JC / Railbird

Media/TV/Film Archive

All the News That’s Fit to Print

Word count of the one article in the Sunday New York Times sports section on yesterday’s five grade one stakes races at Belmont: 532
Word count of an article in the same section summing up Saturday Ivy League football action: 536

Posted in Media/TV/Film on October 2, 2005

Making Sense of TVG

So, I’ve had TVG for two days now and in that time it has mostly delighted me, occasionally angered me, and sometimes — like now — confounded me. Harness racing at Hawthorne is on, showing to the strains of “Movin’ On Up,” which was preceded by “Gimme a Break” and “Good Times.” That’s right — sitcom theme songs. And I thought the dentist office muzak playing yesterday afternoon was bad. What gives with the bizarre musical accompaniment?

Posted in Media/TV/Film on June 15, 2005

Wygod, Canani Don’t Deserve All the Blame

Only after Sweet Catomine finished a poor fifth in the Santa Anita Derby as the 4-5 favorite did owner Marty Wygod reveal that the filly had bled in a workout less than a week before the race and then spent two days in an equine clinic. (LA Times) “I was 50-50 about running her. I was thinking about scratching,” he told reporters after the Santa Anita. The debate over how much disclosure trainers, owners, and tracks owe to fans regarding a horse’s condition is sure to be a hot one for the next week or two. But let’s not put all the responsibility on a horse’s connections. Wygod and trainer Julio Canani aren’t the only ones to blame here:

So, Tim Layden, a working journalist, had information of interest to the public. And he choose to hold it until after the race.
Jay Privman, in his Daily Racing Form article on the Santa Anita, notes that, “None of this [about Sweet Catomine’s bleeding or other problems] was disclosed by Wygod or trainer Julio Canani when asked specifically about the filly’s condition on Wednesday.”
Did Privman ask about Sweet Catomine’s condition on Wednesday — when he did apparently see the filly and subsequently reported on a minor foot problem — because he had an inkling, or heard a rumor that something more was going on with her?
Is it possible that the Santa Anita Derby favorite was vanned off the backstretch for two days’ treatment and that there was no buzz picked up by a reporter — that no writer for the DRF, the LA Times, or the LA Daily News, that no stringer for Blood-Horse or Thoroughbred Times didn’t hear something, didn’t get one little whisper from another trainer or a track official and then didn’t stop by the barn to ask a question or two?
Maybe it is. After 10 months of keeping this blog and reading around 20 newspapers and magazines daily, plus checking with Google news, and a couple of forums, etc, I’ve learned that much contemporary racing journalism is not of the most investigative or aggressive variety. Every Tuesday, for instance, the NTRA hosts a teleconference for the media, and every Wednesday morning, from the Blood-Horse to the Courier-Times to the LA Times, you can read articles that sound remarkably similar, all using the same quotes from the same people. It’s not uncommon to see thinly-disguised rewritten stable notes and press releases published, or to see the same bland Associated Press story run in 15 different places. Rumors are rarely checked out. Clarifications are rarely sought. Problems are reported — after the fact. That has to end. Racing journalists and publications owe it to fans — and to the industry — to be more assertive in their reporting. Wygod and Canani deserve to be called out for not revealing Sweet Catomine’s health problems (and for running the filly if she was so compromised), but racing journalists need to step up and do their jobs too — following leads, asking hard questions, and reporting the news, good and bad.

Posted in Media/TV/Film on April 10, 2005

Dream Derby: The Finale

“American Dream Derby,” GSN’s racing-related reality show, stages a live finale episode at Santa Anita tonight starting at 7 p.m. (Eastern Time). Only three contestants remain of the original 12, and they’re three of the most annoying — Eric, LeVar, and Sara — that appeared on the show. I admit to tuning out after the second week — there just wasn’t enough racing action or horse drama to keep my interest — but think it might be worth checking in this evening to catch the race that’ll decide the winner. The American Dream Derby Stakes is the final post at Santa Anita today.
2/22 Follow-up: And the winner is … Deanna Manfredi, a longshot in last night’s show. Her horse, Avenueofknowledge, won the $35,000 Dream Derby on Santa Anita’s sloppy main track. Manfredi won $250,000 and a stable of eight horses, seven of which she plans to send to Philadelphia Park to be trained by Scott Lake. Avenueofknowledge will remain in California with trainer Howard Zucker.

Posted in Media/TV/Film on February 21, 2005