Not On My Dime
My esteemed colleagues have been doing a bang up job of commenting on the Breeders’ Cup this week.
Honestly, I haven’t been able to muster much interest, in part because I didn’t care about a Curlin/BB match up… I wanted one or both of them to pass so they would both be more likely to come back next year. Alas, it’s not to be. With several interesting horses taking a pass on the fake stuff, there really isn’t much to look forward with the exception of the end of a tumultuous year.
Last Thursday I had a some time to kill before the end of the work day so I took a little spin around the usual haunts. As I perused Bloodhorse, I noticed that the current version of Talkin’ Horses featured Peter Land, Chief Marketing Officer of the Breeders’ Cup. “This ought to be interesting”, I thought to myself.
On the fourth answer, not only did my jaw drop, but I knew in a nano second that I wouldn’t be playing either day of the BC this year, not just Friday that I had already committed to.
Let me address the Friday card first. First and foremost, the move to an all filly and mare schedule on Friday was a racing decision not a marketing decision. We believe that the fillies and mares deserve a Championship day of their own and that fans will enjoy two near equal days of Championship racing.
Then how about having it the following or prior SATURDAY, when people will see it + it won’t feel like a demotion?
We like our new model and think it will stand the test of time. As for the name of the event, that was a marketing decision. We are trying to make the Breeders‚ Cup more accessible and appealing to those inside and outside of our sport.
There comes a point when complaining about a situation yet still taking part in it makes one complicit, and I’ve found that point with the Breeders’ Cup. After all of the various (and loud) public “feedback” on this decision, they STILL aren’t listening to their existing, and rapidly dwindling, customers.
Say what you will about the NTRA, but they’re making a big and honest effort not only to reach out to fans and players, but they’re also starting to take action on what they’re hearing. Regardless of whether you like them, what they stand for or whoever you think represent, that good faith gesture (along with some follow through, that I’ll give you 2-1 on) is what PAYING CUSTOMERS want. Not arrogance, not “we think our new model will stand the test of time” with not one shred of acknowledgment that you’re willing to consider what you’re hearing from your existing customers.
Well, good luck to you Breeders’ Cup, you’ll have to do it without my dime. I’m no Mike Maloney (a girl can dream), but my bank roll last year was in the 4 digits… and believe me when I tell you that I left it all in New Jersey. I had planned on scaling back my bank roll this year, but instead of handing it over to a group that has no interest in their customers, I’m going to donate my BC bank roll to rescue, stay tuned for who and how I donate it. If you feel the same way about the Breeders’ Cup, I invite you to do the same.
Posted by dana on Oct 14 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Take Back the Race, Industry, Big Brown, NTRA, Breeders' Cup, Fans, Curlin, Rescue, Racing
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I will go in on it with you. Let me know when and I will cut you a check.
Wow. Great post.
winston - great! but you’ll cut your own check so you can have the write-off.
E - thx!
So, no trip to Washington Heights? Oh well.
Sorry Swifty, it’s my only regret… besides perhaps Red Giant in the Turf if his futures odds hold.
Although, I might be up for Belmont as they’re having an Evening Attire retirement party. I could play the Belmont Card while you play the BC… just a thought.
Come to Belmont! It’ll be really fun…
If there’s a bigger group of functioning nitwits than the Breeders’ Cup Committee in the entire business world today, I’ll be damned if I can find them. Guinness Book stupid, staggeringly inept, yet totally oblivious to this overwhelming industry perception; which, of course, only makes sense since they practice their witlessness in a vacuum, totally void of input and utterly disdainful of feedback. The litany of mindlessness with which they have reduced this once great event to a wretched excess of mundanity truly … truly … defies belief.
Hooray and Hurray Green But Game!
Is there time for another petition, ala Take Back the Race? Even my friends who only humor my fan-aticism for horse racing thought that changing the name of the Distaff was distasteful, disrespectful, and dissolute.
Teresa - well, I’m certainly going to need something to do on Saturday!
O-T-R - wow!
danell - thanks! no plans for any new petitions but I encourage everyone who’s fed up with the BC to not watch or wager! And there’s always Self Appointed Fan Committee!
I went to the BC last year for the first time. They could have run on calhoun’s haystacks fart dust and I probably would still have put 2 bucks on some god-awful pick like A to the Croft or Shamdinan. Heck, I put 2 bucks on 4k claimers at Penn sometimes. I rarely bet more than 2 bucks though, ever.
Anyway, after over-paying for seats in the middle of nowhere and being told I couldn’t take my umbrella inside in a monsoon, I still had a kick a$$ time both days. They put on a good show and it was a quite different experience to actually be there as compared to watching on teevee as I had done since I was a little kid.
Would I go again? Sure. Prolly go next year, actually. I could care less about some lame marketing. Sometimes I’m confused by exactly WHY you all want to help out these fat cats running the BC by telling they’re idiots.
In high school, I went to see a band and my friends and I told everyone I knew about that band. We wanted everyone else to experience the awesome-ness of this band. Well, I won’t name the band….but everyone did eventually come around. And it got ugly for the band and the people who originally followed that band. Bad things started to happen…like a VH-1 episode of behind the music. Everything got lost in translation.
I give the BC credit for trying to expand and get more eyeballs on the event, as flawed and screwed up those attempts may be. The way I see it…if the BC didn’t run a turf sprint, there would be an undercard turf sprint for a lot of loot w/ the same horses and a different race name as in years past. What’s the difference to the person who follows this sport on a daily basis? None. What’s the difference to the person who doesn’t follow the sport but happens to tune in? A big difference, I think.
So, this is getting too long…but the BC is going to end up like that band from high school. This is when the buses start to roll over and the planes start crashing. Nothing’s working…everything broken.
To me though…it’s just another day at the races. Why get all bent out of shape?
“It’s just another day at the races.” That’s the attitude we’re expected to have, and that’s why too many racing officials and execs continue to think “F— the horseplayers” is a fine motto for daily business. I’m tired of getting f—–. Aren’t you?
Sure and that’s why I just put a grand or two *a year* through the windows, when I could be putting much more play money through. For now and for the past few years…that’s all they get.
The game is so screwed up, you can pay a couple grand a year just to find out what each horse did in their last race and you’re supposed to beat this game? I spent more on going to see live music in the last two months than I have all year on horse racing. My entertainment dollar can be had….doesn’t take much. I try to keep it in perspective…after all, the game for me is entertainment, a hobby, whatever.
For now…I go to the track, watch the lovely day unfold (because that’s the best part, actually), bet a couple bucks, follow the sport and generally stay on the sidelines when it comes to the buck. The BC is a great day to go the track. It’s the way it’s supposed to be. Doesn’t mean I have to play the races anymore on that day though (and anyway…they’re pretty much impossible to cap to anyway!).
MED is just down the road from me (bike ride close) and I haven’t gone to the races once this meet. The place is a kiddie zoo for adults. The racing officials and execs there will say they have the best simulcast center in the US. This is how completely retarded these people are that they actually believe that a place that can take on this “Mad Max: Beyond OTB” type of atmosphere is an attractive place. It’s all about being here…sure is. You won’t come back. And they’re not.
Things will change but not ever in the way people envision it unfolding. I think everyone is getting caught up on this growth thing. Growing the game, blah, blah. Making it more attractive to other people. Marketing this way, marketing that way. You want people to show up on a regular old Friday afternoon as it stands now, they won’t come back. Maybe if they get to go to the BC or Saratoga or SA it becomes interesting.
The market is going to shut a lot of tracks down and that’s a good thing. Grow the BC to two days….watch it shrink back to one day in the next ten years. Not because of the name of a race, the handle, the teevee or anything in particular. It’ll just be over-saturation. Good brands go bad all the time this way. Especially in this web culture. The web culture kids (18-30) are growing up with today will put this game out of business within twenty years. Kids aren’t going to put up with this game…they’ll just ignore it, completely.
Why would you want to grow this game? Fix it? Let it die. Smarter will come and pick up the pieces. Things will get better. Just look across the pond…think the horse player over there has a better deal, no?
I’ll follow the horses, give ‘em some silly money every week or two (not for them, for me), show up on big days but anything more than that….well, things better change. It’s a shame too because I think I’m a pretty good caper and enjoy the sport, all they gotta do is make it easier on me. I suspect there’s a LOT more of me out there. Heck, 90k showed up on Belmont day, 100k+ on Derby day. Not many sports can claim that kind of single day attendance not just here, but worldwide. These fools running the show are flushing it down the drain. I say let ‘em.
o crunk… when are gonna start blogging again!
Some people are bothered by the lame marketing, some people are bothered by splitting the championship races across 2 days which slights some of the races, some people are bothered by the new surface and some people aren’t bothered by anything. To each their own I always say.
What I’m most bothered about is the BC’s unwillingness to take their customers into account, particularly when their customers have been giving them feedback on things they’re not happy with. Do those customers represent everyone? No, but anyone who knows anything about customer service would have made those alienated customers at least feel like they were heard.
Could I just scale back my bank roll and “enjoy a nice day at the track”? Sure. But like I said in my post, there comes a point when you continue to complain about something yet still participate in it that you become complicit… and that’s what it feels like to me. That I would be telling them with my wallet that I think what they’re doing (and not doing) is ok with me when in fact it’s not. Actually, I think it would make me a hypocrite!
I plan on either going to Belmont to play the local card, or go the dog Halloween costume contest at my local dog run, which is always a blast!
I hear what you’re saying about letting them dig their own graves and don’t sweat it… but I’m with Jess. At this point I just can’t sit by and continue to fork over money while they expect us to be thankful for whatever they do. I love & enjoy racing too much to give up without a fight.
Yes, that’s what bothers me most about the Breeders’ Cup, the total deafness to fans, the lack of real acknowledgment that there are issues. In the BH chat, for instance, Land addresses the ongoing question of saddlecloth color and ends up dismissing a very valid concern by saying, “Frankly, the solution is Trakus …” It might be, if Santa Anita had Trakus and there was any possibility the system would be used during the BC, but that’s not the case, and to end his reply that way was ineffectual. The name change is another issue. When asked, Land said the same thing that’s been said by Avoli in the past, that it was traditionalists making the most noise and that changing tradition is always hard. It’s true, a segment of fans complaining about the Ladies’ Classic would like to restore Distaff for tradition’s sake, but the bulk of the outrage (from fans, bloggers, prominent columnists and turf writers) had to do with the use of the word “Ladies,” with the gender split, and so on — in other words, perceived sexism, not tradition — and BC officials have just refused to even engage with that concern.
“Frankly, the solution is the end of your relentless and ineffective self-promotion at the expense of race fans’ most basic and fundamental interest: where their damn horse is!”
I like the purple saddle cloths. I like to use the color of the jockey silks. I can usually follow the race better that way.
J - good points
T - ha!
Dave - I like to scan back and forth, I use the saddle cloths pretty frequently and find myself disoriented when their all the same color. If it’s a race where I already know the silks of most of the horses it’s less of an issue for me.
It’s totally a usability issue in mind though, different users like to accomplish the same task in different ways!
Wow, volatile site.
A few thougths: It’s not just BC that has a brick for a head. We have many self-interested parties that do damage to our game by looking out for only themselves. There’s plenty blame to go around for the problems in this sport, from management to horsemen, from marketers to stewards, from owners to . . . well, I could probably name destructive forces in just about every facet of racing somewhere in the country, right down to the person at the controls who doesn’t give a damn that the Belmont race goes off at the exact same time as the Keeneland race . . .
Whenever and wherever I could I ripped the Breeders’ Cup when they added all these extra races. The product just couldn’t be any more diluted. And someone tell me why the fillies run seven furlongs and the colts six? Gee, let’s kill another barroom argument. And isn’t seven tougher than six? But the dilution is the worst part of all. I want to see the titanic cross division showdowns between the best in the sport, not the same old horses confirm their dominance in a niche. Did you notice all the more-than-usual cross-entering? That’s horsemen shopping their spot. Some world championship, when horsemen can shop for the easy spot…
I’m not sure I get the saddle cloth mania in here and elsewhere. I never look at the color of a saddle cloth. I may notice if it’s light or dark, but I’m following jockey silks and, when the definition is good, the numbers. You learn what the jocks look like, you use good binoculars and listen to the race caller (I know, Trevor is error prone). As for TV. I HATE TRAKUS. JUST HATE IT. So not all the fans want this wondrous development. Give me a good pan and leave it at that. The only thing worse in my book than Trakus, which is just a distraction for Keno players as far as I’m concerned, is the angles used for the Dubai World Cup. If you must have Trakus, it should be an option like closed captioning, because that’s who it seems to be for — people who can’t follow an actual horse race. We need Trakus like televised hockey needs a superimposed comet’s tail on the puck. If this is what it’s come to, we’re doomed.
Peace and love and best of luck this weekend. — John S.
John, you miss the point: you are clearly someone who follows the sport, who knows the silks, who knows the jockeys, who carries binoculars. That’s great.
But if all we want to do is cater to the people who already are watching, we’ve got no shot. That sort of insider’s view is exactly the problem.
Why should we not help people who “cannot follow an actual horse race,” but who would like to? Incredibly condescending. You and your small club of insiders can enjoy each other’s company at the track while the rest of the world can go to sporting events that actually try to attract new fans and novices.
John S - nice to finally see you here! I agree that the BC is only small piece of the very large problem pie, it’s just so rare that an opportunity to make a point via withholding bank roll presents itself.
I only ever like Trakus on replays and only after I’ve seen the race a few times… I agree that it’s distracting. But, this illustrates the point I was trying to make about the saddle cloths, different people want and use different things. Some people love Trakus and think it’s the answer, some don’t. For me it’s sometimes hard to see the numbers so the color differentiation on the cloths really helps. Also sometimes the silks are close in color or 5 of them are wearing white hats + do binoculars work on TV?
Before I decided I was taking a pass on the BC, my bestest Pal Swifty invited my to swank pad to for a day of snacking, wagering and watching on his giant TV. Of course I was pretty jazzed about it but at the same time I wasn’t 100% sold because what I want out of a non-track racing/wagering experience is paddock, parade, persistent odds and no filler.
Clearly, I’m not ESPN/ABC’s target audience, but you what, I shouldn’t be either! Among other things, they have to keep new/casual fans in mind. In fact, I first became interested in racing a few years because I was channel surfing and happen to stop on racing on ESPN (and fortunately it was close enough to an actual race that I didn’t keep in clicking). For folks like that, it’s got mirror what other sports events are like on TV, at least a little. Not that I like that one bit, but I accept it as a necessary reality.
Hey, y’all come back now, ya hear!
Fan - now, now… play nice!
I want to address this…
FROM FAN: Why should we not help people who “cannot follow an actual horse race,” but who would like to? Incredibly condescending. You and your small club of insiders can enjoy each other’s company at the track while the rest of the world can go to sporting events that actually try to attract new fans and novices.
First off, this is insulting. Because I became a lifelong fan of racing, i’m suddenly a condescending insider that enjoys the company of other insiders at the track. Patently ridiculous! I am a resolute champion of this sport, who sells it every chance I get. I patiently explain the most rudimentary facets of the game to anyone who asks a question. I have all day to talk about racing to people who know or know nothing about it. One of the best rules I ever learned in journalism is never assume anything, and I think, Fan, you’re assuming an awful lot about me. As for Trakus. . . When I started getting fascinated by horse racing, there was no Trakus. There was barely even simulcasting. It was a big deal if Laurel Park was going to simulcast one race, say the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in an afternoon. Yes, it can be hard at first to watch a horse race, just as it is difficult for a neophyte to perceive the nuance in a high-level boxing match. To the untrained eye, it is just mayhem. Same goes for modern jazz. The ear trained on light pop or country is going to hear cacophony. And, one step further… When a person first puts hard alcohol to their lips and feels that overwhelming fire, the first thought flashing through their mind is, ‘What in the world are people drinking this for?’ But over time, people begin to see the jab setting up the right cross and the followup hook, they begin to recognize the complex harmonic structures and then, suddenly, the melody begins to become clear. They begin to adapt to the strength of the proof and suddenly the flavors of the alcholo and its “medicinal” properties begin to make their presence felt. These are primitive things — fighting, music, drinking, racing — of surprising sophistication, which makes them so rewarding. They should be available in their purest form for those that have put in the time. Yes, you can put an ice cube in that bourbon, and, yes, you can listen to Kenny J., but it is better to learn the rewards of the real thing, and I stand for not talking down but helping up. Television has come to reality shows because we pander to the lowest common denominator. We don’t stand for Playhouse 90 anymore; we stand for people who want to jump through small holes in walls. Trakus is not a horse race, and that is what you are there for — horses, not numbered pingpong balls. It seems to me that Trakus is Kenny G, who some people consider jazz, when he is not jazz at all. We should not be promoting a numerical representation of a race horse but, rather, the horse itself. However, watching Trakus, will you ever notice that Curlin has a curiously short but locomotive like stride? Or that Barbaro raised his front legs up and dropped them down with thud? The sport needs to give the novice advice on how to learn to watch properly, to enter the world of the real, not the artificial. We live in a time where people prefer to download compressed digital representations of music and listen on their computer rather than striving for something far more aurally representative of true sound and grandeur. I stand against the tide of the watered down, and that does not make me condescending; it makes me a romantic.
And, Dana, thanks for the welcome. — John S.
Well, glad to see the showdown has seemed to end! I’m happy to report that these sorts of “interactions” don’t often happen here at GbG, in fact, I think this was the first one!
At any rate, I agree wholeheartedly that new fans should learn/be instructed on how to watch a race. It’s a discipline in and of itself. The only time I find Trakus helpful is if I’ve watched a race a couple of times and want to see how one or two horses maneuvered through traffic if I can’t tell from just watching them. During a race it’s too distracting, in my opinion.
Hey, I like some of them there compressed digital representations of music! I don’t think everything new or technologically advanced is necessarily watered down (a “conversation” I have at home frequently with my resident live in “begrudging adopter” as I like to call her).
Hmm…John, I think that your post supports what the previous commenter said. You write about the enjoyment of some fairly esoteric pleasures, at least one of which (boxing) may be the only sport in worse shape in this country than racing is. People are at the races for a variety of reasons, but they are not there, for the most part, to learn the nuances of a horse’s stride. If they bet a few bucks on a horse that they see, in person, for a few fleeting moments as it crosses the finish line, and have no good, easy, identifiable way to follow that horse around a track, their interest could easily be lost.
You seem to want to appeal to the experienced, serious student of horseplaying…or bourbon, or jazz. And in all of those fields, the experts are a pretty small group.
Again, I’m accused of elitism! It’s the old Republican bash about the “Eastern intellectual elite.” And it’s coming from one of the smartest people I know!!! And a New Yorker at that!!
I agree with you, Scrappy, about the “few fleeting moments as it crosses the finish line;” I really hated when they turned Laurel from a mile track to 1 1/8 miles because you can’t see anything beyond the vague without a TV or telescope. Belmont is a really cool track, but you can’t watch action on the backstretch live. It’s in another county.
The post I wrote here earlier addressed viewing on television, however, so maybe it wasn’t that I didn’t make my point clearly as much as you misread what I wrote. People may not be at the track to learn the nuances of a horse’s stride, but it is important for people who do know such things to acknowledge them. I am sick and tired of our culture moving in the opposite direction of use of intellect and knowledge (Sarah Palin is not qualified to be our vice president.) and, yes, this is coming from a boxing fan. Pingpong balls with numbers moving around is not horse racing. It doesn’t provide a portal into the game or the world of horses. Trakus might, and I’m not convinced yet, be useful in trip handicapping.
I strongly disagree with your suggestion that I was talking about esoteric pleasures — fighting, music, drinking and racing of all kinds are fundamental to who we are as a species. All date back very far in our time. They show up in some form in virtually every culture. My point was that we have developed them to a fine level of sophistication, where even the barbaric sport of boxing can be art. Anyone who watched 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins dismantle the excellent 26-year-old champion Kelly Pavlik on Saturday night knows exactly what I’m talking about. You can watch a horse race for the first time and think it’s great. You can watch the same race as an expert and agree for entirely different reasons. There is plenty room for everybody. But I would never bring someone to the track for the first time and say, “Watch the pingpong balls if you’re having trouble figuring out which horse is yours.”
Pingpong balls with numbers moving around is not horse racing.
John S. for THE WIN!
Recently I asked a lifelong friend of mine, who I’ve known since I was 3 feet tall, if he thought horse racing was a sport. I’ve taken him to the track around a half dozen times over the years. He’s enjoyed it, but it’s not something he would do on his own.
He’s probably the prototype of a horse racing marketer’s dream. The kind of person who is the target. A ton of disposable income. Follows sports, plays fantasy football, watches ESPN less and less each year as that network goes for the lowest common denominator.
I was surprised to hear him say that no, horse racing is not a sport. It’s gambling.
I asked him if football was sport. Of course it was. But you gamble on football, right? That’s different. How so? Fantasy football isn’t horse racing.
I love a good bar stool debate. Live for it. But there’s no way I’m winning this one. My language he doesn’t understand.
He acknowledges that the game is interesting, particularly the way breeding works. This is a smart person, but unless he decides to to actually devote a little bit of time to understand the game on his own, he will forever be in that bubble of just following what numbers come in. The lottery, if you will.
I can explain to him that horse racing is the like the NCAA tournament, except it doesn’t come around once a year, it’s ALL YEAR. That each race is a kind of series of eliminations toward the next level, even at the lowest levels of the game. It’s complicated, has a lot of layers.
Trakus may be well and good…I’m not sure about it actually since I don’t actually pay any attention to it whatsoever. But to attract people who are the type who are going to follow this sport for any prolonged amount of time, it’s probably best to not emulate a lottery w/ ping pong balls, since there are more mindless, easier, more convenient ways for that type of person to be separated from their money that they are going to be attracted to over time.
IMHO, the better you understand the game, the more willing you would be to wager on it. This should be a cornerstone of any campaign to attract anyone to horse racing. I’m not sure if Trakus is part of that cornerstone, but I’m also not sure it matters all that much in the bigger picture anyway.
Well I looking forward to the Breeders Cup.
O Crunk, whoever you are, i’m buying you a round if we ever meet at the track. — John S.