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07-23-2019, 07:14 PM
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Posts: 5,870
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Mike Watchmaker let go by DRF?
Saw his Twitter?
Mike Watchmaker
@Mike_Watchmaker
Former national handicapper for Daily Racing Form.
He had been there for a while. Matt Bernier announced he was gone as well.
Anyone else gone?
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07-23-2019, 07:47 PM
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: west view, pa. now Lancaster, Ca.
Posts: 3,382
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read there was a lot of layoffs also via twitter
__________________
Buy Sam a drink and get His dog one Too--->mlang
and now in Lancaster, CA.
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07-23-2019, 08:37 PM
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Posts: 5,870
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ldiatone
read there was a lot of layoffs also via twitter
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That sucks, two people I usually read were Hovday and MW. I tended to watch videos with Mike Beer as I think he is pretty good.
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07-23-2019, 10:35 PM
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#4
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Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 697
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Saw an allusion to this on the speed figures thread. I Googled "Daily Racing Form," this was top hit: https://www.horseraceinsider.com/dai...m-up-for-sale/
Grooming for an(other) acquisition seems to be the theory. Not sure what DRF has left of value it dumps its talent. Beyer figs still have life in them given the figures poll thread, but plenty of competition there—including what DRF has brought in-house itself with TFUS.
Watchmaker seemed like the wise elder statesman and Bernier the upcoming young talent. A hard-working one at that. Dude was omnipresent on the videos, like when Beer and Illman were off for a week this month.
Canning them both (not to mention the others) just seems like burning the candle at both ends. Barring some palace coup, desperation is the only logical conclusion. Pretty depressing. We'll see what, if anything, they all have up their sleeves.
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07-23-2019, 10:48 PM
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 8,798
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Wow. I can't imagine New York racing coverage without Watchmaker
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07-23-2019, 10:48 PM
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Posts: 5,870
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aerocraft67
Saw an allusion to this on the speed figures thread. I Googled "Daily Racing Form," this was top hit: https://www.horseraceinsider.com/dai...m-up-for-sale/
Grooming for an(other) acquisition seems to be the theory. Not sure what DRF has left of value it dumps its talent. Beyer figs still have life in them given the figures poll thread, but plenty of competition there—including what DRF has brought in-house itself with TFUS.
Watchmaker seemed like the wise elder statesman and Bernier the upcoming young talent. A hard-working one at that. Dude was omnipresent on the videos, like when Beer and Illman were off for a week this month.
Canning them both (not to mention the others) just seems like burning the candle at both ends. Barring some palace coup, desperation is the only logical conclusion. Pretty depressing. We'll see what, if anything, they all have up their sleeves. |
Thanks for the link. That sucks as a racing fan. Always was an interesting read after the weekend stakes what they had to say.
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07-23-2019, 11:31 PM
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 28,570
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Is a decrease in the paper copy price part of this DRF cost-cutting maneuver?
__________________
"Theory is knowledge that doesn't work. Practice is when everything works and you don't know why."
-- Hermann Hesse
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07-23-2019, 11:34 PM
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#8
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The Voice of Reason!
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Canandaigua, New york
Posts: 112,889
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thaskalos
Is a decrease in the paper copy price part of this DRF cost-cutting maneuver?
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Gus, you are killing me!
__________________
Who does the Racing Form Detective like in this one?
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07-24-2019, 01:48 PM
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#9
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clean money
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Maryland
Posts: 23,559
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Good points/observations...
I have a distant/cloudy superficial view, but on the surface it looks very disappointing.
The surface shows a product that I both loved the utility of, and had a brand loyalty to, that stood idle for years while the game changed, did a poor job of using social media, raised prices (pricing me 'out', and) apparently opted for a 'niche' market...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aerocraft67
Saw an allusion to this on the speed figures thread. I Googled "Daily Racing Form," this was top hit: https://www.horseraceinsider.com/dai...m-up-for-sale/
Grooming for an(other) acquisition seems to be the theory. Not sure what DRF has left of value it dumps its talent. Beyer figs still have life in them given the figures poll thread, but plenty of competition there—including what DRF has brought in-house itself with TFUS.
Watchmaker seemed like the wise elder statesman and Bernier the upcoming young talent. A hard-working one at that. Dude was omnipresent on the videos, like when Beer and Illman were off for a week this month.
Canning them both (not to mention the others) just seems like burning the candle at both ends. Barring some palace coup, desperation is the only logical conclusion. Pretty depressing. We'll see what, if anything, they all have up their sleeves. |
__________________
Preparation. Discipline. Patience. Decisiveness.
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07-24-2019, 04:51 PM
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#10
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The Voice of Reason!
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Canandaigua, New york
Posts: 112,889
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thaskalos
Is a decrease in the paper copy price part of this DRF cost-cutting maneuver?
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They send me an email today, proclaiming the huge 20% OFF OUR ENTRE STORE!!!!!
Then, at the bottom, in smaller print,they list the products NOT covered by the word ENTIRE. So they lied in caps.
Whatever their strategy is, apparently it doesn't include integrity or honesty. 
__________________
Who does the Racing Form Detective like in this one?
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07-24-2019, 06:08 PM
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Missouri
Posts: 2,190
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Sorry to hear that. I liked Watchmaker. Getting rid of Bernier makes no sense 
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07-24-2019, 07:21 PM
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 28,570
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom
They send me an email today, proclaiming the huge 20% OFF OUR ENTRE STORE!!!!!
Then, at the bottom, in smaller print,they list the products NOT covered by the word ENTIRE. So they lied in caps.
Whatever their strategy is, apparently it doesn't include integrity or honesty. |
I remember in the pre-computer "darker ages"...when we had to go through the older copies of the DRF in order to do our research. I used to visit their Chicago main office so I could order several months of past editions, whenever I wanted to test a new handicapping idea. And they used to charge me the full retail price for these outdated issues of the paper...because the information contained was so "expensive to gather". So...I can find no sympathy within myself for the DRF's current financial problems. Good riddance, I say.
__________________
"Theory is knowledge that doesn't work. Practice is when everything works and you don't know why."
-- Hermann Hesse
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07-24-2019, 08:47 PM
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#13
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Sartin Methodology Fan
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Earth
Posts: 328
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Hovdey and Bernier are gone too now.
__________________
"And there they go! It's Toupée going on ahead, Long Underwear has fallen behind, Toothpaste is being squeezed out on the rail as Banana joins the bunch, and Cabbage is trailing by a head."
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07-24-2019, 11:00 PM
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#14
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Just another Facist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Now in Houston
Posts: 52,822
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I never understood the Bernier hire at all.
He skated for 5 yrs.......
__________________
WE ARE THE DUMBEST COUNTRY ON THE PLANET!
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07-25-2019, 10:01 AM
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#15
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clean money
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Maryland
Posts: 23,559
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Beyers and Formulator are great 
The 'classic' appeal of The Form, still holds weight as a good quality.
The other stuff (marketing, media, pricing, etc...) is abjectly inept.
Trying to watch some stakes preview on youtube where Illman is coaching Beer, and the video has like 500 views and 1 comment requires that you have a massive love of the game, and some time to waste, and knowledge of how to play a video at 1.5x speed rate, and... , and...
All these years and the stuff has been wasted in clueless fashion...
You have to do better than this, or stand on the shoulders of giants and get a team... even if you have to buy likes and views, and pay some horse racing buddies to comment on races for a while in order to build a network effect.
This stuff is basic 'game' for social media launches...And, you don't see it anywhere on the platform
Illman knows the old school horse racing handicapping game and he knows that schtick, but he's like me - you're supposed to coaching some attractive public speaker type , not actually being in front of the camera...
__________________
Preparation. Discipline. Patience. Decisiveness.
Last edited by Robert Fischer; 07-25-2019 at 10:05 AM.
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