Dear Steve Haskin...

[ThisTooShallPass]

Your Blog comments are being MODERATED so only your spin will be voiced.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...report-haywire

Had it been blueblood MLW excessively boasting (never ever would happen!) to keep Z's horses out, would you then be touting the cultural race card?! Shame upon you Steve Haskin's! SHAME! Oh, & to call Z naive, is laughbale as as much as it is comtemptible. Class is class, no matter the culture!

The New Mexico cowboy? My God how you spin things! Excuse you, he's an oilfield services barron. Wait, my mistake, he's simply a man with $30 MILLION bucks that denegrates the value of women Senator's with payoffs of $4 measly grand. Gee Senator TED Stevens (male) sure got a whole lot more than that. Cowboy my ass. Sexist pig is more like it.

If you are so worried about racings bad PR, then go tell Z to take out a few full page ads apologizing for his antics on national TV.



Now Steve Haskins, why don't you ask me how I really feel? Better yet, why don't you open up your HIGHLY MODERATED BLOG so we can ALL honestly tell you?! Whether the ubber rich of racing like to admit it or not, it needs we plebians. And the plebians are damn well pissed off.

[Alibhai's Alibar]

Link is not working. Which Haskin article is this?

[ThisTooShallPass]

Haskin's Preakness Report: Haywire

Presently the lead article at The Bloodhorse.

[linquest]

Link does not work

[ThisTooShallPass]

bloodhorse.com Presently the lead article.

"Haskin's Preakness Report: Haywire"

[caffeinated]

Here, have a working link (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/50735/haskins-preakness-report-haywire).

To be honest though, I'm not sure what there is in the commentary to get so worked up over?

[RedTahoe]

To be honest though, I'm not sure what there is in the commentary to get so worked up over?

Nor do I :confused: The way I'm reading it, it's more or less, saying "Look, Zayat acted before he thought."

[Mara]

Me either. I haven't read the comments. . .perhaps the objectionable material is in there?

[caffeinated]

You can read the comments here (http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2009/05/12/Haskin_2700_s-Preakness-Report_3A00_-Haywire.aspx), but I still don't get it.

[Stellaspeed]

I think IMHO, that the OP sees that Haskins, and others who are employed thanks to the $$$$ of Sanan, Gill, Klein, Pegram,(whales),et al, are worried Zayat might get pissed off and take his toys and go home if he gets called on his shallow lack of sportsmanship . So, Haskins is giving him some cover. As far as Allen goes, no amount of money can hide his common ignorance.

[Glimmerglass]

Here, have a working link (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/50735/haskins-preakness-report-haywire).

To be honest though, I'm not sure what there is in the commentary to get so worked up over?

Ditto. Not seeing the rage other then Haskins is asking folks to cut slack on Zayat and his insertion of foot into mouth (again). Least we all forget Ahmed is the same asshat who has dumped unceremoniously Bill Mott and Bob Baffert, bitched openly about Del Mar and regardless of that fleet of horses nominated to this year's Triple Crown is standing with one lone bullet left in the gun. By the way did his colt Maimonides ever come back after that insane fast effort at Saratoga a couple years ago? Nope.

Anyhow I could care less about Ahmed Zayat myself.

Is Haskins himself trying to work gratis public relations for the Egyptian "tycoon" (an antiquated word that lost value about the same time as the great depression) - I think to some degree yes.

Having spoken to Zayat quite often at the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), the feeling here is that this entire incident was a case of nothing more than overzealousness on his part, and that there was no mischief intended. If there was, he could easily have waited and sprung his surprise at entry time. He gave so many different reasons for his actions -- each one very plausible in his way of thinking -- that it seems like nothing more than a case of a network of wires that somehow got disconnected.

I listened to both the exchanges on TVG and HRTV with Zayat's voice so it isn't like I was misinformed by a later article that tried to do a cliff notes version.

As for that article in citing anything about the MTB folks this was it:

One of the main factors surrounding this incident is that we had a major culture clash involving an Egyptian tycoon, a “cowboy” from New Mexico, and a Kentucky blueblood.

He used the term "cowboy" in quotes and Bob Baffert has called them cowboys in the most sincere form of flattery. So too did Carl Nafzger without any inflection of it being a slam.

Plus "Kentucky blueblood" is a misnomer too :D Marylou is not a Whitney by birth ;) Pvt Smiles (her WWII radio nickname and later used for a colt that raced against Secretariat) was born in Kansas City, Missouri and her place in Kentucky is not her primary residence. She maintains homes in Saratoga Springs, a camp in the Adirondacks, plus one in Florida.

[Frog]

Yeah, I don't see anything to get worked up about, either. Other than Steve Haskins getting paid to write an article that wasn't very good. In fact, it was terrible.

"But Zayat apparently had been using outside sources for his comments, which came across as being first-hand knowledge of the situation. Again, this should be construed as nothing more than a major misunderstanding."

What are these outside sources? Which comments used these outside sources? That's not journalism, Steve! The whole article reads like that! "Came across as being..." When is "came across as being" ever an acceptable in a magazine?

[Jessi P]

Uh HELLO OP... It's Steve Haskin, not Haskins. At least know the name of the person you're ripping.

[Linny]

I like Steve but rarely read him because he has little to say. All the horses look great and everyone is wonderful... OK, I get it.

[ThisTooShallPass]

Why bless your heart JP! Thank you. Fixed the title as I originally intended it to be.

[Frog]

I like Steve but rarely read him because he has little to say. All the horses look great and everyone is wonderful... OK, I get it.


:lol::lol::lol:

[Laurierace]

Why bless your heart JP! Thank you. Fixed the title as I originally intended it to be.

Not that it matters but your title is still incorrect.

[ArtilleryHill]

I've met Steve a few times, too, and he seems like as nice a guy as you'd ever meet. But never was a passive-voice sentence met that wasn't beloved by him, and, like a rainbow over which a bird has been flown while its owners' ship had come in floating tears of joy, he often likes a good mixed metaphor combined with cliche. I find reading him like hacking my way through a thicket. The passive-voice thing actually seems to be a consistent style at the Blood-Horse, so maybe that's not all his fault! It does make sourcing even less clear, though, as someone pointed out above.

Interestingly, skimming back through some of Haskin's pre-Derby blog entries, I found this (or should I say "this was found"?): "If Godolphin wanted to use a little sly strategy, they could enter Regal Ransom to possibly keep Join in the Dance out. If they succeed, they could have the only true speed in the race with a legitimate shot to wire the field or help set it up for Desert Party."

I guess one man's sly strategy is another man's controversial remark!

[Glimmerglass]

I guess one man's sly strategy is another man's controversial remark!

Valid point. Frankly had there not been an intentional reaching out to Zayat by Allen to "also" add one in and thus fill out the field few gripes would/could have been lodged.

Rabbits are a fact of life no matter how much damage they've done - a la ruining the chances of Dr. Fager. They also don't always work (flashback to this video: Bishop Court Hill the bunny and Flower Alley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MXWT9kHLS4) went head to head and burned each other out - doh for Todd Pletcher!)

Allen - had he shut his mouth - could've simply done/said with the swift "Hull" maybe uncertain with running he needed pace as "Mine That Bird" is a closer and thus was entering in a runner to do just that via "Indy Express". And you know what? It really would've been a non issue. In fact employing a bit of strategy like that in a triple crown race has precident: see run like a horse-on-a-mission "Spanish Chestnut" (http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2005/derby_coverage/derby_entrants/spanish_chestnut/) who didn't get entered in the 2005 Kentucky Derby to win ;) He also ironically was out of the mare "Baby Rabbit" .....

However in reality there was intent somewhere to at least openly ponder "what if we do this ..." in a very bad trial balloon that crashed to the earth on top of Allen and Zayat.

[ThisTooShallPass]

Not that it matters but your title is still incorrect.


Thanks Laurie!

What can I say, public school & community college education. True plebian.

For you I will fix it. ;)

[On the Farm]

I like Steve but rarely read him because he has little to say. All the horses look great and everyone is wonderful... OK, I get it.

Hate to say, but that's pretty much par for today's turfwriting corps.