The Absence Of Thought

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=42855

To exist in the absence of thought is an unimaginable folly. We all make rash decisions on occasion. We get caught up in the moment or our emotions flash hot and we do or say things that we wish we hadn't. But how often to we consciously sit down and think through an issue then make completely the wrong decision?

I feel like this is what Eclipse voters are guilty of yet again. The photo linked above is apparently the best racing photograph taken in 2007. I'm no photography expert and I suppose there are many technical aspects of photography that go well beyond simply liking the picture or not. Lighting, clarity and other things are surely what the photos are judged upon but I wonder if any stepped and back and simply looked at this picture like an average citizen.

It's a curious choice for photo of the year for the sport of racing. The first thought one has when glancing at this picture is "what happened to the horse?". This is a hardly a shot you can show to your non horsey friends with pride. I can't imagine this picture being proudly hung in any racetrack in the world. On those grounds alone it would seem like a terrible choice for photo of the year.

I can' t say for certain but I'd be willing to bet the photo of the year awards in other sports often lean toward spectacular plays rather than spectacular falls.

Injuries are a black eye to the industry and although the horse was not injured it looks like a potentially dangerous situation and most casual glancers would assume they were at least slightly injured. Why are lauding something that closely resembles racings biggest turn off?

Imagine a baseball photographer got a picture of Barry Bonds being injected with steroids. No matter how well the photographer captured his rippling biceps, the glint of the syringe or the beads of sweat forming on his sparsely thatched orb there is no way it would be endorsed by the league as photo of the year. It draws attention to the biggest problem in the game.

No matter how great a photo is in terms of the technical aspects you still have to consider what it's a picture of. The voters that saw this photo take the Eclipse award have obviously never thought of it from this angle. I have to say I'm getting pretty tired of nonsensical stuff like this.

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KC Handicapping: There is no need for the typical weekly review. To be perfectly honest I did not have the chance to follow many of the race so my impressions of them would mean very little. But we still need to do the bookkeeping and that means reviewing all the picks made in this space. Sok Sok won like he should have but was unfortunately bet down quite a bit. He only paid $3.60 in the end but perhaps was still good value for that. The Bonapaw went on the main track and that saw the scratch of main selection Zetetic. Going Wild ran a decent third although this play was basically centered around trying to beat the favorite (and eventual winner) on the grass. It still counts because I didn't specify main track only.

Cumulative record of selected horses: 2(2)-1-0-1 (-$0.40 -10.00% ROI)

Overall record: 442(204)-80-74-66 (-$56.60 -6.40% ROI)