All racing in Kentucky is now being subsidized. In addition to boosting total purse money, this unearned cash helps allow the tracks there to pay first through last. Here are some results from Oct 30 at Churchill Downs:

Seas of Normandy finished 20 lengths back; his exploiters banked $1,008.

Crooked Bullet finished 20+ lengths back; his exploiters banked $927.

We Hear You finished 23+ lengths back; her exploiters banked $662.

Huixtla finished 33+ lengths back; her exploiters banked $662.

Mary Loves Louie finished 38+ lengths back; her exploiters banked $661.

Rainbow Glow finished 27+ lengths back; her exploiters banked $1,426.

Love the Nest finished 25+ lengths back; his exploiters banked $780.

Worse still were these:

Barbanera finished 52+ lengths back; her exploiters banked $1,422.

Two Timer (who was “fractious in the starting gate”) finished 57 lengths back; her exploiters banked $661.

While Spurrier “only” finished 20 lengths back, we have now learned from the stewards that the 4-year-old “suffered a mild post-race heatstroke.”

But worst of all, in the final race of the day, Macho Villa finished 93 lengths back. But get this, through the Steward’s Report we now know that Macho was taken away by ambulance (the chart said nothing of this) – “returned lame.” So the jockey, Jane Elliott, drove this poor animal to the finish – again, 93 lengths back – with lameness almost assuredly having already set in. He crossed that line, however, and Macho’s exploiters – Elliott, trainer Wayne Lukas, and others – divvied up $787. It’s criminal, folks.

(One final note to wrap up the Keeneland meet: On Oct 25, say the stewards, Let My People Go “was injured in the starting gate and was scratched.”)

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