LAS VEGAS – Florida State beat Auburn 34-31 to win the final BCS title Monday night, but it could have gone either way.
Of course, that’s as far as the straight-up result was concerned. Florida State, which had mostly been favored by 8 or 8.5 points in the month leading up to the game, got bet up to a 10.5-point consensus favorite here in Vegas, but it’s hard to cover that big of a number when you never lead by more than a field goal the whole game.
About 30 years ago, a particularly loony New York State assemblyman introduced a bill that would have required a minimum payoff of $4 on every $2 bet at New York racetracks.
The idea, which would have bankrupted racing, was roundly and rightly ridiculed, the bill expired without action, and in almost every jurisdiction, the minimum payoff remains $2.10 for $2.
Sometimes a little unburdening is good for the soul. Easier said than done, of course, but sometimes it helps if the unburdening is done in the presence of a single, friendly face and the cold, dispassionate eye of a video camera.
“Just between us,” the friendly face might imply, while the camera refuses to blink.
Once all the votes are tabulated, it is likely that two of the Mid-Atlantic tracks will have hosted divisional champions in their marquee events. Will Take Charge, the near-certain champion 3-year-old male, won the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing. Royal Delta, a near-certain champion older female, won the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park for a second consecutive year.
Michael Blowen awoke in the wee hours one morning last week, his sleep haunted by lingering details from the day, and switched on the television to quiet the voices in his head. There on the screen, a racing channel was airing the highlight reel from the 1989 Breeders’ Cup at Gulfstream Park, specifically the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Two names popped out as the field entered the gate – Sunshine Forever, the male turf champion of the previous year, and Prized, who was 2 1/2 minutes away from winning the race.
If there is any justice in the Eclipse Award voting process, Game On Dude finally should cop honors as champion older male for his 2013 campaign. He has been among the best of the division for three solid years, dating back to his narrow win after a Rollerball running of the 2011 Santa Anita Handicap.
As I filled out my Eclipse ballot, I typed one horse’s name three times. My memory is that last year I tried to get cute and only typed Wise Dan once, in the Horse of the Year category.
This year, I voted for Wise Dan as best older male, best male turf horse, and Horse of the Year.
I have read some of my colleagues’ thoughts about Horse of the Year. There are some interesting arguments to be made. In the end, I did not think it was all that complicated.
When Albert Boyle spent $160,000 in the middle of the Great Depression to build a racetrack in Charles Town, W.Va., that would open in December 1933 becoming America’s first winter race meet not run somewhere warm, he could not have possibly envisioned what the facility would look like 80 years later.
The owner bet that northern fans, starved for gambling action during the winter months, would respond. They did. Trains came from Baltimore, and fans came from everywhere.
This being the last byline of 2013, the moment felt ripe for a list of some of the best and worst things that happened in Thoroughbred racing during the year.
Since racing is a sport in which even the best lose four out of five times at bat, a recitation of unhappy events comes way too easy. In fact, the year was bracketed by soul-crushing moments.
