Editoral concerning how the Breeders' Cup should be affected in light of the World Trade Center tragedy
Walter Parker
Hope all is well with you, and just as importantly the people who
are most important to you. The following is an editorial that appears on
my web site concerning the World Trade Center tragedy and how it should
in my opinion impact this year's Breeders' Cup:
This note comes with a heavy heart, not that I lost anyone (relatives or
otherwise) that I know personally in the tragic events of the day of
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 at The World Trade Center and elsewhere.
While we are resuming our normal presentation of analysis (albeit right
now in limited form), this tragedy does hit home on a lot of fronts.
First, and most importantly, one of the people who does analysis at The
Meadowlands in this newsletter (John Manley) is one of the tens of
thousands across the country who have family (immediate or otherwise, or
friends) who worked in the World Trade Center, are missing and at this
point presumed dead. For those of us who fortunately didn't lose a loved
one or a friend, but like myself grew up in New York, there is still a
major loss.
At one time or another, people who grew up in New York invariably would
wind up going into the World Trade Center, where just to go to the top as
I did several times as a teenager in the early 1980s or later to deliver
packages as I did in my days in New York as a messenger before moving out
of New York to Philadelphia in 1986 because of skyrocketing rents. That
could easily have been me in those buildings had these tragic (and very
sick events) at what is now the former World Trade Center occurred 15+
years ago. Even though that was not the case, there is still a loss, in
this case of what was for many "Senior Generation Xers" like myself a
piece of our childhood.
If you were born in 1971 or later, you basically have had the World
Trade Center as a part of your entire life, and can't remember a time
without the twin towers that have been a signature of the New York
skyline for the past 30 years, not to mention the many other buildings
that were parts of Financial District in Manhattan long before the World
Trade Center was built. While that is trivial by comparison to the
thousands of lives that were lost when the planes first hit and the twin
towers later collapsed, it still nonetheless is a loss that will take a
long time to heal from.
On that end is The Breeders' Cup. For many native New Yorkers like
myself that consider Belmont Park a "home" track (even if it really
isn't), the October 27 running of The Breeders' Cup was to be a major
event that hopefully would show off Belmont Park in all the splendor the
track really is, something it was unable to do the last time it was there
in 1995 when the second of two nor'easters in an eight-day period pummled
the New York area the morning of that Breeders' Cup, flooding basements
throughout the area, and probably costing that BC at least 10-15,000 in
attendance. This tragedy has taken that away, and in my opinion, given
the fact many people will likely still be afraid to travel into New York
by the week of that Breeders' Cup (October 27), as much as I hate to say
this should be moved out of New York for this year, perhaps to Churchill
Downs (which apparently had already been inquired about as a backup
site), Keeneland (scheduled to race that day) or perhaps simply down the
east coast to Delaware Park (just outside Philadelphia), a track that can
easily hold the number of people a Breeders' Cup would likely get for
this year's edition given the travel concerns across the country.
There is also an additional possible logistical problem caused by this
tragedy that could make it tough for Belmont Park to host the BC this
year anyway: With the conclusion of the baseball season likely now pushed
back by at least 3-4 days, there is the real possibility that the
Breeders' Cup could conflict with World Series games at Yankee Stadium.
While if the season had gone as originally scheduled, the World Series
(if it were continuing by this point) would be in the National League
city, because of the postponements caused by the terrorist actions, if
the Yankees made it to the World Series, as it stands now Games 3-5 would
be played the weekend of Breeders' Cup in New York, as those games are
slated for the American League city. While New York does have tons of
hotels, three major hotels near the World Trade Center also suffered
major blows as a result of the terrorist attack. This could make it
extremely difficult on people that would still be coming into New York
for the Breeders' Cup, as many people would likely be bumped out of hotel
rooms should the Yankees by hosting games that weekend.
This does not mean Belmont should not host the Breeders' Cup again, not
by a longshot. The idea this year's Breeders' Cup should be moved at all
is not an opinion of mine that has come lightly. Simply put, any
Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park this year in light of the tragedies that
happened so close to where it's located would be severely tainted, with
likely in my opinion only 20-25,000 at Belmont itself. Even if Belmont
Park does host the Breeders' Cup as scheduled this year, in light of what
has happened, I do think Breeders' Cup, Ltd. should make adjustments to
their plans for the next several Breeders' Cups and give one of the next
few Breeders' Cups that had been previously awarded elsewhere to Belmont
Park, perhaps two years from now in 2003, by when hopefully people will
have recovered enough that the BC can be at Belmont Park in the manner
the event should be. If Belmont Park were to get the '03 BC, the tracks
that had been awarded the 2003-'05 Breeders' Cups would simply get them
one year later (Santa Anita, the current scheduled site of the 2003 Cup
would get it in 2004 instead, with Churchill Downs subsequently pushed
back from 2004 to '05 and Lone Star from 2005 to '06).
Regardless of what happens, along with everyone else I can simply hope
all of you who read this are OK, and that any friends or loved ones who
worked at The World Trade Center or The Pentagon are OK, with our deepest
sympathies for those who did not make it.
Walter Parker
Editor of United Free Handicappers
http://www.cybersheet.com/horsepix.htm
Cy Kottick
coopie
My point exactly. The above is just what these moronic terrorists want. Destroy
and disrupt is what they would like. Place us all in fear. My way of fighting
these jerks is not to give them what they want, that is to cower, hide and
disrupt my life. The more events get cancelled, the more disruption in american
life, the more they gloat. Screw them. They will not interrupt my life.
It will be business as usual for me. That is my way of dealing with those
animals. I will disrupt my life for a day when head of those beasts are cut
off. It will be a party.
Now, back to horse racing.
Macguy
> it will be interesting to see what sort of attendance tracks open
> today actually draw and what their handle is.
The Handle at Hastings Park (Vancouver, BC, Canada) on Wednesday was a
little over $400k.
Believe it or not that is about the average handle on a Wednesday.
Attendance was also comparable to last Wednesday.
Whisp O Mist
that Galileo and or Fantastic Light will show up for the Breeders Cup (oh
pardon me, the the World Thoroughbred Championships or whatever). Ironic now
with the name change, given that there probably wont be all that many shipping
in from around the "World"....
MIKEMURPH126
I'll go out on a limb here and say that the chances of either one running in
the championships are the same as they were before the attacks.
Which is somewhere between slim and none. The europeans have tended not to
send their very best horses to run in the USA over the years, with the
exception of the sheiks.
I doubt very much if Gallielo's connections would be willing to risk the
journey and his breeding reputation to run against "inferior" American
competition. The absence of Point Given makes this scenario more likely rather
than less likely.
It would be a disaster to them if he happened to lose the race to the likes
of Red Bullet or Albert the Great.
Our current world situation may make it impossible for any international
horses to ship in this year.
Murph.
Real de Catorce
>>ok, so to bring this back around to topic, I wonder what the chances are now
>>that Galileo and or Fantastic Light will show up for the Breeders Cup (oh
>>pardon me, the the World Thoroughbred Championships or whatever). Ironic now
>>with the name change, given that there probably wont be all that many
>>shipping
>>in from around the "World"....
>>
>
> I'll go out on a limb here and say that the chances of either one running in
>the championships are the same as they were before the attacks.
> Which is somewhere between slim and none. The europeans have tended not to
>send their very best horses to run in the USA over the years, with the
>exception of the sheiks.
> I doubt very much if Gallielo's connections would be willing to risk the
>journey and his breeding reputation to run against "inferior" American
>competition. The absence of Point Given makes this scenario more likely rather
>than less likely.
According to this article in the Irish Times, as of last Monday, both horses were still on course
for Belmont, as they have been all year.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2001/0910/spo12.htm
> It would be a disaster to them if he happened to lose the race to the likes
>of Red Bullet or Albert the Great.
> Our current world situation may make it impossible for any international
>horses to ship in this year.
Tuesday's horrible events and the resulting fallout may, of course, change everything.
> Murph.
>
>
Odious
Walter Parker wrote:
>
>
> This note comes with a heavy heart, not that I lost anyone (relatives or
> otherwise) that I know personally in the tragic events of the day of
> Tuesday, September 11, 2001 at The World Trade Center and elsewhere.
>
> Walter Parker
> Editor of United Free Handicappers
> http://www.cybersheet.com/horsepix.htm
So Walter are you Gordon Parker's brother or Uncle or something? You
might want to ask him to stop ruining your business by gleefully
celebrating those tragic events... in posts with your web site clearly
displayed at the bottom. Gordon claims he runs united free
handicappers. I know I would never do business again with any company
that was run by someone who said the things Gordon Roy Parker has said
over the last few days. I'd never do business with anybody who supported
him in any way after he said the following...
The following statements were made by Gordon Roy Parker AKA "Ray Gordon"
after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center 9-11-01.
Gordon Roy Parker aka Ray Gordon
4247 Locust St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
He runs www.cybersheet.com where he sells books on seduction and gambling
picks.
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Newsgroups: alt.romance
Date: 11 Sep 2001 23:59:06 GMT
Subject: A bunch of asshole New Yorkers died...don't grieve.
Message-ID: <20010911195906...@mb-fp.aol.com>
No significant loss of life in those Towers....not a one.
Ray Gordon, Author
The Nice-Guy Graveyard: Where men go to bury their kindness and be the
jerk
women love
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Date: 12 Sep 2001 07:40:20 GMT
Subject: Re: The World Trade Center Pattern.....
Message-ID: <20010912034020...@mb-fj.aol.com>
"I've had terrorism from at or near that building done to my career. I
didn't
see them crying over what happened to me."
"I think it's poetic: symbols of wealth, power, and corruption get
attacked by
someone, while the rest of America is left alone."
"Were it not for a rather perverted gender bias in the hiring of
secretaries, I
could have been working in that building myself."
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Newsgroups: alt.seduction.fast
Date: 14 Sep 2001 08:37:07 GMT
Subject: Do Not Mourn Frat-Boy Trader Trash
Message-ID: <20010914043707...@mb-fj.aol.com>
"It is so PATHETIC how we are making angels out of some of the worst
corporate
criminals in America just because they suffered a little bombing."
"Do not mourn the trader trash."
Ray Gordon, Author
The Nice-Guy Graveyard: Where men go to bury their kindness and be the
jerk
women love
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Newsgroups: alt.seduction.fast
Date: 14 Sep 2001 13:57:32 GMT
Subject: Re: Do Not Mourn Frat-Boy Trader Trash
Message-ID: <20010914095732...@mb-bk.aol.com>
"That bombing has left no emotional scars on me, which would make me
ideal
psychologically for working in the "war zone," now wouldn't it? You
won't see
ME babbling like a pathetic whining little baby like that CEO on CNBC
did."
"Now now, you'd have to KILL me to shut me up. Got the balls?"
"I don't have to KILL any of my corporate enemies, now do I"
Ray Gordon, Author
The Nice-Guy Graveyard: Where men go to bury their kindness and be the
jerk
women love
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Newsgroups: alt.romance
Date: 14 Sep 2001 00:20:51 GMT
Subject: Re: The "victims" are more unsympathetic by the day....
Message-ID: <20010913202051...@mb-fp.aol.com>
"All I have said is that most of the victims who worked in that building
were not moral creatures. "
"In fact, many of the very powerful types who died in that blast used to
say "let God deal
with them."
"I did."
"God has."
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Newsgroups: alt.romance
Date: 11 Sep 2001 18:23:37 GMT
Subject: Re: Twin Towers
Message-ID: <20010911142337...@mb-mg.aol.com>
"Seems I'm not the only one who hates most Americans, am I? "
"I worked in that building. I even faxed a resume within the past year
to a
firm in that building; had I been hired by that firm, I would have been
working
there today."
"Oops. "
"An office whore died in my place."
"This attack happened in my HOMETOWN, a hometown I do not live in or work
in
because of illegal behavior. I hope those who swiped my ability to live
there
enjoy the message they got from GOD today.........."
Ray Gordon, Author
The Nice-Guy Graveyard: Where men go to bury their kindness and be the
jerk
women love
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Newsgroups: alt.romance
Date: 12 Sep 2001 00:46:43 GMT
Subject: Tribute To "The Unknown Office Whore" (was: Re: I need a
secretary)
Message-ID: <20010911204643...@mb-fp.aol.com>
"There was no significant loss of life in those towers. Their own evil
is what
prevented me from being among the dead, and which added the "Unknown
Office
Whore" to their numbers because god forbid some loser executive would
have to
hire a man."
"Those corporations could have hired me, put me to work in that building,
let me
live in NYC, and experience all of the fun that's going on up there now."
"I kind of like where I live a whole lot more now."
Ray Gordon, Author
The Nice-Guy Graveyard: Where men go to bury their kindness and be the
jerk
women love
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
From: betfor...@aol.com (Bet For A Living)
Newsgroups: alt.romance
Date: 13 Sep 2001 20:25:22 GMT
Subject: Re: Hey Nutmeggar, Peanut, Peach....
Message-ID: <20010913162522...@mb-fp.aol.com>
"It's not my fault that Bin Laden unwittingly took out a large segment of
American TRASH, and while I'd never do something like that, I have to say
those
victims were anything but angels."
"They were greedy, capitalistic employment discriminators with no regard
for the
civil rights of anyone but themselves."
"Looks like GOD wanted me around and not them."
"Who am I to question the lord?"
Ray Gordon, Author
The Nice-Guy Graveyard: Where men go to bury their kindness and be the
jerk
women love
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
_______________________________________________________________________
Odious
Bet For A Living wrote:
>
> Yeah, tell people to boycott a FREE site which helps them....you're
> gonna get far there.
Your "free" site helps you more than it helps anybody else.
Everyone should know that by even visiting your page they'll be helping
you... they'll be assisting the sick bastard who is happy so many
thousands of honorable americans died in tragic event.
People should know that United Free Handicappers is run by a man who
gleefully celebrated the murder of thousands of americans in the World
Trade Center because he wasn't qualified to work there.
Why don't you want all these people to know what you said? Are you
afraid they'll decide not to do business with un-American scum like you?
archive...@noterrorists.com
>
> Walter Parker wrote:
> >
> > This note comes with a heavy heart, not that I lost anyone (relatives or
> > otherwise) that I know personally in the tragic events of the day of
> > Tuesday, September 11, 2001 at The World Trade Center and elsewhere.
> >
> > Walter Parker
> > Editor of United Free Handicappers
> > http://www.cybersheet.com/horsepix.htm
>
> So Walter are you Gordon Parker's brother or Uncle or something?
> 4247 Locust St.
> Philadelphia, PA 19104
> I'd never do business with anybody who supported
> him in any way after he said the following...
Subject: A bunch of asshole New Yorkers died...don't grieve.
From: betfor...@aol.com (aka. RAY GORDON; aka. Walter Parker)
Newsgroups: alt.romance
Date: 11 Sep 2001 23:59:06 GMT
"A bunch of asshole New Yorkers died...don't grieve.
No significant loss of life in those Towers....not a one."
Ray Gordon, Author
giorgio
> Tamim is an Afghani-American writer.
> Here is his take on Afghanistan and the whole mess we are in.
>
> Dear Gary and whoever else is on this email:
>
> I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back to the
> Stone
> Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today, allowed that this would mean
> killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do with this atrocity,
> but "we're at war, we have to accept collateral damage. What else can we
> do?" Minutes later I heard some TV pundit discussing whether we "have the
> belly to do what must be done."
> And I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I am
> from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years I've never
> lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will
> listen how it all looks from where I'm standing.
> I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There is no
> doubt
> in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New
> York.
> I agree that something must be done about those monsters.
> But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the
> government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics
> who
> took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a
> plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think
> Hitler. And when you think "the people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in
> the concentration camps." It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing
> to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators.
> They would exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and
> clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country.
> Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The
> answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt incapacitated, suffering.
> A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000
> disabled orphans in Afghanistan--a country with no economy, no food. There
> are millions of widows. And the Taliban has been burying these widows
> alive
> in mass graves. The soil is littered with land mines, the farms were all
> destroyed by the Soviets. These are a few of the reasons why the Afghan
> people have not overthrown the Taliban.
> We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age.
> Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already. Make
> the
> Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn
> their schools into piles of rubble? Done. Eradicate their hospitals? Done.
> Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them off from medicine and health care?
> Too late. Someone already did all that. New bombs would only stir the
> rubble
> of earlier bombs.
> Would they at least get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan,
> only the Taliban eat, only they have the means to move around. They'd slip
> away and hide. Maybe the bombs would get some of those disabled orphans,
> they don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs. But flying
> over
> Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike against the criminals
> who did this horrific thing. Actually it would only be making common cause
> with the Taliban--by raping once again the people they've been raping all
> this time
> So what else is there? What can be done, then? Let me now speak with true
> fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden is to go in there with
> ground troops. When people speak of "having the belly to do what needs to
> be
> done" they're thinking in terms of having the belly to kill as many as
> needed. Having the belly to overcome any moral qualms about killing
> innocent
> people. Let's pull our heads out of the sand. What's actually on the table
> is Americans dying. And not just because some Americans would die fighting
> their way through Afghanistan to Bin Laden's hideout. It's much bigger
> than
> that folks. Because to get any troops to Afghanistan, we'd have to go
> through Pakistan. Would they let us? Not likely. The conquest of Pakistan
> would have to be first. Will other Muslim nations just stand by? You see
> where I'm going. We're flirting with a world war between Islam and the
> West.
> And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he wants.
> That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements. It's all right
> there. He really believes Islam would beat the west. It might seem
> ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world into Islam and the
> West, he's got a billion soldiers. If the west wreaks a holocaust in those
> lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose, that's even
> better
> from Bin Laden's point of view. He's probably wrong, in the end the west
> would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and
> millions would die, not just theirs but ours.
> Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does. Anyone else?
Gary Collard
>
> The following was sent by Tamim Ansary.
> > Tamim is an Afghani-American writer.
> > Here is his take on Afghanistan and the whole mess we are in.
> >
> > disabled orphans in Afghanistan
Can this figure be correct? That would be around 10% of the children
disabled. I suppose that is possible, but it seems high.
--
Gary Collard
SABR-L Moderator
coll...@earthlink.net
"Between Wisconsin cheese and California wine, we should feel
pretty foolish now about having rescued France twice."
-- Hyperion
Paul Duren
could be entirely possible. They have had 22 years of war. Since the
orginal post quoted Ron Owens. There is another interesting quote I think
from his show. You can't bomb them back to Stone age because they are
already there. This is a tough situtation with tough choices.
thal
This was not "sent by Tamim Ansary" - it was a Salon.com article from a few days
ago.
Corsing
thal wrote:
>
> This was not "sent by Tamim Ansary" - it was a Salon.com article from a few days
> ago.
It was written by Tamim Ansary. Salom.com just picked it up. BTW, Ron
Owens had him on his show yesterday. Ron, like many of us here, is a
racing degenerate.