-6-4, $3,562,675. Won Jockey Club Gold Cup.

    Keen Ice: 17-2-1-4, $1,827,645. Won memorable 2015 Travers Stakes over Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, who went off at 35 cents to a dollar. 

    Melatonin: 13-5-3-3, $1,218,552. Won Santa Anita Handicap and Gold Cup at Santa Anita.

    Nyquist: 11-8-0-1, $5,189,200. 2015 2-year-old champ won 8 in a row, including Kentucky Derby, but lost his luster in last three starts - third in the Preakness, fourth in the Haskell and sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby.

    Shaman Ghost: 12-6-1-1, $1,291,811. Queen's Plate winner was Canadian 3-year-old champ last year, won Woodward and Brooklyn this year.

    War Story: 14-3-3-2, $399,395. Multiple graded stakes-placed.

    Win the Space: 14-3-1-4, $292,572. Multiple graded stakes-placed.   

    It's a formidable field, and a fitting conclusion to the BC festivities. 

    Is it humanly possible that the people behind the scenes at TVG are unaware that we the people who watch the races on a daily or almost daily basis are being driven to insanity by the four advertisements that are repeated about 40 times (just a guess) each day?

     Just how many times can a person watch the same ads for Web.com, DealDash.com, Mesothelioma and Betfair Casino before being sent to the nuthouse? Especially the Web.com ads which inform us - about 20 times on each spot - that we can get a website FOR FREE! It wouldn't be quite so bad if it were true, but it's a blatant lie! I know from firsthand experience; before I had the former homepage for this site revamped to how it looks now, I went for the Web.com FREE spiel. It was a disaster.

    First of all, the so-called "professional webmaker" didn't know a thing about racing. He asked me a bunch of questions about myself, then began to build a site - in slow motion. He took all my bank information, too, because after one month, they were going to start billing me for hosting , maintenance, etc. - $119.95 a month. That's the "one, low monthly fee" they talk about in the ad.

    The professional web.maker procrastinated so much - I called every day to see how he was coming along - that it was almost a month before he finally had something for me to see. It was horrendous, four square boxes with my bio in them, after I specifically told him to follow the outline of the previous site. He also threw in a picture of a horse - I'm pretty sure it was stolen from a Clydesdale ad. And, to add insult to injury, before he got my approval of his work, he took down the old site, put up his new abortion for all to see, and charged my bank account $119.95 for the first month's fee. For this FREE website. That's $1,439.40 a year for the FREE site. "Not fake free, but real free." I canceled the deal immediately and even though they took my money in five seconds, it was more than a week before they returned it. 

    Viewers should get the idea via just one phrase uttered in the ad by a guy in a black shirt - "before I even paid them a cent." How can you pound FREE down our throats for however many seconds the ad takes, then sneak in, "before I even paid them a cent."

    When you go to a restaurant, the appetizer is free, your drink is free, your entree is free, and your dessert is free. That is, until you finish eating and the server brings you the tab. Then, it's no longer free! Same as Web.com. 

    Fortunately, PM Advertising does have professionals who build good-looking websites and that's who built this one and Golfer. Of course, if I end up in a home due to being bombarded by the four dreaded TVG ads, it won't matter, anyway. 

    The last time a Florida-bred colt won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile was in 1993 when Gary Stevens defeated Blumin Affair and Tabasco Cat with Brocco. It marked the third time in the first 10 editions of the race that Florida had walked off with the title, Brocco being preceded by Tasso in 1985 and Gilded Time in 1992. There have been others who were bred by Florida farm owners, such as Answer Lively, by John Franks, and Macho Uno, by Frank Stronach, but they were foaled in Kentucky.

    If the 2016 Juvenile were being run this week, the sensational Florida-bred colt Three Rules would probably be the favorite. The son of Gone Astray is a perfect 5-for-5 and nobody is even close to his nearly $700,000 in earnings - or four straight stakes victories, the last coming at Gulfstream Saturday in the $500,000 In Reality. 

    "He looks 100 percent," owner Bert Pilcher said about the colt he bred with partners Geoff Roy and Tom Fitzgerald. "The race took nothing out of him."

    There has been much speculation about the always-present deluge of offers that pour in when a 2-year-old makes a huge early splash. However, "I haven't had anybody actually give a figure," Pilcher said, "because I never let it get that far."

    Gone Astray's success has come as no surprise to him, because he knew he had something special from the beginning. "The first time I saw him work a quarter I couldn't talk for 30 seconds," Pilcher said. "He's got everything going for him - his mind, his attitude, everything. He takes care of himself. I can't think of one thing I would change about him.

    Pilcher runs Shade Tree Thoroughbreds north of Ocala, the farm that his late father, Hubert, owned and operated for many decades before him housing successful stallions such as Strike the Anvil and Hooched, and where Three Rules was born and raised. Like so many others, there have been tough times, but the $680,640 the colt has earned has more than alleviated the problem.

    "He's a dream horse," Pilcher said, knowing there's plenty of room for many more dreams in the future. When Nyquist won the Juvenile last year, he collected $1.1 million for the Reddam Racing Stable. 

    FROSH RACE HEATS UP - The Florida freshman sire race has taken on a new look. After Ocala Stud's Overdriven took a 5-1 lead over Woodford Thoroughbreds' Biondetti, it appeared as though it was going to be no contest. But Biondetti has quickly added three more winners, the last one being La Zoraya, who paid $134 scoring at Gulfstream last Friday. Even though he trails Overdriven by one winner, Biondetti has jumped into the money lead.

    TV IS TOPS - There was an interesting poll taken by the staff at the Paulick Report last week, asking where people watch their races. TV received 41.61 percent of the votes, followed by computer (28.46), on track (13.35), simulcast/OTB (9.72) and phone/tablet (6.87). Of course, if bettors had access to a track not far from their homes, the on-track would be infinitely greater. How many of us would be at Gulfstream or Tampa Bay Downs much more often if we lived closer to either?   

    An interesting column appeared in Blood-Horse.com the other day, titled "Handle Decreased 26% at Monmouth Park in 2016." We learned that on-track handle declined 26.6%, total handle was off 26.4%, and attendance off by 9.2%. It didn't help that it rained on Haskell day, when 35,983 showed up, compared to 60,983 last year when American Pharoah was the headliner. It also didn't help that average field size dropped from 8.11 per race to 7.28. 

    Dennis Drazin, who at one time used to breed many worthwhile runners in Florida, is now an adviser to Darby Development, which operates the track. Dennis had this to say about the season, "Despite the lack of horses, we still recorded numerous accomplishments this year. The entire Monmouth Park team continues to work hard to put on outstanding racing in a fan-friendly environment that is second to none."

    Then someone on the Blood-Horse staff felt obligated to add the following: "Among those accomplishments was the advent of exchange wagering. Monmouth was at the forefront to make New Jersey the first in the nation to employ the betting platform." Well, whoop-de-do!

    I guess my favorite betting platform didn't go over too well, based on the handle figures. Of course, I could have told the Jerseyites that. Oh, wait a minute, I did, about 50 times. I'll say it one more time but I'm sure it won't be the last, nobody cares about exchange wagering. If they did, it would have exploded at Monmouth where $196,272,397 was wagered over the 57 days of the meeting. If it's such a success, why didn't Monmouth give the Blood-Horse the exchange wagering figures to go along with the others? Could it be because the figures were equal to the handle at poor Zia Park?

    Hopefully, when next season begins in Jersey, exchange wagering will be off the table, and hopefully, we'll never hear about it again. As the old song said, "I can dream, can't I?"

   THE REST OF THE STORY - I can't even guess how many years it's been since I started touting the 2-year-old sire lists as a great place for the everyday bettor to find a first-timer to make a score on. I think it began three decades ago or so when Charlie DiLibero's Lawmaker had 32 winners in his first crop and they were paying all kinds of prices. Since then, there have been many good examples of Florida sires getting hot at some time during the summer and offering smart betting strategies. Two Step Salsa a few years ago, and Kantharos in 2014 are among that group.

    The problem with using the list that includes Kentucky is that there are no disguises involved. Everybody watches Tapits, Uncle Mos, War Fronts and the rest, especially if they're trained by Todd Pletcher, Bob Baffert or one of the other big guns. You rarely get one that pays, as Todd Schrupp likes to say on TVG, "big balloons."

    The secret is to key on Florida, where a stallion can get hot and the TV guys aren't paying attention. Take Northwest Stud's Gone Astray, for example. With only two crops at the races, the son of Dixie Union has gone over the $1.6 million mark in progeny earnings and we're still in September. His juvenile earnings have topped $750,000, and he has eight 2-year-old winners.

    The one who started it all was Carrie, who won at Santa Anita on May 1 and paid $25.40. Another came on Aug.27, when Gone Till Dawn made his debut at Gulfstream Park for owner Ebony L. Maynard. Going by my system, I boxed five horses in a $1 exacta, including Gone Till Dawn. It cost $20. Gone Till Dawn won and paid $49.80 and the $2 exacta came back $289.60. I picked up $144.80.

    On Sept. 4, the day after the sensational Gone Astray colt Three Rules won the Affirmed Stakes at Gulfstream, Carlos Olivero brought first-timer Mr. Pinocchio home at a price of $16.60.  

     Yesterday, however, I blew it. I had been watching TVG for several hours, and was awaiting a Gone Astray first-timer named Heart Astray in the first race at Presque Isle, post time set for 5:35. But I got a call from a friend about going out for dinner, and in my haste to make the 5:15 engagement, I forgot to place my bet before I left home. The late Paul Harvey could have related 'the rest of the story.' Heart Astray won by nearly four lengths and paid $103.20, $32.20 and $17.20. Needless to say, I became ill when I came home and watched the replay.

    The moral of the story is this: finding the right first-timer is only the initial part of the equation, you actually have to bet on it, too.   

    The announcement that the amazing Kantharos would be leaving Ocala Stud Farm and headed to Hill 'n' Dale in Lexington comes as no surprise to horsemen who have been around Marion County for any length of time. Since the son of Lion Heart is owned by Stonestreet's Barbara Banke, and not Ocala Stud, it was inevitable, just as it was several decades ago when Mr. Prospector and In Reality left town, although the latter occurred near the end of his sterling career. Mr. Prospector, however, was just beginning, and went on to become one of the premier sires ever to stand in the U. S.

    Kantharos came from a sparse freshman crop in Florida, but it wouldn't have mattered. His numbers have been spectacular and have held up for three seasons, beginning with 2014 when his first-crop runners earned $868,968, and continuing into his second season, when he reached $1,780,874. He's right at about $3 million already this year, second on the Florida general sire list, and his final total by Dec. 31 could be anything. That, despite the fact that he has just 79 runners, while the other four of the top five in Florida have more than 100. Deceased Wildcat Heir is the unquestioned leader, but he has 211 at the track.  

    The list of stallions who have been "made" in Florida and left for other lands is long - it includes Congrats, Northern Afleet, Yes It's True, Macho Uno, Stormy Atlantic and Successful Appeal, all of whom continue to remain prominent on the top 75 chart listed in Blood-Horse. 

    Like all of those listed, Florida breeders are going to miss Kantharos. So will this column.

    COME ON ALREADY! - They're still waiting for someone in Pennsylvania to push a button and allow for the dispersal of the more than $6 million in breeders and stallion  awards that horsemen have been waiting for since March. What a colossal joke!

    NOT A RACE - Ocala Stud's Overdriven added to his lead in the all-but-over frosh sire race in Florida when Boot N Loot scored at Gulfstream Park last week. The gelding bred by Tony Everard became winner No. 5 for his sire, going wire-to-wire under Edgard Zayas and winning by four lengths. No other sire on the list has more than one winner. 

    The solution to the problem in Pennsylvania concerning the withholding of millions of dollars in breeders and stallion awards is too simple. FIRE ALL THE WEENIES ON THE PENNSYLVANIA HORSE RACING COMMISSION.

    So, there's some problem with the way the statute is worded, and the bozos on the commission have been holding up the payments for months. The amount of cash the breeders are being screwed out of is roughly $6 million. Breeders have told the governor, the commission and legislators they are being forced out of business. I will bet that not one person among those three groups have been living without a paycheck since March, which is when the payments were suspended.

    It has been reported that legislation that would have fixed the language in a new law died in committee. The House indicated it's working on a compromise that one legislator said will be addressed when lawmakers reconvene in September. That will be about six months too late for the guys who are feeling the crunch.

    As  I said before, it's so simple, really. Fire all the guys (and gals) without guts who won't release the funds. Then pay the breeders, and everyone can worry about the repercussions after the horses have eaten and the breeders have paid their bills and employees. Do we have to get Donald Trump involved in this boondoggle? Why is it that bureaucrats and the like get to rule the people who matter no matter how stupid the people in power are? 

    Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding told the breeders the department wants to restore the payments, "but we can't ignore the words in the law." I'll bet Redding went to Bern's Steakhouse in Pennsylvania for dinner sometime this week, if they have the brains to have built a Bern's in Pennsylvania. I doubt it. Probably eats at the Quaker Oats Diner. 

    Here's a quick fix to the problem. Let all the people who are involved in withholding the payments lend money to the breeders and stallion owners and reimburse them on the day the awards become available.  

    After Za Approval was retired from racing this week and came home to Live Oak Plantation, owner Charlotte Weber said, "Za Approval is yet another extraordinary member of a family that has been especially gratifying to Live Oak." Quite an understatement!

   The 8-year-old multiple graded stakes-winning gelding performed admirably for six years, posting a record of 9-9-4 in 34 starts while earning $1,394,66, and he's one of 10 foals produced by the sensational With Approval mare Win Approval.Among his exploits, Za Approval finished second to Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita. `  

    Based on her record, there was no way anybody could forecast the incredible success Win Approval would enjoy in the breeding shed - she went 2-4-1 in 16 starts and earned just $57,210. But she struck gold in her first attempt, producing Revved Up, a gelded son of Live Oak's own millionaire stallion, Sultry Song. Revved Up, born in 1998, rolled up an awesome record of 20-9-1 in 43 starts, earned $1,548,653, and is also enjoying the casual life at Live Oak at the age of 18.

    Of Win Approval's 10 foals, only one, the 2007 product Highest Approval, didn't make it to the races. Of the nine who did race, only Victorious Won (2010) didn't make it to the winner's circle. She went 0-1-0 in four starts and earned $12,647.

    Win Approval's second foal, Miesque's Approval, born in 1999, was her biggest money-winner. The son of Miesque's Son put $2,648,879 into the Live Oak bank account on a record of 12-10-5 in 41 starts and provided inhabitants of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s Director's Room with one of its funnier moments in January of 2006. After he won the Sunshine Millions Turf at odds of 48-1 and paid $99.60, Charlotte Weber made a quick trip to the cashier's window, came back to the room with a fat wad of bills in her hand and proclaimed to all within earshot, "Good, now I have money to buy dinner tonight!"

    Miesque's Approval went on that year to win the Gr. II Maker's Mark, the Gr. II Firecracker Breeders' Cup Handicap and the Gr. III Red Bank, then capped it off with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Mile, earning $1.9 million for the year. The only millionaire son of Win Approval who isn't a gelding, Miesque's Approval now stands in South Africa.

    Win Approval's last foal is World Approval, now four, who has posted a record of 6-2-3 in 16 starts and is getting better with every race. After winning the Gr. I United Nations at Monmouth Park last month, he's earned $863,450, and barring injury, will soon join his half-brothers in the millionaire category.

    Win Approval's other winners are Winabull (46 starts, 14-6-4, $145,852), Siteofawinner (60 starts, 7-8-6, $59,880), Magnificent Approval (9 starts, 1-1-0, $43,626) and Winning Doe (8 starts, 1-0-0, $20,242).

    All told, Win Approval's runners have made 261 starts, with 80 victories, a winning percentage of 30.6. They also have 45 seconds and 23 thirds, for a total of 148 times in the money, a percentage of 56.7. The group has combined for earnings of $6,737,895. And World Approval still has plenty of time to boost all those numbers.     

    Gulfstream Park's Florida Sire Stakes - Round 1 - was an overwhelming success on several fronts. On a day when Saratoga ruled the roost with five stakes on its 11-race card, including the Gr. I Whitney and Gr. I Test, which led to an all-sources handle of $29,335,235, Gulfstream had a couple of things of its own to crow about.

    First was its all-sources handle of $7,768,426, and second was the continuing emergence of the Gone Astray 2-year-old Three Rules as a major force in the juvenile ranks. In his first two starts, Three Rules won a maiden race by 3 1/2 lengths in :58.2, then captured the $75,000 Birdonthewire Stakes by five with 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.2. Yesterday, he annihilated eight rivals in the $200,000 Dr. Fager Stakes and he did it in style, drawing off by seven in the stretch and putting up a 1:09:49 on the teletimer for the six furlongs. That is a serious clocking for any 2-year-old at this time of year under any circumstances.

    Gone Astray stands at Northwest Stud Farm in Ocala on the land that once was the place where Fred Hooper bred and raised a slew of stakes-winners, including three-time Eclipse Award-winning Susan's Girl and Sprint Champion Precisionist. The stallion by Dixie Union enjoyed an excellent freshman season with earnings of $632,781 last year, but 2016 is proving to be exceptional. After Three Rules' stunning performance, plus a few others yesterday, Gone Astray has 29 winners, moved up to be the second-leading second-crop sire in Florida behind First Dude, the No. 9 second-crop sire in the country, and the No. 8 sire on the Florida general sire list despite the fact that he has only one crop and several 2-year-olds currently racing.

    Gone Astray also was buoyed by Shakakan's fourth-place finish in the $150,000 Three Ring Stakes - she collected $9,000 -Savanna's Smile breaking her maiden in the seventh race in her second start and earning $12,800, and Natalie La Rose winning the eighth race at Monmouth Park, good for another $9,519. The latter filly has now won four of eight starts and earned more than $53,000. All the solid efforts brought Gone Astray's seasonal earnings to $1,124,500, with the promise of loftier results ahead.

    As if the Gone Astray success didn't spread enough joy around Northwest Stud, one of its other stallions, United States, was the recipient of a third-place finish by U S Diva in the $200,000 Desert Vixen, which was won by Cajun Delta Dawn, a daughter of Ocala Stud Farm's red-hot  Kantharos. U S Diva rallied from way back at odds of 30-1 and paid $10.20 to show in just her second start. She  won in her debut at five furlongs, and now must be considered a threat for the upcoming  Susan's Girl, which goes at seven furlongs.  

    In days of old, before computers took over newsrooms all over the U. S., there was a simple chain of events played out before every columnist's words reached the public. The writer put his or her words on a piece of paper using an old-fashioned typewriter, the paper was placed in a box in a room that housed several proofreaders known as rim men, and those bodies read the copy, wrote a headline and made all the necessary changes, if any, mostly of the typo variety.  

    Computers changed all that, and today's writers, for the most part, have nobody to check out their typos, misinformation, or the like. That's why the Associated Press stories we read in today's dailies contain so many mistakes, like so often leaving out the words to, in or at. I'm lucky in that respect - even though I try to re-read my columns once or twice, I still miss some errant words or thoughts here and there. But I have a long-time friend, Andy Klein, who lives in Hot Springs and emails me every time he spots those errant words.

    What does this have to do with anything? I just wanted to relate one of the funnier errors I found this week on the monthly newsletter sent out by the Horseplayers Association of North America (HANA), a group that performs a great service to us all while acting as the Ralph Nader of the sport. Nobody looks after the fortunes of the downtrodden horseplayer like HANA.

    In the July newsletter, the HANAians were preparing their betting constituents for the Saratoga meeting by printing several lists of statistics for past meetings to help handicappers with the one that began last Friday. One of the lists was dedicated to trainer stats, one to jockey stats, etc. Actually, there were two jockey lists that came into play here, there might have been more but I didn't go down that far. One was for 'dirt routes by rider,' the other 'dirt sprints by rider.' I assume that further down there were turf lists, too.

    Each list began with the leaders by name with all their stats, until down a little way the jockey's name listed was 'no rider.' For dirt sprints, 'no rider' had 26 mounts with four wins and eight places. For dirt routes, 'no rider' had 25 mounts with five wins and eight places. Quite an achievement. 

    Now, there can be two explanations for this. One is that 'no rider' actually has a meaning that I have never heard of, or two, when no rider is listed next to a horse's name in the entries, and the public finds out who's on the horse when the track announcer gives the changes before the first race, the computer that arranges the stats doesn't pick up the changes. 

    In any case, I applaud "no rider" for his excellent percentages, even though he doesn't get that many rides. One other thought: if the reason is that the computer doesn't pick up the changes, then there are - in these two cases - 51 races where the real riders don't get the proper credit for their mounts. Is that possible?

    And one final thought. There are many cases where I think 'no rider' could have given my horse a better ride than the guy I had. 

    The mystery of Overdriven's first winner has been resolved. The filly Nieve Morena, bred by Darsan Inc., broke her maiden at Quinto Centenario in the Dominican Republic on July 9, giving the Ocala Stud Farm freshman stallion winner No. 1. She was sold at auction to F. N. D. C. C., whoever that is.

    Coming on the heels of the discovery, Overdriven picked up his second winner when Drive Sandy Drive, bred by Gail Rice, broke his maiden at Presque Isle Downs yesterday. To say the gelding was overlooked by the betting public in his debut would be an understatement; he went off at 57-1 under Nathan Vickers and paid $117.20. Assuming that all owners and trainers bet on their charges in their first try, the Rice family may have made a monster score, along with picking up a check for $9,000 for the victory.

    Drive Sandy Drive came from third place and won by 2 3/4 lengths, clocked in 1:06.10 for 5 1/2 furlongs. He set up some awesome mutuel prices - the $1 exacta paid $469, the $1 trifecta $6,598 and the 10-cent superfecta $1,460. 

    How often can a horse run?

    According to most U. S. trainers, not very often. That's not apparent by word of mouth, but by deed. A horse wins a stakes race one day, and when asked if he or she is going to run in the next eligible event, say, in one month, the trainer says, "I don't know, it may be a little too soon. We'll have to wait and see." It has always boggled my mind to think that an eleven hundred pound animal needs more than a month to recover from a race that went in 1:10 or 1:16 or 1:24 or 1:35.  

    Of course, on the other side of the coin, the unpampered claimers seem to be a great deal stronger (and fitter, I assume) than their stakes and allowance counterparts. On Saturday - July 8 - at Gulfstream Park, for instance, there was one runner making her 13th start of 2016, four making their 12th start, four their 11th start, three their 10th start, 11 their ninth start, eight their eighth start, and 10 their seventh start. That's 41 horses who are averaging a minimum of one start per month, all the way up to 1.9.

    The one at the top of the list was Roraima, a 3-year-old Afleet Express filly who had started just four times at two for Gamas Racing Stable without hitting the board and earning $1,260. This year, however, in 12 starts, she was 1-4-2 with earnings of $27,320, and, after finishing first, second or third in her last seven tries, she won again at odds of 5/2. She's now 2-4-2 in 17 starts and the $9,100 winner's check boosted her total to $37,680. That's an average of more than $2,200 per race. There are varying estimates pertaining to just how much it takes to keep a horse in training for a year, usually ranging from $25,000 to $30,000 due to the ever-spiraling costs of veterinarians, feed, farriers and vanning, but Roraima is more than doing her job for the stable.

    In the ninth race, a $6,250 claimer, there were two interesting subjects. Rachel's Girl, an 8-year-old mare by First Samurai, was making her 100th career start, but just the third of this year due to a layoff from Oct. 12 to May 25. She went in with a record of 2-6-3 and earnings of $51,282,hardly enough to buy feed over the years and her seventh-place finish in start No. 100 did little to help. Owner David Ludwig must just like to tell people he is a horse owner. 

    Then there was Esken Lady, a 3-year-old daughter of Eskendereya who started 13 times at two (earning $24,478) and was making her 12th attempt in 2016. This year, she was 2-0-1 with earnings of $30,050, so she's holding her own, too. 

    Another scrapper worth mentioning is Jill's Reflection, a 5-year-old mare by Two Step Salsa bred by the Rose Family Stable but long gone from Florida and Barry Rose's barn. After finishing second at Charles Town and Delaware Park, Jill's Reflection won at Charles Town Friday, going wire-to-wire under Kevin Gomez and scoring by five widening lengths. In for a mere $4,500, she's 3-11-8 in 65 career starts and has collected $90,500 for her various owners, $13,890 of it this year in 10 starts.

    I would love to see one brave owner/trainer buck the trend and start a good horse 14 or 15 times a year just to see what happens. It could change the game, especially with short fields becoming more and more of a problem at too many tracks. 

    Saturday's popular Summit of Speed program at Gulfstream Park proved to be good to the people at Ocala's Northwest Stud and two of their stallions, surging Gone Astray and unheralded United States, and to a smaller degree, Flashstorm. 

    The second race was a $65,000 maiden special at five furlongs and it belonged to a first-time starter by United States named U S Diva. Bred by Northwest, the 2-year-old filly was ignored in the wagering even though her work tab looked pretty good; it included a recent 47 4/5 breezing line that was second best of 16 workers. With Jesus Rios aboard, U S Diva went right to the lead at odds of 23-1 and was never headed, scoring by nearly two lengths in :59.50, and paying a juicy $49.40. It was worth $42,000 to owner Sandra Trotter and a breeder's award of $5,000 to Northwest, if my calculations are correct. 

    Five races later, it was Gone Astray's turn. The son of Dixie Union had a highly successful freshman year in 2015, and has followed that up with an even better one this season. He's in third place on Florida's second-crop sire list and is closing in on $800,000, and on second-place Big Drama. The seventh was the $75,000 Birdonthewire for 2-year-olds at 5 1/2 furlongs. The 6/5 favorite was Three Rules, a colt by Gone Astray owned by co-breeder Shade Tree Thoroughbreds, who had scored an impressive 3 1/2-length victory in his June 10 debut with Cornelio Velasquez getting him home in :58 2/5.

    Cornelio had Three Rules placed perfectly behind the leaders early and it was dicey if he was going to find running room when he needed it. But the rail opened up at the top of the stretch and the colt cruised to the lead and was eased up when he crossed the line five lengths in front. The clocking was a good 1:04.50 and the winner's check came to $44,640, bringing Three Rules' earnings to $80,640. If the Dr. Fager was run today, he would probably be 4/5. 

    In the next race, Bullet Gone Astray was 33-1 in the $150,000, Gr. III Carry Back at seven furlongs. The one-time stakes-winner has been stakes-placed often since, and he added another third this time. Marc Meneses had him way off the early pace and when he rallied in the stretch, he was still well behind winner Rated R Superstar. The $14,700 check increased Bullet Gone Astray's bank account to $152,810.

    The one Northwest runner who failed to get 1-2-3 was Flashing Cat, a 4-year-old Flashstorm colt was who racing in an el cheapo, a $6,250 claimer at six furlongs. Samy Camacho did well to find racing room in the stretch, and Flashing Cat closed to within two necks and a head at the wire, and had to settle for fourth by half a length. He was 30-1.  

   OCALA STUD IS PERFECT - Another leading stallion from Ocala Stud turned in a stellar performance in the third race, the $75,000 Cassidy for 2-year-old fillies. There were eight in the field, and three were by Kantharos, Florida's leading frosh sire two years ago and leading second-crop sire last year. With just his third crop coming to the races recently, the son of Lion Heart is already second on Florida's general sire list behind the unreal - and late- Wildcat Heir. His three runners, Cajun Delta Dawn, Lirica and Perfect Kay, finished 1-2-3, collecting checks of $45,105, $14,550 and $7,275. Cajun Delta Dawn won it by half a length for partners Curtis Mikkelsen and Patricia Horth and is now 2-for-2. The three fillies have a combined record of 4-2-1 in seven starts with earnings of $180,730.  

    Received an email several days ago from Mr. Carl Wilson, responding to the most recent column about my disdain for exchange wagering. I would have answered before this but ye olde computer had a meltdown for a couple of days. I don't know Mr. Wilson so I don't know what his connection is to any of the culprits - exchange wagering itself, or Monmouth Park, or Betfair, or TVG, but here is what he wrote:

    "Strange and unnecessarily negative attitude in your article. Exchange wagering is an option that offers horse players much better odds than the tote system and a chance to lock in a price on a horse. It's a much better deal than the ridiculous and antiquated tote system where bettors have no clue what price they will get on a horse until they have run an eighth of a mile. It is extremely popular for these reasons all over the rest of the world, not just England."

    Let me answer Mr. Wilson piece by piece. First, the pre-exchange wagering publicity put out by Jerseyites echoed the idea that EW is a new and innovative way to help boost the handle at race tracks, which so many novices view as "sagging." The truth of the matter is that in 2001, the total North American handle surpassed $15 billion for the first time, despite the tired old cliche for 40 years that the old bettors were all dying off and we weren't making any new ones because the younger generation had other places to go and things to do. The over-$15 billion figure remained every year through 2007 when the banks, and mortgage companies, and George W. Bush and his cronies wiped out the middle class. With that group no longer participating, the handle began to plummet in 2008, and in 2011, it dropped to less than $12 billion. However, despite the constant rhetoric from the gloom and doom section, the handle has remained between $11 billion and $12 billion since.

    To conclude, to think that exchange wagering is some mystical method to build up the handle again is absurd. I certainly can't read everything written about racing so I don't know if anybody has expounded on the subject, but the numbers at Monmouth Park do not reflect even a smidgeon of response from the betting public. On Saturday, the attendance at the Jersey shore was listed as 16,461; the on-track handle was $562,804. That, my friends, is a per capita of $34.19. For those who don't understand per capita, it means that the average amount wagered by each person on the entire program at Monmouth Saturday was $34.19. It doesn't sound like exchange wagering has been a big hit with the local patrons. By the way, the off-track handle for the day was $3,559,134. By contrast, Gulfstream Park, which lost its big horses and trainers after the Florida Derby, and which does not have exchange wagering, had an all-sources handle of $5,533,332 the same day.

    On Sunday, it was even worse. The attendance at Monmouth was 13,441 and the on-track handle $457,726. Per capita - $34.05. Off-track - $2,848,527. Gulfstream's handle - $4,673,429.

    As for the "ridiculous and antiquated" tote system, where bettors "have no clue" what price they will get, that's also absurd. If I bet a horse at 6-1 and the odds change after an eighth of a mile, my horse isn't going to be 2-1; he might drop to 5-1 or go up to 7-1, depending on the late flash caused by computer experts (just my opinion) who have sent it in on the horse in front or in second place.

    Another aspect I have read nothing about is how the people utilizing the exchange make their bets when a race is in progress. Is there a betting messenger standing next to them? Are they first on line at a window? Do they have a cell phone in their hands? If a person is standing among the crowd on the apron at Monmouth on Haskell day, and can barely move, how does he get his bet in? Can he even see the race?   

    Last but not least, about EW's popularity all over the world, not just England, it is also very popular all over the world to stone women to death for adultery, or cut off people's hands for various minor infractions, or throw political dissidents in prison for years for disagreeing with the government. Because the rest of the world does it doesn't make it right for the USA. England made a wonderful decision last week and the markets crashed around the world.

    If the race track managers want to pump up handle and interest in this country, they need to find innovative ways of their own, not just bow to Betfair because it's the easy way out.

    Mr. Wilson: Get someone from Monmouth Park to disclose just what positive effect EW has had on the handle. Or, at least, how much is being bet on EW. Inquiring minds would like to know. 

    New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is a creep who has always done whatever possible to sabotage the state's racing and breeding interests. Four years ago he pretty much took over control of who would be appointed to the NYRA board of directors.

    Cuomo's latest push, according to Tom Precious in the Blood-Horse, is a bill that would "give him sizable influence over a new NYRA board and would cap the annual revenue NYRA receives from video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack." The last part is something the slots non-believers have always brought up when discussing the issue, not only for New York but for every state that has racinos propping up purse money.

    It has always been my opinion that the advent of racinos has been the best thing that happened to racing in decades, as long as governors and legislators keep their greedy paws out of the mix. That hasn't always proved to be possible in many cases. 

    If Cuomo wants to take away money from NYRA it's an admission that he's incompetent. When the legislation was passed years ago, it was determined that 44% of the net slots revenue would go to education. The exact wording is "Education contribution. The portion of net win allocated to the State Education Fund for direct aid to education." It could not possibly be any clearer than that."

    So, let's take a look at the figures. For the fiscal year that ended the last week of March, the "net win" for the Big A casino was $856,634,479. A quick calculator check shows that "education" received some $377 million off the top. It's been about five years since New York's educators have benefitted from the racino boom, and there's about $1.5 billion involved. If the Empire State hasn't been able to straighten out its problems with teachers/students/classrooms/buildings with $1.5 billion, stealing more money from NYRA isn't going to make a difference. Unless Cuomo has other ideas for the money.

    According to the story, NYRA would lose some $14-$16 million in revenue if Cuomo's latest proposal is allowed to stand. New York has positioned itself head and shoulders above the rest of the country from the standpoint of purses, breeders and stallion awards. This is hardly the time to head in the opposite direction.

    Fortunately, there are a bunch of level-headed legislators who are bumping heads with the guv. Let's hope they hit his head hard enough to make a dent.  

    With just 23 days remaining in the fiscal year, I went to the Dept. of Business Regulation site again to see just how close the casino profits are going to be come June 30, and if they will be a record, as I have presumed. Of course, the people in Tallahassee have not updated the info since the last report - they're still listed through the first week of May.

    So, I moved over to the poker reports, since it's been a long time since I perused them, and found that the poker rooms around the state are more than holding their own. Here's the comparison: For the fiscal year 2012-2013, the gross receipts for the state equaled $132,690,414. For 2013-2014 it came to $136,163,614. For 2014-2015 the figure dropped slightly to $135,888,902. And, through April of this year (they don't have May up yet), the figure is $122,577,563.

    For the last few months, the group as a whole has been averaging about $13 million a month, so adding $26 million to the April figure, the total should be about $148 million. Poker, it seems, also doesn't come under the "slots are declining, too," column.

    Ocala Jai Alai, however, doesn't seem to be following the others. After years of $3.63 million; $3.68 million; and $3.48 million, through April the "total rake" as they now call it, is just $2.58 million. Based on recent months, it looks as though Ocala will only reach about $3.2 million. Of course, since they only spend a few pennies here and there on marketing, it's no wonder half of Marion County no doubt doesn't even know there's poker being played on highway 318.   

   ADD ONE FRESHMAN -  Another freshman sire has popped up on the Florida list, although he won't be making much of an impact with just six registered foals. His name is Gary D, and he's a grey or roan by Successful Appeal out of the Silver Ghost mare Harford Ghost.

    No farm is listed for Gary D, who raced in the colors of Donald Ming after going through the OBS ring and selling for $100,000. He compiled a record of 3-4-3 in 21 starts with earnings of $135,690, winning the OBS Sprint Stakes in 2010. He also finished second in the Pelican Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and fourth in the Woodstock at Woodbine.

    Gary D's first runner was Tres Huevos, who finished fifth at Presque Isle in his debut. The gelding was bred by Ming and is owned by his breeder in partnership with Rice Racing.  Kevin Rice is the trainer.

    The state's pari-mutuel fiscal year ends on June 30, and it appears that the eight South Florida casinos will enjoy a record-breaking year. Not by much, but still the best year since Gulfstream ushered in the era of "racinos" on Nov. 15 of 2006.

    The previous record denoting how many nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars were dropped into the machines, was more than $7.9 billion in 2014-2015. Through May 8, the last date available emanating from Tallahassee, the play has reached more than $7 billion, but there are 53 days of play remaining, and the figure should easily top $8 billion. This Memorial Day weekend will be a big boon. 

    The net revenue record from last year for all the casinos combined was more than $521 million, with the state getting its 35 percent, or $182 million-plus. Both numbers appear to be on the verge of being surpassed, too. 

    The numbers for this year have been buoyed somewhat by the re-opening of Dania Jai Alai, which had been closed for renovations for quite a while. But Dania's figures since its return in January have been quite disappointing. When the think-tankers were doing their thinking and tanking prior to the casino boom, they estimated that each machine would generate income of $300 a day. The only two places that have come close are Flagler dogs ($284) and Pompano Park ($273), with Hialeah at $216. Dania is running at a paltry $78 a day. 

    Gulfstream Park and Hollywood dogs are still locked in battle for the slots money around Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Golden Isles and the environs, with their being three minutes apart hurting both.  Gulfstream's net revenue thus far is more than $41.8 million, Hollywood's is $40.7 million.

    The two "experts" in pari-mutuel affairs who forecast the demise of thoroughbred racing in the Tampa Bay Times in January, also wrote that nobody is talking about it, "but slots are declining, too." The facts bury this erroneous theory, especially with the record-breaking performance at New York's casino at Aqueduct, which handled more than $20.4 billion in its last fiscal period. 

    The last time a Florida-bred won the Preakness was in 2005, when Afleet Alex overcame a horrendous stumble at the top of the stretch with rider Jeremy Rose, and, incredibly, came again with a tremendous rush to win by a mile. Under the circumstances, it semed like a mile, although it was "only" 4 3/4 lengths. The son of the Florida stallion Northern Afleet, who stood at Double Diamond Farm at the time, was coming off a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby behind 50-1 Giacomo and 71-1 Florida-bred Closing Argument. The $2 trifecta paid $133,134.

    Despite the Louisville result, Afleet Alex, who had lost it all by a length, won it as the 3-1 favorite at Pimlico while Giacomo finished third at 6-1, and Closing Argument tired late to wind up ninth at 7-1. Afleet Alex went on to the Belmont Stakes and won by seven lengths; so only the length between him and Giacomo on the first Saturday in May prevented him from ending the Triple Crown drought 10 years before American Pharoah. 

    The previous year, Double Diamond's Don Dizney almost had a winner of his own when First Dude, at odds of 23-1, led from the start only to be run down late by 2-1 shot Lookin At Lucky. The third-place finisher, at 11-1, was Fred Brei's Jackson Bend, from Ocala's Jacks or Better Farm.

    Brei will be represented in Baltimore again Saturday by Fellowship, who will be making his second start for Ocalan Mark Casse after recently moving from the barn of long-time Jacks or Better trainer Stanley Gold, along with the rest of the Jacks or Better horses. In his first start for many-time Sovereign Award winner Casse, in the $250,000, Gr. III Pat Day Mile at Churchill on Derby day, the late-running colt by Brei's Awesome of Course tired to finish fourth after having moved into second in mid-stretch. He has compiled a record of 2-3-3 in 12 starts with earnings of $574,715, and will go from post 10 in the 11-horse field with Jose Lezcano, who will be aboard for the fourth straight time.   

    There's one other Florida-bred in the Preakness, Gilbert Campbell's (Stonehedge Farm South) Abiding Star, a colt by red-hot Uncle Mo who hasn't been to the big time yet, but has won five in a row this year after a dull 0-1-1 in six starts as a juvenile. Included in the streak are victories in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel and the $100,000 Parx Derby, in which he went wire-to-wire at odds of 3/5, scoring by nearly two lengths in 1:41.22 for the mile and 70 yards. Abiding Star, who has compiled earnings of $202,385, drew post 9 with J. D. Acosta aboard.

    Both Florida horses are 30-1 in the morning line, while Derby winner Nyquist is listed at 3/5 from post 3 with Mario Gutierrez. Second choice is Derby runner-up Exaggerator, who's 3-1 from post 5 with Kent Desormeaux. 

    Abiding Star and Fellowship will be looking to add their names to a long list of Florida colts who have finished in the top three in the Preakness, dating back to Needles' second behind Fabius in 1956. Carry Back won in 1961, as did Affirmed as part of his Triple Crown run in 1978, and Codex in the controversial edition against the filly Genuine Risk in 1980. Also, Aloma's Ruler in 1982 and popular Gate Dancer two years later, along with Silver Charm in 1997. Runners-up include In Reality, My Dad George, Foolish Pleasure, Iron Constitution, Unbridled, Cherokee Run, Oliver's Twist, Skip Away, Sweetnorthernsaint, and First Dude. Lots of tradition on the line, albeit against an unbeaten champion. 

    Gene Stevens, the controversial publisher of arguably the most successful racing and breeding publication in the United States for more than 37 years, passed away early Friday morning at his home at The Cricket Club in Miami. He died peacefully in his sleep after his long battle with diabetes, according to long-time friend Carolyn Hine.

    Born in Brooklyn in 1935, Gene was a high school classmate of singer Steve Lawrence, and the two collaborated musically at Thomas Jefferson High, both dreaming of making the big time. Lawrence accomplished his goal via TV and hit recordings, and Gene accomplished it through his widely-read slick magazine, Post Time USA. 

    Gene was the owner of a photography studio in South Florida when he first made his name known to horsemen at Calder Race Course in 1970. He wrote a weekly column in the Miramar Mirror, close to the racetrack, and he was a constant thorn in the side of management, every week calling for the replacement of Calder's synthetic surface, called Saf-T-Turf. The pinkish track was causing soreness to muscles, tendons, backs, ankles, etc., and Gene was the willing spokesperson for the horsemen who wanted it removed.

    One Saturday, Gene sent two bikini-clad models out onto the track between races. They were holding a banner that read, "Gene Stevens says: Saf-T-Turf must go, dirt track a must." It caused quite a stir and was the forerunner of his always-controversial publishing career.

    In August of 1973, Gene and I and horseman Bob Gaudio started Post Time, a monthly newspaper dedicated to racing and breeding, with a little dab of entertainment thrown in to make Gene happy. But Gene and I fought constantly over the contents of Post Time, and after six issues, we split, after the Feb. 1974 edition hit the stands.

    Gene re-grouped after that and in October of the same year, Post Time returned with a new editor. Gene's shtick was pictures - he felt that owners and breeders and trainers were deserving of much more recognition than they were getting and he gave it to them, plastering their photos over every section of the paper. He became the subject of a great deal of criticism, including from many in the media colony, but everybody read Post Time and Gene thrived on the attention.

    He made it to all the Triple Crown races, the Breeders' Cup, the Florida Derby and Flamingo, the Eclipse Awards, and the entire Saratoga meeting, amassing a huge file of photos that not only included the horsey set but also actors, actresses, singers, presidents, senators, governors and anybody else he felt would enhance the pages of Post Time.

     And it worked. Sometime in the 80s, Gene enlisted Bob Marks, former owner of Robin's Nest Farm in Ocala and an advertising expert, to revamp the paper and Bob did it in spades. Post Time USA was born, a full-fledged slick magazine that further enhanced the quality of the photos of the rich and famous, both people and equines. Gene's picture was on so many pages in Post Time USA that the late Pete Axthelm of Newsweek started an over-and-under pool based on the number of times Gene's image would show up in each issue. There were times when it was more than 100; many loved it and many hated it, but Post Time USA flourished and made Gene a rich man. 

    Always the innovator, Gene enlisted some of the leading thoroughbred writers in the country to grace the pages of Post Time USA. There were Bill Christine of the Los Angeles Times, Ray Kerrison of the New York Post, Billy Reed of the Louisville Courier, Daily Racing Form breeding guru David Goldman, John DaSilva of the New York Post and Bill Mooney of the Blood-Horse. There was even a long-time column written by famed consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Mooney's Post Time USA column about the last few days in the life of Fred Hooper's Florida-bred Eclipse Award winner, Precisionist, won an Eclipse Award of its own.

    Although much of what Gene wrote focused on the issues facing racing, and show biz, two of his columns drew critical acclaim. One was for a series titled: 'The Rise and Fall of Calumet Farm,' for which he received an Honorable Mention Eclipse Award, the other was a beautifully-done piece on the life of the late Louis Wolfson.

    In September of 1989, Gene and I reunited and for the next 21 years, I was again the editor of Post Time USA. That same month, Gene took me and Bob Marks to California to look into the feasibility of a west coast edition of the magazine.  While we were there, we visited with noted owner Fred Sahadi and Gerry McMahon, who were in the start-up stages of a new sales company - Barretts. I asked Fred what kind of reception they were getting from the breeders, tracks, newspapers and other racing organizations and his answer was simple: "They're ignoring us." When we returned to Florida and began work on the next issue, Gene and I co-wrote a lengthy piece on Barretts, announcing it to the world. 

    All the while, Gene built up a unique persona. Most of the racing world no doubt never saw him when he wasn't impeccably dressed in an expensive suit, often of silk, and driving his Lincoln Town Car with the iron thoroughbred mounted on the hood. 

    He loved racing, but he was really in his element when he was around the show biz crowd. Post Time USA was graced over the years with pix of Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Jackie Gleason, Susan Lucci, Mary Ann Mobley, Phyllis George, Bo Derek, and many more. While in Saratoga, he never failed to sidle up to the piano bar and belt out a few songs at the Wishing Well or Siro's. He was a fixture at the Kentucky Derby soirees of socialites Marylou Whitney and Anita Madden, and the photo of him draped only in a towel after he fell into the pool fully clothed during one of Marylou's shindigs, has become legend. 

    Post Time USA ended its run in 2010 after 37 stellar years, and it was easy to see that Gene's demeanor changed drastically thereafter. He had neglected his health for years due to the demands of his profession and the last couple of years were not kind to him.

    Gene Stevens won't soon be forgotten by the racing community. He created something unique because he was unique himself. Gene was the Barnum & Bailey of racing, and the sport will never see another like him. 

DERBY TIDBITS:

(1) - The final field remained intact. There are 18 Kentucky-breds and two Pennsylvania-breds (Mor Spirit and Tom's Ready).

(2) - Eight of the entrants are by three stallions: Mohaymen, Lani and Creator are by Tapit; Mo Tom, Nyquist and Outwork are by Uncle Mo; Destin and Brody's Cause are by Giant's Causeway. 

(3) - The winners of every major prep are represented, and Lani won a stakes in Tokyo and a Gr. II in Dubai. 

(4) - Trojan Nation, who finished second in the Wood Memorial, is still a maiden.

(5) - Victor Espinoza, who won the last two Derbys with American Pharoah and California Chrome, almost didn't make it this time. He'll be on 20-1 Whitmore, who was third in the Arkansas Derby and second in both the Rebel and the Southwest at Oaklawn. Most conspicuous by their absence: Rafael Bejarano, Jose Ortiz and Joe Bravo. 

(6) - Mohaymen, who was so highly-regarded after having won five in a row coming up to the Florida Derby, including the Fountain of Youth, Holy Bull and Remsen, dropped so far in prestige after his fifth-place behind Nyquist at Gulfstream that he's co-third choice on the morning line at 10-1. 

(7) - Tampa Bay Derby winner Destin, runner-up Outwork and off-the-board Brody's Cause will be looking to become the third Derby winner coming out of Oldsmar, after Street Sense and Super Saver.

(8) - BetAmerica has a unique special on for Derby day. In any graded stakes race at Churchill, if your horse wins and is disqualified, they will pay you anyway. 

    Last year, Field Commission was one of a sparse Florida freshman stallion class. The son of Service Stripe, who stands at Solera Farm, had just four registered foals in his initial crop, and only one of them started. That was Ten Hut, who finished sixth twice and eighth once in New York, earning $1,217.

    Based on those stats, the people at Solera asked The Jockey Club if the 2009 Champion Sprinter in Canada could receive special dispensation and be counted as a freshman again this year. The original answer was yes, but that has not happened. Field Commission is listed under second-crop sires this year.

   On Feb. 26, Ten Hut made his 2016 debut at Aqueduct, and, at odds of 12-1, turned in by far his best performance. The 3-year-old colt finished second, beaten a neck, and earned $8,200.

    On Wednesday, the first Florida-bred 2-year-old to run in 2016, a Field Commission colt, showed up at Keeneland. Drafted went off at 4-1 racing 4 1/2 furlongs over the newly-installed dirt track, and flew to a 2 3/4-length victory under Mitchell Murrill. The colt won at the direct expense of trainer Wesley Ward's Spelker, co-owned by former NFL wide receiver Wes Welker, who was the 20-cents-to-a-dollar favorite.

    The Equibase chart doesn't come close to telling the real story about the race. It shows Drafted sitting one length off the rapid pace set by Spelker - a quarter in :22.26 - but the reality is that Spelker was three lengths in front of Drafted on the turn for home, and Drafted inhaled him with a powerful wide move, drawing off late in a track-record :50.45 seconds after a :44.34 half. The victory was worth $26,650 and Field Commission is, at least temporarily, Florida's second-leading second-crop sire. He does have 32 registered foals for 2016.

    Drafted was entered in the Kim Harrison consignment in the 2015 OBS August yearling sale, and was RNA'ed for $19,000. She had him back at the recent March sale and he went for $35,000 to P. R. Laird and trainer Eoin Harty, who look like they have a good one on their hands. 

    Tom McCrocklin's friends were probably not surprised when the Broken Vow filly from his consignment to the OBS April sale sold for $1.2 million, highest price of the four-day 2-year-old sale. They have seen Tom make big scores before, both in the pinhooking department and at the mutuel windows.

    In 2005, Tom was the talk of Ocala after Giacomo won the Kentucky Derby at odds of 50-1, Closing Argument was second at 71-1, and Afleet Alex third at 9/2. Word was that he scored to the tune of $96,000. 

    The Broken Vow filly was originally sold by Taylor Made Farm to Solano Beach Sales for $105,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Sale. According to Blood-Horse Daily, the $1.2 million colt represented a pinhook ROI of 812%. 

    The second-best pinhook was a real head-scratcher, for me. A Gemologist colt consigned by Sequel Bloodstock brought $550,000 from Lane's End Bloodstock. The colt originally sold for $50,000 as a weanling at Keeneland November, and when he came up again at last year's Keeneland September, he was RNA'ed at the same $50,000. Seven months later, they hit a home run. The net profit was listed at 578.6%. 

    Overall, the April sale grossed $52.2 million, compared with $53.2 a year ago. But the average price set an April record of $79, 211, edging last year's previous record of $79,068. The "sport is dying" proponents will no doubt argue that there's a typo in there somewhere. 

    CHICKENS - As of this morning, I have received no response from the Tampa Bay Times concerning its dearth of coverage for thoroughbreds as opposed to the reams of dog columns written by Don Jensen. 

    A REAL MYSTERY - I will never understand many of the columns in the FTBOA's Wire-to-Wire magazine. For instance, every day there is one titled "Florida Stallion Progeny for (enter day here)," in which supposed Florida stallions are listed alphabetically, with their supposed progeny underneath, and the track that each horse is competing at that day. The explanation is written thusly: "Below is a list of runners sired by registered Florida stallions scheduled to start in races at racetracks across North America." 

    The problem is that half (or more) of the stallions listed haven't been in Florida for years, and they are certainly not "registered Florida stallions," even though they were once. And their runners are no longer Florida-breds, in most cases. 

    Here's an example from a recent WTW. Lite the Fuse, who hasn't been in Florida for years, was listed as having four runners that day, all at Penn National. A quick check revealed that one was a New Jersey-bred, the other three Pennsylvanians. There were many other similar instances, too, with stallions such as Middlesex Drive, One Nice Cat, Native Regent, Songandaprayer, Spanish Steps, Trippi, etc.  

    Who is looking for this information in Ocala? The wasted space could easily be filled by something everybody IS interested in - (1) the owners of the winners on the charts of every race at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs, and (2) the attendance and handle at both tracks at the bottom of the charts. Currently, the trainer and breeder are listed on the charts, but not the owner. 

    Absolutely makes no sense to me. 

    The weekend's results made another strong point for the Tampa Bay Derby being awarded Gr. I status. Talk about a key race. Outwork, Saturday's Wood Memorial winner, finished second behind Destin in the TBD and he's now won 3-of-4. Brody's Cause, Saturday's Toyota Blue Grass winner, finished a non-threatening seventh in Tampa, but his monster late run at Keeneland was impressive.

    The surprise of the Wood was runner-up Trojan Nation, who was still a maiden after five tries and came out the same way. But the son of Street Cry was gobbling up ground in deep stretch and looked like he would nail Outwork in a few more strides. He was 81-1, by the way. Trainer Paddy Gallagher says he may be sending his maiden to Louisville.

    Todd Pletcher has two Derby candidates - Destin and Outwork - and they both prepped in Oldsmar, along with Brody's Cause, who's trained by Dale Romans. 

    The most thrilling performance of the three big Derby preps was turned in by Exaggerator, who at one time was called as being 10 lengths behind the last horse in the leading group, so he must have been more than 15 lengths out of it, probably 17 or 18. The run he made on the turn was eye-opening, and he actually passed the leaders as they straightened out for home, not in deep stretch.

    ANOTHER RECORD - At Keeneland, they "only" handled $21,736,983, a single-day record for Blue Grass or any other day. There were 20,848 frigid souls on hand in 40ish temperatures or it would have been much more.  They must not have gotten the message in Lexington that the sport is dying. 

    WE'LL MISS BILL - Bill Kaplan announced his retirement just before the weekend and spent his final day as a trainer celebrating Florida Cup Day at Tampa Bay Downs. The long-time South Florida stalwart wound up an ultra-successful run with a third by Chief Attraction in the $75,000 Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies and a third by Extravagant Kid in the $75,000 OBS Sophomore Stakes. 

    Once again, I shudder to think what Saturday's handle at Gulfstream Park might have been if the sport wasn't in the process of expiring. Since Gulfstream doesn't keep attendance figures due to the fact that casino and poker room players enter free so there's no way to separate one type of player from another, we have no idea of how many people were imitating sardines in the infield or the various other viewing locations. 

    But from the looks we got on TVG, the place was in overflow mode. The handle for the superb Florida Derby program reached $32,082,270, and only the Breeders' Cup has produced a higher day at the track. Last year's handle was $27.2 million. 

    It's less than 24 hours from Nyquist's dynamite performance in the $1 million Derby, and the pundits are already making excuses for Mohaymen. He had a bad post (No. 9), he was outside, he never got to the rail, he went wide on the turn, etc. Do they think he'll have it any better in Louisville? With 20 horses in the gate he may encounter a worse trip by far. Great horses have overcome infinitely worse trips than Mo did yesterday. Great horses are supposed to overcome adversity.

    For the week before the race, the same pundits were punditing that Mo had a big edge; he was at a track he had romped over twice, he was at home, Nyquist had to cross the country, he had never been over the strip, etc., etc., etc. So Nyquist buried him. The pundits, I find, are often severely tripped up by their egos. 

    Does it mean that Mo is toast? Of course not. But for this day, he wasn't even near up to the task, despite all of the aforementioned advantages. 

    Nyquist, on the other hand, is something special. He sold at Fasig-Tipton Florida's March sale for $400,000, thus collecting the bonus of $1 million for being a Fasig-Florida Derby winner. I don't know if anyone keeps tabs on this, but it's quite probable that his $3,333,600 in earnings is the most by any horse in history as of April 3 of his 3-year-old year. With the cash from the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the $600,000 from yesterday and the bonus, Who could have done anything more? 

    The son of Uncle Mo (why is Mohaymen by Tapit instead of Uncle Mo?) is now 7-for-7, with six graded stakes victories, and the Reddam-O'Neill-Gutierrez triumvirate has a chance to do for racing what American Pharoah did last year and California Chrome did the year before. It's called exhilaration, and it would put the mortuaries on hold a little longer. 

    You have to hand it to the "pool prognosticators." With the Rainbow Pick 6 at Gulfstream Park set to be given away today, and a carryover of $4,503,332 on the line, the pool prognosticators prognosticated that there might be more than $15 million in the pot by the time wagering closed prior to the seventh race. They were 8/5 to be wrong, however, they were right on the money.

    More than $10.7 million went through the windows, telephones, computers, and various other types of ADW accounts. With a 20 percent takeout on the Pick 6, that left about $8.7 million to be added to the carryover, meaning thousands of players were putting together 20-cent tickets in search of some part of more than $13.2 million. Those who were sharp enough to include Mighty Mo ($8.60), Deer Dog ($15.80), Rose's Dancer ($31.80), Bibbo ($18.80), Harmonize ($6.00) and Appa ($14.20) made a score of $89,456. That is, assuming they bet less than $89,000 to achieve their purpose. Dividing $13.2 million by $89,456 and we get somewhere around 147 winners celebrating at their favorite restaurants tonight.  

    Oddly enough, not one of the six winners went off favored - even Harmonize was second choice behind Lira ($1.90-1).     

    I've never been a big fan of the Rainbow because it temporarily takes too much money out of circulation, but I must admit, it gets very exciting when there's a mandatory payout. Especially of this size. Unfortunately for the smaller players who didn't dive in with both fists, they were probably done after two or three races and didn't get to experience the euphoria of watching the final race with a major score on the line.  

    For the record, the total handle for the Gulfstream program was another blockbuster - $25,941,217. Imagine what it could have been if there was still somebody left who liked the sport. 

    WHAT A PRODUCER - One of the most remarkable broodmares in Florida over the past 20 years has been Win Approval, Live Oak Stud's daughter of With Approval, who is the dam of Miesque's Approval (12 victories, $2.6 million), Za Approval (9 victories, $1.9 million) and Revved Up (20 victories, $1.5 million), among several other lesser winners. All raced in Charlotte Weber's Live Oak colors. 

    In today's eighth race at Fair Grounds, the $300,000, Gr. II Munoz Memorial Handicap, another runner from the family finished second. World Approval came from far back under Julien Leparoux and picked up a check for $50,000. The 4-year-old gelding by Northern Afleet is 5-1-2 in 12 starts with earnings of $478,450 and he's getting better. 

    While the clowns on TVG were mispronouncing Leparoux all day, they added another goodie to their growing list. The horse inside World Approval was Potomac River, and they called him P-atomic. C'est la vie, Julien would say. 

    A VOTE FOR FRANKIE - The folks at Santa Anita decided - after testing many candidates - that Michael Wrona was the best fit to replace recently-retired announcer Trevor Denman. I guess they didn't want to disrupt the strange accent we grew to love from Denman. But I think they made a mistake; Frank Mirahmadi is at least as good as anybody in the country, and better than most.  

    BEWARE OF SHILLS - Being a shill for advertisers and sponsors is a regular occurrence, most people in our business do it. But when boosting the clients, there should at least be an element of truth involved. The TVGers constantly pump up Keeneland when a Keeneland horse wins a race. Fine. But yesterday, in doing so with Land Over Sea, who had just won the Gr. II Fair Grounds Oaks, trainer-analyst Ron Ellis felt obligated to mention that the 3-year-old filly was quite a bargain - she was sold at Keeneland for $42,000. 

    Yes, it's true that Victor Davila bought Land Over Sea for $42,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2014. However, he pinhooked her at OBS April last year and she brought $130,000 from Dennis O'Neill. She now runs in the colors of Reddam Racing LLC with Doug O'Neill as her trainer. Come on guys, get serious. And Ellis, of all people, should know better. Especially when the $130,000 OBS April tag was listed right there among her Racing Form past performances for all to see.

   The morticians who have been retained by a coalition of newspaper editors, legislators, think tankers and the like to bury the "dying thoroughbred industry" have been treated to another week's vacation. The results from Saturday forced the cemetery workers to put down their shovels again and wait for further word from the gloom-and-doom set. Word that promises to be a long time in coming.

    The Saturday leader in the handle department was Santa Anita, coming in at $17,769,157 with an attendance of 27,259. Makes you think about the old Yogi Berra quip: "It's so crowded nobody ever goes there anymore." Santa Anita was followed by the other Stronach entity, Gulfstream Park, with $14,806,523, while Aqueduct chimed in at $8,761,639. Oaklawn Park disappointed at $2,996,133 although a crowd of 16,000 wagered $940,685 on-track.

    The eye-opener of the weekend was Tampa Bay Downs, with the Gr. II Tampa Bay Derby anchoring a 12-race card that featured four stakes in all, three of them graded. With an on-track crowd of 10,206 as a base, the Oldsmar track posted the highest handle in its history - $12,250,447. The old record set in 2011 was $10,949,948.

    That comes to $56,583,899 for the five major tracks. 

    HERE ARE SOME WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:

    TAMPA BAY DOWNS - Destin's marvelous victory in the Tampa Bay Derby was notable from many angles. In outgaming Outwork to the wire, he gave Todd Pletcher two more Kentucky Derby probables as the winner picked up 50 qualifying points and the runner-up 20. It was just the third start for Outwork, who had won his first two, and his first stakes try. The clocking of 1:42.82 for the 1 1/16 miles barely edged the track record of 1:42.83 set by Bold Start when he won the Challenger in 2010.  

    Brody's Cause, the son of Giant's Causeway who went off as the 2-1 favorite, finished seventh for trainer Dale Romans after never lifting his feet. The colt hadn't started since finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Oct. 31. Romans said he'll send Brody's Cause to the April 9 Blue Grass.    

    It will be interesting to see if the country's leading rider, Javier Castellano, opts to go further with Destin considering the show he put on and the number of horses Pletcher has who are Derby-bound. Todd wound up Saturday needing just two victories to reach the 4,000 mark. 

    In the race prior to the Derby, Robert (Bats) Masterson's Tepin made an incredible late run to win the Gr. II Hillborough on the grass after pacesetter Isabella Sings had opened up so many lengths the other fillies and mares couldn't be seen on the TV screen. But Julien Leparoux kept the Eclipse Award-winning daughter of Bernstein at the front of the pack, so that when she started rolling coming to the turn, she had nobody to pass but Isabella, and she did that in deep stretch in course-record time.

    Tepin's clocking of 1:46.26 broke the mile and one-eighth mark of 1:46.55 set by Special Envoy last year and gave the 5-year-old an enviable streak in her last nine races. She has posted seven victories and two seconds for trainer Mark Casse, the losses coming by a nose and a head, and eight of the nine were graded stakes. The $120,000 winner's share increased her earnings to $2,685,973. Before the current streak began in March of last year, Tepin finished eighth in the Gr. I Del Mar Oaks in August of 2014 at odds of 18-1. 

    Leparoux, whose name is mispronounced in this country almost as frequently as mischievous, had quite a successful trip, coming up from Gulfstream. He finished second in the $100,000 Challenger aboard Neck 'n Neck in a race won by Castellano on Adirondack King ($25.20), then won convincingly aboard first-time starter Formby ($18.20) in a $28,000 maiden special. 

    Julien then added the $200,000, Gr. III Florida Oaks with Baciami Piccoli ($31), who had started just three times in Europe with one victory, and the Hillsborough with Tepin, before finishing third with Calumet Farm's Star Hill in the Derby. 

    GULFSTREAM PARK - There were no less than six claims of $6,250 made in Saturday's second race, including the winner, Miss Dejavu, and the runner-up, Climate Change.

    The fifth-race winner was Phil's Comprise, a 4-year-old colt by Comprise, a stallion owned by the Rose Family, racing for $12,500. Phil's Comprise came from last place in a field of nine and got up by neck under Vicente Gudiel for his first victory after 42 losses. He paid $90.20 and grabbed a breeder's award for the Rose Family Stable and trainer Barry Rose.

    Seven days before, another Rose product, Diana's Comprise, won at Tampa after the Roses shipped her to trainer Alejandro Reyes at the beginning of the meeting. The 4-year-old filly had done well for Reyes, posting a second, three thirds and a fourth before winning for just the second time in 42 tries. She made a monster move on the turn and drew away to score by eight lengths, paying $5.40. 

    The Rainbow Six made it through another week and shot up to more than $3.1 million. If it isn't hit in the next two weeks, it will be given away on March 26. 

    A filly with one of the great names in racing, Miss Matzoball, won the $75,000 Captiva Island Stakes for Masie Stable and trainer Roy Lerman. The 4-year-old Smoke Glacken filly scored by half a length in :54.62 for five furlongs on the grass. The course record is :53.75. The filly's dam is the Royal Academy mare Miss Matzo. She's now earned $181,527.