(a deviation of the life and times of In Over My Head, aka, Mo)
Even though the Kentucky Derby is not a harness event, I've always thought it is the unofficial, official start to the racing season. Much like the Masters is to golf. With that in mind, I wanted to share some thoughts on racing and promotion in general.
Imagine you are a promoter. You need to generate buzz for a big race that will get national exposure on a national TV station. Imagine you had the following to work with:
A Middle Eastern millionaire (or more) with endless resources shipping over his best two colts to take on the Americans.
A hall of fame trainer in Bob Baffert bringing in the best horse from California.
A former school teacher with a one horse ‘stable’
A cowboy from New Mexico who drove his $9,800 horse all the way to Kentucky himself.
The thing is, you don’t need to imagine anything. Those were just a few of the actual storylines that we had in the Kentucky Derby this year.
Just think of what Vince McMahn (of WWF/ WWE fame) could do with storylines like that? It is so good it almost sounds made up…but it isn’t! I’m a horse racing guy and I didn’t know half those stories until AFTER the race. You mean to tell me I have to watch 75,000 commercials for ‘Frank TV’ and endless other meaningless sitcoms and reality TV shows and you can’t throw a handful of commercials promoting these storylines during the Bulls vs. Celtics series? These are REAL people with real horses and putting real money on the line. No wonder racing is ‘dying’. No one creates any buzz. I’m sick of the ‘woe is me’ attitude attached to racing. ‘Our time has past.’ ‘It isn’t what is used to be.’ ‘No one cares anymore about horse racing’. You know recently, Jeb Bush (and I’m not getting into politics by the way) came out and said it was time for the Republican party to stop the aging love affair with the way things were under Ronald Regan. They were great times for that party. The key word is ‘were’. Its over. Time to move on. Racing needs to take the bull by the horns and move on too and save itself.
So why don’t they do it? Why don’t TV stations and media outlets dump money into promoting great animals and great stories. I have one theory. If Lebron James planned to come into the NBA, play one season and retire, do you think he would get the pub he gets? Do you think the NBA would be a popular as it is if players turned over year after year? No, is the answer to that question. Why sink time and effort into promoting a 3 year old horse who is more than likely going to head off to the stud barn within 12 months? They are gone before anyone gets to know them. With that in mind, it is time for a paradigm shift in the way races are conducted. I don’t see Thoroughbred racing changing…they are too set in their ways. This is a chance for harness racing to take the lead.
Aged Horses
Recently, the owners of Somebeachsomewhere, a legitimate superstar in every sense of the word told Standardbred Canada (link: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/4-27-09/macgrath-retiring-beach-financial-decision.html ) that they retired him in part because there isn’t enough money to race for as an aged horse. While one could say that the owners are simply being greedy, the decision is theirs and only theirs at the end of the day. And for many, it is a simple business decision. Taking a horse like that to stud with a $20,000 fee is a sure thing (at least for a couple years). However, I believe that most owners would RATHER race than take their horse to stud barn. There is simply nothing like watching one of your horses race and the thrill of victory is incredible. In my opinion, we will not begin to fix the core issue with racing until such time we begin to offer more big races to horses older than 3. That is where you can build some constancy of big name horses. Rivalries can begin to blossom and that is where you create interest. You need an ‘us vs. them’ mentality to get people really interested. Michigan vs. Ohio State. Yankees vs. Red Sox. Heck, Yankees vs. anyone else. However, the money just isn’t in the aged races right now. Here is a look at all colt and gelding winners of over $500,000 in 2008 (pacers only):
Imagine you are a promoter. You need to generate buzz for a big race that will get national exposure on a national TV station. Imagine you had the following to work with:
A Middle Eastern millionaire (or more) with endless resources shipping over his best two colts to take on the Americans.
A hall of fame trainer in Bob Baffert bringing in the best horse from California.
A former school teacher with a one horse ‘stable’
A cowboy from New Mexico who drove his $9,800 horse all the way to Kentucky himself.
The thing is, you don’t need to imagine anything. Those were just a few of the actual storylines that we had in the Kentucky Derby this year.
Just think of what Vince McMahn (of WWF/ WWE fame) could do with storylines like that? It is so good it almost sounds made up…but it isn’t! I’m a horse racing guy and I didn’t know half those stories until AFTER the race. You mean to tell me I have to watch 75,000 commercials for ‘Frank TV’ and endless other meaningless sitcoms and reality TV shows and you can’t throw a handful of commercials promoting these storylines during the Bulls vs. Celtics series? These are REAL people with real horses and putting real money on the line. No wonder racing is ‘dying’. No one creates any buzz. I’m sick of the ‘woe is me’ attitude attached to racing. ‘Our time has past.’ ‘It isn’t what is used to be.’ ‘No one cares anymore about horse racing’. You know recently, Jeb Bush (and I’m not getting into politics by the way) came out and said it was time for the Republican party to stop the aging love affair with the way things were under Ronald Regan. They were great times for that party. The key word is ‘were’. Its over. Time to move on. Racing needs to take the bull by the horns and move on too and save itself.
So why don’t they do it? Why don’t TV stations and media outlets dump money into promoting great animals and great stories. I have one theory. If Lebron James planned to come into the NBA, play one season and retire, do you think he would get the pub he gets? Do you think the NBA would be a popular as it is if players turned over year after year? No, is the answer to that question. Why sink time and effort into promoting a 3 year old horse who is more than likely going to head off to the stud barn within 12 months? They are gone before anyone gets to know them. With that in mind, it is time for a paradigm shift in the way races are conducted. I don’t see Thoroughbred racing changing…they are too set in their ways. This is a chance for harness racing to take the lead.
Aged Horses
Recently, the owners of Somebeachsomewhere, a legitimate superstar in every sense of the word told Standardbred Canada (link: http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/4-27-09/macgrath-retiring-beach-financial-decision.html ) that they retired him in part because there isn’t enough money to race for as an aged horse. While one could say that the owners are simply being greedy, the decision is theirs and only theirs at the end of the day. And for many, it is a simple business decision. Taking a horse like that to stud with a $20,000 fee is a sure thing (at least for a couple years). However, I believe that most owners would RATHER race than take their horse to stud barn. There is simply nothing like watching one of your horses race and the thrill of victory is incredible. In my opinion, we will not begin to fix the core issue with racing until such time we begin to offer more big races to horses older than 3. That is where you can build some constancy of big name horses. Rivalries can begin to blossom and that is where you create interest. You need an ‘us vs. them’ mentality to get people really interested. Michigan vs. Ohio State. Yankees vs. Red Sox. Heck, Yankees vs. anyone else. However, the money just isn’t in the aged races right now. Here is a look at all colt and gelding winners of over $500,000 in 2008 (pacers only):
One could argue that Somebeach had a chance to make a ton of money. Mr. Big took in $1,500,000. However, look at his line. Eleven wins in fourteen starts. That’s rather incredible. It is a lot to ask of a horse to have that kind of win percentage.Digging into the numbers shows that of the top ten earners in 2008, five were 3-year olds, three were 4 + and two were 2-year olds.
So how could the landscape be changed? How could there be a way for aged horses to stay on the track longer? I think one idea would be to create a new division of racing: horses aged 4 through 6. That division could have its own series or ‘Grand Circuit’. They could even piggy back on big weekends where 3-year old events are taking center stage (and could eventually upstage the younger colts). The key would be to set it up in a series with points and standings. Nascar does it. Golf is trying to do the same thing. Have someone be the lead sponsor and entice big time horses to race not only for purse money, but for year end bonuses. If the winner of the annual Ford Truck Harness Series (for example) got to add a million dollar bonus to their accumulated purse money, do you think Somebeach would be retired right now? Maybe, but I’d guess there would be a much better chance he would be racing and that colt is EXACTLY what the sport needs.
This would be one way to try and create some consistency in racing. Let the 2 and 3 year olds do their thing. This new series would be a way for the general public to get to know horses over a number of years. Consistent horses, consistent drivers, consistent trainers and consistent owners. It would be exponentially easier to promote a battle of Mr. Big vs. Somebeach vs. Art Official. How about seeing a number of dream matchups of Donato Hanover vs. Deweycheatemandhow? Do you realize the buzz you could create off of something like that? More media, more advertising dollars and more money spent at the windows. Racing would actually be taking in non casino generated dollars. Now that sounds like a plan in long term viability.
Ratings and attendance
Interestingly enough, the ratings for this year’s Kentucky Derby were the highest in 17 years. This despite the lack of marketing as talked about above. The on track attendance was also a record high. Racing is not dead. It is one life support and only shows its former glory once or twice a year, but it isn’t dead. Again, the Derby is not harness racing, but horses are horses to a certain extent. Use these important numbers as a beacon of hope to keep working toward a better, more sustainable sport.
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