All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

jmewill — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:56:10 GMT

Yeah, the "GO BABY GO" has crash landed. It started ok but where is the daily publicity we need so desperately? When a big horse breaks down everyone has it shoved in their faces, we are all cast as heartless crooks(even those of us who don't abuse medications), PETA jumps up and rears it's ugly uninformed head and that about all anyone hears about racing...Most days you are luck to find more than a small paragraph of coverage in a newspaper and forget the tv news. I heard not on word about the recent 17 in a row win of Pepper's Pride, but I guess Big BRown ripping half his hoof off in a workout will guarantee a paragraph somewhere or maybe a five second story on the nightly news if no baseball players did crack today. Someone needs to step up and fix things or we all die with racing. Let's face it I hate people and much prefer the company of horses and my husband was a jockey and galloped horses all of his life, Where else are we going to find jobs to support or three children? people like us are the backbone of racing and we are the ones who will never be considered when it is time to save racing and bring it back to it's once elevated stature. It's all about the money and the gambling, which you won't have without the people and the horses. Fans need to meet these people, humanize racing to them, you forget alot of fans think racing is about numbers and its more about the horses and the people. There are no machines in baseball and football, the public needs to know we don't think of the horses as machines either. Larry Jones did racing the biggest favor(at the worst possible time for him)by being human and crying and showing America EB was a special being to him and not a machine and to do it with the class that he showed was what everone needed to see. One day he's on top of the world, just won the Kentucky Oaks, has a great filly run second in the Derby and in a flash it's all gone and he's just a man in a tragic situation, and he never blamed anyone. All he wanted to do was go back to her stall and cry for her. And to remain composed in the face of accusations that she was on steroids and all the morons from PETA. He should be racings greatest hero and we need to find more like him they ARE there. We don't always have to look too hard for them, Richard Mandella is there day after day after day after day... Kathy Walsh who gave a horse time off rather than push him to a Derby win, I bet mrs. Walsh would have loved to go to the Derby, but not at the cost of the horse's well being. Getting the fans to see the people behind the scenes and start rooting for them because they identify with them on a personal level of some sort is what the sport needs.What DO we need to do, get the horses publicists?

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Bellwether — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:55:04 GMT

they(NTRA)will change...see CHANGE is the watchword of PROGRESSION...progress is something Horse Racing has shunned...its CHANGING as we speak & heading back to the TOP of the sports world where it belongs!!!...KEEP THE DIRT!!!

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

had it — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:48:45 GMT

Here it is. One more study that no one will do anything about. Can anybody name 5 tangibles that the NTRA had implemented besides big salaries for the same old staff with different titles. If they won't support the ban on inhumane transport, and try to protect the ones who put on the show (horses), what makes us expect any other positives.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Yet Another Pissed Fan!!! — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:02:45 GMT

HERE, HERE!!

When in the pluperfect heck are we going to get some TV coverage?!?!?! I tried to get satellite, but am blocked by the neighbors trees, so am forced to rely on cable. And with the no-neck frat boy jocks who run ESPN these days, if it ain't football, it ain't on ESPN. 5 lousy minutes for Curlin's last 2 races--give me a freakin' break! Now I saw races last weekend--and Randy Moss made a point of telling us that the deal for Woodbine to get back in the game as a Breeders' Cup prep was TV coverage. HELL-O?!!?! Is the light bulb beginning to glow yet, NTRA? The lack of TV coverage of major races through the year borders on criminal. How in the world do you expect to attract AND KEEP fans without it? 10 years ago, you had a couple of the big college matchups on TV on Sat--now it's on all the network channels and all the ESPN channels and you can even pay $$$$ to get the games that aren't on those channels. And everybody at work follows the season and pick teams so the loser can treat the winner to lunch the next week. Holy Cow, Batman! What a concept! MAYBE if you started televising something other than the TC & BC, you may (now here's a concept) BUILD A FAN BASE!!!! I'm even old enough to remember back when the whole country did not go ga-ga for the Super Bowl. It was just the last game in the season to figure out who was the champion for that year. But the NFL really MARKETED their product, got TV coverage, advertised-advertised-advertised, and guess what (now this is where you need to pay attention NTRA!!!!!).....EVERYBODY plans get-togethers and parties around the event and people who don't even care about football are watching the game and rooting for a team. The truly sad thing--a whole bunch of people were totally astounded when Laura Hillebrand unearthed the story of Seabiscuit and related how the whole country came to a halt for the match race with War Admiral. I just don't see that happening in this day and age--because we have an invisible sport. Go to any other country and guess what? You can watch DAILY horse racing on the regular TV--and you don't even have to pay for satellite OR cable. Now, there's a concept. Never happen here, but MAYBE THE NTRA SHOULD GET AFTER EVERY CABLE COMPANY TO MAKE SURE TVG & HRTV IS PART OF THEIR SPORTS PACKAGE!!!!! I get the Golf Channel and the Tennis Channel, and I never even asked for them. But I can't get a horse racing channel? Just me asking Time-Warner for it is never going to work. This is where the NTRA could actually possibly earn their overinflated salaries for doing absolutely nothing since they were formed.

OK--I think I beat the TV angle to death. I'll now jump on the bandwagon with everyone else and say--get over your individual fiefdom mentality and band together and have a single NATIONAL governing body. Unfortunately, with the egos involved, I just don't see this happening. Seems like you guys missed out on your civics courses in grade school--does the term "united we stand, divided we fall" ring a bell with you guys running horse racing in this country? I thought not! Get a clue, bozos!!

I began subscribing to The Blood Horse back in 1975 (ah, Ruffian!) and have TRIED to keep involved. I never lived in a town that had a race track, so to see races I would have to travel. But you know, I did it because I loved watching races horses run. A friend & I would go up to Saratoga for a week--no mean feat when you live in California!--and saw many good horses, including Go For Wand winning the Alabama. I even talked a friend into coming to visit for the weekend when I lived in Milwaukee & they were in northern Virginia so we could go down to Arlington Park to see the races that weekend. I drove 2 hrs to get to Santa Anita to see Ferdinand beat Alysheba in the San Bernardino at Santa Anita. I made the trip to see John Henry battle down the stretch and win his 2nd Big Cap by DQ. But it just got to be too hard because I couldn't afford to make those trips more than once a year and once ESPN dropped the weekly horse racing show, I just lost interest. I was even considering whether I should bother with the expense of my Blood Horse subscription. And then Barbaro came along. I hadn't even bothered to watch the Florida Derby that year, which in previous years I had never missed. So I was rooting for him to win the Derby solely because he was trained by Michael Matz. Then I actually saw him on TV and my jaw dropped. And then he blew away the field. I had a friend call me to talk about the race--and I hadn't heard from her in years. The Preakness was such a tremendous heartbreak because here was a horse that brought back the thrill & excitement of racing as I knew it back during the heady days of the 70s. But it got me back to paying attention to racing once again, after I had almost given up. So if you don't want to lose me again, you guys need to make some big changes. And since it's always easiest eating the elephant one bite at a time, why don't you guys focus on something you can do--like get TV coverage of races into every home that you possibly can.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

s lee — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:17:41 GMT

What is remarkable (and sad) to me is that the NTRA had to HIRE somebody to TELL them their fan base is "pissed".

The head honchos of the NTRA at every track, the owners and the trainers need to come down out of the luxury boxes and walk through the cheap seats - talk to the people who come to the races on any given Thursday afternoon AND on Breeder's Cup Day and find out what they want. This happens at Saratoga! I've met the most amazing people at the rail on a weekday.

ESPN and other broadcasters also need to get their act together - and the NTRA should demand they do it. Either they're covering horse racing or they're not. It took over 4 hours, 4 HOURS for them to put Curlin's win in the Woodward on the crawl. I must have not been the only one to complain because his JCGC win showed up on the update in less than an hour. Curlin is a superstar and he's mentioned as an afterthought? Come on boys.

And advertising for the Breeder's Cup? How many commercials have you seen? The All-Star Game is promoted 8 weeks out. So is the Super Bowl. Brag about your product!!!!!! This isn't rocket science! Design 1 commercial for each race - show the big American contenders and the wonderful horses coming from overseas. This is a great product, so SELL IT THAT WAY!!

Put it another way - if you, the NTRA, don't care enough about the sport to put on the best show and the best face and provide the best information, why should anybody else care?

"Pissed"? You bet we are.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Bellwether — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:52:41 GMT

there is one thing for sure about T-Bred & Standardbred Horse Racing in Amercia...it has NOT had a REEL PROMOTOR(must have pure PASSION for THE game)for a very very long time...well that is about to CHANGE BABY...Long Live Mother Earth!!!

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Richard R — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:56:06 GMT

"• Solution: SocialSphere created and executed Web 2.0 strategy for the industry, local racetracks, and other stakeholder groups. Our efforts included a social media audit, a blog strategy, and e-mail marketing optimization, with more to come."

LOL LOL LOL Then I cry.

Let's park the gobbledygook and try KISS: Reduce racing days. Increase field sizes. Reduce takeout. Eliminate breakage. Apply the "Three Strikes" rule to cheaters. Include horseplayers on committees, advisory boards, BOD's, yada, yada.

Why is this so hard?

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

bill — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:09:38 GMT

One little thing tracks could do to increase handle is to minimize the amount of money lost due to bettors being "shut out" from placing a bet at the "last minute". Why not make available PDA's programmed to accept wagers to anyone who wants one? I've often thought about this while standing in line at the last minute trying to get in a bet. I'm sure there are problems with implementing this idea, but the potential payoff would be worth the time and money it would take to make it a reality.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Bellwether — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:53:34 GMT

well Bellwether has been @ it for five years...first move is a BEAUTIFUL CAROUSEL...MERRY-GO-ROUND(built in Amercia BUY Amercian Hands) @ all the tracks that can afford one...those that can't can lease one from us FOR a FAIR PRICE to help those that help us put the SHOWS ON...U GOTTA LOVE IT...Long Live The HORSE!!!...GET BUSY...we are...

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Kateinabox — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:30:35 GMT

I have been interested in the industry since the 8th grade, when I started to subscribe to the Blood-Horse. You can thank Silver Charm & Bob Baffert for that. I am in Japan right now. Working on my language skills and going to the racetrack every chance I get. Which is minimum, once a week. But I try to go twice. You would be SHOCKED the number of people that go to races here. I was at a G1 race last weekend... You would have thought it was the Kentucky Derby. But it was just a G1 Sprint race. And G2 & G3 races pull large crowds as well, even on days where there is no graded stakes the people are at LEAST double what you would get at a US track. Not quite the same as the G1 but crowds that would make any track manager in the states weep with joy.

I am trying to study the racing industry here. I want to know why going to the racetrack here is a fun thing for young people to do as a DATE! Families bring their children of all ages to the track for a day long event of family fun. Sure you have your old men camped out by the betting windows, sitting in front of the simulcasting window. But the age diversity is astounding here. They have ads on all major TV stations, they have turned the infields into children centers (jumpy castles, games, places for families to picnic). And weekend on their main TV network they have a program that plays the days stakes races. They are organized in such a way that they can be broadcast one after the other. They have a system where you can bet from your cellphone here. And the admission is only $2!!! There are 2 governing bodies here the Japanese Racing Association (JRA) and the National Association of Racing (NAR). JRA operates the big tracks national tracks (10 tracks), the ones that get global attention. While the NAR manages the local tracks (20 tracks), though Ohi racetrack(in Tokyo) has a sister track relation with Santa Anita. Then there are other organizations that deal with Breeding, Jockeys, etc. But they only have 2 unifying bodies. Japan might be smaller than California but it has more racetracks. And so many other countries have similar structures. It's time the states sucked it up and accepted that for the sport to survive they might have to loosen up a bit and let someone else take over and ORGANIZE!

There is hope. It can be done. But like many things in the US... there is a lot of talk about change... but it never actually seems to happen. We need to buckle down. The first few years of any major reform will be hard on everyone. But for every one's LONG TERM security and happiness it has to happen. Horse racing is exciting, historical, and cheap to attend (other sporting event tickets cost a whole lot more). All very very marketable things.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Ken Woodall — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:20:17 GMT

"The company’s “confidential and proprietary report” led Chamblin to his comments

“confidential and proprietary report”= the problem.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

CTayala — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:53:46 GMT

If the media was to blame for getting the "casual" fans upset over Eight Belles's breakdown--what does the racing industry want from them? Are they supposed to give great coverage for important races, but suddenly shut the cameras off when something happens that the NTRA wants to hide? Media coverage is meant to show the whole story--not just the good parts.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

FSF — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:54:01 GMT

I probably fit in the "younger demographic" that they're interested in attracting- I'm 29, and have gotten my ACC-basketball loving husband interested enough in racing that he'll sit down for an hour and watch a race program on ESPN on a Saturday. Taking him to Saratoga was a huge help (who WOULDN'T love racing after a sunny August day there??)

I think the article got one fact right that drives me crazy about the sport- the lack of TV coverage of important races. How is it possible that we had multiple races with Curlin/Big Brown running this summer and fall, and they were nowhere to be seen on TV? Living in Michigan, having satellite television doesn't make any sense (weather issues) so I can't get HRTV, TVG, etc. Growing up, I remember fondly "wide world of sports" broadcasts of big races. I would say ESPN does an ok job of covering races (thank god they got rid of Kenny Main and replaced him with a crew that knows something about horses), but it definitely doesn't satisfy my appetite for more. I actually want to give credit to Bloodhorse.com, because it is definitely my source for watching all the races I wish I could see online. Growing up in NY, I spent countless hours watching "Horses 'n' Courses" on the OTB channel, and the daily race replays on MSG; since I've lived in other parts of the country (South and Midwest) I've never found a comparable daily source of racing on non-satellite TV.

For people to learn to love the sport, they need to be able to see it, and it needs to be easy for them to do so.

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Bellwether — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:21:38 GMT

ps...Alex & the HOLE game needs to get behind US(we have put together one hell of a team here) & help us pull this off NOW...we WILL HELP bring OUR National Treasure back to the top of the sports world where it belongs!!!...LLTK!!!

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

STEVE STONE — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:14 GMT

Hello Dan....Perhaps one of your op-ed readers can answer an question for me..Every race track in the country has an public relations..marketing and advertising staff..all tantamount of course to the size of the track and in most instances..an attendant advertising agency whom will create their local radio/tv spots..and print campaigns... Now unless I am incorrect...what are these in-house race track publicity functions doing in order to promote and advertise their own meetings to their local marketplace? Isn't that their primary function to keep alive and viable their meeting to their fan base? They are supposedly the gurus of the industry and should be out there selling racing...the track..all of the stars..including the equine athletes..which is the most vital component...the riders..owners...trainers...and so forth...Thats their primary function...Thats their mission...Bottom line...To listen to Social Sphere Strategies articulate on racing ills..is nothing more than recylcing old newspapers....Everyone in the industry is cognizant of the myriad of problems...The central problem simply is that nothing has ever been done to remediate them...If it weren't for the Eight Belles tragedy..probably Social Sphere et al would be an non-entity in racing..Of course the core fan base is upset..And they have every right to be..So kindly tell me please....Why don't the individual race tracks themselves take charge of this situation and execute their role as "rainmakers"..in their own respective marketplace...thats what they are there for...and getting paid to do so..Are they that incompetant???...I still am non-plussed as to what the mission of the NTRA is..Originally it was spawned to promote the sport overall...nationally...gain greater visibility...`TV..Print...increase the fan base..new and younger...They have obviously altered their direction since they were spawned years ago.......If the theme line "GO BABY GO" is the best they can create in order to promote the sport.....then racing is really in deep trouble...more than we think its in...Thank you always Dan for the window and another insightful op-ed piece..Warmest regards always.. ..Steve Stone..East Hanover..New Jersey

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Alex'sBigFan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:42:25 GMT

"Core", there's your key word NTRA. Go back to the very "core" of thoroughbred racing and what you have are two key elements to success, the horse and the fan. Both need to be well taken care of; i.e. clean up the drug/steroid issues, promote and publish results and studies on polytrack, pro-ride, synthetic surfaces, promote horse safety, and make the fan feel "important." Why not a Meet Big Brown promotion that NYRA was kicking around? Why can't that adrenalin and frenzy that America experiences at Derby time be present at every major stakes race? Market, market, market!!! Top horses and jockeys have to become household names via tv commercials or coverage. They need to capture new market segments; do you know how many children I saw at the Haskell at Monmouth this year; a lot!!! Tie music in at the races; Monmouth is a master at it. Awareness is the key to capturing mainstream America and those new marketing segments. Marketing savvy and unification will save the industry.

Thoroughbred racing is a glorious sport, so I say make your next sports hero an equine athlete!!!

re: All Aboard - by Dan Liebman

Scott — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:51:14 GMT

Yes we need new image. I have learned on simple thing in life. You do the same thing, you get the same results. Our money comes from the same place, gambling. We need a new source. The first step is individual sponsorship. Jockeys need to get their agents and find them some sponsors. Local and national. Then the trainers could come out and show their colors (Dutrow, you stay in the closet). Baffert, Zito, and others are colorful people. Could you see Ed Gaudet(for people who know him) advertising a local auto dealership. This would be very funny. Now we have individuals in the public eye, and hopefully generating interest in horse racing. Then we could sell horse racing signals, and not just betting. You might be able to sell reserved seating once again at racetracks. And thank you Mr. Jackson for Curlin. Hope to see him on the track in 2009. He could be our Secretariat. This is not an overnight solution, but could be a long term one.