Railbird 2004–2019

Racing Archive

2017 Eclipse-Winning Work Reuses 2010 Text

https://twitter.com/railbird/status/948691159311945731

It was announced on Wednesday that Daily Racing Form photographer Barbara Livingston was the winner of the 2017 Eclipse Multimedia Award for her March 24, 2017 piece, “Chasing Man o’ War’s Ghost.” Livingston has written about Man o’ War at least twice previously for DRF, and her 2017 piece opened with a striking bit of text, a note from a friend:

You told me when we were friends (age 9) that you had Man O Wars blood in you … and I believed you bc u ran really fast and could whinny like a horse.

This is the same note from a friend that begins Livingston’s 2010 post, “Man o’ War — the final portrait,” about the great horse’s last picture:

You told me when we were friends (age 9) that you had Man O Wars blood in you….and I believed you bc u ran really fast and could whinny like a horse.

The similarities did not end with that one little note.

The first paragraph of the 2017 piece is the third paragraph of the 2010 post:

For me, there is one Big Red and he was born a hundred years ago, on March 29, 1917. If others of the same nickname preceded him, they were simply opening acts. Anyone since? Call them Big Red all you want, but, to me, they are imposters.

From there, a comparison of both posts reveals that almost all of the 2010 post has been repurposed, with some rearranging, into the 2017 piece. You can view highlighted screenshots of the 2010 post and the 2017 version. Note: The 2017 screenshot is cropped to only highlight the text copied from the 2010 post, it is not the full text of the 2017 story. To view the full text of both posts on DRF, click/tap this link for 2010 and this link for 2017.

Reusing or republishing content is not unheard of in media — pieces written for one outlet may get republished in another. A publication might republish an older work made freshly relevant, or a writer may return to an older work to expand or revise it. In most instances, when this happens, the work is accompanied by a note that indicates that it was originally published elsewhere, previously published on a certain date, or that it has been revised. This is attribution, and it’s a practice that avoids the appearance of an ethical issue — deceiving your audience about the provenance of a work.

There is no such attribution on the 2017 Man o’ War piece regarding the use of 2010 copy, nor is there a link to the 2010 post, either of which would have covered DRF and Livingston against the charge of what seems to have happened here — Livingston reused her 2010 post as the basis of the 2017 multimedia piece, which has now won an Eclipse Award.

So, what’s the problem with reusing your own work, without attribution, aka self-plagiarizing? It’s lazy, for one thing. It also does your audience a disservice, passing off older work as original. And in this case, such substantial reuse may also be against the rules of the Eclipse media awards, which state that entries “must have been published or aired for the first time between November 14, 2016 and November 16, 2017.”

Alerted to the reuse, Keith Chamblin at the NTRA said on Thursday:

We have reached out for input from Daily Racing Form, which submitted the entry for Eclipse consideration, and will be discussing the situation with the Eclipse Awards Steering Committee today.

I’ll update this post when there’s a resolution to the discussion.

1/8/18: After consideration, no change.

– – – – – 

Related reading:

In 2012, New Yorker writer Jonah Lehrer was caught reusing his work. The recycled text was first picked up by Jim Romenesko, launching a debate about self-plagiarism and attribution. The Columbia Journalism Review summed up the case against Lehrer like so:

The rules against all manner of journalistic recycling, from sloppy attribution, to self-plagiarism, to plagiarism, are part of the basic dos-and-don’ts of the craft. Lehrer’s many fans deserve an explanation, and hopefully they’ll get one.

Livingston’s fans also deserve an explanation.

Posted in Racing on January 5, 2018 / Tagged #2017inquiry, Daily Racing Form, Eclipse Awards, Media, Multimedia

2017 at the Track

(Slightly edited cross-post from Twitter.)

Before the new racing year begins, I’m taking a look back at some of the moments I had at the track in 2017. First up, D’Boldest winning the Jill Jellison Memorial Stakes at Suffolk Downs. I was standing on one of the viewing stands near the finish line, aiming for a patch of late afternoon sun. It worked.

Tammi Piermarini and Dr. Blarney after winning the Rise Jim at Suffolk Downs. There aren’t that many Mass-breds these days, which makes having a good one to cheer for all the more fun.

And here’s Piermarini watching the stretch run of a race in which the Suffolk Downs stewards issued a DQ. (She came out the winner.)

Mr. Meso is a New England champion and such a pet. He’s now several years into his second career as a pony and likes to poke his head into the scale house looking for a scratch on the nose. I took a photo of his braids one day at Suffolk Downs when he did just that.

One of the pleasures of Saratoga is star spotting during training. Caught John Velazquez early in the meet exercising TAP horses on the main track.

I was inspired by photographer Jamie Newell to try a Saratoga clubhouse turn photo of the Shuvee field. The picture brings that summer feeling right back.

I don’t usually aim for glamour shots, but Breeders’ Cup Classic contender Collected schooling in the Del Mar paddock was so perfectly posed in the sun for just such a photo, I couldn’t resist.

A different Breeders’ Cup schooling session, with a much scarier moment. Curlin’s Approval spooked in the Del Mar paddock. Her groom was a hero.

Unique Bella finished seventh as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. She returns in the La Brea at Santa Anita on December 26. She was my Kentucky Oaks filly before she suffered a minor injury and it made my morning the first time I saw her at Del Mar during BC week.

Here’s the champ — Gun Runner steps onto the track for the BC Classic.

Happy holidays — see you at the track in 2018!

Posted in Racing on December 22, 2017

On the Backstretch

I tweeted last week about working on the backstretch at Suffolk Downs and Saratoga several years ago, something I’ve talked about here and there before. My time as a hotwalker was a rich experience — I’ll always be glad I did it, not least because it gave me a glimpse behind the scenes and another perspective on racing that still informs my involvement as a fan and bettor.

What led to the thread on Twitter was trainer Gary Contessa’s quoted remarks from the Albany Law School’s Saratoga Institute on Equine, Racing, and Gaming Law Conference. “Nobody in America wants this job,” he said of working on the backstretch and the need for immigrant labor. I wanted to push back on the idea that the fault mostly lies with workers, which is how the issue often seems portrayed to me, letting owners and trainers dodge responsibility for working and living conditions that can be onerous.

I expanded the tweets into an opinion piece for the Thoroughbred Daily News, and now that it’s out there, I have a couple of things to add:

I refer to “passion” toward the end in a half-formed thought. Embedded in that mention was a criticism of how the word gets (ab)used, and not just by people in racing — “passion” for work is everywhere these days, and it sometimes gets twisted to mean that if you’re passionate about work, you’ll tolerate every demand it makes, which is handy for employers — reject some terms, and the problem isn’t with the work, it’s with you, and your lack of passion.

If anything comes of writing this piece, I hope it’s that more stories about working on the backstretch get told, from all different perspectives — major circuits and big barns, small tracks and family-run operations, immigrant and non-immigrant. I also hope it might lead to a constructive conversation about working conditions, backstretch culture, and resources for workers.

Posted in Racing on August 16, 2017 / Tagged Backstretch, Labor, Saratoga, Suffolk Downs, Trainers

2017 Saratoga Babies

They’re off at Saratoga and that means I’m tracking every juvenile race, every juvenile starter in the Spa babies spreadsheet once again. Through the first few days of the meet, trainer Todd Pletcher is, as usual, the leader in number of 2-year-old starters. He’s sent out eight, but won only two races — and neither of the winners were a post-time favorite. Go figure.

I update the spreadsheet after each day’s card. You can sort the sheet by column. You can also download a copy as an Excel or CSV file for your use.

Posted in Racing on July 25, 2017 / Tagged Data, Juveniles, Saratoga, Spreadsheets, Todd Pletcher, Trainers

Belmont Stakes Day

Tapwrit wins the Belmont Stakes, and the 2017 Triple Crown season ends with trainer Todd Pletcher taking two of the three races and super-sire Tapit getting his third Belmont winner, achieving that record within four years:

Remember when people said Tapit couldn't sire a 12-furlong horse? His 3rd Belmont winner in the last 4 yrs is o/o a mare by a sprinter, too.

— Frances J Karon (@francesjkaron) June 10, 2017

The star of the Belmont card, though, was Songbird, making her 4-year-old debut a winning one in the Ogden Phipps. It was hardly an effortless return for the champion, who had to fend off a strong challenge from Paid Up Subscriber on the turn and work to get past her in the stretch. An appreciative crowd gave the filly and jockey Mike Smith an ovation when the pair paused in front of the clubhouse apron on their way to the winner’s circle.

“Let’s call this a great race off the layoff,” said trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. “I’m not sure she’s at the top of her game right now, but she did very well today.”

Beyer and TimeformUS speed figures for the Belmont card graded races:

Figures via DRF stakes results and TFUS figuremaker Craig Milkowski.

Watch the Belmont Stakes and replays of the other graded races:

Posted in Racing on June 11, 2017 / Tagged Belmont Stakes, Graded Stakes, Songbird, Speed Figures, Tapwrit, Triple Crown