Major Hit Piece on Our Sport

[Valuist]

What does Sally Jenkins know about horse racing? What gives her any credibility? From what I've seen of her in a few appearances on ESPN, I don't know why they have her on.

Trying to tie the Derby to the horse deaths at Santa Anita is a reach. And how nice of her to warn of the "evils of gambling".

The only credibility for the Post was when Beyer still wrote for them.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by Valuist

What does Sally Jenkins know about horse racing? What gives her any credibility? From what I've seen of her in a few appearances on ESPN, I don't know why they have her on.

Trying to tie the Derby to the horse deaths at Santa Anita is a reach. And how nice of her to warn of the "evils of gambling".

The only credibility for the Post was when Beyer still wrote for them.

If she represents the majority of people who aren't involved in racing the game is in dire straights. It's hard enough to draw new people to the races and it won't be any easier if they have already established a negative opinion.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by Valuist

What does Sally Jenkins know about horse racing? What gives her any credibility? From what I've seen of her in a few appearances on ESPN, I don't know why they have her on.

Trying to tie the Derby to the horse deaths at Santa Anita is a reach. And how nice of her to warn of the "evils of gambling".

The only credibility for the Post was when Beyer still wrote for them.

She's written 12 books about various athletes including two best-sellers about Lance Armstrong.

She's four-time AP national sports columnist of the year.

She doesn't like horse racing, at all.

She didn't say anything that people here haven't said numerous times.

[Big K]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

The sport has obvious major problems, but if you are going to write a serious article about horse racing or do a show on it, you should present both sides and let the facts do the talking. This is major problem in journalism today. It's not journalism anymore. It's some prick with an opinion knowingly trying to influence everyone else with spin and half the story (sometimes even lies).

Not too many things get me really pissed off. But I hate one sided hit pieces and think the people that write/do them are scumbags. That covers a LOT of so called journalists today. Sorry for the rant.

Well said ,I agree 100 percent!!

[Mulerider]

Originally Posted by The_Turf_Monster

The data is out there to watch a horse competing at the highest levels pass from the industry's leading trainers from allowance and stakes races into the claiming ranks and all the way down the ladder to some of the industry's worst states and tracks and eventually into kill pens.......

Secretariat's half-brother, Straight Flush, out of Riva Ridge and bred by the Chenery estate, ended up in a Texas kill pen after an unsuccessful career. He changed hands several times, standing at stud for a cheap price, finally ending up at a facility near me called Paradise Farms, where I first boarded my horses for a brief time. How he ended up in a kill pen is unclear.

The kill pen owner, to his credit, identified the horse and let some people know about the horse's plight; he was rescued just a couple of days before his date with the slaughterhouse (without the customary ransom price, I'm told), and retired to a ranch in California where he lived peacefully until his death at age 32.

[cutchemist42]

Can you even have a central body for the sport? I've heard countless times it would violate antitrust law.

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Ocala Mike

It would be nice to dismiss this as just some WaPo sensationalism, but there are more than just "grains" of truth in what she writes. Unfortunately, I think the whole Kentucky Derby incident moves racing further down in the public's eye, unless you are a firm believer in the old adage that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...=.97303dc5b7af

jeff bezos times?

[Jeff P]

Originally Posted by cutchemist42

Can you even have a central body for the sport? I've heard countless times it would violate antitrust law.

Yes we can have a central body.

Racing in Australia is as good an example as any.

More tracks than we have. (Something like 300 plus last time I checked scattered across multiple racing jurisdictions.)

The difference (unlike us) is that after facing the same issues as us (drugs, tote integrity, exchange wagering, rules/licensing for riders, trainers, owners, etc.) the various factions decided it would be in their collective best interest to form a central authority and agree to operate racing in their country under a single (Imo enlightened) set of rules.

I look at the way racing is run in in other parts of the world, and then I look at racing in the US and Canada and I think:

If they can do it in other parts of the world why can't we?

Where's the vision? The leadership?

What the hell is wrong with our industry stakeholders? Are they so stubborn that they can't put aside their differences and come together for the greater good of the sport?


-jp

.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by Zman179

Nothing. Tracks with casinos would LOVE if racing would just disappear and the tracks that don’t have casinos are too fractured to collectively band together and only worry about their best interests.

Front offices as those same places are now becoming devoid of horse people and full of corporate casino clowns.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by cutchemist42

Can you even have a central body for the sport? I've heard countless times it would violate antitrust law.

CPMA in Canada is the ONLY governing body and part of the Department of Agriculture.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Mulerider

The kill pen owner, to his credit, identified the horse and let some people know about the horse's plight; he was rescued just a couple of days before his date with the slaughterhouse (without the customary ransom price, I'm told), and retired to a ranch in California where he lived peacefully until his death at age 32.

If we had more stories like these...then, perhaps these "one-sided hit pieces" wouldn't have the impact that they now have. But...

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by Jeff P

Yes we can have a central body.

Racing in Australia is as good an example as any.

More tracks than we have. (Something like 300 plus last time I checked scattered across multiple racing jurisdictions.)

The difference (unlike us) is that after facing the same issues as us (drugs, tote integrity, exchange wagering, rules/licensing for riders, trainers, owners, etc.) the various factions decided it would be in their collective best interest to form a central authority and agree to operate racing in their country under a single (Imo enlightened) set of rules.

I look at the way racing is run in in other parts of the world, and then I look at racing in the US and Canada and I think:

If they can do it in other parts of the world why can't we?

Where's the vision? The leadership?

What the hell is wrong with our industry stakeholders? Are they so stubborn that they can't put aside their differences and come together for the greater good of the sport?


-jp

.

To put things in perspective, Australia has a population of 24.5 million people, 15 million people less than the state of California. To have a central body you would need to have the states as well as the large tracks or circuits give up their power. Can't see California, Kentucky, or New York doing that.

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Whom within the industry would you consider qualified to present the "other side" in a debate against these 'one-sided hit pieces' that you rail against? Who is out there to provide the "facts"...in order to refute these "lies"? Does the industry have an acknowledged "representative" whom I am unaware of?

What exactly is the "other side?" The uninvolved American public sees a thousand racing-related deaths a year, thousands more retired race horses sent to slaughter and a continual stream of news stories about drug use (equine and human) and cheating by jockeys and trainers. If the appeal is to the romance, excitement and history of the game, the public couldn't care less because horses are irrelevant to 99% of the people.

Perhaps the best way to present the game is to present it for what it actually is - gambling option that provides a unique kind of entertainment. Those who do find racing relevant have already made a conscious decision to either ignore or passively accept the game's realities.

And there actually is no debate. The stuff people find objectionable about racing is real and no amount of discussion will make the violence and/or corruption palatable to those who find those things offensive, which includes just about every non-racing fan.

I'll put it this way. Very few people give a crap about an American Pharoah, a Zenyatta or even a Secretariat. Take a random poll on the street and I would be surprised if more than a couple out of a hundred have even heard of Zenyatta. The game is simply no longer in the mainstream of American consciousness.

[Mulerider]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

If we had more stories like these...then, perhaps these "one-sided hit pieces" wouldn't have the impact that they now have. But...

Yes. And I had a senior moment earlier: Straight Flush's dam was Somethingroyal, same as Secretariat. His sire was Riva Ridge.

[The_Turf_Monster]

Originally Posted by Mulerider

Secretariat's half-brother, Straight Flush, out of Riva Ridge and bred by the Chenery estate, ended up in a Texas kill pen after an unsuccessful career. He changed hands several times, standing at stud for a cheap price, finally ending up at a facility near me called Paradise Farms, where I first boarded my horses for a brief time. How he ended up in a kill pen is unclear.

The kill pen owner, to his credit, identified the horse and let some people know about the horse's plight; he was rescued just a couple of days before his date with the slaughterhouse (without the customary ransom price, I'm told), and retired to a ranch in California where he lived peacefully until his death at age 32.

20,000 horses a year aren't getting that kind of treatment though unfortunately