Happy New Years: Resolutions and Thanks

New Year's Eve is both a time for reflection and setting goals.

Thanks to the powers of procrastination, planned posts reflecting on 2009 will wait until 2010 when I have time to polish them from half-written blurbs into full-length eulogies to the annum.

But seriously folks, the "Saved Drafts" portion of my Blogger account is bursting at the seams. Did you know I visited Three Chimneys back in June? No, you didn't, because I'm still sifting through some 1,478 photos.

As well, there's a Woodbine Year-in-Review Photo Essay tucked away in the "Drafts" folder that's partially linked and mostly incomplete. Mostly.

I could go on, but I won't. Instead, I invite you to read my 2010 New Year's Racing Resolutions.

1. Attend a U.S. Triple Crown race. How is it possible that I've yet to make my way to Churchill, Pimlico or Belmont to witness at least one of these races in person? That must be remedied. Considering how much fun I had in previous visits to Belmont and Churchill, there's no reason not to head back soon.

2. When dealing with multi-race wagers, be diligent with the "All" button in the final leg. I know there's no statistical benefit, but there's something nice about having extra horses in the final leg of a bet. Being cheap was the difference between winning $176 instead of $46,000 earlier this year. Oops.
3. When the alarm clock starts that annoying "Bleet Bleeet Bleeeeeeeeeet" thing at 5AM and I begin the battle of weighing the choice of staying in bed versus visiting the backstretch - Always, choose the latter. I've yet to regret a visit to the backstretch. As witnessed here and here and here.

4. If the horse that wins the 2009 Sovereign Award for Canada's champion 2-year-old male decides to run in the 2010 Kentucky Derby, I resolve to bet $2 across even if the "experts" claim it doesn't have a chance.

Sovereign Award winner Mine That Bird Bo-Rails to Victory


5. It's time to overhaul this website. Certain sites, such as Colin's Ghost, have a visual appeal that's decidedly lacking here at Triple Dead Heat.

6. I resolve to mix in a little more pop-culture with the posts. While the site visit statistics for posts regarding Julia Brimo and an interview with Steve Asmussen went through the roof, it must be noted that the most commented pieces on this blog were written about BritPop and the Hartford Whalers. Know your audience, indeed!

7. Continue to promote the good work of the people of LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society,
Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society and Old Friends. These brilliant organizations do so much for the equine athletes of the sport and their stories are a constance source of material for this blog. For example, Boule D'Or, Not A Prude and Kelly Carlson.

8. This list could go on for quite some time so I'll roll the following popular procrastinations in here so when I fail to hold up my end of the bargain it will only seem as though I messed up one resolution: Eat healthier, visit the gym regularly (ha!), get to bed earlier (haha), drink less (hahaha), publish posts prolifically (pfffffffftttt...). Oh, why even bother.

I would like to thank everyone at Woodbine for their support this past year.

A big year-end thank you to Down The Stretch newspaper and TROT Magazine for publishing my work.

Further thanks to the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance, RaceDay360, Equidaily and the Paulick Report for assisting with the promotion of this here blog.

I'll end this poor wee post with a clip of my favourite year-end comedy piece. The Steve Martin Christmas wish.

Happy New Year's readers!