Yeah. Weird how nobody wants to share information about anything. Belgium won't respond (and they barely have flat racing at all anyway, and seem to not care about the history of the sport at all). Kenya won't respond (begging didn't help, either). You'd think all that stuff was a secret or (which I think would be ridiculous) all that information has been lost or just never kept track... of. Ahem.
Queries to various tracks in the US for information on local Derby/Oaks races usually comes up bupkiss, too, but I got responses from tracks in Oregon & Washington state (and they were VERY nice about it, too!). I snatch up media guides whenever I can, but most tracks don't have media guides ("no budget for such a thing" was the gist of one response I got). They just don't keep records. Why they can't beats me all to pieces.
<sigh>
(I just found a media guide, in fact, for Pimlico/Laurel. Wunnerful info, even if most of it was already entered in PQ)
I keep wondering if everybody that owns American Racing Manuals could get together and just complete American stakes histories, particularly Derby/Oaks races from everywhere whichaway. I've got ARMs from various years & just ordered 1955. So maybe some day there can be a 'American Racing Manual Research Conference' and stuff in the US can at least get filled in. There's Oaks and Derby races everywhere - Will Rogers Derby, Yellowstone Derby, New Mexico State Fair Thoroughbred Derby, all kinds of state-bred Derbies & Oaks in between. Most ARM's have a section showing winners of the previous years' stakes races, in addition to the section showing up-to-date lists of winners of more important events.
Which I'm sure most everybody already knows.
~Miesque
Vice does not change its character by becoming fashionable.
