1029 OTB

1029 OTB

There’s no truth to the rumor that Jimmy The Book was running his recreational investment firm from his perch at the minimum security Moria Shock Correctional Facility, nestled in the scenic Adirondack hamlet of Mineville, New York.

He is too busy rising at 5:30 in the morning and exercising and getting therapized until 9:30 each night.  So, resourceful as he may be, he’s just not taking bets.

Bum luck that he has, he got sentenced toward the end of April, just in time to miss the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont.

There are some unfair minded people in Mineville who think Jimmy still is on the job from behind closed doors, using his kid sister Anna Marie to do the heavy lifting.  Hard to take that kind of mean-spirited rumor.  Borders on slander.

Plus Jimmy’s investment firm doesn’t have the resources to refund the early money that was going pretty heavily for I’ll Have Another all along, but more so between the Derby and the Preakness and even more in advance of the Belmont.

Jimmy, though, doesn’t buy the story of The Big Scratch.  Tendonitis?  Aw’ c'mon.  

Someone -- for the first time in awhile -- woke up the NYRA, the New York Racing Association which said “Gee, there are a lot of horses trained or owned by people with doping raps.  What should we do?  Ooh... I know... let’s put all the horses together in one barn and watch them until they’re in the starting gate.”  

That means those funny milkshakes the horses get had to be made of... um... milk.  And there could be nothing stronger in the syringes than Advil.

“Not good for business,” says Jimmy.

So “Another” was scratched and then retired.  Tendonitis is nasty in a horse as it is in a person.  But they shoot horses, don’t they?  Poor baby.  Boo Hoo!  Oh, and the years and years of stud fees?  That couldn’t have figured in this decision, right?

Eighty five thousand people came to Belmont.  That’s about half the number would be there if “Another” had run and become the first Triple Crown winner since the invention of the glue factory.




Shrapnel (wooden horse edition):

--Happy 100th Birthday to the Nunley Carousel, preserved for some years now despite the efforts of local politicians who hopped on to the refurbishing operation once they figured it was going to work even without them. The thing closed in Baldwin in 1995 and now is running on the county’s Museum Row near Mitchel Field, where a ride costs two bucks.  The merry-go-round was built by Stein & Goldstein in Brooklyn... finished in 1912.

--The Nunley was one of S&G’s first efforts.  They distinguished themselves by making their horses larger and scarier than anyone else of the era.  Another S&G is the huge one in Central Park, which was originally built for a trolley company’s headquarters terminal.  It, too, is restored and still in use.

--Tip for the vertigo crowd:  Riding a stationary horse or a bolt-on loveseat is no help.  The horses that move up and down while the wheel turns are easier to handle.  And there’s no difference between the inner and outer rims.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2012