The House Always Wins

You have to be of a certain age to remember Manny Ycaza, the rough riding thoroughbred jockey in the '50s and '60s who made you hold your breath after he won races. You never really knew if he was going to be disqualified for some infraction that you may or not have seen, but one that the stewards did see.

My memory of him started in 1967 when he was disqualified in the Jersey Derby at New Jersey's Garden State when he rode the indomitable Dr. Fager and was caught herding, or crowding the field—three! other horses—at the clubhouse turn as he pushed them toward the rail. It was completely unnecessary, and cost Dr. Fager and his connections the win they deserved to have, as he won easily by six lengths. Dr. Fager was placed last.

Fast forward decades and you can still see Manny Ycaza tactics employed by leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. It is well-known to all who follow thoroughbred racing on the NYRA circuit that Irad is aggressive—sometimes too much—known for herding other horses. The tactic is one of intimidation as Irad leans in toward the other horses and prevents them from going by him. Most times he gets away with it. He's Houdini. He escapes detection and punishment. He is rarely called out on the carpet and disqualified, but it does happen.

The latest example of an Irad transgression occurred yesterday at Saratoga in the Jim Dandy Stakes, a mile and an eighth, once around the Saratoga oval for three-years that is considered a major prep for the upcoming mile and a quarter Travers Stakes later on the calendar in August— The Mid-Summer Derby..

The race drew few, but a select group of five entrants, notably Forte, last year's 2-Year-Old Eclipse champion. Forte is owned by Mike Repole and Vinny Viola's St. Elias Stable, and yesterday ran in Mike's New York Met colors of blue and orange with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard.

Small fields can produce tricky tactics, and a mile and an eighth race at Saratoga can be won by a horse that goes to the front, slows the race down with tepid fractions, and saves enough for the final plunge toward the wire. If  they do all that, they generally win and pay a nice mutuel.

I've seen several mile and an eighth races at Saratoga (Aqueduct as well) run this way, and sometimes have successfully handicapped them that way and cashed.

Forte was understandably the 3-4 favorite. Forte was ready to run in the Kentucky Derby but was a late, track vet scratch at Churchill because of a suspected sore hoof. This was a major disappointment for Mike Repole, et al. and the trainer Todd Pletcher. They pretty much didn't think it was a warranted scratch, but stopped short of criticizing it publicly.

The Belmont Stakes was the next stop for Forte and he acquitted himself well, despite the layoff. He finished a decent second to Arcangelo.

The goal of any decent three-year-old colt and their connections is to enter the Travers at Saratoga. It's either atonement for prior losses, or a fresh beginning and maybe setting up a win in the Breeders' Cup in November. The Travers is not called the Mid-Summer Derby for nothing.

The possibility of Forte winning kept the field small. There were only four rivals entered against him, with Saudi Crown representing the best chance to defeat him. The odds board reflected Saudi's chances because he went off as second choice at 9-2.

I've been watching all the racing broadcasts on Fox and Fox Sports. I have not however been making any wagers. In fact, I haven't made a wager since having Arcangelo in the Belmont. I'm still enjoying that one.

But, as the post parade unfolded for the Jim Dandy, and the panel of racing handicappers and broadcasters were announcing their picks, I felt that perhaps Saudi Crown could be a good bet if he could get out, take the lead, put them to sleep and waltz home the winner. I was almost right.

He did get out in front under Floret Geroux; he did set soft, front-running fractions of :234/5, :48, 1:121/5,  and 1:37; and was in front until Forte just managed to get in front of him and win by a nose. The final time was 1:493/5; nothing special. It was how Forte came to get in front of him that makes the story and made me think of Manny Ycaza and the boxer Tom-the-Bomb Bethea.

Forte was sluggish and somewhat boxed in on the rail as they came into the stretch. Irad, never one to accept that fact that there is no hole to go through, created his own by barging through the space between Angel of Empire and Saudi Crown, bumping Angel of Empire at least twice while continuing to lean in on Angel of Empire, and even crowded Saudi Crown at the wire as Forte won by s nostril. You knew the INQUIRY sign was coming up, and it did.

The flash of the INQUIRY sign so soon after the finish meant it was a stewards' inquiry. Generally this type of review results in a changed order of finish for someone.

Tongues in the broadcast booth started flying. Rapidly. All kinds of outcomes were predicted. "Forte stays up." "He doesn't stay up." "He was the best horse, but should come down." The two former jockeys who are broadcasters, Gary Stevens and Richard Migliore were both of the strong opinion that Irad and Forte should come down. Irad went beyond aggressive race riding. He was reckless, and didn't deserve to stay up. Greg Wolf, Laffit Pincay, Jonathon Kinchen, Paul LoDuca and Tom Amoss expected a change in the order. Andy Serling thought there should be a change, but didn't think there would be one. Andy was right.

In what seemed like a very rapid review, the stewards announced  there would be no change to the order of finish. Forte stays up, official winner by a nose.

There is nothing that guarantees a stewards' inquiry will definitely change the order of finish, just as there is nothing definite that a claim of foul by a jockey or a trainer will result in a change of order. You just hold your breath and wait for the OFFICIAL sign to come up.

When the OFFICIAL sign went up with no change there was pandemonium in the Repole/Viola camp. Mike hugged Irad and Pletcher with vigor. Anyone who knows anything about Mike Repole knows that he brings lots of people with him. A winner's circle photo for a Repole victory has more people in it than the population of a small country.

My small bet on Saudi Crown went for naught twice. Once when he was nosed by Forte, and again when the stewards didn't change the order of finish, despite a clear violation of the rules of race riding.

The whole thing reminded me of the time when I was following boxing quite a bit decades ago and saw plenty of fights at Madison Square Garden. There was one fight that stood out, that created another memorable fight. 

Pedro Soto was an up and coming young middleweight prospect. He was due to fight someone in what was probably a co-feature 10-rounder when this opponent pulled out. The Garden needed a fill-in and tapped Billy Douglas, a sturdy, older journeyman fighter form Ohio to provide the "opponent" duties of taking on Pedro on short notice.

Billy Douglas at the time was not famous for anything. Eventually he was famous for being the father of Buster Douglas, who in an extraordinary upset in 1990 defeated Mike Tyson in Tokyo with a 10th round knockout.

But the night he took Pedro Soto on he gave the much younger middleweight a boxing lesson. He befuddled Pedro from start to finish and was awarded a unanimous decision.

It was a very popular decision and gave Billy Douglas credibility to be matched again at the Garden against another up and coming middleweight, Tom "The Bomb" Bethea. As with Pedro Soto, be bloodied and befuddled Bethea all night. There was one difference. Billy Douglas didn't get the decision. The decision for Bethea was not popular, but that's the way it was.

One of the fellows I was with, an older fight fan, explained that the decision didn't go Billy's way because of who he fought: a Gil Clancy trained opponent who was a favorite of Garden matchmakers. Clancy was the "house" trainer, and without a clear knockout, you weren't going to get a decision against one of his fighters in Madison Square Garden. You just weren't

The NYRA racing leader boards are dominated by a few owners, trainers and jockeys. The owners Mike Repole, Michael Dubb and Seth Klarman win a huge number of races. Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown win a huge number of races. The two Ortiz brothers, Irad Jr. and Jose almost split the card and are perennially leading jockeys, riding for the three top owners and trainers.

I couldn't help thinking that after the result of the Jim Dandy was made official and there was no change in he order of finish, that the "house" connections prevailed. Home field advantage held.

The house always wins.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is one person's music I do not have to download just because he's passed away. I've been buying his music and listening to him since the '60s when I got all those assorted vinyl albums from Columbia Record Club for a dollar. I got the album "Songs for the Jet Set," whose album cover was a an aerial shot of Rio de Janerio. Brazilian, Bossa Nova music was becoming wildly popular at the time, and the album featured a few songs of that type.

I never saw Tony perform, but my wife and I did see him at Birdland in December 2019 when the pianist Monty Alexander made the audience aware of his presence; Tony was sitting at ringside with his wife Susan and a few others. I don't think he got up, but he did acknowledge the introduction, turning his head back toward the audience.

As the first show was over and we were leaving, there was a bit of a scrum outside the entrance as Tony left with his wife and others. He looked like he was doddering a bit, but I did mange to get his attention by yelling out "Tony, North Beach." He turned his head to acknowledge.

You'd have to be Tony's age, or around people who were born around the same time as Tony, to know anything about North Beach. Basically, it's where LaGuardia airport is now, created by landfill adjacent to Astoria.

The story goes that Mayor La Guardia was coning back to New York on a flight, but there was no airport in the city to land at. They had to land at Newark, New Jersey. New York City didn't have an airport. Under Mayor La Guardia's command, what was North Beach became landfill and what is now appropriately named LaGuardia Airport.

Tony remembered North Beach, My father, born in 1915, and growing up on Second Avenue in Manhattan would tell me about how his mother took him and his younger brother Jimmy (the two older brothers weren't interested) to the beach via the 2nd Avenue elevated train that ran to Astoria, going over the 59th Street bridge. I have a destination sign from that train, appropriated I do not know by whom or when, that I've given to my oldest daughter Nancy: Astoria via 2nd Avenue. You might say it's been in my family for years: an heirloom.

As he was getting started, Tony was a singing waiter at the restaurant and catering hall Riccardo's by-the-Bridge, hard by the Triboro Bridge. (It closed in 2021.) My wife and I had our wedding reception at Riccardo's in 1975. At the time, I wasn't aware of the Tony Bennett connection.

Ninety-six years is a long life, and 1926-2023 is quite a span of years. Because my father was born in 1915, I feel I know everything about all the years Tony lived in.

I can't seem to corroborate it, but I thought there was a NYC mayor (Mike Bloomberg?) who declared Tony Bennett a living NYC landmark, There is such a thing.

Tony Bennett paid a lot of bills with his recording of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." But his heart was always in New York, and our hearts were always with Tony.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com

Beefcake Charlie

@coreykilgannon, a senior NYT reporter has been absent from Twitter for a bit, but today has come roaring back with two postings, one quite priceless.

Mr. Kilgannon's NYT newsroom view apparently offered him the above distraction at some point today. It looks very much like a male model perched against a building, standing slightly elevated from the sidewalk on a ledge, being photographed in a shirtless, beefcake pose only wearing what looks like a tiny red, white and blue pair of briefs, a headband and sneakers.

And like a now viral photo appearing today of President  Biden wearing a pair of Skechers with no socks, it is impossible to tell if the model is also without socks. I don't really think it matters. (There is a famous photo of 1952 presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson seated on a stage with his legs crossed with a dangling foot showing a sizable hole in the sole of his shoe. The photo won a Pulitzer for the photographer.)

The building ledge the model is posing on is likely near the NYT headquarters on Eighth Avenue and 40th Street, across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Manhattan employers have been trying all sorts of inducements to get their employees back into the office after the pandemic. Free food, transportation vouchers and dry cleaning services have had little success in inducing the workers to come back into the office any more than two or three days a week.

Some employers have played hardball threatening to withhold bonuses, or raises unless physical workplace attendance improves. They may have been offering the wrong inducements, and making the wrong threats. 

I don't really know this, but my guess is the median age of the NYT newsroom staff is around 34, likely equally divided amongst male and female employees. I like to think a view such as photographed by Mr. Kilgannon today attracted more people to the window than just Mr. Kilgannon aiming his cell phone.

Management might change their tact on return to work inducements by emphasizing what an employee might be missing by not coming back into the city—namely what views the city offers of itself.

You never know what works until you try it.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com

Southern Hospitality

Robert E. Lee Surrenders to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse

Last week we were at an 80th birthday party for the husband of a couple we've known for decades. They had three children, all of whom have married and have produced 7 grandchildren. There were more cousins at this party than a gathering of Kennedys.

The oldest son of the couple moved to Charleston, South Carolina for an IT job opportunity years ago. He and his wife are doing fine with two young girls of grammar school age. In addition to his daytime job the son has an interest in a micro beer brewery that apparently is doing well, has acquired a new partner, and is branching out into distilled spirits...liquor of some kind.

We don't see this couple often, but the wife had a great story for us of when they first moved to Charleston. She was in a supermarket and noticed an "older gentleman" who was having trouble picking something off the shelf. She approached and asked if she could help.

His ears perked up when he realized he was being addressed by someone who distinctly did not have a Southern accent. She explained they recently moved there from New York. He was quick to reply, "Oh, a Yankee. When do you go back?" She said her jaw dropped and she was left speechless.

And people talk about New Yorkers.

http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com