That’s right, now you can peruse the SAFC’s July reports in handy charts and graphs! Although, if you’re a Safari user there will be a few oddities here and there (like how all the post headlines are now tiny here at GbG… it gets even weirder at SAFC).

Looking for something to do this week? Our “official” timetable for monthly reports is now the 15th of every month and the cut off time for inclusion in the previous month’s reports is the 7th (this coming Sunday). So, there’s still plenty of time to get over there and share your ideas, rants or even notes of praise!

Long holiday weekend have your rant-o-meter out of sorts? Here are few things that I’ve noticed lately…

Lack of coverage national TV coverage for the Woodward… I was able to watch it locally (although the NYC OTB channel aired taped interviews instead of the parade…. arrrrrr) but I know a few folks had a bone to pick. Go pick it at SAFC! And thanks to Geno for getting the ball rolling!

California now has a new fund to assist with rescue and safe retirement of any horse that has raced in California. Submit ideas that other racing jurisdictions should follow suite or that the NTRA should look into spear heading a similar national effort!

Early retirement season is quickly approaching… start submitting your ideas about how to change the economics of the game! You surely have some great ideas about how to create more incentives to race older horses, such a high profile racing series for 4yos & up or even changing conditions of current races, such as Derby preps, to favor entrants who’s sires are at least 5yos.

The Breeders’ Cup is right around the corner! Everyone seems to have a bone to pick with them… even if you’re ok with the name change, you might have an issue with the two day format or the outrageous ticket prices… and there’s always the completely untested surface. This is one event where there’s something for everyone to complain about!

And how about the never ending racing season or just plain old too many races on the card? I saw a cite today (while researching a rant I have in the making) for total races in 2006. The US was top ranked with 51,668 races while the next closest amount was Australia with 19,963 races! According to the Jockey Club we had 1% less racing last year with a total of 51,304 (1989 had 74,071 races!). Think winter racing at Aqueduct is over kill? Or, like Robert, that there should only be 9 races on the card? Great… submit it!

I see valid complaints and great ideas all over the place, there’s definitely no shortage of either! But beyond making the bright idea haver or annoyed customer feel unburdened they’re not doing anyone any good sitting around the internet waiting for someone from who can act upon them to find them.

We offer a 2 fold strategy for getting issues addressed 1) we compile the issues in reports and send them to the folks who can act upon them and 2) by collecting all the information in one place and making it accessible to all, we can start to compile stats and/or build cases for the various issues out there.

Sounds great, right? It’s only great if people with ideas and complaints submit them… so what are you waiting for? It’s not like there’s much else going on this week!