Both Jeff Gural & Brian Sears talk about banning

[LVGaryD]

So basically, Mr. Gural's feelings were hurt. He admitted today that he was "just trying to get Brian's attention" because Brian did not want to come drive at his track full time. Gural hopes to get the mess straightened out by next week because he "does not want to start World War III".



You can let your feelings be known by writing Mr. Gural at jgural@ngkf.com 

In The Sulky is Brian Sears country, laddies. 

[Gazoo]

Wonder if he called Brennan ? I doubt it because he knows what the answer would be .

I didn't know you had to do Gural a favor before you could race at his track .....

Wonder if Gural was going to make up the money that Brian would have lost by racing at the Meadowlands instead of Yonkers ?

Gural is a f**king joke !!

[3 wide and wingin]

This whole thing is such a disaster and a mess.

He obviously didn't think at all about consequences.

Rich guys like that sometimes there is no one to tell them they are wrong. They surround themselves with yes men.

Also sometimes with older people they just do things and you cant explain why and it makes no sense.

I dunno.

But the guy created a big mess for himself when he really didn't have to.

[jordanjacob]

drivers are independent contractors able to race at any pari-mutual track providing they are properly licensed

I hope Jeff retracts this ban quickly

[pezz97]

drivers are independent contractors able to race at any pari-mutual track providing they are properly licensed

I hope Jeff retracts this ban quickly

He will, his statement today was just his start of backtracking.

he made himself look like an idiot......  again....

[CyberChamp]

M1 races 2 nights/week...and Sat night cards are just awful.  If Sears were a "regular" at M1 (if you can call 2 nights/week "regular"), it wouldn't help a bit...not the handle, nor the fan base (except for the rare few that throw back drinks with Brian at Redd's).

Sears is a class act.  Gural clearly is not.

[tonyb147]

This whole thing is such a disaster and a mess.

He obviously didn't think at all about consequences.

Rich guys like that sometimes there is no one to tell them they are wrong. They surround themselves with yes men.

Also sometimes with older people they just do things and you cant explain why and it makes no sense.

I dunno.

But the guy created a big mess for himself when he really didn't have to.

 

  even us goofs who were hoping for an M1 turn-around have had enough of his crap

[The Skipper]

This is just a replay of what he did to Brennen a couple years back, I applaud his desire and passion to make M1 the premier track of harness racing but he needs to use some other methods and quit making himself look like an ASS. He is the one who told these guys he was going to get slots and so far no dice (pun intended) , I'm sure if they ever do get slots they'll have drivers/trainers and the best horses in all the land begging to race there and we'll get a good 4 nights or more of the M1, until then it's pretty painful to watch and even worse to gamble on unless they have a FFA or stake race running.

[CyberChamp]

Gural mentions a major difference in standards between him and Sears, but doesn't elaborate on what they are.

IMO, a driver's loyalty starts with the trainers; these are the people that give them the live drives.  To abandon those trainers to race at the M1 as a "favor" because a couple of drivers are unable to drive would be foolish, especially in non-stakes races.

Camel and ostrich races aren't the answer.  Neither are belly dancers.  They are a sideshow and I'm sure most fans could care less about them.  I will admit that food trucks was a cool event, however.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the Pennsylvania state racing fund takes a big hit.  It wouldn't be good for harness racing and it might not bring quality horses back to M1.

http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/templates/article.aspx?articleid=59441&zoneid=1

[3 wide and wingin]

Good points.

After this fiasco maybe the Big M should look at itself for some of its problems instead of blaming all the outside factors.

They (Gural) certainly created their own mess and problems with this.