Kentucky Confidential
There’s always a thrill in announcing a new project, and I couldn’t be more excited to announce this one, which has quickly grown from a small idea into something surprising — introducing Kentucky Confidential, a website dedicated to covering the 2011 Kentucky Derby inside, outside, and all around. We’ll begin publishing on April 26 and run through May 9. Read our press release (PDF), or better yet, visit our Kickstarter page for all the details and a terrific video introduction featuring my collaborator John Scheinman, as shot by contributor and filmmaker Jeff Krulik.
We’re taking a different approach to Derby coverage. We won’t be competing on breaking news, or workout analysis, or bloggy commentary. Instead, we’ll be treating the Derby “as the greatest storytelling platform in American sports,” digging into unusual stats and Derby history, bringing readers the overlooked and unexpected through long-form writing and guerrilla video. There will be contender updates and handicapping — but there’ll also be dives through Louisville nightlife and wild tales from the backstretch.
Scheinman and I have lined up a great bunch of contributors. In addition to Krulik, who will be producing a video Derby diary, Pete Denk, Claire Novak, Brendan O’Meara, and a legendary turf journalist (an award-winning name so big we can’t reveal it) will be writing for Kentucky Confidential. Scott Serio and his band at Eclipse Sportswire will be doing the photography.
A big thanks to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, which has signed on as a charter sponsor. We’re delighted to have their support!
We can also use your support, and that’s where Kickstarter, a platform that lets people back creative projects and get rewards for doing so, comes in. We’re using Kickstarter to help raise funds to cover costs, and we’re offering great perks to pledgers. You can back us for any amount — and only if the project is fully funded by its end date will we get the money. It’s neat — you can’t lose! If we’re not funded, you’re not out anything. If we do get funded — you’ll get Kentucky Confidential and the sort of turf writing and video you want to see online, plus premiums such as an exclusive Twitter feed, a commemorative DVD or magazine, or an autographed photograph.
I’ll leave it to Scheinman to tell you more –
Follow Kentucky Confidential: We’re on Facebook and Twitter.
Thanks, too, Hello Race Fans! We’re partnering with our friends at that site to make fan education part of the Derby experience.
12:30 PM Update: Claire Novak writes about Kentucky Confidential on NTRA:
In this modern world of instantaneous information, the pursuit of coverage as a literary art often falls by the wayside. Quality control is compromised. Overproduction threatens the writer’s creativity. Originality is a dying pursuit. Publishing venues are also vanishing, and the interest in writing on racing in general has declined. But there are still places that seek out and feature excellent literature and unique work, and I’m pleased to introduce one of them – Kentucky Confidential, a new online magazine with a strong emphasis on high-quality literary coverage of this year’s Kentucky Derby.
This really gets to the heart of why we’re working on Kentucky Confidential — it’s a space for the sort of reflective, original turf journalism that’s been squeezed out of so many publications. Please consider supporting the site — our content will be free, whether you pledge or not, but if you do back us, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve helped sustain a true craft (as well as the pleasure of reading the great content you helped create).
Quick Links, Impressions
- Back for one day only, Blinkers Off reports on the Joe Hirsch memorial held today at Belmont and the Thursday visit of Woolley and Borel to the NYSE.
- Google seems to be sending many people here in search of Belmont undercard information: For more on those five intriguing races, please visit Foolish Pleasure and Superfecta, both of whom have written superb round-ups of the racing this Friday and Saturday.
- Other than the Belmont Stakes, the two races I’m most interested in are the Manhattan Handicap, in which Better Talk Now, winless since the 2007 Manhattan, attempts to become the first 10-year-old to score a G1 victory, and the Woody Stephens, which has drawn a deep field of interesting 3-year-old sprinters, including two undefeated starters (Hull and Everyday Heroes), Hello Broadway (running blinkers off again), and Regal Ransom, making his first start since finishing eighth in the Derby. With its likely compressed odds, this might be more of a race to watch then play for me. Regal Ransom, one of my Derby picks, is coupled with Everyday Heroes and little tempts as a 2-1 morning line favorite; Munnings, making his second start following a sharp second-place finish in a Churchill Downs allowance, is a sound alternate pick, but probably not at 4-1.
- As for the Belmont, like Steve Haskin, I’ve become smitten with Mine That Bird, the little gelding who left me stunned and confused on the first Saturday in May. Watching the Derby winner at Belmont this rainy morning confirmed for me he’s ready to run again. Not only did he appear to glide smoothly over the sloppy surface, he looked fresh (especially as he came off the track), as though the rigors of the past five weeks have left him untouched. And while he was for the most part well behaved as he was being bathed and walked, Mine That Bird couldn’t resist a bit of playful bucking as he was led around the shedrow. “It’ll take a good horse to beat him this Saturday,” jockey Calvin Borel said on Thursday, and I saw nothing today to make me doubt the rider’s words.
- Chip Woolley, who hasn’t followed his rider’s lead in making any bold predictions, was also looking well this morning, at ease with the media crowd and speaking confidently about tomorrow. “I got a great colt and he shows up every time,” said the trainer. “We’re ready.”
- Is it possible that Mine That Bird will go post not as the favorite? Or better than 2-1? In at least one poll, the Derby winner is tied with Charitable Man.
Moving On
That’s the theme of this latest Railbird makeover. Over the past two days, I’ve migrated the site to a new web host, installed WordPress to maintain the blog in place of Movable Type, and adopted a stripped down look. But the biggest change is that Railbird, as it was, has been permanently archived. That blog, which began in June 2004 and ran through December 2008, is no longer online. This fresh site, this first post, is the new Railbird.
Racing will still be my focus, but it is no longer my obsession, which is what Railbird version 1 was all about — over the years I maintained the blog I went from newly engaged passionate fan to backstretch worker, dedicated handicapper to industry employee, blogger to revitalized writer. Those were the arcs that iteration of the site traced, and the blog came to a natural conclusion last fall after I returned from Saratoga. And although I attempted to keep the site going, it was clear to me (and I’d bet most longtime visitors) that the blog was done and other projects and interests were claiming most of my attention. So, Railbird version 2 — still about the horses, but also about media and technology, and especially about the nexus between those and the horse racing industry. I may not be racing-crazed anymore, but there’s still plenty I want to say about the game. I’ll also be posting more about what I’m doing elsewhere.
From launch to archiving, Railbird v1 amassed more than 1900 posts and 1100 comments, which add up to a 3.2MB plain text file and more than 420,000 words. I didn’t count the links contained, but the number is surely in the thousands. To all those who have visited and supported the site, and especially to all the friends, colleagues, and conspirators I met through blogging, thank you. It’s been a pleasure. I hope you’ll stick around for whatever happens next here.
About
Jessica Chapel is a writer, editor, and web producer living in Massachusetts. Railbird is a thoroughbred horse racing blog published since June 2004. More ›
Elsewhere
Find Jessica on Pinboard, Railbird on LibraryThing, Facebook, and Twitter.
Etc.
Links
Search
Boston Racing
Spreadsheets/Data
← Home
Copyright © 2000-2012 by Jessica Chapel. All rights reserved.
Site credits: WordPress / DePo Skinny Theme / Dreamhost.