NO MORE Unnecessary Restrictions Imposed at Palm Meadows
by Bruno De Julio with contributions by Steve Davidowitz

Updated, Tuesday, Noon EDT.

We love being in South Florida and with big fields and competitive nature of racing in South Florida doesn't make it easy for the handicapper, but that's why we're here---to provide the kind of information that can crack through all the past performance data and different handicapping scenarios. . . GradeOneRacing does not tout horses, we give you real information and THE HORSES TOUT THEMSELVES!


Every racing fan knows that "Information is King" in this industry. Not only does it lead handicappers to good plays, but when it's accurate and enticing, players will bet more. And when more money is pumping through the mutuels, the more the tracks and the horsemen who race there will prosper. That's no state secret. It's the 'circle of life for the thoroughbred industry' and Grade One Racing is in the mix, providing players the kind of insightful information that never has been available before--especially here in Florida!


Currently, we provide full coverage of the workouts at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and here at Gulfstream Park. Yet, here we have only limited access to Palm Meadows, one of the premier training tracks in the country. When we want to go there to clock horses we need special permission from Gulfstream. In fact. we have to name the horses we want to clock, (like when we went to see Dialed In and a few other stakes horses on Monday.) This is not a fair arrangement for us or you.


Yet, having been in this game a long time, we know how to fill in the gaps in our coverage. We even have secured 'team works' from Palm Meadows through insider sources and we're going over to Calder and Payson Park where hundreds of horses train for Gulfstream races.


But the restrictions on our presence at Palm Meadows are wrong, DEAD WRONG! This is an important race meet and many of the nation's top trainers train at Palm Meadows daily and ship to run at Gulf and other tracks around the country. Todd Pletcher, Graham Motion, Tom Albertrani, Kiaran McLaughlin, Chad Brown and many others work their superstars over the Palm Meadows' nine furlong main track and turf course.


In my first morning at Palm Meadows---Monday, January 9th----I felt stalked and watched. A member of the clocking crew was watching me from around the corner, and then from ground level below me. Even the top trainer in the country, Todd Pletcher, walked behind me to look in my bag on my chair. It was a bit creepy. As far as what was on the track, fans and handicappers would benefit from the over 50 grass works mostly from young horses, and the over 30 Todd Pletcher horses that dominated the worktab.


At the bottom line, www.GradeOneRacing.com is a legit Internet publication credentialed at dozens of tracks including Gulfstream and we are here to deliver all the information we can gather to our readership, the hard working backbone of this industry, the race going fan, the horseplayer. WE exist only to provide you with all the tools we can to make you a better bettor: We do this through our Workout Reports, our Performance Notes, our Horses-in-Training Sale Info & the superior insights found in Lauren Stich's valuable Pedigree Profiles. . We're proud of what we provide and we know that our subscribers appreciate it on many levels. We also know they bet more with this info than they did without it. As stated, this drives the handle, benefits the tracks and the purses the horsemen need to put on the show.


When you feed horseplayers strong info on first time starters that pay $52.00 as Tunka did on Nov, 19 at Churchill Downs, the response is almost instantaneous among horseplayers who play there. Remember, we broke new ground providing workout analysis during the last two fall and spring meets at Keeneland and Churchill Downs. Before we took it on ourselves to go there, Kentucky horseplayers never had seen legit workout analysis.


As of now, when a player opens up his Daily Racing Form or track program's past performances horseplayers only see raw clockings for the Palm Meadows' workouts. Last year our limited access to Palm Meadows gave us full access two days of our choosing each week. That was not great, but it was not as restrictive as it is now. While we do compensate for that as I said, the arrangement is not in the interest of anyone, least of all Gulfstream.


The entire Grade One Racing Clocking Staff and the 6,000 plus subscribers who visit the site agree that Palm Meadows should open its gates to the media and to the clockers with proper credentials. Right now, as explained, our access there is highly restricted and this is so much different than the usual approach Gulfstream takes towards other aspects of its relationship with fans. For one thing, GP does an incredible job encouraging fans to visit its track in the mornings. They even turn the walking ring into a theater setting, offering a Weekly Saturday's At Gulfstream event (replete with buffet, pony rides and a handicapping seminar).


Every morning we see people come out of the track's casino to watch horses working and they are intrigued! We've seen many of these same people return day after day with cameras in hand. For a track doing so much to get new fans involved, the near-lockout from Palm Meadows goes against common sense.


In any other industry and especially at so many major tracks around the country, including Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Fair Grounds, Santa Anita, Belmont Park, Hollywood and Del Mar we are considered an asset.


We believe we can be an asset to owner Frank Stronach, General Manager Tim Ritvo and their staff at Gulfstream by promoting their product through our work at Grade One Racing. We know our info can and does boost the betting handle and helps make their facility successful. At the same time we do everything we can to guide our horseplayers and subscribers towards understanding the game better and towards making a racing fan's handicapping experience truly enjoyable.


Everybody in the industry knows we need more horseplayers, more passionate racing fans. But restricting our access to Palm Meadows does nothing to accomplish that and in fact makes it harder. Restricting access does not make any sense at all.


Editor's note: This column was written by Bruno DeJulio from his personal experiences at Gulfstream with editorial contributions by Steve Davidowitz. At the bottom line, it reflects the positions of everyone on the staff at www.GradeOneRacing.com.

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