03/07/20

AQ7: 5-6-4
AQ8: 4-5-1
AQ9: 5-3-4
AQ10: 7-6-8
___

SA4: 2-1-4
SA5: 9-3-2
SA7: 2-3-6
SA8: 2-4-5
SA10: 5-7-4
___

TAM11:  1-7-4

1. 9-2
2. 4-5
3. 8-9
4. 2-7
5. 5-7
6. 6-2
7. 7-6
8. 4-6
9. 5-6
10. 4-1
11. 11-2

Quote from: RUFFIAN on December 02, 2019, 10:32:05 AM
                             
                  I cannot undo the past mistakes ~
                 but I can promise to Correct them in the  future
                                             

OK, I believe you.

Quote from: RUFFIAN on December 02, 2019, 08:17:29 AM
                           
      PERHAPS WORDING MISUNDERSTANDING?

The words are all there in my previous post... maybe re-read them? I don't know what else to say so I'll relieve all of you of my company at this time....

Quote from: RUFFIAN on December 01, 2019, 02:05:37 PM
                                                   

Just back from having Open Heart 💜 surgery
As doctors tried to mend my Broken Heart 💔 

Have devoted Mega hours twice a week for many years
    Trying to create a UNIQUE Forum dedicated to FUN! ~
A Forum with 20+ Year End Awards Recognizing Achievement
                     

I Understand  + Empathize re: The Track Choice Issue
             And although it is not very often
When I have opted to run at a different track
It has NEVER related to MY "Personal preference!"

It is always been in the best interest Of the day
To run at A track that had Larger  fields, Better Stakes
Or, better weather possibilities to avoid numerous scratches

Additionally the reference to "My scoring more than one track"
     This Does not relate to "My  personal preference"

It was being considerate of players who play other contests       
    so they did not have to handicap more than one track 

                      As the saying goes
"You can please some of the people some of the time
      But you can't please all the people all the time"

I do appreciate the feedback and will make every effort
         To Please ALL of the Players ALL of the time
                             

Let's Move Forward With Optimism
   Respect ✊ For Other's Views
Welcome 2020 = 20/20 Perfect Vision
                   

With all due respect this post does not address most of the points I made nor does it answer the direct question I asked. Also, the reason stated above for track choice is not the reason I was given via email when that occurred, so now I don't know what to believe. 

Can you at least answer what I asked?

I didn't play this week because I was busy with other things (holiday and family visiting from out of the country), but I do want to give Cigarshop a little bit of support for what he posted since what he has experienced recently is what I have also experienced on several occasions when winning this contest.

Quote from: Cigarshop on November 30, 2019, 03:25:31 AM
I do feel that for years many have been persuaded to change our choice of tracks. I know what the rules say, but the rules were made by Ruff with no input from us the "community"
a new year is approaching & I feel if us the participants have more say that we can grow this forum
I truly do appreciate the efforts of Ruff but it's time for some changes IMO

I agree with the above fully. I would suggest that maybe Ruffian consider posting a discussion thread about the contest that gets stickied at the top of the forum. That way if any issues arise or, if the feeling is that the contest rules must be tweaked or altered, we  the participants can have an area for some feedback and input on the process and outcome.
Being told that you, the winner,  cannot pick the track you want after winning a Saturday contest and when there is no other big race day that weekend (e.g. TC, BC, Travers day, etc.) is just flat out lame, imho. This was particularly annoying recently when I was going for the three-peat. I had to argue for the track I wanted and still didn't get it (even after it was originally posted here for the week). I appreciate that some repair was attempted after the fact, but it still affected my play. And, these days, because of obligations and issues in my life not having anything to do with this forum I am unable to play every week anyway (as I have explained to Ruff ad nauseum via email)... it would have been nice to at least get to choose the track I wanted on the rare occasion when I win.


(Back in the day) it used to be that, almost without fail, the winner of SS got to pick their track unless it was TC, BC, etc... in the last 3-4 years the rules either got changed or they are being applied differently since I have been told repeatedly (recently, like the last 3 years or so) that I cannot choose, and the reason is decidedly not what is posted in the rulebook (i.e. it's not on big race days). Mid-September and mid-November are not big race days... there's not a TC race or even a G1 in sight on some of the weeks I've won, but still didn't get the track I wanted. One reason I was given recently, Ruffian,  is that you had another contest on some other forum and you didn't feel like scoring two for that week, so I had to yield and go with the other contest location. I respectfully and completely disagree with that. And, personally, it bothers me that you write a clause in your rule book that gives you absolute power. Perhaps when writing it this is not what you were thinking of, but the effects can sometimes be a little difficult to forecast. Hence, a discussion thread like the one I suggested would come in handy: are you busy this week? Great, let us know in advance and we can help score. Or something like that. There are other options than simply wielding a power tool.

I have a question that is related to this as well, and it has to do with the rules for Saturday: Ruffian, when did you change the rules? And what was the reason you did this?

...and that's my piece. I apologize for cluttering up the weekly thread, but there is no other area for me to post this won't get buried by 150 million stickied threads.

Nice job Bri! Congrats

1. 5-1-3
2. 8-6-4
3. 8-1-9
4. 5-6-8
5. 6-7-5
6. 4-1-7
7. 3-7-2
8. 5-4-6
9. 3-8-7
10. 7-10-5

Hey Cigar, I picked AQ this week because I liked the turf fields, particularly the Red Smith. I wanted CD last weekend for a similar reason, but I prefer the AQ card this week...

Wow I appreciate the support and sentiment from those who posted in support of me. I also feel badly that Ruff is being made out as the villain of sorts, since it was more of a communication flub than anything else. Having said that, I do stand by my decision to not give full effort when I was denied the track I chose for the 3peat, given the wording in the contest rules:

QuoteOCCASIONALLY, EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES MAY REQUIRE
         THAT THE MODERATOR CHOOSES A DIFFERENT VENUE
                SUCH AS SUDDEN WEATHER CHANGES ~               
                          EXTREME SCRATCHES

These rules have impacted me 3 times now without extreme weather et al, so not sure how accurate "occasional" is in this statement. My objectivity with the rulebook is maybe causing some problems here, but it's nothing we can't move on from in life...
I also don't want to usurp anyone else's pick when it's their turn so I propose:

1. forget about the whole thing and move on (my preference)
2. I can jointly pick the next track with whoever wins this week, as long as they are ok with that

No blame, no worries... and also almost no time on my part, so that's part of the reason for the randomizer this week. I put my chances for 3peat in the roulette wheel... let's see what happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wv2K3J__X0

no 3 peat this time... randomizer

1. 1-3
2. 1-3
3. 1-3
4. 1-3
5. 1-3
6. 1-3
7. 1-3
8. 1-3
9. 1-3

That's odd. I could have sworn this said "Churchill Downs" (the track I picked) yesterday.  Hm.

OK, scratch this. I did pick Churchill as my top pick,  but our fearless host has an affinity for DMR for some reason. The weather is better... turf racing is not. Carry on!

1. 1-2-4
2. 9-1-2
3. 7-10-2
4. 9-3-2
5. 6-7-2
6. 3-5-2
7. 6-7-5
8. 9-8-1
9. 5-2-8
10. 4-3-9

Quote from: PostTimeMike on November 02, 2019, 06:15:06 AM
Happy "Classic" day!!!😁

Could be watching races remotely!! Currently at local hospital waiting for 2nd grandchild "Evelyn Charleigh" to arrive!!💖

congrats Mike!


Lots of scratches at SA (and equibase appears to be down so this is from TVG):

1. no changes
2. #1 Horse Greedy
3. #10 Gray Magician, #12 Real Master
4. no changes
5. 13 and 14 (AE)
6. no changes
7. #3 Fleeting, #6 Thais
8. #8 Landeskog, #9 Imperial Hint
9. #1 Suedois, #15 Caribou Cub (scratched due to not being available to run), #16 Next Shares draws in
10. no changes
11. no changes
12. no changes