ESPN's Jeannine Edwards

[andymays]

http://www.paulickreport.com/features/the-breeders-cup-forum/the-breeders-cup-forum-espn-s-jeannine-edwards/

Excerpt:

Why do you think racing has slipped in its popularity with the public?

Many reasons why, but mostly due to a disconnect between the participants in the sport and the public (it doesn't reach the mainstream sports fan), the perception of cheating, and the horror of seeing a horse break down.

What was going through your mind at the 2010 Breeders' Cup just before the Ladies' Classic when there was all this information coming in on Life At Ten, but there was no special inspection of her at the gate by veterinarians, and she was allowed to run?

My jaw dropped, literally, when they walked her in the gate. I was stunned. I was with Dr. (Larry) Bramlage and had asked him to get on the radio and see if any of the vets had looked at her or seen anything amiss, wanted to hear from the guys on the ground. He replied to me that none of them had seen anything amiss. I was surprised.

The whole thing was a debacle and that's one day we'll never forget – starting with the jockey fight in the first race. We were all kind of shell-shocked when we got done that night. That's live TV!

[tzipi]

http://www.paulickreport.com/features/the-breeders-cup-forum/the-breeders-cup-forum-espn-s-jeannine-edwards/

Excerpt:

Why do you think racing has slipped in its popularity with the public?

Many reasons why, but mostly due to a disconnect between the participants in the sport and the public (it doesn't reach the mainstream sports fan), the perception of cheating, and the horror of seeing a horse break down.


"It doesn't reach mainstream sports fan"
I don't buy into this at all. It's a cop out answer, instead of the truth.

Examples:
SMARTY JONES wins wins wins, public loves it and wants more. All over the paper. Crowds come out in droves. BOOM....RETIRED

LOOKIN AT LUCKY sold and retired, if I remember correctly.

There's too many to list here in recent years. Game has changed. No stars running for numerous years anymore. Seems like today it's 2yo campaign....press release injury....retired for big money.

They build the public up to these horses and then in an instant most are retired for money. Football,baseball,basketball fans don't have to worry about seeing there stars play for a year or two.
The industry retires these horses once they get publicity and it's all for money that most of these people have enough of. I think that is a HUGE problem in the game.

[tzipi]

Also these stars and media horses do not run as often as they used to. That may haveto be with the way they are bred today but either way, it doesn't help the sport.

[PhantomOnTour]

"It doesn't reach mainstream sports fan"
I don't buy into this at all. It's a cop out answer, instead of the truth.

Examples:
SMARTY JONES wins wins wins, public loves it and wants more. All over the paper. Crowds come out in droves. BOOM....RETIRED

LOOKIN AT LUCKY sold and retired, if I remember correctly.

There's too many to list here in recent years. Game has changed. No stars running for numerous years anymore. Seems like today it's 2yo campaign....press release injury....retired for big money.

They build the public up to these horses and then in an instant most are retired for money. Football,baseball,basketball fans don't have to worry about seeing there stars play for a year or two.
The industry retires these horses once they get publicity and it's all for money that most of these people have enough of. I think that is a HUGE problem in the game.
The trio of Curlin, Hard Spun and Street Sense is one that disappoints me.
What if Hard Spun and SS had run past their 3yr old season? A very nice 3 way rivalry was stopped dead in it's tracks because two of them retired seemingly at the peak of their abilities.
I really loved Hard Spun, and in retrospect wish he hadn't won the Kings Bishop and gotten his Gr1 resume win...maybe they would have brought him back to try the Met Mile...a race that was right up his alley.

[PaceAdvantage]

"It doesn't reach mainstream sports fan"
I don't buy into this at all. It's a cop out answer, instead of the truth.

Examples:
SMARTY JONES wins wins wins, public loves it and wants more. All over the paper. Crowds come out in droves. BOOM....RETIREDZenyatta ran for a couple of years...wasn't retired after merely a few months of fame and fortune like Smarty Jones....

Is the sport better off because of her star power and relative longevity?

[GlenninOhio]

The "premature" retirement of marquee horses who are sound would seem to be a direct result of the growth in stakes purses significantly lagging (say, over the past 10-15 years) the growth in stud fees and. perhaps most importantly, the growth in prices realized at the high end at sales - particularly at yearling sales.

Have there been credible studies of these growth relationships? I'd even wonder if there has been any significant growth at all in stakes purses over this period. If the Met Mile purse was, say, $2 million, might Hard Spun have showed up? You'd think this anemic purse growth would work its way into the prices realized at these sales, but my sense is there is not nearly as much of a "weak purse structure penalty" as sound economics would dictate.

Meanwhile, we've got a business model for the young sires that bears zero relationship (for a good 3-4 years) to the race track performance of their progeny. For example, Big Brown is already considerd a "proven sire" by many in the commercial breeding world based simply on the number of his progeny that have brought well into 6-figures at the sales.

"Race track? We don't need no stinkin' race track!"

[tzipi]

Zenyatta ran for a couple of years...wasn't retired after merely a few months of fame and fortune like Smarty Jones....

Is the sport better off because of her star power and relative longevity?


You make a fair point Pace as some have stuck around but I was just saying overall it would be great for the fans to have these superstars around longer. Today it's a different game for most of the fans favorites. Retired very early for big money.

[VastinMT]

The "premature" retirement of marquee horses who are sound would seem to be a direct result of the growth in stakes purses significantly lagging (say, over the past 10-15 years) the growth in stud fees and. perhaps most importantly, the growth in prices realized at the high end at sales - particularly at yearling sales.

Have there been credible studies of these growth relationships? I'd even wonder if there has been any significant growth at all in stakes purses over this period. If the Met Mile purse was, say, $2 million, might Hard Spun have showed up? You'd think this anemic purse growth would work its way into the prices realized at these sales, but my sense is there is not nearly as much of a "weak purse structure penalty" as sound economics would dictate.

Meanwhile, we've got a business model for the young sires that bears zero relationship (for a good 3-4 years) to the race track performance of their progeny. For example, Big Brown is already considerd a "proven sire" by many in the commercial breeding world based simply on the number of his progeny that have brought well into 6-figures at the sales.

"Race track? We don't need no stinkin' race track!"

This is practically the definition of the beginning of an investment "bubble." Lots of money chasing static overall returns (purses), which leads to prices becoming de-coupled from actual expected performance. Then prices just chase each other until rich people run out of money and the market collapses.

What may keep this bubble inflating for a while is the hobby and social aspect of the industry. Much of the money spent on high-end racehorses is spent to define status, and that never goes out of style.

The race to become top stud has become a much more interesting game to horse owners than that one that involves running around in a circle.