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The Real Thing

“Graphic, high-quality replications of pounding horses and photo finishes at the virtual victory line amounts to a slur on Secretariat and his progeny — not to mention on the young father I quietly watched juggling his good fortunes with a tot-filled stroller at one hand and a heavily marked tout sheet in the other.
“Up from a similar gambler’s bloodline, I had $10 on Dr. Rockett to win in the third at a mile and an eighth. Leading desperately down the stretch, my horse was suddenly bumped off stride by a wayward competitor, Exaggerate This, who flashed across the finish line as the unofficial winner by a nose. Assorted hoots, groans and vulgarities rose up toward the jetliner traffic from Kennedy.
“No way virtual racing could match the scene: sunshine-drenched anxiety, replays of my bumped horse on the infield screens, the wait for an official result with serious money and sweating thoroughbreds on the line.” (New York Times)

Posted in The Sport on April 20, 2005

The Information Game

Rupert Murdoch may not be the man you think of when the subject of reforming racing comes up, but his speech last Wednesday to the American Society of Newspaper Editors is spot on in describing the technological-cultural shifts of the past decade, and what he has to say about the need to reach young people on their terms if a tradition-bound industry is to survive is as relevant to racing as it is to journalism:

We need to realize that the next generation of people accessing news and information, whether from newspapers or any other source, have a different set of expectations about the kind of news they will get, including when and how they will get it, where they will get it from, and who they will get it from….

What is happening is, in short, a revolution in the way young people are accessing news. They don’t want to rely on the morning paper for their up-to-date information. They don’t want to rely on a god-like figure from above to tell them what’s important. And to carry the religion analogy a bit further, they certainly don’t want news presented as gospel….

In the face of this revolution, however, we’ve been slow to react. We’ve sat by and watched while our newspapers have gradually lost circulation….

Where four out of every five americans in 1964 read a paper every day, today, only half do. Among just younger readers, the numbers are even worse….

The trends are against us…. Unless we awaken to these changes, which are quite different to those of 5 or 6 years ago, we will, as an industry, be relegated to the status of also-rans.

Posted in The Sport on April 15, 2005

Gray Areas

“To be a horse-racing fan means accepting that along with the occasional true hero and clear-cut villain comes a barn full of men and women whose true character is impossible to discern.” (LA Daily News)

Posted in The Sport on April 11, 2005

A Number of Challenges

That’s what racing faces in 2005, reports Bill Christine, in a lengthy article that recounts the woes of NYRA, Magna, and Churchill Downs in recent months. Federal investigations, operating losses, and tussles with the Jockeys’ Guild all made 2004 difficult for the three organizations that own some of the best tracks in the United States, and there’s no sign that the problems will go away this year, weakening the entire industry: “Racing, racked by empty seats and competition from other forms of gambling, is struggling because its strongest links are not that strong.” (LA Times)

Posted in The Sport on March 29, 2005

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