Amateur hour continues at The White House. These two clowns would be gone today in any other setting…..🤡   I was already writing an edition of the “What Matters” newsletter Monday about how President Donald Trump’s choice of businessmen and political allies to shake up and downsize government work has also created an amateur-hour atmosphere. But all the examples I’d gathered pale in comparison to the revelations in a new story published Monday by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg with the headline, “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.” More specifically, the official doing the texting of the war plans to a journalist appears to be Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who was confirmed by the Senate despite serious questions about his lack of official experience – Hegseth’s most recent job before taking charge of the US military was as a Fox News host.   The story features all of the bold-faced names in charge of national security for Trump. Somehow, Goldberg appears to have been added by national security adviser Mike Waltz to a group chat on the private, encrypted messaging platform Signal. The group included profiles that seemed to be associated with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House adviser Stephen Miller, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others. A spokesman for the National Security Council later confirmed that the message chain appeared to be real and said they were investigating how Goldberg’s number was added. The discussions included a moment where Vance expressed opposition to a potential strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen to clear up shipping routes through the Suez Canal because, as Vance notes, Europe, whose trade is more reliant on the Suez Canal than the US, would benefit more than the US. One US company that did feel the sting of the attacks on shipping routes is Tesla, led by chief US government cost-cutter Elon Musk. Tesla was forced to shut down production at its Berlin Gigafactory for a time in January because the attacks caused supply-chain problems. Vance also wondered whether President Donald Trump understood how a strike to ease global trade would contradict his America First policies, urging the other top officials to hold off on the strikes Goldberg, doubtful that top US officials would accidentally add him to a chat discussing sensitive and classified data about a forthcoming military attack, thought the messages might be an elaborate troll until Hegseth transmitted the detailed war plans and said the strike was imminent. A few hours later, Goldberg searched on X and learned the strikes were occurring. The national security principals responded to news of the strikes’ success with emojis and congratulations. Goldberg subsequently removed himself from the chat. There are so many questions here. Why were these officials utilizing a messaging app known for its disappearing messages and run by a private nonprofit? It could run afoul of both laws that require the retention of records and, more importantly, laws related to classified information. There are clearly stated protocols for discussing classified information. Why is Hegseth so comfortable transmitting war plans in an unclassified setting? We don’t know the exact nature of what Hegseth sent; Goldberg did not print it. His article does say it included “information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.” Will there be consequences for this apparent breach? This is the type of breach that might normally lead to firings or jail time. Normally, Congress, which is supposed to provide checks and balances on the executive branch, would quickly launch an investigation of what seems to be such a drastic security breach. It’s not clear that will happen now, when Republicans hold a slim majority in the House and Senate. What about the obvious irony here? When Trump was initially asked about The Atlantic’s report at the White House, he criticized the magazine but said he was not familiar with the report. Trump should be familiar with how things are supposed to work when it comes to sensitive material, since he was charged with mishandling classified data after he left the White House in 2021 and before he won the 2024 election. The case was dismissed by a judge he appointed. Plus, Trump repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during the Obama administration, particularly she was criticized for discussion of classified material in email. Now, the leaders of his entire national security team appear to have been on an unclassified system discussing very sensitive material. What other examples are there? There are many examples of a lack of experience by an official or doing things in nontraditional ways leading to problems. Trump’s top official negotiating peace efforts for the Middle East and Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, is not a diplomat but a real estate developer. That could help explain how Witkoff all but repeated Russian talking points in an interview with Tucker Carlson. The Social Security numbers of former government officials were released in a dump of previously classified data that was released in a rush. The first names of recently hired CIA agents were included in an unclassified email sent to the White House. Anti-diversity initiatives at the Pentagon scrubbed, for a time, webpages that mentioned the military career of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in professional baseball. There were reports last week that Musk, who has major business interests in China, could get a Pentagon briefing with information on China. Trump quickly clarified that Musk would get no such briefing, but the Pentagon launched a leak investigation that will apparently include polygraph tests. There were plenty more examples from earlier in Trump’s administration, such as when Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency pushed for the firing of nuclear safety officials and then the Department of Energy had to call them back to duty. Part of this is what Trump’s supporters wanted, perhaps, when they voted for a candidate who promised to “drain the swamp.” Nobody voted for Goldberg to be texted war plans.

Slight change of topic. Look at the 2nd trial race at Taupo before it was abandoned and you'll see a good "black booker" from the OSullivan stable. Lightning Ace (by Ace high). Copped a huge check but still got up to win.  

The Queens M G, winner of the Davona Dale Stakes (G2) March 1, returns in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) March 29. The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies offers qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10.View the full article

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and Godolphin have secured the riding services of Manny Franco for Sovereignty's highly anticipated start in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 29 at Gulfstream Park.View the full article

A class drop and an opportunity to race a shorter distance suggest FMQ Stables' Saudi Crown will be a force in the $500,000 Oaklawn Mile Stakes (G3) March 29 at Oaklawn Park.View the full article

The race would not go ahead unless there were a certain number of starters. We have had instances where a 8-9 horse field has been decimated by late scratchings due to weather/track changes and only 3 have run.

White Abarrio returns after winning the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park in the Ghostzapper Stakes (G3) there March 29.View the full article

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and Godolphin have secured the riding services of Manny Franco for Sovereignty's highly anticipated start in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 29 at Gulfstream Park.View the full article

This week's schedule of racing on radio and television, compiled by America's Best Racing.View the full article

What agenda?  I certainly didn't mention the hole first as you say you did and neither did the first Stewards report nor the follow up.   You are a plonker...now you twist it again..I know under your many names you have trouble remembering what you say and where...I dont know how you manage...but lets get facts straight... I said a horse put its foot in some kind of hole...you then took it upon yourself to call it a rabbit hole...many times...so it was you who wrongly supposed it was a rabbit hole...so you were wrong...get over it. I knew from the beginning it was not a rabbit hole and I even asked why not just fill it in and move on...just to get the facts straight...I know you and others elsewhere dont care to much for facts...🤡

What agenda?  I certainly didn't mention the hole first as you say you did and neither did the first Stewards report nor the follow up.     That doesn't say hole. I don't see the problem quite frankly when we all seem to agree that we have yet another abandonment for unfathomable reasons.

My opinion is Paul Moroney is the best judge of a horse, he never has the huge budgets but he gets outstanding results....FWIW

That's an old chestnut.  The reality is the perform better than most and not as good as some with that metric.  Although they have one of the highest Stakes winners ratios in the game. As for having the most horses in training that wouldn't appear to be the case as of today's NZTR figures: Te Akau 103 Marsh 136 Wexford 130

Drop mighty Mo'unga, and or big bad Tact Mc (gate speed to spare, someone please please please pick the boy, he's match fit ready to rumble) in there and boy oh boy 🤗 still no confirmation yet on DSDreamin; slots left to fill for Betcha Race (Pacers) - Allstars/Chris Ryder, Stonewall Stud, and Denis & Mark Dunford, and for the TAB Trot - Haras De Trotteurs....I can't wait to see who gets the last of the slots....ooh ooh, wonder who ZacB is gunna drive? the Duchess or Merlin?   Cheers Iraklis  

To be clear CM you were the only one who said it was a rabbit hole...I stated in my first post some sort of hole..... You said this... Why wasn't the rabbit hole reason mentioned in the Stewards Report where the emphasis was on the recovery slip? As I say you just twist things to suit your own agenda.

You said it was a rabbit not anyone else...🤡....🤡

WRC do not make the cut here - maybe they will be called to the Headmasters office soon  New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) is thrilled to announce the finalists of the 2024 Club of the Year Awards, set to be awarded at the 2025 Industry Development Conference on 31 March.   Each New Zealand Racing Club was assessed against a performance framework across four categories: Financial, Racing, Marketing and Compliance and Innovation.   The selection of finalists and winners will be presented in three distinct categories: Metropolitan, Provincial, and Country Clubs. An overall Club of the Year Award will also be presented from the winners of each category.  NZTR Chief Executive Officer Matt Ballesty is pleased to see our Clubs recognised for their performance. "We see our annual NZTR Club Awards as playing a pivotal role in recognising and celebrating the outstanding contributions and achievements of New Zealand’s well-performing racing Clubs," he said.  "I look forward to getting to know our Club representatives at the Industry Development Conference and celebrating their collective wins." To reward our high performing Clubs, NZTR will provide a $20k prize fund distributed across the three categories: Metropolitan, Provincial, and Country, with each receiving $5k in prize fund. Additionally, the Overall Club of the Year will be granted $5k in prize fund. The prize fund should be used to invest in an event or on-course initiative and a short form business case will need to be presented to support the initiative by 31 July 2025.  NZTR has outlined the finalists for the three categories below.   2024 Finalists (in alphabetical order)  Metropolitan  Auckland Thoroughbred Racing  Canterbury Jockey Club  Waikato Thoroughbred Racing  Provincial  Otago Racing Club  Racing Tauranga  Taranaki Racing Incorporated Country  Central Otago Racing Club Masterton Racing Club  Wairarapa Racing Club 

Byron King's Top 12 on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, presented by Spendthrift Farm.View the full article

The connections of Coal Battle hope his Oaklawn Park story comes to a satisfying conclusion March 29 as he faces eight rivals in the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1).View the full article

Honeybee Stakes (G3) winner Quietside is set to defend her home dirt at Oaklawn Park March 29 against the undefeated Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots invader Simply Joking in the $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2).View the full article