Weekend notes

• The feature race of the weekend, at least in America, is the Woodward Stakes, which not only features the return of Quality Road following his "upset" loss to Blame in the Whitney Handicap but also continues the Thoroughbred Times Inside Post Challenge.
• It's impossible for me to look past Quality Road as the most likely winner of this race. There are no hurdles in place to trip him up.
• I definitely saw Rachel Alexandra as the most likely winner of the Personal Ensign but understood how she could get beat and "most likely winner" doesn't mean "value at 1-to-2."
• Rachel Alexandra was running farther than she had ever run before against better competition
• Quality Road is running in similar conditions to his lights out Donn Handicap win, except this time he's not giving away weight and the Whitney was a tougher race than the Hal's Hope.
• Last year's Woodward certainly has proved to be a negative key race, but even when viewed in the context of what the competitors did after the fact, the field Rachel Alexandra defeated last year is light years ahead of what Quality Road is up against this year.
• The best race of the weekend is the Tattersalls Irish Champion Stakes, which features a rematch of Juddmonte International foes Rip Van Winkle and Twice Over
• Both Cape Blanco and Rip Van Winkle are on my Breeders' Cup Fantasy League team, so I'm definitely cheering for the Aidan O'Brien contingent sans Beethoven in that heat
• Isn't it refreshing to see Twice Over and Rip Van Winkle butting heads again? I'm constantly amazed at how the best of the best face each other in Europe's top races. The nature of the pattern races there just ensures that the best horses need to face each other there for money and prestige.
• My tolerance for "raising takeout is stupid" columns is running low (or as Jo Dee Messina sang, my give a damn's busted).
• It's not that I'm pro raising takeout. I definitely understand the effects it has on my bankroll, churn, and all that. It's just that it's getting tiresome to read these pieces knowing that horseplayers aren't going to do anything about it.
• I've on two occasions completely boycotted the races at New York Racing Association (June 2008-November '08 and October '09-May '10), and if it happened to come up among fellow gamblers that I don't play NYRA because of its ridiculous 26% takeout on certain wagers, most of my peers would look at me like I was from the Moon!
• The only way tracks will listen is if another people just stop betting, and even then that might not be enough.
• When is the last time you read a press release from a track that detailed lower handle and blamed takeout? A track could raise its takeout to 50%, have handle drop by 25%, and blame the weather.
• Purse subsidies mean racetracks and horsemen don't have to care about handle. In Pennsylvania, takeout on wagers with three or more horses is a shameful 30%, but what incentive do tracks have to boost handle when the slot machines provide the purse money and bulk of the profit?
• Economic indicators for August were positive to my eye. Sure, total handle and purses were down, but that was across a drastic reduction in days. The handle and purses per date were comfortably up both in August and are about level through the year.
• To me, that means the DEMAND for the sport is about level since people are betting more when they have the option to do so.
• I completely disagree with Ray Paulick that Equibase Co. and the NTRA are being "negative" by releasing this information.
• I like dealing in raw numbers and drawing my own conclusions. I maintain a spreadsheet going back more than two years that breaks down all the numbers sent out that I can sort on my own to compare different periods besides month and year-to-date.
• As Ray points out, one publication went beyond the raw numbers while another didn't and doing so is not spin. The fact that people bet more per performance is significant, especially since races are likely to decrease along with the foal crop.
• The seeming abundance of pick six carryovers at both Del Mar and Saratoga this August has likely helped the average daily handle figure
• Just five weeks until Keeneland opens. It always amazes me how much I look forward to the local meets.