'09 3 year old Crop better than '08 Crop?

Still 7 weeks away from the Kentucky Derby and already I have read many media articles and blogs on how the 2009 crop of 3 year old's is so much better than the 2008 crop.

Really? Is that not just a bit premature? I realize Dutrow and the IEAH clan don't give the public a warm fuzzy feel, but man do they love to bash Big Brown and his 3 year old competition of '08.

I know we are in a instant gratification twitter crazed world right now, where opinions are lightning fast and immediate, but I like to let a 3 year old crop mature and judge them throughout the Derby Trail, than over the rest of their 3 year old campaign and finally follow them into the handicap division before granting proper judgement.

This past weekend the winners of the Gulfstream Park Handicap and the New Orleans Handicap were Smooth Air and Macho Again. Smooth Air, second to Big Brown in the Florida Derby is now 6-3-3 from 14 starts with earnings of $932,200.

Macho Again, runner up to Big Brown in the Preakness, is now 5-4-0 from 16 starts with earnings of $1,076,619.

Other '08 alumni of note include Gayego with 5 wins and $833,020.00 in earnings and Colonel John with 5 wins and $1,440,330.00 in earnings.

I think if you ask any of the owners and trainers of the '09 crop to cash in and sign on the dotted line right now for the above wins and earnings , they would ask you for a pen.

ESPN Slices Derby Week TV Coverage

The once promising relationship between ESPN and Horse Racing appears to be on the skids with ESPN cutting its Kentucky Derby Week Coverage from 11 hours in 2008 to 5 hours this year. The Kentucky Oaks will be a victim of the ESPN cuts, as they will not show the race on the Friday before the Derby. The Bravo Network, owned by NBC Universal, will pick up the Oaks Coverage as part of a one hour special. Last year ESPN had 3 hours of coverage on Oaks Day.

My initial reaction is that once again the horse racing fan gets shafted. However, I can't say I blame ESPN from the business side of the table. Although the Kentucky Derby itself draws impressive numbers, averaging an hefty 8.7 household rating share since NBC picked up the coverage in 2001, every other Horse Racing event draws anemic ratings.

This past Breeders Cup drew only a 1.0 share on the ABC portion of the Saturday 2008 coverage and "Filly Friday" on ESPN drew a very weak 0.3 on ESPN. I don't have last years Oaks ratings available to me but based on typical cable ratings I would figure it would also be about in the 0.3 range that the Breeders Cup had on ESPN on during the 2008 Friday coverage.

Looks like ESPN took a look at the ratings and just decided to go elsewhere, pushing other programs and sports that simply draw in better ratings and ultimately better ad rates. For instance, the ESPN coverage of the World Baseball Classic, is off to a strong start, with first-round game coverage on ESPN (four telecasts) averaging a 1.3 rating (up 44 percent from the original classic first broadcast in 2006). With an international audience for the World Baseball Classic, ESPN is smartly building its ESPN Deportes Cable Channel and ESPN360.com website.

Cuba vs. Australia on Tuesday, March 10, delivered a 3.3 rating on ESPN Desportes to become the network’s highest-rated non-soccer event ever.

The ESPN360.com is streaming World Baseball Classic games and traffic is way up with an average viewer time of 41 minutes per stream for Classic games.

It's all about drawing eyeballs to the screen and ESPN appears to have lost interest in using Horse Racing to do that.

SOURCES: Neilsen Media Research

Marketing-Adapt or Expire

Instead of wondering if it works or how , the smart business person is using it right now, that being the tools of Blogging, Twittering and Internet social networking sites to market your business.

The lesson here is do it now, do it fast and don't stop. Spread the word of your business through every electronic avenue you can via your own web site, Internet social sites and the cell phone.

The horse racing industry got a late start but it seems industry big wigs like the NTRA and NYRA are finally getting it and using all platforms available to market such as Facebook and Twitter. We have a way to go and are behind other sports but in this constant changing every day is a new day and the time is now.

Speaking of which, you can see the various Twittering going on at the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance via TBABlogs. You can also read the Tweets at the TBA Home Page.

Happy Anniversary Mr. Spitzer

Today, March 10, 2009, is the 1-year anniversary of the revelation of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s connection to a prostitution ring.

At that time when not busy under the sheets, the "luv Gov" had on his desk a number of "things to do" including naming the organization that would operate video lottery terminals (VLT's) at Aqueduct.

After Spitzer's fall from grace Governor Patterson picked up the baton and on October 10 2008 chose the Delaware North Cos. Inc. to operate 4,500 video lottery terminals at the Big A. Groundbreaking was originally scheduled for January 2009.

Now on the one year anniversary, no groundbreaking has been done at the Big A, and with no formal agreement in place, no shoveling is scheduled.

On Feb. 11, 2009 NYRA President Charles Hayward said:

“We have been given no indication from the state or Delaware North as to when the groundbreaking at Aqueduct will take place and that date cannot be estimated until the [memorandum of understanding] is executed. Obviously we are very concerned for NYRA’s racing program and its stakeholders, and I am more concerned as a citizen of the State of New York that the state is foregoing [more than] $300-million in annual revenues as the delay continues.”

Even more confusing, now Patterson is pushing his "Empire State Development Plan" which includes a proposed VLT and Hotel development at Belmont Park.

But for now, one year after the Spitzer debacle not one shovel is in the ground at Belmont or Aqueduct. Is there any doubt that next year on March 10, 2010 we will still be sitting here with shovel in hand and dirt not yet dug?

Stardom Bound says: "Scoreboard"

As usual Alan at Left at the Gate is dead on with his analysis of Stardom Bound's win in the Santa Anita Oaks yesterday. Dana from from Green but Game chimes in with similar comments. Both were perplexed with the criticism of Stardom Bound's win. On the one hand, that is what makes this game so great, the constant back and forth on why a horse won and the debate on what will happen in the next race.

I am always amazed as the widely divergent opinions out there on a outcome of a race. If Brett Favre in his Green Bay Packers days shrugged off 3 sacks and 2 interceptions to lead the Packers on a 97 yard drive to win the game with 2 minutes left in the 4 quarter it is called a "gutty" win and Favre is described the next day in the media as a "winner" a "true champion" a "never say die athlete". Only in horse racing does a gutty athlete get knocked.

This leads to the great paradox of our game-the athletes don't talk.

Did anyone interview Stardom Bound after the race? What did she say? Did she have aches and pains that slowed her up, was she feeling out of it, was she distracted early, did she learn anything off this race? Is she confident going forward? Does she think she can beat the boys? What is her mental state?

I never fully trust a handicapper, owner, trainer or fan when talking about a horse, because he/she never asked the horse. Until someone actually hears the talk horse, a 3rd party opinion is just that, a 3rd party opinion. Until then, all we have is the scoreboard and the scoreboard for Stardom Bound says "Win".

Aqueduct Fantasy

Published Attendance At Aqueduct Racetrack on March 5, 2009 as reported in the Times Union: 483,279.

Maybe they finally put in the slots?

Fantastic Product +Great Marketing=$$$$

If you have a great product and now how to market it, you can still make money, even in this economy. Media Week reports that CBS has nearly sold out all the ads for the online version of March Madness, CBS’s free on-demand access to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Media Week estimates CBS is pushing close to $30 million in revenue, significantly ahead of last year’s $23 million. If it hits $30 million it will be up just over 30% in revenue year over year.

Remember all the criticism of the Friday Breeders Cup and "how do you market it to fans who are stuck at work?" Well, CBS found a way to market a day time event (1st round games are on Thursday & Friday) with the online feed and even found a Sponsor for a gimmick on the site. Comcast sponsor's the "Boss Button", which according to Media Week, will enable at-work viewers to display a fake spreadsheet on their screens with a quick click of the mouse if their boss approaches while they’re watching live games.

Smart Stuff. The main value in the CBS online inventory is that people can only watch some of the early round day games in their office, making the streams a substitute for a TV that would have otherwise been used, so those fans have no choice and that spells big money (online wise-$30 million is a huge #). Compare this to marketing of horse racing-where easily accessible live streaming of major race events is difficult to find.

Oh, in case your wondering, the CBS TV ad revenue for the tournament last year was $430 million.

Positive Praise

As a Time Warner Cable Subscriber I don't have access to TVG or HRTV but I do have Capital OTB on my cable system. It actually serves my purposes pretty well with simulcasts of the NYRA tracks as well as all the other big tracks. Yesterday I was able to watch the Aqueduct card as well as see the Fountain of Youth from Gulfstream and the Sham Stakes from Santa Anita. Unlike the NYC OTB Channel it does not share air space with other programs and seems to be relatively free of the technical problems often seen on the NYC OTB channel.

I like “Trackfacts Live” seen on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 9:30-11 am. The production valves are minimal but hosts Nick Kling (turf writer for the Troy Record) and Tom Amello more than make up for the low budget set and production valves with expert analysis and tons of information. I always pick up tidbits of information, especially on betting angles and different ways to handicap. The show is simple in format. The 2 hosts sit behind a table and take questions from callers and read e-mails off laptops placed on the table. Nothing fancy, just tons of information and commentary.

On This Sunday’s program Tom Amello read an e-mail from a fan asking about the Host’s feelings on blogging. Nick Kling was positive, citing the blogger's ability to write about angles not always written about in the mainstream media.

He specifically mentioned 3 blogs he particularly liked and they were all once or current members of Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance They were ex-TBA’ers (or is it former TBA’ers, or TBA alumni, or no longer TBA’ers?) Jessica from Railbird, Brooklyn Backstretch and current TBA blog Colin’s Ghost.

If you have any interest at all in Thoroughbred racing history, and appreciate fine writing and research may I point you to this recent piece written over at Colin’s Ghost.

See you at Siro's

If you have to explain to someone where it is, than they do not know Saratoga. The Trackside Restaurant, frequented by track goers, trainers, owners and various hangers-ons is on the block for $3.1 million.

Saratoga Summer Bookings Up?

With the Derby trail underway, it is never to early to speculate about attendance during the 2009 Saratoga Meet. Tom Federlin of Racing City Realty was quoted in The Post Star as saying:

"My business is up significantly from last year at this time -- and last year was my best year."

Another Broker, Lori Leman, of Saratoga Realty Associates states:

"I think people who are calling up to rent a home are looking for bargains. They are interested in negotiating on price more so than in other years, but the thing is they still want to come to Saratoga"

My prediction in 3 words: Weather, Weather, Weather. Sunny comfortable days are the biggest factor in the size of the crowds at the Spa. Rain and high humidity will keep people away. The economy matters, but not as much as the weather.

Maybe this Twitter Thing Really Works

and I thought is was only to exchange meaningless updates about nothing to people who have way too much free time. Maybe Not....

You can follow the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance Twitter group here

EA Sports focusing on 2 more sports for '09

and no...one of them is not Horse Racing. EA Sports, the leader of sports related video games including the leading seller Madden NFL series is adding 2 new sports to the fold in 2009. The already have the NFL, the NHL, the NBA, NASCAR, NCAA Basketball The PGA and FIFA Soccer. In a soft economy, video game software and equipment has actually risen-2008 saw a sales gain of 19% over 2007. Despite the economy, sales are expected to grow and leading retailer Game Stop has forecast a 10-12% sales gain for 2009.

You would think any marketing agency for a sport would hitch its wagons to this silver bullet. In 2009 EA Sports will debut Tennis with the release of its EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) games are expected later in 2009. I always thought a Horse Racing Video game using the likeness of actual Jockeys , Race Tracks and Trainers would be a good seller and also relate the game player to the actual sport, must like Madden NFL helped make certain players more popular. You could add a fantasy betting element to the game also, as all good gamblers love their action, even on a fantasy level. Seems like Marketing 101 to me, but than again that's just me.

The Economy Must Really Be Bad

In a sure sign that the current state of the economy has reached the consciousness of the elite, The Saratogian reports that socialite and horse owner Mary Lou Whitney will not be throwing the annual Whitney Gala in Saratoga this August. The over the top gala's were a yearly tradition, a invitation only party thrown on the eve of the Whitney Stakes.

Mary Lou Whitney and her husband, John Hendrickson, will continue with their many other community efforts including contributing to a Sunday evening dinner program for all backstretch workers and their families.

Southwest Stakes-looking ahead

In Monday's Southwest Stakes (G3) Old Fashioned did what he had to do, putting away the game Silver City to win at Oaklawn Park.

Looking ahead, I was impressed with Flat Out who finished 4th. If you watch the replay of the race, you will note that Flat Out had a horrible start, getting left at the Gate, way behind the field. He closed nicely almost getting 3rd and seemed that he had alot of run left in him. I think he will be back at Oaklawn in the Rebel Stakes. This horse intrigues me, and you might want to put him on your watch list.

Migliore Joins Thorofan

Popular jockey Richard Migliore has joined the Advisory Board of ThoroFan, a national not-for-profit organization. Migliore was in Saratoga on Monday 02/09/09 to attend the groups meeting at Saratoga Gaming and Raceway. Migliore stated “This group excited a passion in me.” He continued, “I’m still a fan of the game and ThoroFan is the most positive step I’ve seen in a long time.”

ThoroFan also announced that Joseph E. Aulisi has joined the Advisory Board. Aulisi, long-time Saratoga resident is the Director of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

ThoroFan, a national not-for-profit organization, was founded in 2008 in Saratoga Springs, NY to bring fans of Thoroughbred racing together; to encourage fan participation and input; and to educate, entertain and grow the fan base of America’s first sport. The Thorofan website can be accessed at www.thorfan.com.

Animal Planet Jockeys Premiere Garners Impressive Ratings

We reached out to Discovery (parent company of Animal Planet Network) to get some feedback on last Friday Nights Premier of Jockeys.

"Animal Planet was thrilled with the premiere"

said Thali Kouperstein of Discovery. Kouperstein went on:

"The back to back premiere episodes (9-10pm) brought in more than 1 million unique P2+* viewers (1.014M). The ratings were a .6** household; a 50% increase from the year-ago timeslot average."

By comparison "Monk" seen on USA network had the most viewers of any cable show for the week ending February 8th, 2009 according to Nielsen Ratings Data released by The Nielsen Company . Monk had over 5 million viewers counting Live and DVR Same Day Viewing***. Ironically the very popular Monk went up head to head against Jockeys as it also ran in the 9-10 pm time slot on Friday night.

Considering there are over 14,000 airing of shows on cable every week, grabbing the amount of viewers Jockeys did is pretty impressive.

Notes: *: P2t means all persons over the age of 2
**:A household rating is the estimate of the size of a television audience relative to the total universe, expressed as a percentage
***: Live and DVR Same Day Viewing includes DVR playback on the same day, defined as 3 a.m.-3 a.m.

Sources: Discovery Network
The Nielsen Company

Chantal Sutherland Striking the irons

Seems like the breakout star of Animal Planet's Jockeys cable reality show will be Chantal Sutherland.

Every blog, news article or Internet site I have read that talks about the show mentions this talented Jockey including one serving as a lead in to a classroom lesson on purse structure breakdown 101.

For reading of a lighter nature you can pick up the latest issue of Horse Society Magazine, featuring Chantal on the Cover.

Stardom Bound on the Derby Trail-PETA, where are you?

The impressive 3 year old filly Stardom Bound enters the Derby Trail as she is slated to take on the Boys in the Santa Anita Derby on April 4th.

Egads! Surely PETA is on this case, especially in light of the campaign they led following filly Eight Belles' breakdown and euthanasia at the Kentucky Derby on May 3 of 2008. Here it is a year later and another filly is aiming for the Kentucky Derby.

Last Year PETA was up front and center with "reforms" they proposed to the racing industry including delay training and racing until after a horse's third birthday,
eliminating racing on dirt surfaces, limiting the number of races per season and banning whipping.

Now, less than 10 months later the Al Sharpton of the animal world is all quiet. Surely, I thought there must be some mention of this filly Stardom Bound on the PETA website, or at least some follow up on how the proposed "reforms" are going. Weren't they supposed to be "front and center" in stopping this cruel sport from continuing.

Well if you visit the home page of PETA, you would think horse racing has already been successfully banned all over the world, for there is no mention of it on the site, except for the archives section.

I figured they must mention something about the cruel Derby Trail and the merciless pointing of Stardom Bound to the Derby under the "What's New" section of the Home Page. Nope--under the "What's New" the top story is "Tell the NFL to Test Michael Vick for a Brain Disorder". There are 7 stories listed, none about horse racing. The number 6 story is "Save the Sea Kittens". Yes apparently fish are now sea kittens. I checked the Blog section of the site and no horse racing updates there.

You can however read about the campaign to get the home improvement chain "Lowe's" to ban glue traps which they feel is cruelly killing the poor little rats and mice. After all they have the right to infest your home.

Could it be they are waiting for another injury to happen on the Derby Trail before they pounce with the "Told ya so's"? Could it be possible that if this upstart filly Stardom Bound stays on the Derby Trail and comes home safely every time that PETA would ignore this story? Would like to be the bookmaker taking bets on that.

Jockeys-Review of Episode One

Jockeys premieres Friday at 9 pm, February 06, 2009, on Animal Planet. I received the press material kit and was able to watch episode one. My copy had no commercials so it was a crisp and very watchable 22 minutes. Episode one and Episode two will be shown back to back from 9pm-10pm on the 6th.

The series is a behind the scenes look at seven Jockeys. It was filmed at the 30 day Oak Tree meet @ Santa Anita this past fall. It is filmed in typical "reality TV" style with quick edits, voice overs, music beds and interviews of the jockeys.

Episode One, titled "Starting Gate" eases the viewer in, with the wise choice to introduce only 4 of the 7 jockeys featured in the series. The remaining 3 Jockeys are introduced in Episode two, titled "One Good Horse". We also get to see Zenyatta in Episode Two, and what fan would complain about that?

Episode one starts with a feature on the budding rivalry between 18 year old Jockey Joe Talamo and Aaron Gryder. The episode features both racing at Fairplex Park, two days before Opening day at Oak Tree. The episode than jumps to Santa Anita, where Canadian female Jockey Chantal Sutherland comes to California to race the Oak Tree meet. We learn that she has been dating Mike Smith for 1.5 years and will be moving into his condominium. Like all good reality shows, you got to have a romance, and it is clear that the producers will focus on this romance throughout the series.

Animal Planet does not pretend that the series is a hard core look at racing. The series narrator (never seen on camera) even describes basic information such as what a "scratch" is. The producers have written the narration as if they expect many of the viewers to be track maidens.

The press materials released by Animal Planet describe it as a "docu-soap". That is exactly what it is, and the series is heavily edited and packaged to emphasis the personalities of the Jockeys.

For those who only look at racing as "gaming" and not a sport, I doubt this show will appeal to you. If you only care about numbers and reading Past Performances don't even watch the show-you will hate it. You will not here the words "takeout" "ADW" or "Return on Investment" mentioned although they do not totally ignore gambling. Episode one features Jimmy the Hat, a professional gambler stating: "People come to the track to gamble, they are on a drug called action, and from they moment they place a bet, to when the bet is over, that is what makes this whole thing work".

But gambling takes a back seat in this series with the emphasis on the competitiveness between the jockeys, the on-going romance between Smith and Sutherland, and the danger. They amp up the danger aspect of the sport and show a couple of falls during episode one, including one on Opening Day at Oak Tree.

Overall the production quality of the series is excellent. It is a very visually appealing show to watch. Animal Planet is available on most cable systems in High Definition, and I had the benefit of watching episode one in HD.

If you like action, like the sports side of racing, and like learning about the "drama" of the Jockeys involved in the sport, this is a show for you.

Groundhog Day

6 more weeks of winter...Ya think? The snowbanks rise higher around the quite Saratoga Race Course as we wait for winter to end, knowing we really have a solid 2 months left of snow, ice, and cold. Keeping me hopeful is the knowledge, that with the Super Bowl over, it will not be long till Pitchers and Catchers and for a clearer Derby contender list to emerge.

As for the Super Bowl, the game was great, Bruce was great, (snagged 4 tickets today for the Albany NY concert 5/14) and my favorite commercial featured Horses.