Holiday wishes, holiday cheer

(Editor's note to Emma-Jayne references - A reader pointed out to me that Emma did indeed lose her bug in August, not September. Thoroughblog regrets the error)

There are already lots of New Year's wish lists out there by racing folks/writers for their own tracks and many have similar requests for the 2007 season.

Southern Ontario, in particular Woodbine racing fans, have made lots of requests to this corner in the last 6 months, either following one of our seminars or simply walking through the grandstand.

Alas, many times I get "why isn't there more racing coverage in the newspapers" and I tell them to call and complain but racing folks love to gripe among themselves, complaining that racing does not get the respect it deserves anymore.

(Dave Landry photo)

At the TORONTO STAR, a new sports editor is being introduced this week and perhaps racing fans who love to read about their favourite personalities and perhaps the occasional betting story, will phone and send an e-mail to present their New Year's wishes.

Indeed, the Star results charts had a setback in 2006 when they were shrunk and the winning owner and trainer and pedigree of the winner was taken out (among other things) and that made fans really unhappy. The TORONTO SUN held strong in its results charts and was the choice of many after the Star sliced and diced. Let's see what happens in 2007.

Remember, a soccor score goes missing in the papers, there are hundreds of complaints, a racing result? Maybe one, two.

I want racing fans to be more vocal in 2007.

Sometimes being vocal does not work, however. I was one of many who complained about TV coverage at Woodbine in 2006, especially when the Trakus buttons came in and took up half the TV screen. That was fine, but when creativity got in the way of filming a horse race the way it should be, that was frustrating. The worse part is that several complaints by others, in print etc., were completely ignored by Woodbine and that was disappointing.

But despite the ongoing TV problems and some trouble with the new Polytrack, how can Woodbine fans (and horsepeople) be unhappy about 2006? Woodbine Entertainment continues to work hard to please the horses, the horsepeople and the fans as much as it can. I enjoyed and was fortunate to in hosting seminars in 2006 and it's cool to hear how much knowledge the fans have in the game.

I appreciate all the jockeys and trainers who were my guests, taking time to talk to the fans, that is so important. (I would love to list everyone but I'd be afraid of missing someone).

Woodbine helps the horses a lot, with Polytrack and its continued support of LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. And horsemen packed the entry box in the fall and winter, there were even lots of new faces too.

Good luck to all local folks south of the border (Sam-Son scored with Go to the Sun at Fair Grounds last weekend and Minshall Farms' Raw Power ran a big one when 2nd in a stake there on Sunday). Emma-Jayne Wilson, our leading rider, will be in New Orleans to ride this winter and that should be fun to watch.

Happy Holidays and a Healthy New Year for my family, friends and you.