JC / Railbird

The Sport Archive

The Worst Job in Sports

USA Today calls being a horse groom the worst job in sports. I don’t know about that — it sounds like being a team mascot or a urine collector is far more onerous.

Posted in The Sport on February 26, 2005

Marketing Racing

How can racing attract more young people to the sport? That question comes up in a couple of recent interviews, one with handicapper Rick Lang and the other with outgoing Thoroughbred Racing Association president Joe Harper. Spend an afternoon at any track on a typical day and it’s pretty clear that the industry needs to find ways to draw in more fans under 50. Harper suggests better marketing: “We need to reinvent how we present our product to the public in a way that is sexier and more appealing…. We haven’t been very good at doing that.” No, racing hasn’t done a very good job of presenting its product, which I find sad because I love the sport and wish that more people in their twenties and thirties followed the horses or even just thought spending an occasional day at the track was a fun thing to do and not an exotic adventure.
Creating and motivating new fans — especially among the young — isn’t impossible. The popularity of Smarty Jones and Funny Cide, and the success of “Seabiscuit” (book and movie), shows there’s a receptive audience. A good start to grabbing these people would be dumping the soft-focus hugging-yuppies surging-horses montage ads and coming out with an edgy or funny print and television campaign. Perhaps something like the Lori Petty ads of 1999, which didn’t last long, but which people still talk about, indicating they had some effect. Every ad could prominently display the URL of an extensive, attractive, and easy to use web site devoted to new and casual fans, with tutorials, special features, weekly chats, racing history, an events/stakes calendar, a children’s section, and some sort of loyalty program, among other things. And there’s so much more that could be done…. I’d love to see fresher advertising from individual tracks (Suffolk should toss out that ad it’s been using since forever), and more giveaway days, family days, live music, late post-times on Friday nights, beer gardens, handicapping seminars. Am I being wildly naive? It seems to me that with a little creativity and boldness racing could do so much to gain new fans.

Posted in The Sport on February 20, 2005

What’s Great About Racing

“The track is not named iPod Downs. (Yet.) … Experts are seldom right. (Being wrong with the world’s best handicappers is nothing to be ashamed of.) … You don’t have to gamble. (Sit calmly and watch a race without betting a dime on it and you’ll probably see things you’d have never noticed had you wagered a ten-spot.) … Lots of tracks are old. (And charming.)” I’d add that you can talk to the players, bring your own drinks to the track, and have a chance to walk out at the end of the day no poorer than when you came in. (ESPN)

Posted in The Sport on February 8, 2005

Looking Back at 2004

What a year. There was Smarty Jones’ try for the Triple Crown, Azeri’s thrilling victory in the Go For Wand, and Funny Cide’s triumphant win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Trainer Steve Asmussen surpassed Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg’s single year record of 496 wins with an amazing 554 wins, and slots came to Pennsylvania. Here in Massachusetts, the MassCap returned to Suffolk Downs, and before a crowd of more than 17,000, Funny Cide, Offlee Wild, and The Lady’s Groom dueled down the stretch in one of the most exciting races at the track this year.

But it wasn’t just a good year at the races, it was a good year in the press. Smarty Jones, Zippy Chippy, the Breeders’ Cup — all inspired some great writing and reportage. Here are a few of the articles on the sport, the horses, and the players that I think are among the year’s best:

“Despite upset, a crowning moment for the sport”
Bob Ryan on the Belmont Stakes (Boston Globe)

“Down the stretch they come”
Meghan O’Rourke on loving horseracing (Slate)

“Free House, gone too soon”
Jay Hovdey on the death of Free House (Daily Racing Form)

(more…)

Posted in The Sport on January 5, 2005