Perhaps it has more to do with Ray Lewis. I’m sorry, Pope Ray. Ray Lewis the pious, God-touter, who does the same tiresome, narcissistic dance before every game, tears up a section of sod, throws it in the air, bows down in the center of the field with cameras all around him to watch him pray. Where is all this during a loss? People need to remember this is the same guy who was arrested for his satellite involvement in a double homicide nearly 13 years ago. His obstruction of justice is nicely chronicled here.
So Baltimore advances, the city that plays host to the fabled Preakness Stakes, a race won by Dale Romans two years ago, a race that catapulted him to the upper tier of conditioners. Yeah, he won the Dubai World Cup before, a paycheck that sets him up for life and allows his kids to go to college for nothin’. He’s had Derby starters, namely Sharp Humor in 2006 and Paddy O’Prado in 2010. But until he won the Preakness with Shackleford, Romans hadn’t blown up. That 2011 win sparked a career year in 2012 that ultimately saw him rewarded with the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer. 119 votes to Todd Pletcher’s 87.
Bob Baffert had 35 votes, Chad Brown 2, Bill Mott 2, Jamie Ness 2, Doug O’Neill 2, Steve Asmussen 1, and Ian Wilkes 1.
It’s interesting, no? O’Neill won the Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness with champion colt I’ll Have Another and got just two votes. Ian Wilkes won the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Whitney and received one. Steve Asmussen, who found himself out of the spotlight for the second straight year earned one. Pletcher’s dominance at Saratoga alone merits 87 votes. Supposedly one of the best, if not the best, meet in the country. He looked like Randall Cunningham in Techmo Bowl.
I’ve never even heard of Jamie Ness. He led all trainers in wins with 396 competing on the oft-derided Mid-Atlantic circuit. This goes to show how few people get credit in the sport of horse racing. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has never heard of Jamie Ness. And I follow this game for living. Shoot, I even spent time on the Maryland circuit and never heard of him. If you’re not competing in the Derby or New York you’re patently ignored.
It’s illustrative of how dysfunctional and disorganized horse racing is. It’s not a complaint, more an observation. That’s why I like the Derby Points System. It’s organized. The Road to the Roses doesn’t feel as clunky and disjointed to me anymore.
I love seeing Shanghai Bobby in second place though he’s out-earned everyone by a factor of two. It’s unsettling that Pletcher has six of the Top 37 horses, but by his standards perhaps that is low. Still, out of those 37, there are 25 different trainers on the list. Pletcher, O’Neill, Baffert, Mark Casse, and Ken McPeek are the only ones with multiple horses. Perhaps we’re reaching a more equitable distribution of horses. Then again, probably not.
Getting back to Ness, there is something inherently wrong when a guy can be the nation’s leading trainer by wins and receive just two votes. Doug O’Neill deserves ten votes alone for yanking I’ll Have Another out of the Belmont Stakes the day before going for the Triple Crown.
It’s been quite a week and I’m about ready to wrap it up. We’ve had fake girlfriends, Dopestrong the Ray Freakin’ Lewis beating my Pats.
Onward, please, onward.
Written by Brendan O'Meara.
22 Jan 2013 at 05:30 pm | #
Your comment that you have never heard of Jamie Ness stigmatizes you as a very casual bettor; one who loves to write about Thoroughbred racing, but has the flap on the pocket encompassing his wallet buttoned.
Few, if any, hardcore bettors do not hold Jamie Ness in high esteem; or stated another way, as their hopeful bailout for the day. Mr. Ness has, more than any other trainer, allowed me to key on a plodder in a pick three sequence.
You write that unless one is competing for the Derby or racing in New York, one is ignored. Ignored by who? Answer: Turf writers!!!!!!!Not ignored by me, or my ilk, us lowlifes, starting the day with a few bucks, lots of hope, and a cold beer.
Thank goodness for Parx, Delaware, Pimlico/Laurel, Finger Lakes, Calder, Beulah, and points west.
23 Jan 2013 at 10:18 am | #
The Paulick Report
“The barn of trainer Jamie Ness, the runaway leader of the Tampa Bay Downs meeting with 64 wins from 139 starts – a winning percentage of 46% – was raided by Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau agents and track security personnel on Wednesday morning, general manager Peter Berube confirmed to the Paulick Report.”
Thoroughbred Times
“Two of the July positives are against horses who placed in stakes races during the Claiming Crown, the track’s signature event put on in conjunction with the National HBPA. Trainer Jamie Ness saddled both of those horses, $70,500 Glass Slipper Stakes winner My Irish Girl and $70,500 Rapid Transit Stakes third-place finisher Max Ahead.
Ness faces a total fine of $1,000 for the two violations, which included a positive for triamcinolone acetonide in My Irish Girl and triamcinolone acetonide and methylprednisolone in Max Ahead. Both drugs are Class 4, meaning they have therapeutic uses and a low level potential to affect performance. Methylprednisolone, commonly sold as Medrol, is an anti-inflammatory steroid and triamcinolone acetonide, typically sold as Vetalog, also is an anti-inflammatory.”
The Paulick Report
“Trainer Jamie Ness will go before stewards in both Pennslyvania and Delaware as a result of a recent incident involving two misidentified horses, one that ran under the wrong name at Presque Isle Downs and a second one entered to race at Delaware Park before officials there caught the mistake.”
It seems as though Mr. Ness is being written about quite a bit!
23 Jan 2013 at 10:25 am | #
WMC,
I don’t bet. I also don’t love to write about thoroughbred racing! It’s an indifferent marriage where we tolerate each others foibles and agree not to embarrass one another in public. We may get drunk and yell at each other, blaming one another for how miserable we’ve turned out. But we retreat to our separate beds and try our best to forget what happened the night before.
Where do you get your hope from?
23 Jan 2013 at 10:27 am | #
rdid13,
Oh, thaaaaat Jamie Ness. Yar. That’s quite a rap. Sounds like a quality dude.
Thanks for the info!
23 Jan 2013 at 10:31 am | #
Brendan, perhaps the criteria for having a vote should be changed? Perhaps they should be given a test on their knowledge of horse racing before receiving their ballot. Just because somebody can put a couple of sentences together with a period at the end, and knows who Secretariat was should not qualify them to have a vote. Just as the masses flock to the favorite in droves to get their $3.80, people lacking the ability to think for themselves, having no realistic knowledge of the game, simply glom on to a choice that will bring no controversy in their lives, and make them a valuable member of the boring majority.
TTT
23 Jan 2013 at 10:44 am | #
TTT,
My man, haven’t heard from you in a while. Don’t worry. I don’t have a vote
It was Mark Twain who said, “When you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.”
Bring on the controversy and strike down the boring majority.
23 Jan 2013 at 11:33 am | #
Where do you get off giving a football player the title you did? I find it extremely offensive.
23 Jan 2013 at 04:23 pm | #
DennyM,
Have you ever listened to the guy?
23 Jan 2013 at 06:23 pm | #
Mr. O’Meara: You ask where I get my hope from? Well, I gotta believe that hope is innate and that handicapping platers is learned; other than this simple deduction by me, I haven’t a clue as to what you are writing about in your comment #3 above.
23 Jan 2013 at 09:29 pm | #
All it means is we have a loveless relationship based on tolerance and indifference. Not unlike marriage.
24 Jan 2013 at 06:20 am | #
Having awoke this morning thankful (at my age, I don’t buy green bananas), I read your commentary and your comments #3 and #10 again. A ten-volume treatise could be written on your #10 comment.
An obvious question seems appropriate, though, in regard to your writing that you do not bet nor do you enjoy writing about Thoroughbred racing. The question: why are you contributing at HRI?
24 Jan 2013 at 08:25 am | #
More accurately, I cannot bet. My depreciating 10-year-old Honda has more worth than I.