While there is much excitement in certain quarters over the upcoming debut of brother, Barbaro's brother Nicanor, it's a good idea to temper expectations with a bit of reality.

The Keeneland January 'Horses of all Ages' sale ended with a drop in gross of 53.4% from last year. The steady and steep drop in prices, that started to make itself evident late last summer, is no longer surprising or really even "news", merely a reality of the times.

A outstanding post by Valerie at Foolish Pleasure on Steelers founder Art Rooney and his 2 day killing in 1936 at 2 New York Race Tracks has inspired me to write about my favorite football team and last year's Super Bowl Champs the New York Giants.

The fifth-oldest NFL franchise endured over 40 years without a championship season, yet its team founder Art Rooney Sr. and his family never gave up, committed as they were to their hometown. However, many folks don't realize that the Pittsburgh Steelers may never have existed, or at least survived all those hard financial times without...horse racing.

You think I'd miss a chance to pat myself on the back? Just read Alex Waldrop's new blog post and read this quote: "And a plan for the next 100 days will be presented to the Alliance Board in late January".

Here's what wasn't in Sunday's Washington Post: One word about horse racing nationally or locally. Not one word about, for example, Laurel's What a Summer Stakes, in which young filly Access Fee ran her record to four-for-four at Laurel and punched her ticket to next month's Grade II Barbara Fritchie.

Last August, Jessica Chapel of Railbird and I were invited by Seth Merrow of Equidaily to appear on his show on Capital OTB to discuss how the Internet is affecting the relationship between racing and its fans. Among the questions he asked: "Do you consider yourself a journalist?"

Finding an industry that has friendlier and more helpful people than horse racing would be quite a task. I can remember when I first gained interest in racing, and decided to start a blog.