JC / Railbird

The Sport Archive

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 to begin with?
Now, obviously, I know a lot of insiders, but I have plenty of friends who are casual fans. They tune in to the Derby and don’t mind a trip to the track or two a year. None of them were turned off. Most said, “That was too bad about the filly, but boy did that winner run a great race!”
I haven’t talked to one person who is involved in the business on even a weekly level who has given up on it. Most are asking themselves needed questions, and the incident has brought to light important issues, but the idea that the sport is in (any more) trouble (than it already was) simply isn’t true.
I’m going to go on record and predict record handle for the Preakness Stakes (assuming fast and firm, LOL)!

Posted in The Sport on May 12, 2008

So Much for the Horses

“People may not identify with a good horse, but they do know a good time” (ESPN).

Posted in The Sport on August 21, 2007

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 in The Sport on August 19, 2007