A NYRA executive's view of horseplayers

[highnote]

Thanks to Indulto for posting this in the HANA section.

Here is how one executive at NYRA views horseplayers.
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http://paulmoranattheraces.blogspot....acing-fan.html
A new forum for the racing fan
By Paul Moran July 8, 2008

The evolution of a nontraditional, essentially digital racing media has spawned the Self-appointed Fan Committee …

… This is a welcome and inevitable development resulting from an unfiltered exchange of ideas and opinion among those whose ideas and opinions are valued least by those who steer the course of most racetracks. Where once discourse of this type was limited to those who congregated at racetracks, small groups of the disenfranchised and neglected whose money … fuels the sport and whose tolerance is admirably durable, the Internet has expanded the dialogue among those whose participation is now largely remote to a national and even international stage that somehow those who make decisions that affect directly racing’s core audience continue to ignore.

… Horseplayers, in fact, rank low on the list of priorities at NYRA. Horseplayers, in fact, are regarded openly by at least one executive with contempt

On the night before the Belmont Stakes, while he was extolling the brilliance that resulted in the construction of a large wooden desk in the Belmont Park clubhouse lobby, it was suggested to a high-ranking NYRA executive that the organization has lost sight of the core audience.

What, he asked, was the core audience?

The horseplayers.

“ ------ the horseplayers,” he said, employing a widely used euphemism for copulation.

That’s where you stand in New York.

A forum easily accessible to those with the power to at least take note if not action is a welcome addition to the digital dialogue. The Self-appointed Fan Committee website is a fine place to begin and should (yeah, right) become the home page of every racing executive in the land.

[slewis]

I dont know of anyone who's more anti-NYRA then I am... but without revealing the name of the executive who said this, as far as I'm concerned, it's flat out bull-shit.

So someone who know's Moran should ask him to come forward with the name.

If he's afraid to say, then he's a nothing but a body part quite often used in copulation!!!!

[KMS]

True or not, it has the ring of plausibility. Nobody would ever believe Steve Wynn saying that about craps players, but it's easily imaginable that one might hear those words from a NYRA executive. The daily actions of track management (and horsemen too) are all the proof anyone needs of what their attitude is toward the horseplayer, whether they verbalize it or not.

[Indulto]

Originally Posted by slewis

I dont know of anyone who's more anti-NYRA then I am... but without revealing the name of the executive who said this, as far as I'm concerned, it's flat out bull-shit.

So someone who know's Moran should ask him to come forward with the name.

If he's afraid to say, then he's a nothing but a body part quite often used in copulation!!!!

I was very surprised that, after what they've been through, any NYRA executive would be foolish and arrogant enought to say that. I don't know Moran personally, but I've never found him to be irresponsible before in all the years I've followed him. If I had, as a NYRA supporter, I would have questioned the quote when I posted it.

If you have information that would change my mind, I'd appreciate your providing it.

[MickJ26]

Originally Posted by swetyejohn

Thanks to Indulto for posting this in the HANA section.

Here is how one executive at NYRA views horseplayers.
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http://paulmoranattheraces.blogspot....acing-fan.html
A new forum for the racing fan
By Paul Moran July 8, 2008

Anybody who's been to Aqueduct during the IDT meet can probably vouch for this to be true. Then again, all sports treat their fans with the same "give us your money and shut up" routine.

[cj]

I think the point is that without identifying the person it doesn't provide any real ammunition.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by cj

I think the point is that without identifying the person it doesn't provide any real ammunition.

Moran should have given a name. If the executive was dumb enough to say it, then Moran should not be afraid of publishing his name.

Otherwise, it's just hearsay.

[Indulto]

Originally Posted by swetyejohn

Moran should have given a name. If the executive was dumb enough to say it, then Moran should not be afraid of publishing his name.

Otherwise, it's just hearsay.

He could be giving the individual the opportunity to come forward on his own or else to see how the organization handles it.

[slewis]

Originally Posted by Indulto

He could be giving the individual the opportunity to come forward on his own or else to see how the organization handles it.

No way. A couple of years ago a turf writer for the NY Post went to the paddock with a trainer friend of his, the owner and a few of the owner's friends.

Security gave the owner's friends a bit of a hard time, not allowing them into the paddock without proper ID, so the writer for the Post made wrote about the incident the next day in his column citing that he thought the security "threat" was ridiculous.

The Head of security at NYRA went to the press box the next dayafter the column appeared and intimidated the writer telling him not to write such thing's "or else".

The next year, the writer's father, a minor jockey agent, was barred from the grounds, his credentials taken away.

Factual case.

[Storm Cadet]

Originally Posted by slewis

I dont know of anyone who's more anti-NYRA then I am... but without revealing the name of the executive who said this, as far as I'm concerned, it's flat out bull-shit.

So someone who know's Moran should ask him to come forward with the name.

If he's afraid to say, then he's a nothing but a body part quite often used in copulation!!!!

Here's Moran's web page and his email address is on lower left side: somebody should ask him!

http://paulmoranattheraces.blogspot.com/

[highnote]

Power will concede nothing without a fight.

Is it time to fight for a new order?

[Charlie D]

If a NYRA executive did say it, what action will you take????

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by slewis

No way. A couple of years ago a turf writer for the NY Post went to the paddock with a trainer friend of his, the owner and a few of the owner's friends.

Security gave the owner's friends a bit of a hard time, not allowing them into the paddock without proper ID, so the writer for the Post made wrote about the incident the next day in his column citing that he thought the security "threat" was ridiculous.

The Head of security at NYRA went to the press box the next dayafter the column appeared and intimidated the writer telling him not to write such thing's "or else".

The next year, the writer's father, a minor jockey agent, was barred from the grounds, his credentials taken away.

Factual case.

It's not a " factual case " at all......it's heresay as well and I think you know there is way more to the last part of the story.

As far as Moran's piece.....it's pretty interesting how in touch with the horseplayers Paul seems to be considering the amount of time he spent outside of the Press Box over the last 10 or more years in NY ( aside from entering and leaving the track ).

[highnote]

Originally Posted by Charlie D

If a NYRA executive did say it, what action will you take????

The first action is to be even more proactive in getting our organization HANA off the ground.

What would you suggest?

I'm a horseplayer and am extremely disappointed to know that any racing executive has negative sentiments toward the general horseplayer. Why would someone have disdain for the people who buy your product? That's like Quaker Oats saying f--- stay-at-home moms who buy our cereal for their kids. If consumers heard that an executive at Quaker Oats had that sentiment, do you think they'd keep buying Quaker Oats cereal?

From what I've been hearing, publicly and privately, from other horseplayers, and from my own experience, most racetracks have a deep disdain for their betting customers.

If it's true that an executive at NYRA said "f--- the horseplayers" then this fact should be disseminated far and wide and continually. There is no place for this sentiment in today's racing industry. It only drives the wedge further between, racetracks, horsemen, jockeys, owners, horseplayers, etc.

[Charlie D]

What i do will have little effect, but true or not, i'll not be betting on a NYRA races

F---- the NYRA