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Many Thanks
Much appreciation to all those who have plugged, supported, endorsed, checked out, linked, and submitted items to the Self Appointed Fan Committee. The committee is off to a great start, but we know you have many more ideas and laments, so bookmark the site and return often to share your thoughts or browse what everyone else is saying. The Self Appointed Fan Committee is made up of every racing fan who wants to join, so don't be shy ......
Posted by JC, Jul 9, 2008 11:55 PM
SAFC Launches
The Self Appointed Fan Committee, which Dana wrote about here on Green but Game and I mentioned in this post, is now open for your praise, laments, and ideas -- check out the site, add your voice, rant away! Official press release below ... RACING FANS LAUNCH LISTENING SITE: OUR ONLY AGENDA IS TO MAKE SURE FANS ARE HEARD No committee meetings, no politicking: Just fan feedback, rants and raves Each year, racing fans support the sport by wagering nearly $15 billion on the hundreds of Thoroughbred races run across North America and by turning out in the thousands to...
Posted by JC, Jul 7, 2008 10:25 AM
Yes, Yes, and Yes
"Tired of death? Tired of protests? Tired of strangers analyzing our sport?"...
Posted by JC, May 13, 2008 01:30 PM
Maddening Media
The situation with Eight Belles has illustrated my disdain for the media. Unfortunately, most outlets tell the story they want to tell rather than the actual story. The vocal minority gets the soundbytes while anyone who's really in the mix goes ignored. A story in the Lexington Herald-Leader commented that the Eight Belles tragedy has turned people off the sport. It quoted one woman who lives in Sunbury, Ohio, who said she didn't even watch the Derby because of a previous incident at a three-day eventing event. How could Eight Belles's death have turned her off if she didn't watch...
Posted by Ed, May 12, 2008 04:22 PM
So Much for the Horses
"People may not identify with a good horse, but they do know a good time" (ESPN)....
Posted by JC, Aug 21, 2007 10:55 PM
Bred to Breed, Not to Race
Or, all that's wrong with racing: "Steve Asmussen, the trainer of Curlin, was even more blunt. 'Realistically, these aren't racehorses,' he said. 'They're breeding stock, and someone lets you run them for a little while'" (NY Times). Perhaps Steven Crist's fantastical vision of "stallions-in-training sales" isn't so far off (DRF)....
Posted by JC, Aug 19, 2007 03:00 PM
Working Backwards
Asmussen, Pletcher, Nafzger -- they've all made mention recently of working backwards from the Breeders' Cup in plotting out racing schedules for their talented charges. Sherry Ross writes in the NY Daily News that the approach comes with a cost: The Breeders' Cup, designed to keep top horses in racing deeper into the calendar year, has accomplished that goal. But now it is doing it to the detriment of other quality stakes races in the months leading up to the main event. Why isn't Rags to Riches running in the Alabama on Saturday, or Curlin or Any Given Saturday in...
Posted by JC, Aug 15, 2007 07:30 AM
Sporting Greatness
Eight were inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame on Monday, including recently retired Funny Cide jockey Jose Santos, who got three standing ovations during the ceremony (DRF), and Boston-connected Triple Tiara winner Mom's Command (Herald). With 11 victories in 16 starts, the champion filly's place in the Hall of Fame is well deserved, but Bill Finley raises a good question about future equine honorees in his ESPN column: Do the stars of the modern era, a period in racing's history where the majority of top horses have had very limited campaigns -- deserve to be enshrined alongside the true...
Posted by JC, Aug 7, 2007 09:00 AM
Final 2005 Standings
The final 2005 standings .... 2YO Filly: Folklore (450) Wild Fit (320) Adieu (250) 2YO Colt: Henny Hughes (370)* First Samurai (360) Stevie Wonderboy (295) 3YO Filly: In the Gold (537.5) Summerly (365) Memorette (338.75)* 3YO Colt: Flower Alley (578.75) Sun King (417.5) Silver Train (380) Older Horse: Saint Liam (715) Borrego (490) Sir Shackleton (375) Sprint: Taste of Paradise (425) Silver Train (380) Lost in the Fog (377.5) Turf: Artie Schiller (480) Sweet Return (445) Better Talk Now (375) Filly & Mare: Ashado (560) Island Fashion (497.5) Society Selection (475) Filly & Mare Turf: Intercontinental (480) Megahertz (420) Angara...
Posted by JC, Dec 31, 2005 12:00 PM
Where Not to Go
"Hot date turns cold at Belmont Park" (Telegraph). If only the couple has gone to the Race Palace: "For a horseplayer, this is heaven" (New York Daily News)....
Posted by JC, Oct 11, 2005 04:50 PM
21st Century Racing Fans
Thursday night, I attended a book reading giving by Kevin Smokler, editor of the recently published anthology, "Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times." The collection was put together partially in response to a report released by the NEA in June 2004, "Reading at Risk," that basically claimed America was turning into a country of illiterates. "America can no longer take active and engaged literacy for granted," wrote NEA chairman Dana Gioia in the report's introduction. If something wasn't done, he warned, a "vast cultural impoverishment" was sure to result. TV, the Internet, and video games received most of the blame...
Posted by JC, Jul 9, 2005 11:40 AM
Introducing Standings
There's a new feature on the main page: weekly standings, as calculated by Patrick of Pulling Hair and Betting Horses. Patrick came up with a simple ranking system for racing that assigns points to the top three finishers (and also-rans in specific instances) of graded stakes in nine different categories, with double points for Breeders' Cup wins. Props to him for this welcome attempt at imposing objectivity and order on a sport that relies on the earnings list and a weekly racing media poll to determine its leaders, and for recruiting much of the racing blogosphere to post the standings....
Posted by JC, Jul 1, 2005 08:20 PM
Gloom and Doom
Is there something in the air? Pessimism regarding racing's future seems to be everywhere lately. John Pricci is "filled with dread" and angry that politics and moralizing do-gooders are imperiling the sport, which: ... is being assailed on all sides, from the politically expedient to an indifferent mainstream press, from an issues-challenged industry media to the backstretch cheats. Racing is a state's-rights-oriented industry that avoids when possible the mechanisms for policing itself on a national level. (MSNBC) Nick Canepa isn't feeling too cheery about the state of racing either: Horse racing as we have known it appears to be slowly...
Posted by JC, May 29, 2005 05:30 PM
Neophyte Learns Racing Secret
Play hunches. Better yet, drop the slavish devotion to playing favorites. (SF Weekly)...
Posted by JC, May 26, 2005 07:00 AM
Proud Railbird, Meaningful Cog
"I'm a railbird, proud of it. I'm proud to be a meaningful cog in the mesmerizing circus that gathers around the thoroughbred racehorse. The hours spent trackside, win or lose, are a pleasure that makes the mad calliope of daily life bearable." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)...
Posted by JC, May 13, 2005 09:35 AM
To Disclose or Not to Disclose
I'm repeating myself, reposting this Bill Finley ESPN column, but I wanted to say a little more about the issue of disclosure. What Finley writes, in the wake of the Sweet Catomine affair and owner Marty Wygod's CHRB hearing, is that when it comes to the public getting information on a horse's condition, there has to be a better system in place than the one we have now, which is, basically, the public can be damned. At the very least, when a horse undergoes any kind of surgical procedure or is shipped to a veterinary clinic for treatment, which is...
Posted by JC, Apr 27, 2005 10:30 PM
The Real Thing
"Graphic, high-quality replications of pounding horses and photo finishes at the virtual victory line amounts to a slur on Secretariat and his progeny -- not to mention on the young father I quietly watched juggling his good fortunes with a tot-filled stroller at one hand and a heavily marked tout sheet in the other. "Up from a similar gambler's bloodline, I had $10 on Dr. Rockett to win in the third at a mile and an eighth. Leading desperately down the stretch, my horse was suddenly bumped off stride by a wayward competitor, Exaggerate This, who flashed across the finish...
Posted by JC, Apr 20, 2005 10:35 AM
The Information Game
Rupert Murdoch may not be the man you think of when the subject of reforming racing comes up, but his speech last Wednesday to the American Society of Newspaper Editors is spot on in describing the technological-cultural shifts of the past decade, and what he has to say about the need to reach young people on their terms if a tradition-bound industry is to survive is as relevant to racing as it is to journalism: We need to realize that the next generation of people accessing news and information, whether from newspapers or any other source, have a different set...
Posted by JC, Apr 15, 2005 11:15 AM
Gray Areas
"To be a horse-racing fan means accepting that along with the occasional true hero and clear-cut villain comes a barn full of men and women whose true character is impossible to discern." (LA Daily News)...
Posted by JC, Apr 11, 2005 07:12 AM
A Number of Challenges
That's what racing faces in 2005, reports Bill Christine, in a lengthy article that recounts the woes of NYRA, Magna, and Churchill Downs in recent months. Federal investigations, operating losses, and tussles with the Jockeys' Guild all made 2004 difficult for the three organizations that own some of the best tracks in the United States, and there's no sign that the problems will go away this year, weakening the entire industry: "Racing, racked by empty seats and competition from other forms of gambling, is struggling because its strongest links are not that strong." (LA Times)...
Posted by JC, Mar 29, 2005 09:25 AM
The Worst Job in Sports
USA Today calls being a horse groom the worst job in sports. I don't know about that -- it sounds like being a team mascot or a urine collector is far more onerous....
Posted by JC, Feb 26, 2005 11:25 AM
Marketing Racing
How can racing attract more young people to the sport? That question comes up in a couple of recent interviews, one with handicapper Rick Lang and the other with outgoing Thoroughbred Racing Association president Joe Harper. Spend an afternoon at any track on a typical day and it's pretty clear that the industry needs to find ways to draw in more fans under 50. Harper suggests better marketing: "We need to reinvent how we present our product to the public in a way that is sexier and more appealing.... We haven't been very good at doing that." No, racing hasn't...
Posted by JC, Feb 20, 2005 11:10 AM
What's Great About Racing
"The track is not named iPod Downs. (Yet.) ... Experts are seldom right. (Being wrong with the world's best handicappers is nothing to be ashamed of.) ... You don't have to gamble. (Sit calmly and watch a race without betting a dime on it and you'll probably see things you'd have never noticed had you wagered a ten-spot.) ... Lots of tracks are old. (And charming.)" I'd add that you can talk to the players, bring your own drinks to the track, and have a chance to walk out at the end of the day no poorer than when you...
Posted by JC, Feb 8, 2005 11:05 AM
Looking Back at 2004
What a year. There was Smarty Jones' try for the Triple Crown, Azeri's thrilling victory in the Go For Wand, and Funny Cide's triumphant win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Trainer Steve Asmussen surpassed Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg's single year record of 496 wins with an amazing 554 wins, and slots came to Pennsylvania. Here in Massachusetts, the MassCap returned to Suffolk Downs, and before a crowd of more than 17,000, Funny Cide, Offlee Wild, and The Lady's Groom dueled down the stretch in one of the most exciting races at the track this year. But...
Posted by JC, Jan 5, 2005 11:15 AM
Pack the Minivan
Grab the kiddies, and head to Aqueduct. "If ever a time existed for this lowly, seedy, you'll-lose-your-family's-mortgage industry to take action, it's now. In case you missed the memo: Pop culture digs the unseemly." (ESPN)...
Posted by JC, Dec 22, 2004 08:30 AM
Time for Change
There's a general awareness that racing exists. It's just that it isn't 'cool' to be a part of it," writes Vic Zast. Racing needs a public relations campaign that'll earn the sport some attention and buzz: "It's time to stop preaching to the choir ... The biggest mistake would be for the public relations practitioners to churn out stories about jockeys and great races run. It's time for a showroom in Soho or a subservient chicken." (Blood-Horse)...
Posted by JC, Dec 2, 2004 08:05 AM
A Gamble for All
"Horse racing is a perpetual gamble, sometimes as much for insiders as for those who risk their money on the four-legged stars who can't speak for themselves," Matt Graves reminds us. (Times Union)...
Posted by JC, Dec 2, 2004 08:00 AM
All In the Bloodlines
George Rowand marvels at his teenage son's racing knowledge: "It's a weird thing, really, to have a 15-year-old son who knows more about racing than I do. After all, I spent 17 years actively in the business, and another seven preparing to be in the business. That's almost a quarter century, and along comes my son Michael, and he knows more of the nuances about today's game that his old man does. He's always saying things like, 'Do you think Azeri will win the Eclipse Award if she runs well in the Breeders' Cup Classic? What about if she runs...
Posted by JC, Dec 1, 2004 08:19 AM
No One to Stop the Crash
The lack of a national office is a perennial complaint of racing fans and horsemen, burned by widely varying state laws and industry disputes. "Nearly every other major sport has an overlord to preside over its disparate factions and intervene when conflict threatens to stop the action.... When horse racing careens toward trouble, there's no one to stop the crash." The situation isn't likely to change soon, reports Tom Keyser: "The idea of a strong, centralized office runs counter to the reality of regulation on a decentralized basis, [NTRA commissioner D.G. Van Clief Jr.] said. In other words, racing is...
Posted by JC, Nov 27, 2004 08:35 AM
Nothing New
Ron Artest's brawl with fans at the Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons game last week has the commentariat abuzz with talk of boorish sports fan behavior. But ask a jockey -- bad fans are nothing new. (Trentonian)...
Posted by JC, Nov 26, 2004 11:10 AM
The Importance of Being Audacious
"It's a crap shoot. Nothing more, nothing less. Ship your horse thousands of miles, take a deep breath and roll the dice. You never know: you might beat three, as did Nebraska Tornado on Saturday; just one, as did Mona Lisa; or none at all, the fate of Scandinavia. Or you could end up beating them all. Just like Wilko.... Wilko's triumph was one for opportunism at the expense of cold logic. It was a triumph for the have-a-go attitude that increasingly deserts those who campaign horses." (Times)...
Posted by JC, Nov 1, 2004 09:25 PM
Memories
Kevin Modesti laments the growing respectability of horseracing. "The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has announced that the sixth annual national handicapping tournament in Las Vegas in January will be televised on ESPN. The goal, obviously, is to bring horseplayers, with their speed figures and their hot tips and their hunches, out of the shadows. To take the game of picking winners and make it kind of acceptable. Well, where's the fun in that? Oh for the bad old days." (LA Daily News)...
Posted by JC, Oct 27, 2004 09:16 AM
Watching the Workouts
"But determination matters more than time. And determination's often visible, right there on the track, even through the dimness and over the distinct sounds that can seem unmoored -- yes, it's visible right there in the turn, where the horse moves smoothly and evenly as if gliding, like a sprite or perhaps some kelpie, curving with the track and then bursting into the stretch, reaching for real estate and then reaching for the wire but ultimately reaching for something more, something essential, something that must be, because it can't be anything else, self-definition." (Dallas Morning News)...
Posted by JC, Oct 22, 2004 08:55 AM
He Got It
Outgoing NYRA Chairman Barry Schwartz got racing: "The co-founder and former CEO of Calvin Klein not only grasps the sport from the rarified perspective of breeder and owner of racehorses, but he also understands the horseplayer, because he shares that passion, too. He supports rebates, can read the sheets and can put together a Pick 6 ticket." 'Tis a shame that his administration, which began with such promise, writes Paul Moran, was distracted by the mess NYRA found itself in. (Newsday)...
Posted by JC, Oct 15, 2004 08:15 AM
Racing Needs Celebrities
Like Smarty Jones, says marketing guru Laura Ries: "You need those celebrities out there. What would happen to football if Brett Favre retired at age 21? What would happen to baseball if Barry Bonds retired at age 21? ... Keep the horses on the track and out of the breeding sheds." More advice from Ries: Forget about slots. "Why put slot machines at racetracks and educate your customers to patronize the enemy?" (Blood-Horse) Related: "Van Clief says NTRA could make changes in advertising" (Thoroughbred Times)...
Posted by JC, Sep 29, 2004 01:44 PM
Good News
"Horse racing continues to gain ground in popularity and measures up very well compared with other major league sports, according to the latest information from the ESPN Sports Poll. The horse racing fan base among the United States population ages 18 and older went 31.4% in 1999 to 37.7% for the first seven months of 2004, according to the data." Plus: "The number of avid fans overall increased 38% from 2002-2004.... 48 million Americans indicated they are interested in going to the races. That number is up from 34.8 million in a 2003 survey." (Blood-Horse)...
Posted by JC, Sep 27, 2004 08:59 PM
A Cynical Take
On the relations between fans and racing executives: "Go to any racetrack in America and you will hear the same weary complaints. The programs are too expensive, the food is lousy, the service is worse, the tellers are surly, the fields are too short, the horses aren't any good ... and why in God's name do they persist in charging people to get in? "When you raise your voice, the people who run the joint dismiss you as a loser, the thinking being that if you cashed a ticket every now and then you wouldn't be so bitter, the implication...
Posted by JC, Sep 26, 2004 04:15 PM
A Genuine Horseplayer
"Gerry Ahnstrom is a horseplayer. Eighty-one years young, she has attended the racetrack with ferocious regularity for more than 70 years." And don't interrupt her when she's handicapping, writes Larry Lee Palmer. "Years ago, I made the mistake of bugging her as she was perusing an upcoming race.... Without taking her eye off the Form, she said tersely, 'Can't you see I'm trying to play the races?' I slunk away feeling like a mouse knee-deep in Cheez Whiz." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)...
Posted by JC, Sep 18, 2004 09:30 AM
Attendance Obsession "Silly"
As usual, Steven Crist is right. "The obsession with attendance is more than a silly deception. It encourages tracks to concoct ... schemes to pump up their gate numbers, distracting focus and resources from meaningful improvements that might someday have a legitimate effect on true interest and participation." (Daily Racing Form)...
Posted by JC, Sep 10, 2004 06:45 AM
Looking Into the Future
Imagine where Thoroughbred racing might be in 20 years. (Blood-Horse)...
Posted by JC, Aug 24, 2004 08:50 PM
Needed: One Bugler
Lone Star Park is looking for a bugler to play the "Call to Post" before each race during the Breeders' Cup meeting this October. Auditions will be held on September 1. Appointments are encouraged; walk-ups are welcome. (Thoroughbred Times)...
Posted by JC, Aug 23, 2004 01:15 PM
Wagering Down, Purses Up
The NTRA's second quarter report on racing economic indicators released this week shows mixed numbers: "Total wagering declined marginally from $4,113,889,920 to $4,110,567,732 (-.08%).... Purses, which showed a one percent drop in first-quarter 2004 over the prior year, rebounded strongly, showing a 2.86 percent increase ($292,902,564 to $284,769,311) over the comparable quarter in 2003." (San Francisco Chronicle)...
Posted by JC, Jul 22, 2004 08:10 PM
Del Mar Delights
Sure, the racing at Saratoga is superior, concedes Jay Privman in the Daily Racing Form, but of the two summer meets, it's Del Mar by far that's the more fun. Related: "Del Mar kicks off its 43-day season" (ESPN), and "Racing now riding high" (San Diego Union-Tribune)....
Posted by JC, Jul 20, 2004 05:10 PM
A Day at the Races
The Morning News guys spend a day at Belmont....
Posted by JC, Jul 15, 2004 10:00 AM
Needed: Young Bettors
Saying the "current customer pool had just about reached its betting limit," New Zealand racing board chairman Warren Larsen told delegates to the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing annual meeting that racing needs young fans and it needs them now. No surprise -- young people surveyed by the board expressed distaste for the seedy atmosphere of betting outlets, an irritation at the lack of information on betting, and wanted to see better food service and improved facilities (Otago Daily Times). Comment: It's not just the youth of New Zealand who feel this way. I think of the amenities at Suffolk, and...
Posted by JC, Jul 12, 2004 08:10 PM
The Dog Days of Racing
"There's another feeling of nothingness in the air as racing trudges its way through this summer.... Few know and few care who wins races like the Suburban Handicap, the Hollywood Gold Cup, the United Nations, the Arlington Million or any of the Grade I events that dot the summer schedule." A few owners and breeders are working to change that, Bill Finley reports (ESPN)....
Posted by JC, Jul 7, 2004 05:15 PM
So That Was Smarty's Problem
It was the lack of distance races that cost Smarty Jones the Triple Crown, writes Earl Ola in the Blood-Horse. What the sport needs are more races 1 1/2 to 2 miles long, not fewer. What's all this emphasis on speed, anyway?...
Posted by JC, Jul 7, 2004 05:10 PM
Out of Sight ...
"Racing's desperate mission this summer is keeping Smarty Jones alive," writes Stan Bergstein in today's Daily Racing Form. Not alive, of course -- Smarty's doing just fine, but alive in the public mind. It's racing's perpetual challenge. Too bad for trainers and tracks and fans alike -- unlike human stars, horses don't have wardrobe malfunctions, knock down paparazzi, or check themselves into rehab. If only! Think of the headlines. Tangentially: "The good sports behind Azeri's return" (ESPN)....
Posted by JC, Jun 30, 2004 08:20 AM
Good News/Bad News
Bay Meadows attendance up, handle down (Daily Racing Form). One thing that pops out in this article is the mention of the Memorial Day crowd, which, at more than 11,000 fans, was the largest single-day crowd at Bay Meadows since 1993. Hm ... the Belmont Stakes crowd this year was also record breaking, and the attendance at Suffolk for the MassCap was the largest ever at more than 17,000. Is there a trend here? Perhaps racing's future isn't as bleak as commonly believed (Boston Globe)....
Posted by JC, Jun 23, 2004 08:50 PM
Same Old
Just another Monday at Suffolk -- small crowd, small pools, quiet in the grandstand. What a change from Saturday, when more than 17,000 fans turned out for the big race, live music played, Japanese journalists wandered the clubhouse, and owners filled the paddock. Of course, it's not just Suffolk -- tracks all over struggle with low and declining attendance (Washington Post), with only a few posting gains (Thoroughbred Times). Related: Poor Funny Cide (Daily Racing Form). He drew a standing ovation from the grandstand crowd on Saturday and was competitive to the end of the MassCap, but Mike Watchmaker won't...
Posted by JC, Jun 21, 2004 04:50 PM
Yankees Suck!
Here's an interesting idea (Blood-Horse)....
Posted by JC, Jun 19, 2004 07:55 AM
