Horse racing

The presence of drugs or the absence of smarts

The bureaucrat’s goal is to render intelligence unnecessary. The bureaucrat’s problem is that nothing improves when purged of intelligence. And because bureaucracy regulates horse racing, the bureaucrat’s problem has become the sport’s problem.

Rarely has that been on such conspicuous display as it has been this past week, with the reported positive tests for horses trained by Richard Dutrow and Steve Asmussen. The reports caused a furor in some circles. Most of all, though, they contributed to the general and mistaken perception of horse racing as a sport riddled with cheaters and dopers.

Looked at more soberly, the reports can be seen as further evidence of horse racing’s suicidal tendencies. Further evidence, too, that nothing improves when purged of intelligence.

In Kentucky, a post-race test found Salute The Count, who’s trained by Dutrow, with 41 picograms of Clenbuterol. The limit in Kentucky is 25 picograms, which is thought to allow for a 72-hour withdrawal period. In truth, the withdrawal period can vary from horse to horse. And the withdrawal period in some states is 48 hours; in others, 24 hours. In other words, the test wouldn’t even have been regarded as a positive in many states. The limit in Louisiana, for example, is 500 picograms. And so Dutrow was guilty only of bad timing, not doping.

As Jennie Rees of the Louisville Courier-Journal suggests in her superb reporting of the incident, this is what happens when rules vary from state to state and when testing standards remain inconsistent. This is what happens when a bureaucracy purged of intelligence takes over.

The difference of 16 picograms, between Salute The Count’s level and the permissible level, is meaningless. A picogram is one-trillionth of a  gram. You could fit 16 picograms on the head of pin and still have room for a chorus of angels.

But this will be classified as a medication violation. Some in the media will refer to it as yet another doping transgression; it’ll fit in nicely with the racing-as-chemical-warfare view. And so the negativity just continues to roll, thanks to a regulatory process that’s purged of intelligence.

The Asmussen incident is equally frustrating. After Timber Trick won a maiden race at Lone Star Park on May 10, she tested positive for a matabolite of lidocaine.

Immediately the situation looks strange. Timber Trick is a lightly raced 3-year-old filly, hardly a candidate for the sort of problems that lidocaine, a local anesthetic with only brief effectiveness, might relieve. And why would the leading trainer in America, who has the reigning Horse of the Year in his barn, risk so much to win a maiden race at Lone Star Park? It makes no sense. But neither does a process purged of intelligence.

Texas has a zero-tolerance policy regarding such medication. “Zero-tolerance” is synonymous with “zero-intelligence.”  The situation reminds me of the school district that had a zero-tolerance policy regarding knives, but then failed to distinguish between a switchblade and nail clippers, the result being the suspension of a little girl in elementary school.

Asmussen is far from elementary school, of course. And if he or one of his assistants gave Timber Trick an illicit injection of lidocaine in an effort to win a race, he should be suspended at least six months.

But only a test quantifying the amount of lidocaine in the sample would indicate that. And the Texas Racing Commission has denied Asmussen’s request for a quantifying test, according to his attorney, Maggi Moss. The commission also has denied a request for a test of blood, which is more telling than urine. They’ve also denied the request to send a split sample to LSU, where Steven Barker, one of the nation’s foremost experts, could analyze it.

As far as Texas is concerned, it doesn’t make any difference if the Timber Trick sample contained one picogram or a million. And, of course, that’s a policy purged not only of intelligence but also of common sense and understanding.

Lidocaine is everywhere. We could walk into a Walgreen’s and probably find more than a hundred products containing lidocaine. If any of them somehow found their way to Timber Trick, perhaps by way of a groom’s hands, that would explain the positive.

Ever since the positive test became public, I’ve heard stories about lidocaine contamination. One veterinarian said he once cared for a horse that had a lidocaine positive and it was a horse that he knew absolutely had never been given the medication. But a horse that formerly occupied his stall had been given lidocaine when he had a wound stitched up.

Contamination is very possible. Was Timber Trick’s sample contaminated? Or was she perhaps given lidocaine as a local anesthetic when she got a few stitches a week or so prior to the race? Or was she given lidocaine in some illicit effort to win a maiden race?   
A quantifying test would at least supply some insight.

But bureaucracy doesn’t look for insight. Its goal is to render intelligence unnecessary, as a zero-tolerance policy makes clear. Bureaucracy doesn’t trust people to think. And so it establishes rules and procedures that anybody can follow to arrive at a good decision.  Well, a good decision most of the time. And in situations void of complexity.

But with all those other times and with all those complex situations that inevitably arise, bureaucracy fails. It fails miserably and embarrassingly. A process purged of intelligence can’t handle complexities, but will only subject the sport and its competitors to unwarranted ridicule and suspicion.   

A collision at Lone Star

It could have been worse, someone said. And that was true about this as it is about everything. But it was plenty bad.

Just before Lone Star’s track was closed for a renovation break this morning, a set of three horses left the starting gate to work five furlongs. All three were from the stable of trainer Cheryl Asmussen. At that same instant, a horse from the stable of trainer Tom Kagel was backtracking – that is, going slowly, and clockwise, in the direction of the trio.

The Kagel horse, named Spinning Flame, suddenly became silly. Then recalcitrant. He wanted no part of this racetrack or this morning. He started backpedaling toward the rail and tossing his head into the air. His backpedaling momentum was carrying him relentlessly into harm’s way, this green horse who never had raced and who seemed reluctant, or at least nervous, about ever trying. Nor did he know where he was going; his only thought was to flee, which, of course, is the horse’s natural impulse. The young woman riding Spinning Flame couldn’t restrain him, and she probably didn’t even realize – or realized too late – that she was on a collision course with trouble.

From up in the clocker’s aerie atop the Lone Star Park grandstand, this all unfolded with suddenness and inevitability. Thoughts passed through the mind like roadside images viewed from a fast moving car: this could be a problem; this could be bad; this is going to be bad; can’t anything or anybody stop it; oh my God; get help; how badly are they hurt.

In the mornings at Lone Star, the starting gate sits in the chute at the top of the stretch. Shortly after the three Asmussen horses had gone a quarter-mile, or just beyond the wire, before their riders could get them pulled up, they converged on Spinning Flame. The two outside horses somehow avoided a collision. Cash Asmussen, who was for years a champion jockey in France before coming home to Texas, rode the inside horse of the trio. He took a firm hold and then stood up in the irons, but it takes time and distance to slow down a racehorse, and Asmussen’s options were both few and unattractive.

Asmussen, his horse and their few options all slammed into the hindquarters of Spinning Flame, whose rider went down precipitately, into a heap, like a high-wire walker who took a bad step. The force and the abruptness were such that they sent Asmussen tumbling several yards forward. Instinct told him to roll under the rail to avoid being trampled by other horses. But a moment later, he jumped to his feet. He ran to the young woman, saw that she was relatively OK, and then he ran to his horse, who appeared to be injured severely.

Asmussen knelt on the ground, took the horse’s head in his arms, and tried to give comfort. The right shoulder had absorbed most of the impact, and as the horse lay there, the shoulder and the right foreleg quivered.

For several moments, as assistance began to gather, Asmussen remained there, kneeling, stroking the horse’s forehead. Steve Asmussen, Cash’s brother, arrived on a pony. Probably reading the situation in an instant, he jumped to the ground and hurried over to his brother. They embraced strongly and vigorously, and they held it for an instant longer than’s probably normal,  an instant of backslapping, an instant, I suppose, of fraternal communion, when they realized, yet again, that this can be a dangerous game and that this particular accident was plenty bad but could have been much worse.      

Jeremy Rose

This was so predictable, this wrong turn, down the alley of appeasement. And so horse racing moves from one extreme to another, from obtuse negligence to bumbling overreaction.

The Delaware Park stewards have suspended jockey Jeremy Rose six months for hitting a filly, Appeal To The City,  in the eye with his whip during the third race Monday. Six months. The commission will hear his appeal July 22.

If the appeal is denied and the suspension upheld, it will be comparable to Latrell Sprewell’s in 1997. Remember him? The Warriors’ all-star guard attacked coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice one afternoon. Sprewell veered so wildly out of control that teammates reportedly had to pull him off, but not before he choked the coach.

The Warriors originally suspended Sprewell 10 days, but the NBA later extended the vacation for the remainder of the season, or 68 games. The difference, of course, is that Sprewell’s attack was intentionally malicious, and Rose’s misuse of the whip was accidental. That’s a difference so large it could be seen from outer space – but not apparently by the Delaware Park stewards.

Immediately after the race Monday, Rose admitted his mistake to the horse’s connections. And, in a prepared statement, he said, “I want everyone to know that this was an accident and not an intentional act.”

The video of the race seems to support that. Appeal To The City is racing in traffic, trying to make a bid, but lugging in. When Rose strikes her left-handed with this whip, in an effort to encourage her to run straight, she tosses her head into the air and ducks out.

Her trainer, Howard Wolfendale, the person who should have been most offended and who, besides Rose, was in a position to best interpret events, responded by exonerating the jockey, saying, “I do not believe for a second that Jeremy acted intentionally or set out to hurt my filly. . . . It was an accident and should be viewed as such.”

Appeal To The City, it should be noted, was not seriously injured. And Wolfendale said he will continue to ride Rose on his horses.

And so what justified a six-month suspension? Rose didn’t go Sprewell: He didn’t jump on the filly and attempt to choke the life out of her; he didn’t whip her mercilessly until other jockeys pulled him off. The offense, in other words, isn’t anything like Sprewell’s, and so why is the punishment?

This isn’t meant to excuse Rose’s mistake. He should indeed be fined and suspended for the error. But a six-month suspension seems excessive if justice and fairness were the objectives; on the other hand, it’s just right if the true goal is to make a conspicuous display of self-policing concern. Such a display, of course, would be for the benefit of the sport’s critics, and not necessarily for the benefit of the sport.

Sunday's Pick Five

A schnozzle pushed Lone Star Park’s Pick Five over the edge and into today – Lady Icon’s schnozzle, to be precise. A 28-1 long shot, she won Saturday’s eighth race by a nose over Cleome. And that did it. The carryover going into Sunday’s Pick Five is $1,657, hardly a fortune, but worth a little investment if only because it seems to be hanging from a low branch. (Sunday night I hope I’m not sorry I said that.)

Fifth race: C D Cash has learned to be a racehorse. He was very impressive in his last outing, disputing a rapid pace, losing the lead in mid-stretch and then fighting back to win by a nose. And when he returns in Sunday’s fifth, he could actually have a more comfortable journey. Nobody in here has his kind of early speed, and he should be able to control the pace. Sweeten With Gold, C D Cash’s stablemate, also ran strongly to win his last, but compare the splits. C D Cash’s quarter-mile and half-mile were three lengths faster. Ramly will offer a late charge, and he has upset potential, as does Lightning Slew, who doesn’t look as though he’s quite good enough to beat these horses but who has been training very sharply for his return.

Sixth race: This is all about Tortuga Flats. A two-time stakes winner on grass, she has won all but one of her turf races, and she seems like the most logical key, or single, in the Pick Five. This turf course has been very speed biased, and Tortuga Flats has sufficient speed to go to the lead or stalk. If the pace, however, heats up, then Emma Grace and My Three Sisters would be the most likely upset possibilities.

Seventh race: Hiatari had some trouble in his debut and still finished third with an effort that would probably suffice to win here. And so he’s another possible single in the Pick Five. But he makes his first start for a new barn, and that always adds to the uncertainty. Hold ‘Em Pat hasn’t raced since November, but last year he gave a couple efforts that would make him a strong contender, and he has run with better company than he finds here. I haven’t seen him train in the mornings, but he ran well in his career debut last year, and so I expect him to give a good effort in his return.

Eighth race: Ranger B. loves Lone Star’s turf course, where he has won five races, and he appears to have a slight talent edge over his rivals here. It’s a rather strange race in that it’s one of those abbreviated turf sprints and yet the field doesn’t have an abundance of speed. Ranger B. should be able to control the pace. He’s another single candidate. But he can turn in a poor effort from time to time. Charles Edwin and Billy Idel, who are both in the field, have beaten him. And Ti Township comes off a big effort, finishing second to Ranger B. despite a little trouble.

Ninth race: This, I think, is the race to spread out and include several horses on a ticket. The field is obviously thin on talent, nobody has shown an ability to rally and horses such as these – let’s face it – don’t do a lot of passing. And so I tend to give early speed the edge, and Regent Of Red Bird could have the most early speed of these based on his last outing. Sergeant Larry has been training Ok – outworking the 2-year-old Valid Romance, who ran third in Saturday’s finale – and he could be improving. Nathan’s Boy is interesting. He was bet down to 7-2 in his debut, but got bumped around leaving the gate and then finished fifth. He finds a much easier spot here. Hayyard Branch, Like A Bullet and Festive Dancer also look like contenders.
   

Congress, Dutrow and steroids

Horse racing should be thankful for Hank Steinbrenner, who might be the best argument ever for a 100-percent inheritance tax. As long as the Yankees’ co-chairman keeps talking, horse racing doesn’t have the most obnoxious personality in sports.

Nevertheless, the second most obnoxious personality in sports, Richard Dutrow, is scheduled to speak Thursday at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. The Subcommittee is looking into the issues of drugs and breakdowns in horse racing.

Whenever Dutrow opens his bombastic mouth, it’s a scary moment for horse racing. He hardly represents the sport’s trainers or the people involved in horse racing generally – he has 72 rulings in his history – but because of Big Brown’s conspicuous success and failure, Dutrow has become a spokesman for the game.

Something good, however, could come out of all this. Congress could scare the sport into adopting rules banning steroids. Dutrow, you might recall, said that Big Brown had received before the Kentucky Derby monthly injections of Winstrol, an anabolic steroid.

Winstrol, by the way, has been off the market for years. It’s available only through a few pharmacists. And it’s very expensive.

Because they’re expensive, the steroids and Clenbuterol have created a caste system in racing. Only the richest owners with the most resources and the least conscience can afford the pharmaceutical miracles. And, make no mistake, Clenbuterol as much as anything is responsible for creating the super trainer. It’s a bronchodilator, but it has such potent anabolic properties that it’s frequently given to cattle.

Anyway, Thursday’s congressional hearing will give politicians an opportunity to jump atop a soapbox and proclaim their love for horses and apple pie, and it will give Dutrow yet another stage for embarrassing both himself and the sport. But horse racing needs to clean out its medicine cabinet, banning steroids and lengthening the withdrawal period for Clenbuterol. The sport also needs to insist on extensive testing of young horses at auction. And if Thursday’s hearing is a step in that direction, good.

The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee recommended Tuesday the widespread acceptance of the Racing Commission International’s “model rules” on steroids. The Jockey Club recommended, in other words, a ban on steroids, except for some therapeutic purposes.

Yes, it’s rather late in the day for recommendations. But horse racing is so obtuse, so retrograde, that until now it probably would have ignored any recommendation. Horse racing changes only out of desperation. And even now, no doubt, some horsemen and some regulators will try to ignore the recommendation and ignore the medication issue.

But, as I’ve said before, when somebody preparing to jump insists he knows what he’s doing, you don’t listen to him; you grab him and pull him back from the ledge. Frankly, any state that doesn’t ban steroids or adopt the “model rules” within the next few months shouldn’t be a home for any racehorses.

An un-Kobe approach to the Pick Five

Kobe Bryant has become my ironic role model: I strive to fill the hole he digs, to do what he doesn’t, to embrace the values he rejects. I strive, in other words, to be his opposite. After the Lakers’ embarrassing collapse Thursday night against Boston, the most talented and spoiled player in the NBA said he would get over the loss with some wine and beer and “20 shots.” I don’t think he meant foul shots.

And so after my losses Thursday night at Lone Star, I resolved to get over them with some coffee, a cigar and some study. Yes, study – homework, research, anything to stimulate the little gray cells of the old cerebral cortex.

The gray cells, you see, needed to dance the hoochie-kootchie and sing “Don’t Stop Believing.” They needed to make amends for Thursday.

Yes, Thursday was a handicapping failure. I admit it. After Thursday, I felt like Sasha Vujacic – or at least I hope he felt like this because he made only one of nine shots in Game 4.

Thursday’s races at Lone Star left me feeling so frustrated I wanted to scream or yell or watch ESPN. But, of course, I knew that was just the sort of thing Twenty-shots might do. Girls Image, a first-time starter, became my undoing when she won the fifth race. I had seen Girls Image work in the mornings, but I had seen and been more impressed with some of the other horses in the race, and my impression had nothing to do with my bias against fillies that go out in public without putting on their apostrophe. But that was obviously a mistaken impression of Girls Image.

And Girls Image made quite another impression when the gates opened. She looked like a winner every jump of the race and won easily at 34-1. And so it went, missed shot after missed shot, just like the Viscount of Vanity and his Lakers. But there was a consolation: The Pick Five carryover got up to $11,925 for tonight’s races. Hoochie-kootchie and don’t stop believing.

Sixth race: Kash Kitty is the one to beat here. His (yes, Kitty is a “he,” proving that his owners’ eccentricities aren’t limited to spelling) turf debut was outstanding. He had always been quick, but when he moved to the turf he found his game. He could be a single on a small Pick Five ticket. But, frankly, I can’t be very confident about Kitty, and it has nothing to do with my bias against colts running incognito. Can he duplicate his last outing? Was it a fluke?

And there are some others in here that could step forward. Southern Money had a nightmarish trip in his last outing. He got bumped around entering the turn, had nowhere to run late and still finished third. Smarty Matt Jones has been running well on the main track and his trainer, Donnie Von Hemel, sends the colt to the turf. I mention Von Hemel because when he makes this move, it’s with purpose; it’s not a guess. He wins with 30 percent of his first-time-turf starters and with 20 percent of the horses he moves from dirt to turf. Smarty Matt Jones ran once on the turf last fall and didn’t run well. But if Von Hemel is sending him back to the grass, he’s confident the horse can handle the surface.

By the way, Noble Prospect worked Thursday at Lone Star. As I recall, he went three-eighths in 39 seconds or so. The work was needed so he would be eligible, and if I can judge by the mornings activities, his trainer, Joe Edison, wasn’t very eager to have the horse work.

Anyway, I think Kash Kitty, Southern Money and Smarty Matt Jones would probably cover the race. Lunarpeal, whose chances would improve on the main track, might also be included.

Seventh race: This is one of the worst races in Lone Star Park history. Maybe it’s THE worst. Seven horses are running for a claiming price of $20,000, and, in truth, the entire field isn’t worth $20,000, at least not as racehorses. Some of them might have careers as politicians, or sports columnists, or NBA stars, but as racehorses – well, they’re in the wrong business. Of those horses that have raced, only three have shown any inclination to get off the sofa and run: Sassy Champ, Sweet Street and Goodgirlgonebad. And the first-time starter, Frank’s Last Girl, has to be included.

Thursday night, when I was trying to get over my losses with coffee, cigars and study, I came across Frank’s Last Girl in my workout notes. Well, she wasn’t actually in my notes, but her name was. The good news is I didn’t have a negative comment. I didn’t have a positive comment either, but in this field the absence of a negative is a positive.

Eighth race: Why is Eddie Martin Jr. riding Gray Gypsy? He just won on Fiesty Lula, but he takes off her to ride Gray Gypsy. Does that mean he doesn’t like Fiesty Lula’s chances but thinks Gray Gypsy will win? Frankly, if I thought that were true, I’d like Fiesty Lula even more.

But those are just the sort of questions that lead handicappers to beer, wine and “20 shots.” Sometimes we over-think such situations and in doing so ignore an obvious answer. It’s quite possible Martin and his agent, Bobby Kelly, agreed to ride Gray Gypsy before they knew Fiesty Lula would be entered in this race.

But whatever the reason, those two probably cover it. Gray Gypsy has sufficient speed to control the pace, but this 6 1/2 furlongs could push her beyond her distance of most effectiveness. Fiesty Lula won her last despite trouble and could enjoy a perfect trip.

Ninth race: This is another one of those abbreviated turf sprints, which in the 15th century became an effective tool of the Spanish Inquisition. No, I’m not fond of such races, simply because the brevity emphasizes the trip. A horse can’t overcome a bad trip.

Anyway, Rideitlikeustoleit couldn’t overcome his trip in his last outing and so finished second. He has good, but not abundant, speed, and he finds a slightly easier spot here, all of which could ensure a better trip. Truly Gone Wild comes out of that same race, on May 25, and he, too, had trouble. He finished 2 1/2 lengths behind Rideitlikeustoleit, but he has license to improve at least that much. Givetheballtorolf ran well in his first effort in a turf sprint, and Primed Pioneer, who has plenty of speed, has been running in better company. Convallaria, who won his last by many lengths, makes his turf debut, and his dam, Run For Little Bit, won on the grass. They could all be on a Pick Five ticket.

10th race: Like the seventh, this is a race that’ll make you weep. W.C. Runaway stands out. He had trouble in his last outing, banging against the side of the starting gate as he left and then racing wide around both turns before finishing fifth. Prior to that, he ran second with an effort that would easily suffice here. But W.C. Runaway doesn’t possess anything that resembles speed, and Eagleonarock could become dangerous with a slow pace. W.C. Runaway could be a risky single, or key horse, on a Pick Five ticket, but Eagleonarock could provide some insurance.

And when it’s all over, I hope to get an upgrade on the coffee and the cigar. As for the hoochie-kootchie, well, I can’t stop believing.

Curlin also lost on Belmont day

In the rush to blame somebody for the Big Brown debacle or try to explain what happened, this, I think, was overlooked: One of the biggest losers on Belmont day was Jess Jackson, the owner of Curlin.

Think about what would have happened if Big Brown had won. The imagination glows and the energies rise up with the very idea of a Curlin-Big Brown match – an unbeaten Triple Crown winner and the reigning Horse of the Year. Already Suffolk Downs had offered to increase the purse of the Mass Cap if both showed up in East Boston with their records intact. The New York Racing Association was trying to figure out what it could do to get the match; the suits in Louisville, Ky., were straining their noggins to find a way to bring Curlin and Big Brown together. It would have been glorious.

And it would have been very lucrative.

But, now, who knows? Curlin returns Saturday at Churchill in the $1 million Stephen Foster Handicap, and what happens after that? Jackson is eager to establish Curlin as one of the sport’s greatest, and that could be difficult to do when the handicap division is so, well, thin.

Damascus, Buckpasser and Dr. Fager all had each other to inspire superlative efforts, just as Sunday Silence and Easy Goer took each other to the highest levels of performance. Affirmed had Alydar; Seabiscuit had War Admiral. And Curlin has . . . Jonesboro and Sam P?

Curlin is 3-5 in the morning line at Churchill, where he’ll carry 128 pounds. And he’ll have to win to spark further discussion of his greatness. The Stephen Foster, of course, will be Curlin’s first race since returning from Dubai and winning the World Cup. And that scenario has not played out happily for many horses.

That’s one reason trainer Steve Asmussen took Curlin to Dubai early – so the trip wouldn’t have such a draining effect. And if Curlin takes care of business Saturday, then what? Will he finish the year dominating a weak division, with more and more weight added to his broad back? Maybe, but I think it’s more likely that Jackson and Asmussen will find a different challenge for the reigning Horse of the Year, perhaps even a green challenge. If he wins Saturday, I expect him to make his start on the turf.   

Pick Five

Today’s Pick Five at Lone Star starts with $6,068 in the pool, not exactly a pot of gold but something that could spike interest.

Fifth race: This is a tough maiden race. I picked Should but have no confidence in her because I’ve never seen her in the mornings. She has been in Louisiana at the Evangeline training center, which is the old Evangeline Downs racetrack. But she’s a half-sister to Blitzing, a stakes winner, and she comes from the Asmussen stable. Laguna Amiga, I think, is interesting. She has flashed some talent here in the mornings, and she ran fourth in her debut. Swift Punch also trained well and should be included on any ticket.

Sixth race: Judys Favorite Son never has won in 22 starts, but he seems to have a talent edge of maybe three lengths in here. A few horses in the field are lightly raced and could step forward, most notably Mane Gun, Hasha and Tenacious J.

Seventh race: For several weeks now, Brentwood Bullet has been training superbly. ON May 9, for example, he worked in company out of the gate with Lucky Striker, who then ran second in a very fast race. I’ll be surprised if Brentwood Bullet doesn’t run well here. But Foolish Flyer comes out of a face race, where he argued with Cheese Factory for a half-mile before capitulating. Foolish Flyer should get loose on the lead here, and I’d give him the edge if this were 6 rather than 6 1/2 furlongs. Yes, that additional sixteenth could make all the difference. Anyway, I think the winner will come from that pair.

Eighth race: Aptiseno just took on older horses and ran well, leading until deep stretch and finishing second. The third horse in that race, Song Cat, returned to win, and Aptiseno is the one to beat here. Formal Flyer just won the Texas Stallion Stakes. She has raced on turf, with modest success, but the I don’t expect her to duplicate her last effort or be quite as good on grass. That said, she could still be good enough to win. Burbance, who’s bred to love the grass, is intriguing. All three, I think, need to be included on a Pick Five ticket.

Ninth race: Magic Pleasure has run two big races here, and now can she make it three? Maybe, but she’ll need to be at her best to win. Chromedoll should benefit from what figures to be a lively pace, and Round Rock Creek could have the early lead if Magic Pleasure retreats.

Pick Five carryover

Today’s card at Lone Star Park is probably the worst in the track’s history. Five of the nine races are maiden-claiming affairs. Only one horse all day isn’t running for a tag, or claiming price. It’s an embarrassing collection of blandness – sort of like the collection of writing in most horse racing publications, you’re probably thinking. No, this is worse.

I love racing; I’d sit and watch races all day, even if I never had a chance to bet on them. But today’s races simply aren’t interesting. If not for my obligations, I wouldn’t even be here – well, then again, there is that carryover of $2,516 in the Pick Five.

Race five: Cotton Belt is clearly the one to beat, having shown speed in the trials for the TTA Futurity and now dropping into the claiming ranks. But Mary B Good is better than her debut suggests; she was a nervous mess before she went into the gate. Most Ears is also interesting. I’ve never seen her train in the mornings, but I respect her connections enough to use her on a Pick Five ticket. Deal Me Diamonds had a decent gate move here a few weeks ago.

Race six: Maggiesagolddigger is winless in 11 races, and she disappointed as the 3-5 favorite in her last, and so how can you have any confidence in her? Yes, she’s the one to beat, but I’d have to use a couple more, too: Rajasirish Lady and Krisie Miss Whiz.

Race seven:  Night Speeker has only a slight edge in ability, but she’s very consistent. She could be a key in the Pick Five. A deeper ticket should include Wish Again, Soft n’ Loud and Wacos Cutie.

Eighth race: Confederate Gray has been close a few times in her career despite having bad trips. She may finally have found a field she can beat. Ocean Toast turns back after trying two turns; the splits of that race suggest she should be tough here.

Ninth race: Getahero makes her first start for Bret Calhoun, and Transition her first start for Steve Asmussen; both horses have to be used, along with Spending Time, Roxy Star and Spill the Wine.