5 comments about Modern Pace Handicapping, Revised.

1. this book has some intelligent approaches to handicapping
   i don't agree that modeling of recent races is of much help as i have not found it so in p ractice
   the idea that each horse has a particular running style is a valid one and can help in handicapping a race.
   i think that pace handicapping is widely used in the betting and is no longer of much value if it ever was.



2. The first third of the book is a bit too technical but does a good job of showing how Brohamer approaches the Sartin methodology. However, upon second review of the entire work, there is some absolutely brilliant insight into the overall pace equation. Quit worrying about selecting pacelines, and look at the running styles, decision models, and most helpful to me- the track profile. All of that has become essential to me in handicapping. The first thing I do when I pick up a form is look for the running styles, and I do that only after creating a track profile on the past week's charts.



3. At only page 13, I achieved my objective. I bougth this book to
   attain and incorporate into my Handicapping game, a scientific
   method of Pace Analysis. In the earliest pages of the book, I
   found what I was looking for. That is; in races where there is
   more than one "Front Runner," proven methods of Pace Analysis
   can provide the corroboration needed to make my selection with
   confidence. Also, in sprint races where horses are commonly
   running half mile times of 47 and 48 and even 49, on the local
   surface, and other horses coming in from out of town, and
   entered against said locals, are bringing 44 3/5 half mile times,
   intuitive reasoning based on 30 years experience is not enough
   and is in fact inadequate. I now have now solved the last flaw
   in my handicapping game. I strongly recommend this book to all
   serious players! The math is far simplier than I initially
   thought it would be! I am extremely satisfied!!!



4. I've read a few books of all kinds. "Modern Pace Handicapping" is one of the worst, frankly, which makes it definitely the worst racing-related book I've ever read. It's particularly sad when it is supposed to be teaching you something and not just narrating a story. I understand the concept of pace handicapping, but the nuts and bolts hardly fit together in this work. I'm surprised I got any theory out of this book at all. It is truly one of the most poorly written/edited/formatted/arranged books I've run across.
   
   It is shocking this book gets so many rave reviews. "MPH" is so badly written I can only assume the people giving it 4+ stars are already well-versed in pace handicapping and skipped over all the incomprehensible stuff and the myriad mistakes and horrible copies.
   
   If I wanted to spend more time I could give specific examples by leafing any given page in the book. However, I'll just sum up by saying this book was riddled with:
   
   -typos;
   -chopped-off paragraphs (turn the page - what happened?);
   -confusing mish-mash of decimal system proper, and using decimal notation to represent FIFTHS (i.e., 1:35.3 = 1:35-3/5 in one section, and in another it represents exactly what it looks like to an engineer like myself - 1:35-3/10);
   -many extremely poor (completely illegible, high-bleed) copies of old race charts;
   -poor math-checking - both of equation form and of results in examples;
   -disconnected charts to text (text discussion on page X, charts were on page X-5, etc);
   -poor explanation of either general theory, methods or examples - especially - WHY SHOULD I PICK THIS OR THAT RACE AS A TYPICAL PACELINE? Author acts as if it is so obvious and simply states "this should be the paceline" too many times.
   
   I could probably go on; I always manage to find a new glitch when I recommence reading. There are so many categories of problems that I cannot keep track of them all.
   
   I'm not sure if "Modern Pace Handicapping" is so poorly edited and explained that I find it hard to pick UP (as opposed to "hard to put down!"), or if I can really say the narrative style itself is so dry as to have made me take 2 years to read it on casual time. (Not finished yet - a few more chapters, which may mean another 6 months.) I have started and finished a couple other books on casual time in that period! It is almost with dread that I attempt again. I give it a 2 only because I could actually get the general idea from MPH. I think I could handle calculations, but I'm still confused as to why a particular race in the past-performances is good to use as a predictor for the future race analysis.
   
   The Andrew Beyer books are based on a different concept, but despite involving math and what could be a dry subject, they were definitely better written and MUCH better edited (and as with this subject, I knew little about it when beginning but was curious)!



5. The concept of turn time is very interesting and very ingenious but implementing the Brohamer method is too complex and time consuming. I'm sticking to the Taulbot and Ainslie's methods of pace evaluation.

5 comments about Alternity Player's Handbook (Alternity Sci-Fi Roleplaying, Core Book, 2800).

1. The alternity game was the forerunner to D20 it wasn't even supposed to be mainstream!



2. Alternity is easy to understand, the game system is realistic, but the possibilities are limitless.



3. Alternity is the still the best Role-playing system for 'realistic' role-playing, or 'gritty' campaign settings. This is due to two main reasons... It's skill-based system, and it's adaptability.
   
   Skill based systems mean that your character gets better at skills as he advances, but doesn't become super strong, or better at everything he does. This means that in Alternity, no longer can a player simply walk over and take the gun/sword/+5 earspoon away from the minor villain, because he'll only receive 6 points of damage, and he has 45 total for his character.
   
   What this means for players is that no longer do they have to await the eventual point where they are un-defeatable, except by demi-gods, demons and all that foolishness. They can remain the space-ship captain/FBI agent/whatever-the-campaign-is for the entire time they play. The challenge remains present, the setting remains beleivable, the suspense is retained. The story becomes the driving force of the adventure, not "leveling-up".
   
   The other part of the game that is superior to many other systems is just that adaptability. The system focuses on helping the Game-master to fit the rules to the setting... If you want to play an X-files FBI-agent, a dungeon-crawling adventurer, a Star Trek starship captain, a cop drama, Alternity rules can be adapted to the system with relatively little work. No extra feats or skills to invent, or weapons to design unless you want to. You are not limited to a particular medieval or future setting, as you are with most RPG products.
   
   Alternity was the last release made by TSR before it was acquired by Wizards of the Coast (WOTC). The acquisition of TSR was intended mostly to capitalize on the already established AD&D titles, and WOTC was un-interested in continuing the launch of a new product. Instead, they re-focused their brand onto D&D, resulting in a third release of that product and the design of the d20 system. d20 is not a bad system for heroic and action settings, but this one is better for retaining drama, grit, and suspense.
   
   And as for the comment that this system was not intended for public release... That person was probably in diapers in the early nineties, when TSR advertised it nationwide in their magazines and at conventions. I still have some TSR 'Dragon' Magazines with articles written for Alternity.



4. Fan of this old series and was tired of the old d20 rules. These rules seem more "realistic".



5. If you are tired of the d&d edition wars try alternity. It is as easy or complex as you want it. Has many 4e pros (same writers) and is VERY adaptable. I have run scifi,superheros,steampunk,hary potter and D&D (with only the 2 cor books and the fx guide). It plays a like d&d with a side of gurps and a dash of FUDG. I have played most rpgs and out of all of them this is IMO the best "all around". In the end if you want a cheaper simpler rpg than give alternity a shot. Search for "Alternity fast play rules" for a free trial.

5 comments about Champions: The Lives, Times, and Past Performances of America's Greatest Thoroughbreds, Revised Edition.

1. Bought this as a gift for my Dad. Huge horse racing fan. I guess this is a must have item. I personally have no idea. But he raved and raved about getting it. If you are shopping for a gift also get them the horse racing almanac.



2. I bought this book for my husband as a present as we both enjoy horses and horse racing. He couldn't put it down. The book offers easy to read history that would fascinate anyone with or without an interest in horse racing. The reader becomes excited reading about such races as Secretariat and Affirmed. It renews or introduces interest in horses such as Whirlaway and Nashua. This is a readable book with the past performances (which are hard to read for the non-horse race handicapper) that can be used as a reference book, too. The book is nicely organized with chapters representing the great horses of the decades and brings the reader up to the present (2004). If you like sports and admire athletes - here's a book filled with the greatest of them all!



3. in this book you will find the pp's of the most famous horses ever in USA.
   
   it's a really great book...i reccomend strongly for horse racing fans



4. what a beautiful and informat book that will have you turning pages for days-well worth the money...



5. I was disappointed to discover that in this 448 page book, approximately 290 pages are devoted to thousands of lines of statistical data. It was not what I expected. The history of the sport is arranged in a time line format with a story on each decade from the 1890s to 2004, each chapter followed by 30 or more pages of statistics. I am not a horse racing fan but I did find this book enlightening. What I learned is that horse racing is really all about the breeding and the money. I found this very sad, especially in light of the recent tragic deaths of Barbaro and Eight Belles.

5 comments about Happy Horsemanship.

1. Having instructed students and trained horses for over 35 years, it's still tough to find books good enough to recommend to people trying to learn about them. THIS book does it with flying colors.

   Everything is in here: safety, compassion, how-to handle a horse and ride, along with why things are done the way they are. Presented in a fun & light-hearted way from the horse's point of view. Very understandable.

   Even though the book was written in '66 it is superior to and far more practical than the tomes being written today that confuse an experienced horseperson, let alone a novice. Whether riding English (as illustrated) or Western this book tells what needs to be known.

   I bought it for my 13 yo niece just starting with horses & have recommended it to adults who have spent years with horses.




2. The name of the book is Happy Horsemanship by Dorothy Henderson Pinch. The book is about how horses behave, how to control a horse, how to trot, stop, canter, gallop, jump, the tools used for taking care of a horse, the materials, you need to ride a horse, the different kinds of reins, what not to do, and how to take care of a horse.
   
   I think this book is great. I think this book would be great for a child that is learning how to ride.-Kristine



3. My husband and I were referred to this book by our riding instructor. We are both grown adults, but have no real horse experience. Even though this book seems to be geared toward children, it is very helpful for the adults who may not want to admit how little they know!!! This book answere all those questions you think may be too silly to ask your teacher! It's great for all ages!



4. I am a beginning adult rider and I absolutely loved this book, it is funny and helpful on all levels for beginners. I think all new riders should read it!



5. I received this book when I was 7 (I'm now 23) years old before starting lessons for the first time. It has remained one of my most beloved childhood memories and favorite book. A MUST have for all young riders and those who are young at heart!

5 comments about Seattle Slew (Thoroughbred Legends (Unnumberd)).

1. I loved this book and I feel that every one should read it. It gives you the thrill of thoroughbred racing and you feel like you're really getting to know Slew.



2. Dan Mearns, who as served as managing editor of both "The Blood Horse" and the "Thoroughbred Record" has written a very workman-like account of the life Seattle Slew, the dark brown racing Hall-of-Famer, who is also an extraordinary sire-of-sires, a remarkable broodmare sire, and our last living Triple Crown champion. Last year (2000) Slew underwent surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck and alleviate pressure on his spinal cord. The feisty twenty-seven year-old is back in the breeding shed this year and his first mares have been pronounced in foal, so maybe we'll be privileged to watch many more champions by this extraordinary Thoroughbred.

   Dan Mearns's book is number five in the "Thoroughbred Legends" series and he covers Seattle Slew from his birth (an ugly foal with big floppy brown ears), through his racing and breeding career, up into the year 2000. For those of us who admire racing's only undefeated Triple Crown Winner (Slew did lose a few after the Triple Crown races), this book is a satisfying read. There are also sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs of Slew from his ugly-duckling birth through a picture where we can see a few gray whiskers dotting his muzzle.

   May the Slew live a thousand years through his offspring!




3. Wonderful book befitting of a King! Seattle Slew was definately king of the racetrack when he ran. He flew down the course with wings beneath his hooves.
   A great honor to have written about a great horse!
   The author did an excellent job on this book.

   I am very pleased and satisfied with this book! 5 stars!




4. This is a wonderful, easy to read and understand book written about a true champion. I have read most of the Thoroughbred Legends and love them all. It is a wonderful collection for anyone who loves horses or anyone who loves a winner.



5. We continue to be completely satisfied with the excellent service we receive through Amazon.com and its affiliates. Everything is sent quickly (usually ahead of the estimated delivery date), cleanly, in excellent condition, and exactly as advertised. Thank all those involved with this process.

5 comments about In Service to the Horse: Chronicles of a Labor of Love.

1. What more can you ask of a book? When first I picked out this book, it was with the intention of learning about the world of a professional horse groom. What I did not count on was learning all about that and so very much more. I would not have given the equine sport called Three Day Eventing a second thought before reading this book. This author describes it so brilliantly & colorfully, I could not wait to turn each page to, as they say, "find out what happens next". It is the true account of this groom's daily life in the professional stables of World Olympic Champions David & Karen O'Conner. Many other well-recognized names at the top of the horse world are featured as well, as this skilled writer takes you on an intimate journey few spectators are ever privey to. This honest & intrigueing portrait of life at the top of the equine world is one that no horse enthusiast should miss. However you feel about the sport of Three Day Eventing, this honest & compassionate portrait will engross you page after page. The sheer strength & beauty of the writing made this book a joy to read.



2. This book left me thinking about grooming and a grooms life for days after I read it. Straight forward, with lovely descriptive passages about the things grooms do and are, it reads easily and quickly--and is over too soon. Nice too, that it parallels three types of grooms: racing, jumper, and three day. Well done.



3. This book will certainly give you an appreciation for the hard work grooms put into caring for "their" horses, as well as the difficulty proffessionals have in finding and keeping gooms. Grooming is often a thankless job (more often than not, unfortunately!), with long hours and hard work, as well as little to no time off, but most people are unaware of this fact, even many horse enthusiasts. It's nice to see the grooms get the attention they deserve, as well as being an enlightening look into the world of professional riding.
   
   My only qualm is that the book reads like a 200 page newspaper article, not like a novel. The writing (especially the tense of the writing), distances the reader from getting into the "story". Nonetheless, it's a worthwhile read for anyone interested in horse care or professional riding. Those with only a casual interest in horses or without any real experience in showing or stable management may want to look elsewhere for a book, but those with a working knowlegde of horse care and terminology will find this an interesting read.



4. Follows the grooms in 3 areas of horse sport: eventing (grooms of the O'Connors), show jumping (of Anne Kursinski), and racing (of the breeding stallions at Lane's End). Very interesting, and for the most part not too dumbed down or inaccurate.
   
   The stuff about Parelli got to be very annoying-this was back when the O'Connors were actually fans of him. The author seemed to be a bit too impressed with the man.
   
   Some history of the horse was mixed in, as well as plenty of stuff about each discipline. It was very interesting to see how the horses were treated by each group of grooms. For example, the race horse grooms didn't seem to have a ton of affection for their charges and were very pragmatic. The O'Connor's grooms thought of "their" horses almost as if they were their pets or kids. Also enjoyed seeing the true lives of these people: long days, hard work, little pay, not much time for other people in your life.
   
   Don't recommend this book for young kids: Some bad language, references to drugs and sex. Also some graphic scenes in the breeding shed of Lane's End. But for adults, this is an informative, entertaining read that doesn't make riding and horses out to be glamorous (unlike many horse books today). Nice book for the 99% of horse owners who do their own work, and for those that want to see what goes on in high-caliber equestrian operations. And it really makes you respect these incredibly hard-working people who get relatively little credit for any wins.



5. There are so few books out there that give a realistic look at a professional groom's life. If you've ever considered becoming a groom or even going into the pro-horse world, this book is an amazing investment. Nusser gives almost every type of information you could want, including typical pay, benefits, housing, and insights into the personalities and habits of the grooms. It follows three pro grooms: a woman who just wants to learn everything she can, a woman who is wishes she was winning the medals, not grooming the horses, and a man who works for the money. Though it's non-fiction, it's written like a story and you can't help but be draw in. This is one of my top five favorite books - I can't impress on you how much you should buy it.

No comments about Improving the Rider's Position (Threshold Picture Guides, 32).

3 comments about John Henry (Thoroughbred Legends (Unnumberd)).

1. "John Henry" is book number ten in the Thoroughbred Legends series published by the Eclipse Press out of Lexington, Kentucky.

   Steve Haskin, an award-winning writer for "The Blood-Horse" tells a lively tale of the dumpy little bay horse that was back at the knees and, "like a bargain-basement sale item, ...always seemed to be available at a dirt-cheap price."

   John Henry was a demon in his stall---he hated to be confined. He passed through the hands of a number of owners and trainers who thought he showed some promise as a runner, even though he was in the habit of ripping his feed tub off of the wall and hurling it down the shed row. Once, when he was stabled at a track he didn't like, John Henry did the same thing to his trainer:

   "After one of the races, [John Henry] returned to the barn and was given a bath. Marino [his trainer] started walking him, and before he knew it, his jacket sleeve was in John's mouth. John picked Marino up off the ground and took off down the shed row, dragging him along. Marino was being lifted in the air and was completely helpless...'Thank God I had a goose down jacket or he would have taken a big chunk out of me,' Marino said. `That's how mad the horse was.'"

   Then the trainer, Ron McAnally took in the gelding that vented his anger on his water buckets, feed tubs, and sometimes his groom, and turned him into a demon on the race track. How did the trainer do this? McAnally says it was by treating him kindly and earning John Henry's trust.

   The ugly little demon-turned-race-horse repaid his trainer's kindness by earning an amazing $6.6 million in eighty-three starts and thirty-nine wins. His durability and courage became a legend, and he attracted record numbers of fans to the tracks where he ran. He won his second `Horse of the Year' title and closed out his racing career at the advanced age of nine.

   John Henry and his trainer, Ron McAnally were both elected to the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 1990, which was only fitting.

   John is now spending his retirement at the Kentucky Horse Park, and is shown to his visitors three times a day during the season (March 15th through October 31st). Go see him soon, as he turned twenty-six this year. Just don't visit the grand, old gelding on a day when he's been given medicine:

   "John also hates medicine, and whenever he's given a dewormer, which is a pasty substance, he keeps it in his mouth for hours and refuses to swallow it. One time, Roby [his groom] took him out to show him several hours after he had been given the medication. `John was standing in the ring,' she said, `and all of a sudden, he blows this wormer all over the audience.'"

   John still knows what he doesn't like.




2. After reading this heartwarming story of the ugly
   horse who blooms and wins our hearts and
   breaks racing records I wanted to stand up and cheer.
   I was inspired to visit this living legend
   and found him as mystical and charismatic in
   person as related in this wonderful book.
   A good book for the horse lover and for anyone
   who loves the unconquerable spirit.



3. Haskin provides a serviceable equine biography of American horse racing's last true superstar. As one Chicago journalist recently pointed out, John Henry's life story is a close approximation of Seabiscuit's: ex-claimer with bad conformation makes very, very good. Not the fastest race horse to ever set foot on a track, John Henry often won on sheer endurance and wits--part of his allure. Most fans will find little new in the way of facts, but will nevertheless want the book for its often amusing anecdotes. Who can resist a horse who drinks coffee? (Oddly enough, one of the most famous stories told by Chris McCarron--John Henry's habit of checking the leader board after winning a race--doesn't make an appearance.) Haskin's prose does not exactly fly, and some of his more rhetorical flights are unintentionally funny. The photographs, despite a somewhat annoying layout, are well-chosen; I was particularly glad to see the award-winning photograph of John Henry regally contemplating an adulatory crowd. Overall, entertaining enough as a quick read.

No comments about Saratoga Stories: Gangsters, Gamblers, and Racing Legends.

5 comments about Not by a Long Shot: A Season at a Hard Luck Horse Track.

1. A fantastic read on one track in particuar and the entire racing industry as a whole. An important and very enjoyable read for anyone who loves the track. Thornton covers it all, from the politicians down to the wackiest track degenerates. Highly recommended for anyone who has been bitten by the racetrack bug at some point in their life.
   
   At some point racing is going to be gone for good. This book tells us all the great things, available nowhere else, that we're going to lose.



2. This is the first review I have written for an Amazon book. It is a great read written with such honesty. Hope there are more books from this author down the line.



3. For someone who knows nothing about the racing industry this is an enlightening glimpse into the mechanics, personalities and stories that come together to create the excitement of the racing industry. The outsider may see this as the "sport of kings," with all the glamour we watch at the Kentucky Derby but this is a window into the toothless, hapless, shrewd, caring varied characters on the lower scale that keep the racing industry alive. Mr Thornton's style of writing is addictive, one gets caught up in his usage of words and his turns of phrase. A picture forms in one's mind and you can begin to watch the movie in your head.



4. This book is definitely worth your time if you are a horse-racing fan. This is especially true if you are aware of the life of day-to-day racing at a lower-level track like Suffolk Downs, because that is who the author writes about. The people and horses at a place like that are the backbone of racing, and there are plenty of interesting tales to tell. I wouldn't call it a great book, but it's solid, informative, and entertaining.



5. T.D. Thornton's revealing book should do for horse racing what Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" did for meat packing. But -- please -- hold the "reform" legislation. Government already has enough of its clumsy tentacles holding racing's head under water. "Not By A Long Shot" should be taken by racing industry participants as a call to the post of a higher consciousness characterized by self-examination, self-correction, and inspiration.
   
   Media relations director of struggling Suffolk Downs in Year Y2K (enough went wrong at the East Boston track to make one suspect the move into the new century was somehow at fault), Thornton uses a deft hand and sharp mind in peeling the onion that it is thoroughbred racing. As with any onion's exploration, tears flow.
   
   The author succeeds in giving a realistic picture brimming with tough love thanks to his training as a newspaper reporter mixed with an attraction to what Thornton calls the "cruel radiance" of the race course. Thornton's family connection (His father, Paul, is a Suffolk Downs trainer whose stable has included 2006 New England Horse of the Year Bodgiteer) gives his vision added range. Our author must be a pretty good diplomat as well since he manages to maintain part-time employment at "Sufferin' Downs" after publication of such a frank book.
   
   With a sensibility in the tradition of Damon Runyon and Grantland Rice, Thornton manages to re-create the lovable roguishness racing enjoyed in its heyday. But, unlike many in today's establishment racing press, Thornton is no cheerleader lazily waiting around for the next press release or racing commission meeting. He charges at shabby thinking and practices like a horse coming down the home stretch. And that is the chief reason "Not By A Long Shot" should become a reference book for those who really love horse racing and want it to have a future.
   
   To go along with his gritty look at racetrack life, Thornton scores a nice daily double by relating interesting bits from New England racing history. Among them --
   
   --The story of Massachusetts thoroughbred owner Peter Fuller, Coretta Scott King, the tumult of 1968, and Dancer's Image (the Fuller-owned steed and only horse ever disqualified from winning the Kentucky Derby).
   
   --The 1970s race-fixing scandal run by Boston native Fat Tony Ciulla that ensnared 39 tracks and dozens of jockeys including the great Angel Cordero Jr.
   
   Thornton does an admirable job summing up the economic challenges facing horse racing. He quotes liberally from Bill Veeck's "Thirty Tons A Day" (a memoir of the maverick promoter's two years running Suffolk Downs) yet Thornton doesn't seem to consider that racing could solve many of its problems with the government by following Veeck's example. Veeck sued the Massachusetts state government to allow children to attend races -- and won. Shouldn't racing leaders stop playing games with elected officials and go to court to have the sport's economic rights upheld?
   
   Also curiously missing from our astute author's observations is an examination of thoroughbred racing's inaccessible post times. Races at Suffolk Downs start at 12:45 p.m. and usually end at about 4:30 p.m. Three of its four cards per week are held on weekdays. Is it any wonder attendance has fallen when most races are conducted at times when most people are stuck at their jobs? Why not try night racing? It should be said that the mostly mid-level tracks that have gone to night cards haven't found the practice to be especially lucrative.
   
   Thornton writes colorfully about Suffolk Downs "winter grind." Yet any person with a modicum of common sense would ask "Why the heck are they racing horses when it's 20 degrees outside? Doesn't track management realize that very few fans/bettors are going to show up? Isn't this just a waste of time and purse money?" The author lets it pass without criticism.
   
   Another lapse of reason -- Chief Operating Officer Robert O'Malley speaks to Beacon Hill legislators after 19 other groups have testified and it's close to lunch time (p. 213). Didn't O'Malley realize his message was unlikely to be heard under such conditions?
   
   These lapses begin to add up. This combined with a longtime industry inclination to seek monopoly privileges and subsidies (in recent years it's taken the form of pleas for "slot machines") conjures an image of a moribund industry cravenly trying to use government to stay on past its time. Thornton condemns this proclivity but that does nothing to erase the negative public image.
   
   Besides byzantine systems brought about mostly because of government overregulation, horse racing today is suffering from its failure to embrace television 50 years ago (racing's fan base has grayed andthinned asa result). The Sport of Kings (or "king of sports" as Thornton cheekily calls it) is also suffering from a revolution that failed -- simulcasting. The growth of imported televised simulcasting has drained crowds and money away from live racing to the point where simulcasting now accounts for more than 80 percent of revenue at most tracks. Like "slot machines" today, simulcasting was touted as easy money by some track owners. In reality what it amounted to was a gamble involving an exchange of revenue streams. Not surprisingly, it came with a cost. Tracks don't get to keep as much of the simulcasting dollar as they do for live racing although overall handle has increased. Now on-track casino-style gaming is doing to racing handle (simulcast and live) what simulcasting did to live racing. Thornton recognizes this "potential" (it's more than potential) for "erosion" but offers no strategies for avoiding it.
   
   The quality of racing is something Suffolk Downs and other struggling tracks need to confront. Horse racing has got to put its best product before the public as often as possible. Running 200-plus days a year mostly so struggling horsemen can make a living is a recipe for continuing mediocrity. What would happen if the New England Patriots played their second string for most of the game and only put in Tom Brady, Randy Moss and co. in the last five minutes? The fans would boo and then, after a while, they'd stop being fans. If the best way to get paying customers back to the racetrack to bet on racing is to shorten meets and boost purses then racing leaders should waste no time in doing this. The racetrack needs to cease being a welfare agency.
   
   The Laffer Curve works in racing. Suffolk's original 1935 meet was only 28 days and crowds flocked to it. These days short meets at Saratoga, Keeneland, Del Mar, and Pimlico do bang-up business. A shortened time scale brings urgency and pagentry back to the races, something Thornton points out have slipped away from most tracks, replaced by numbing repetition of low-level races aimed at low-brow clientele whose mindset is summed up in (Thornton's phrase) "What the f... can I bet on next?"
   
   Thornton speaks up for smaller stables and mid-level racing. To be sure not every race can or should be the Massachusetts Handicap (Suffolk's annual major stakes event) but the fact is that casual fans, bettors, and current and potential horse owners are losing interest in the lower end of the market. At the risk of sounding elitist, some folks in the maiden claimer colonies ought to consider finding something else to do.
   
   Suffolk Downs is not leafy Saratoga or seaside Del Mar (as a training class incident related by Thornton well makes the point) but that doesn't mean Suffolk and other urban tracks are helpless. They can create new traditions (how about an opening day "Welcoming Back The Horses" parade from Revere Beach onto the Suffolk grounds?). Suffolk may have found its sweet spot for race dates -- 2007's reduced 100 days (May to November) produced impressive gains in handle and attendance for new owner Richard Fields. Yet Suffolk racing is now menaced by slow-death-by-casino as proposed by Fields.
   
   Thornton's book pleasingly breaks down jargon. It offers insights aplenty. Example: Year-round racing destroyed handicap racing (that's not the only thing it ruined). What's most missing from "Not By A Long Shot" (hopefully, Thornton will tackle this in a future book) is a prescription for repositioning horse racing in American culture. Let me try:
   
   Gambling is what used to be unique about horse racing but that is no longer true. The climate has shifted and racetracks need to focus on the uniqueness of the horses. Track managers and horsemen have to create a horse culture via new business combinations that treats gambling as subsidiary.
   
   Las Vegas and Atlantic City are moving away from a gambling-centered culture in favor of a luxury-centered culture (fine dining, high-end shops). Horse racing needs to move to a rustic-centered culture emphasizing animals and the great outdoors. Racetracks should host horse auctions, dressage competitions, polo matches etc. to get people who already like horses interested in racing. Public sadness over the loss of open space and agriculture would fuel interest in horse racing's new rustic culture.
   
   This will help blunt horse racing's big psychological problem with the public that Thornton gets close to when he writes about animal cruelty. Injuries to animals is a major liability to horse as well as dog racing. People don't fret about injuries to people in sports because it's acknowledged that people have free choice to participate or not. Animals don't have free choice. They're trained to race. Thus people are especially bothered by animal injuries, using phrases like "Why dothey (the royal "they") make them (the animals) do that?" People further reckon..."Since horse racing is mostly about raising money for government programs and we've got all this new fangled gambling now why not keep the animals safe by letting horse racing go into the dustbin of history?" It's a good argument. Flawless logic. And G-d help horse racing if it continues to wear the image of gambling-centered government cash cow.
   
   There are no easy answers for horse racing. If the great sport survives it will be largely because of the energy and spirits of people movingly chronicled by Thornton such as injured jockey Rudy Baez; executive Lou Raffetto, whose plan to revive the MassCap "backfired" into appearances by the world's most successful horse -- Cigar -- in two consecutive runnings of Suffolk's big race; and backstretch "lifers" who get up early every day to tend the animals amid bleak circumstances. It will take boldness as well as love and belief in horse racing to revive Suffolk Downs. Hopefully, wise men such as T.D. Thornton will stay around and see it through.
   
   James Mosher is a freelance writer who lives in Ledyard, Connecticut. His work on horse racing has appeared in Daily Racing Form, Blood-Horse magazine, Thoroughbred Times, and other publications.