Posts about The Green Monkey
 

Hey Ladies! New Poll…

I’ve been locked in a conference room for the better part of two days so I haven’t been able to weigh on the Breeders’ Cup marketing revamp… but now you can with the latest poll!

As for the last poll, the majority of you were just glad to see the whole Green Monkey era come to a close and many of you thought it was a shame he was the equivalent of a child star, dogged by the press and not able to come into his own. Farewell Green Monkey… for now.

As for the Breeders’ Cup goings-ons, my esteemed colleagues covered it well…

Superfecta gets my vote for Racing Commish

Alan discusses equal billing and the problems with a two day card that starts on a Friday

Jessica shares an instant reaction that was very similar to mine + great convo in the comments

Michael has the best one liner about the Distaff rename

John laments marketing as dumbing down

And Patrick reminds us that not all steps toward growth are easy + there’s a great conversation in the comments, check it out.

Marketing is super easy to poke fun it… I do it all the time! But like most things, it’s not as easy as it looks, everyone “thinks they can do it” and it usually takes a lot of trail and error. My guess is that we’ll see these ideas tweaked along the way. I wonder what kind of market testing they did, if any. I’m happy to volunteer for that!

My personal wish list of changes:

1. Change the 2 day card to Saturday and Sunday if you want to split the Championship races across the days… some of us work! (although I’ll be taking the day off, but they already have me as a fan).

2. Change the name back to Distaff! I appreciate the sentiment of trying to equate it to the “Mens” Classic… I didn’t know what the hell a Distaff was when I first got hooked on racing, but I learned… don’t mess with tradition here.

I have a suggestion for the “programs focused on women’s health”… quick, what’s the leading cause of death of women? Heart Disease. Why not educate doctors on how to take this as seriously as they do with men. A friend of mine in her early 40s had a heart attack that probably could have been prevented if her doctor hadn’t dismissed her persistent indigestion and shooting pains in her arm (classic symptoms). If a man had presented these symptoms to his doctor he’d be on his way to the cardiac unit faster than you can say Ladies’ Classic! My point? Maybe it’s not the women who need to be educated about “women’s health issues”.

I’d actually love to see more a educational bent with a tie-in to racing. Perhaps something similar to the Women of the Backstretch luncheon as a “interested in learning about the industry?” kind of thing. And let’s not forget handicapping seminars! Unlike men, women wouldn’t be too proud to take them! Pardon, was that my sexism showing?

I leave you now with the last (at least for awhile) BC Distaff… and in this Lady’s opinion the most exciting race on the card.

Posted by dana on Feb 28 2008    
Filed Under: TBA, 2008, Poll, Marketing, The Green Monkey, Fans, Breeders' Cup, Racing

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New Poll, The Monkey (Natch)

Many thanks to all who voted in the Empire Maker filly poll… and especially to the lone voter for Miss Red Delicious! If I could have, I would have voted for them all. Country Star was our winner with 17 votes to Mushka’s 12 (one of which was mine… I heart Mushka).

But alas, it’s time to move on… to a topic I’m sure we’ll all miss discussing, at least for a couple of years until he has offspring! I personally think it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to just come into his own, even if that would have turned out to be “just ok in allowance company”.

As I’ve said before (STILL haven’t gotten all my old posts over here), there’s absolutely no way they could have thought they would recoup that investment… I guess theirs is bigger!

Posted by dana on Feb 11 2008    
Filed Under: Poll, 2008, The Green Monkey

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Poor Thing

The Monkey just finished 4th in his turf debut. 99-1 shot Brother Albert opened up about 9 lengths on the field with the Monkey & Bearing Point both coming on going into the first turn. At that point the Monkey showed real speed without being asked and he looked good doing it. He still looked good into the stretch but he just didn’t accelerate, again.

At least Gomez seemed to give him a better ride… I would love to know Gomez’s take on what happened. Very odd considering how good he looked coming into the stretch.

Posted by dana on Nov 21 2007    
Filed Under: Turf, Maiden, 2007, Garrett Gomez, The Green Monkey

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Third Time’s a Charm?


The Green Monkey, monkeying around at Belmont. (Sarah K. Andrew)

As Michael noted, the Monkey is entered in Turf MSW this Wed at Hollywood Park. They’re also trying Gomez this time out + stretching out. I’m happy to see their trying someone else, Johnny V’s rides seemed too panicky… hopefully GG will be a better fit.

When I saw his work out last week at Hollywood Park, I thought maybe they would try him on the Cushion track. Actually, looking back on that post, the Monkey was listed as having the bullet along with 2 other horses, now it says that he and the other 2 are 3rd… odd.

There’s also some discussion of the Monkey’s latest effort over at the Formblog.

Best of luck to the Monkey! (even though it is edifying to see such greed rewarded appropriately).

Posted by dana on Nov 19 2007    
Filed Under: Maiden, Turf, Greed, John Velazquez, 2007, The Green Monkey, Garrett Gomez, Todd Pletcher, Racing

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California Dreamin’

While waiting for my lunch to arrive on such a winter’s day (ok, such a rainy day), I noticed that The Green Monkey posted a 5F 1 min flat bullet at Hollywood Park. Perhaps the all weather track will suit him.

Posted by dana on Nov 15 2007    
Filed Under: Mobile Post, Workouts, Hollywood Park, 2007, The Green Monkey

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