This break in 1994 profiling is brought to you by disbelief. There I was, in the middle of my mid-afternoon malaise, when I noticed this item announcing the Eclipse winning photo for the year. Surprised, I immediately tweeted “There are many more deserving photos than this one”. Othersagreed.
What’s wrong with the winning photo you ask? Nothing. It’s a perfectly nice photo, perhaps too perfectly. In fact I think it’s the image equivalent of a press release. As Patrick points out, it’s not like there aren’t plenty of other photos of Dettori hopping off a horse when he wins.
I’d like to humbly submit the following 20 photos that made an impression on me at some point during this year for your consideration. While I have no idea what the criteria is for an Eclipse award is besides probably, at the very least, being published somewhere other than GbG, I chose shots that 1) were taken this year and 2) felt like solid stand alone images that either spoke to an event this year or what makes racing great overall.
I put this list together relatively quickly and it’s by no means comprehensive. Sorry that I can’t put it in a slide show, they’re not my images!
It’s a tough call if I had to pick one. I love them all but I can narrow it down to Casino Drive with the Anna House kids, Big Brown in the paddock at Monmouth, Evening Attire’s retirement and Larry Jones with Old Fashioned.
What images did you like this year? I’m sure I’ve overlooked some great ones!
Update, check out Patrick’s post… I hadn’t noticed but Juvenile is misspelled!! After thinking about it this morning, I would have to concur with GbG pal and commenter Kevin of Colin’s Ghost on 2 points 1) the pic of Big Brown’s butt losing the Belmont should win and 2) the award should go to a photographer, not a single photograph.
Chantal Sutherland prepping for a days work while enjoying a GURU Energy Drink (GURU Energy Drinks)
Earlier in the year I was able to be of some assistance to the fine people of GURU Energy Drink in their quest to track down the talented and stunning Chantal Sutherland. It all worked out in the end and I even ended up being the lucky recipient of some of their product, which I must say is both delicious and unjanglingly energizing.
Recently my pals at GURU got in touch to say hi and, as promised, forward on this photo of Chantal prepping for a day at work while enjoying a refreshing GURU Energy Drink (points for the matching helmet, nail color and beverage can). As indicated earlier, I think she could sell a beverage, no?
Recently the topic of marketing has been racing around the blogosphere (har har) like a house on fire! Winston… Not Really made a great point the other day about using jockeys to market racing. And not only semi-naked ones! I totally agree with him and added several examples of “hot” images of jockeys that don’t involve bikinis, oil or lip licking.
These are just a few examples of jockeys looking alluring in a contextually appropriate setting that actually references racing, thus tying the sex appeal to the racing. Sure, the brazen approach might work, but this kind of ad seems more likely to send a guy to his favorite porn site rather than the track.
Note: this picture is not of the authoress of this site. (birdnest1384)
You’ve probably just walked in from doing all of your holiday shopping, making this list a mute point. But if you’re like me, you’re gonna wait till the last damn minute. Also, if you’re like me, you’re not gonna leave your house to shop. I think Amazon should use the following clip as advertising for why one should stay home to shop:
Here at GbG, we like to support our industry’s independent content creators. And with the recent spate of trade and mainstream media lay-offs, we’re expecting more independent content to support (and enjoy).
Let’s start with independent films. There’s a lot to choose from in this category and at the price point there’s no reason not to get all three! The First Saturday in May, Lost in the Fog and Women in American Racing are perfect stocking stuffers. I’ve seen the first two and both are great. Mother GbG ordered Women in American Racing for me and I’m using all my restraint to not unwrap and watch it (no doubt I will have watched by this time next week).
The First Saturday in May
Lost in the Fog:
Women in American Racing
You have may have noticed that there are a LOT of great photographers shooting racing. GbG would just be a bunch of boring words without their help. While I don’t know that all of them sell prints, you can always ask! I believe Charles Pravata and Sarah K. Andrew sell prints, but there’s also Raymond Haddad, Jason Moran, Bud Morton and new comer/old timer Walter Kobbe. Now that’s a classy present!
Looking to get more involved in racing? Why not give yourself the gift of ownership and join a partnership! There are several small, affordable, independent stables that just happen to be members of the TBA, which means you can read their thoughts and insights on racing and determine if they’re the type of people you want to do business with. My guess is that they are.
Moving from the independent to the unique, I’m a big fan of eBay present getting and giving. A quick twirl around eBay this morning uncovered the following.
Wanna spend the big bucks on that Sunday Silence fan? You’re in luck, the 1990 Hollywood Gold Cup saddle cloth worn by Sunday Silence is up for auction, currently at a mere $4,999. The good news is no one has bid on it, so perhaps it will be relisted. I have no idea if that price is reasonable for memorabilia of this caliber, but here’s the race. Sunday Silence gives 1990 horse of the year Criminal Type a run for his money and places by what looks like a nose, very exciting. Imagine the price if he had won!
From one of the highlights of this summer, Little Belle’s saddle cloth from the Alabama is available, starting bid $.99… and no one has bid on it! The auction ends on Thursday so I doubt it will stay low for that long, but I’m watching it just in case. Little Belle was one of the many talented distaffers this year. Here she is showing to Proud Spell and Music Note after setting a very “deliberate” pace, as Durkin puts it.
With only 2 hours and change left to this auction, you might have a chance to own alleged Derby history with Whirlaway’s supposed horse shoe up for auction. The inability to authenticate it is no doubt keeping the price low, currently at $82, but an additional bid has come in since I spotted it this morning, so it might climb up a bit more. It would be very cool if it were in fact the real deal but one could probably never prove it. Fun item nonetheless. Update: it ended up going for $262, an absolute steal if the new owner could manage to authenticate.
From the price is right department (no E, I’m not talking about your beloved Bob Barker), there’s a groovy 70’s Preakness patch currently at $4.99 with no bids. It ends in 4 hours but I would imagine it would be relisted if there are no bids.
I’m sure all of you Alysheba fans are glad he’s returned safely to the States. Why not celebrate that with a copy of the 1988 Monmouth program for the Iselin Handicap? He beat one of his rivals, Bet Twice, by less than a length (sorry, no replay but the link points to a fab Alysheba information page).
I know at least oneSpectacular Bid fan, perhaps he might like this 1979 Marlboro Cup Program, which ends tomorrow. Here’s the Bid crushing his competition in the race.
Thanks to Equidaily, Paulick Report, Pull the Pocket and Raceday 360 for sending so many holiday shoppers over here to the GbG eBay shopping bonanza! Since several of the listed items have ended, I’ve added some new ones for your potential shopping enjoyment.
To avoid anymore Spectacular Bidding wars, this Spectacular Bid item is a first come, first serve with Buy it Now at $32. It’s a lovely vintage (read possibly slightly dingy) Spectacular Bid / Bill Shoemaker 1980 T Shirt size large. If you buy it, please send a photo sporting it! I was going to tell you all about the Spectacular Bid / Bud Delp / Meadowlands (Awesome!) Belt Buckle, but I bought it instead (sorry!). Sidebar, Bud Delp and I share the same eye wear.
Why not bundle this next item with Lost in the Fog? It’s a Russel Baze “I was there #9351″ Pin currently listed at $.99. It was given away on the day Russell Baze broke the record for most wins by a North American jockey. Russell Baze was Lost in the Fog’s jockey.
Speaking of Northern California, here’s something for your favorite Northern California racing fan that happens to be an aficionado of late 70’s design. It’s a lovely 1979 Pin from the recently closed Bay Meadows.
History buffs should prepare to freak out… 1773 Sporting Calendar described as “The Sporting Calendar: Containing an Account of the Plates, Matches, and Sweepstakes, That Have Been Run for in Great-Britain, Ireland and North-America in the Year 1773. (Volume 5) by Thomas Fawconer” currently $200(ish, it’s in GBP).
And how about a couple of items for our harness racing friends? There’s the 1931 American Sportsman featuring 1930 Hambletonian winner Hanover’s Bertha currently at $14.99 and a First Edition 1949 “Horses of Destiny” by Fairfax Downey and Paul Brown currently at $25.29 to name a few.
STILL not inspired? As mentioned before Geno has a nice list and for the more bookish MaryJean Wall has an excellent vintage reading list complete with original covers. Raceday360 is also handily keeping track of all gift suggestion posts! Best of luck with your shopping, and here’s ho ho hoping you get some rockin’ gifts too!
Cigar winning the 1995 Woodward at Belmont (Walter Kobbe)
Literally. I was going to write a “holiday gift idea” post tonight a la Geno but puttering around the internet got the best of me. During this time, I had the fortune to find a stellar flickr set entitled ‘”Champions” - From the DRF Book‘ by Festin2008.
Serendipitous because Ernie had just pointed this book out to me earlier in the week, along with the American Racing Manuals (25 lbs of them showed up on my door step today!).
The photo set is incredible. Many greats from the late 80 and 90s including Azeri, Ashado, Alysheba, Bayakoa, Speightstown, Groovy, Housebuster, Easy Goer, Ghost Zapper, Personal Ensign and more.
Check it out and come back later for some gift ideas. Until then, here’s Cigar’s 1995 Woodward, pictured above.
As you may know, the Race Track Industry Program’s annual symposium is currently going on (december 8th - 11th). Normally you’d have to wait for someone to file a story, or a pal to send an email after they got back to their room, assuming they didn’t get too drunk at the cocktail party. But this year you have a variety of ways to follow along thanks to phones, twitter, RSS, widgets, chron jobs and symposium participants’ will to blather!
If you don’t feel like visiting that page all afternoon long, which is when most of the action is happening, you can grab the RSS and let it come to you. Jessica has also set up a few ways to get the info. She’s got a page that pulls in all the tweets plus articles and a widget that pulls in all tweets with #RTIP (I’ve got one over there underneath my twitter thingie).
It’s fun to watch the comments in real time. During the “A Perspective for Racing – So Who in the World Thought Selling Shoes Online Would Work?” panel DeRosa tweets:
Racing does none of the stuff Zappos.com does to provide great service
Perhaps. But the numbers do show that racing is still a factor in the racino world
DeRosa, no doubt powered by caffeine and an iphone given his ability to file stories in near real time, recounts the panel here.
These are just some of the small samples of stuff coming out of the symposium, and it’s going on for 2 more days. If you have a chance to hang around the internets tomorrow, I’d definitely peak in on the conversations and even join in if you’re so inclined.
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