Archive for the ‘Breeders' Cup’ Category

By Ray Paulick
I was all set to name Satish Sanan the winner of the first annual John Mayer Foot in Mouth Award for comments he made on Steve Byk’s “At the Races” Sirius/XM satellite radio show last Tuesday from which he was quoted in a Bloodhorse.com article as saying Churchill Downs was the “worst” racing organization and each of the Breeders’ Cups at Lone Star Park and Monmouth Park was a “disaster.”

Then I thought I’d better listen to the show before throwing Sanan under the bus with Mayer, the pop star who made some outrageous remarks in a just-published Playboy magazine interview about former girlfriends Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston, among other subjects. Since the interview was published, Mayer, a profilic Twitterer, said he has “been trying to prove to people I’m not a douche bag.”

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Sanan has to take that drastic of a measure.

He did, however, agree to send out a statement admitting that he “mischaracterized” the relationship between the Breeders’ Cup and Churchill Downs during the course of the interview, which mostly consisted of him responding to criticism from several callers who disagreed with the concept of a permanent site for horse racing’s championship event. The callers especially disagreed with Santa Anita Park being named the permanent site, a rumor that has been making the rounds after numerous trial balloons were sent out by Breeders’ Cup officials but as Sanan pointed out on more than one occasion during the show is a decision that has not been ratified by the board. His personal preference, he said, was for Santa Anita Park to be the permanent site. (Archives for Sanan’s weekly segment on the show, entitled “Our Industry,” can be heard here.)

The full board of members and trustees of the Breeders’ Cup met in Florida on March 3, the day after Sanan’s radio appearance, and the Bloodhorse.com article published that morning apparently caused Breeders’ Cup board chairman Bill Farish’s blood to boil.

Farish issued a testy statement by mid-afternoon:  “The Breeders’ Cup board is extremely disappointed with recent statements from board member Satish Sanan with regard to host sites and those views in no way reflect the official position of Breeders’ Cup, LTD. The Breeders’ Cup has longstanding and valued partnerships with Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association. No final decisions have been made on host sites beyond 2010 and as we indicated in December the board is looking at a permanent host location as a potential option as part of our ongoing strategic planning initiative. We extend our sincere apology to Churchill Downs and the State of Kentucky. We look forward to our return to Louisville and Churchill Downs for the 2010 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.”

Only Tiger Woods has apologized to more people.

Sanan sent an email to all of the members and trustees on March 4, a copy of which was leaked (not by Sanan) to the Paulick Report.

It reads: “I want to take this opportunity to address and clarify a number of issues raised in Bill Farish’s memo and mischaracterization of my comments during my regular show on Tuesdays on ‘At the Races’ radio network. The facts are as follows:

Regards,
Satish Sanan”

Sanan said things on his radio appearance about Churchill Downs that almost certainly have been said privately by other Breeders’ Cup board members, but the horse industry is not used to someone who serves on some of these exclusive boards being as candid publicly as Sanan has been. Perhaps Farish is somewhat sensitive because his father, William Farish, is the former chairman of the Churchill Downs board, but he knows the attitude about the Breeders’ Cup represented by CEO Bob Evans and his top executives  in negotiations to be host site can be summed up as follows: “We don’t really care if we host your event or not.”

Was there anything to be gained by trashing Churchill Downs, Lone Star Park, and Monmouth Park? No, there wasn’t, and I’m sure Sanan has said other things he’s regretted during the many hours he has spent communicating with racing fans and horsemen on the “At the Races” show. In the heat of the moment, I think Breeders’ Cup chairman Farish was just as much out of line, overreacting publicly to what Sanan was quoted in a news article as saying.

This industry needs people with the candor, the fresh perspective and the creative business acumen that Sanan has brought to Breeders’ Cup and other industry organizations, including the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Cup, where he is member of a committee addressing issues related to structural changes and horse racing’s broken business model.

The candor sometimes gets him in trouble. “There is a group of people particularly pissed off at me,” he said on the radio show, “not as to what I’m trying to achieve or what the group is trying to achieve, (but about) what I had said about the alphabet soup organizations…People are taking it personally, some of the officers of some of these organizations. Candidly, the old saying in business is if you are trying to solve a business problem, generally speaking people who are part of the problem are people who are going to object to it.”

It’s that kind of candor and blunt talk that doesn’t endear Sanan to some people, but I get the feeling he doesn’t really care about that. We haven’t gotten very far in this business by having boards who rubber stamp cautious executive decisions, discourage open dialogue, and keep electing the same people year after year after year.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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The following statement was emailed to the Paulick Report today regarding the comments yesterday from board member Satish Sanan.

Statement from Breeders’ Cup Chairman, Bill Farish
The Breeders’ Cup board is extremely disappointed with recent statements from board member Satish Sanan with regard to host sites and those views in no way reflect the official position of Breeders’ Cup, LTD. The Breeders’ Cup has longstanding and valued partnerships with Churchill Downs and the New York Racing Association. No final decisions have been made on host sites beyond 2010 and as we indicated in December the board is looking at a permanent host location as a potential option as part of our ongoing strategic planning initiative. We extend our sincere apology to Churchill Downs and the State of Kentucky. We look forward to our return to Louisville and Churchill Downs for the 2010 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
 
Statement from Breeders’ Cup Board Member, Satish Sanan
I mischaracterized the Breeders’ Cup’s relationship with Churchill Downs and other host sites in a recent radio interview. I regret my poor choice of words. As part of the Breeders’ Cup strategic planning process, the board continues to evaluate future host sites and other core business issues.

For the original story on Sanan’s comments, click here.
 

By Ray Paulick
In the 10 months since Dan Silver was named director of communications and media relations for the New York Racing Association, NYRA.com has become an innovator and leader in racing’s digital world. Part of the association’s  marketing department since January 2008, Silver and NYRA marketing director Neema Ghaza have become the sport’s dynamic duo when it comes to internet marketing, entertainment and promotions. The innovations they and their associates have developed at NYRA.com and on YouTube are setting the standard for the rest of the industry. If you haven’t checked out NYRA.com lately, you should.

Silver graduated from the first class of master’s degree students at the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program in December 2007 (he also holds a master’s in journalism from Medill at Northwestern University and a B.A. from Haverford College). He had previous horse industry experience working for the Jockey Club, Reynolds Bell Thoroughbred Services and Philadelphia Park.

The Paulick Report spoke with Silver about how NYRA.com has evolved during his relatively short tenure there:

NYRA has clearly made a decision to use its NYRA.com website, along with Youtube, to inform, educate, and entertain racing fans and horsemen. How did your strategy evolve?
It’s very important to mention right away that all of the initiatives we have introduced wouldn’t be possible without support from the top, in our case NYRA president & CEO Charles Hayward and NYRA COO Hal Handel. They let me and Neema Ghazi, NYRA’s director of marketing, have pretty much free reign in exploring new ways to use the internet to benefit our fans. With the knowledge that they’re behind what we’re doing, it makes it much easier to launch new initiatives.

In terms of the strategy and how it evolved, I think it’s just trying to use our resources to the best of our abilities in reaching out to current and prospective racing fans. The internet is not just the future of marketing, it is the present, and it affords many opportunities to market your product and educate fans at a very low cost, certainly costing less than conventional methods of advertising like television spots, radio spots, and newspaper ads.

On The Lead, our monthly email newsletter, was the jumping-off point for our internet outreach initiatives. We launched it in April 2008, and now, two years later we are up to almost 100,000 subscribers.

The first group of video series that we launched were the jockey and trainer profiles and the Trips & Traps handicapping show. For the jockey and trainer profiles, we have always thought fans would have interest in that. If you go to a Yankees game, between innings there is always something on the video board, maybe a profile of Derek Jeter, and fans love that stuff. It seemed like a no-brainer to do similar things with the stars of our sport and put them on Youtube and the NYRA site. Trips & Traps was a brainchild of Andy Serling, who I can’t say enough about. He wanted to give fans something they don’t ordinarily get, and the type of in-depth trip analysis provided on Trips & Traps is unmatched in my opinion.

From those first three series it just ballooned to what it is now, and it will continue to expand.

How much investment has been made in the effort from a budget and personnel standpoint?
The great thing about expanding your presence on the internet is that it is very low cost. It costs nothing to create a Facebook page, Twitter pages, a Flickr page, racing blogs, etc. For shows like Trips & Traps we are just using existing studio space at a time that it isn’t normally used, so there is minimal extra cost there.

We are extremely fortunate at NYRA to not only have the support of top management but also to have some incredibly talented and passionate employees that work on all of these various internet initiatives. A lot of people see all of the different things that we have developed and assume we have consultants that handle everything. That couldn’t be further from the truth. These initiatives are all created and maintained by NYRA personnel.

Are you developing products for different audiences? Some things seem to be designed for casual fans and others for regular horseplayers and horsemen?
Absolutely, we try to have something for every type of racegoing constituency out there. Trips & Traps and the Andy Serling Twitter page are items that even the most advanced of bettors should be able to benefit from. The jockey and trainer interviews are for fans that want to learn more about the stars of the sport. The Backstretch Buzz and NYRA Spotlight videos are great educational tools for fans to learn about what goes on behind the scenes to allow a Thoroughbred track to operate. The NYRA Facebook page, Twitter pages, and NY Racing Insider Blog allow fans to stay up to date with all of the latest NYRA news, and also are great vehicles to try and attract new fans. The New York Watch website allows fans to identify the up-and-coming stars of racing.

For horsemen, we recently launched an email service, with help from Equibase, that allows owners to receive email notifications when their horses are entered to race. To illustrate the point that our top management is not only on board, but also enthusiastic about using the internet to reach out to people, the idea behind this service came from NYRA chairman Steven Duncker.

One initiative that horsemen, bettors, and most fans of the sport have enjoyed is the photo finish archive on the website. We post all of our photo finishes, win, place, and show, on NYRA.com shortly after the conclusion of each race.

What’s proven to be the most useful or successful addition to the web site?
The Friday Night Live Web Chats have been extremely well received by fans. Our terrific web designer, Nick Aquilino, put together a great live chat webpage that’s as professional as you will find anywhere. Andy Serling often does these chats, and gets in-depth handicapping the weekend cards, but we also have had chat guests like NYRA COO Hal Handel, trainer Gary Contessa, and jockey Richard Migliore. All of the chats are available in an archived format on the chat page, and I think you’d be surprised at how candid many of the answers are from our guests. The toughest thing about the chats are that we usually have 300 questions asked and the guest can only get to 60 or so during the hour- or two-hour chat period. But I am a really big fan of these chats and would urge any racing fans to check them out. Friday nights at 8:00 p.m.

Has anything surprised you? Something you thought would be popular that hasn’t or something that has been better received than expected?
While not surprising, the Andy Serling Twitter page has been a tremendous success. We launched it at the start of Saratoga meet last year and he is up to almost 1,800 followers. The great thing about this is that once someone starts following you on Twitter, they are usually there for good. So someone may not even be thinking about betting one day, receive a Tweet that Andy just gave out a $20 winner, and all of a sudden that person is thinking about NYRA and betting one of our races based on Andy’s advice. It’s an absolute no brainer. I think Twitter is more useful for things like that than an informational news page.

A recent initiative that has immediately taken off is the free text alert service. We introduced this about a month ago, and nearly 1,000 people have already signed up. Whenever there is a Pick 6 carryover or a weather related cancellation, we send text messages out to those folks that have signed up. This is a great way to spread the word to interested parties about carryovers without bombarding them with information.

Is it fair to say there isn’t a great deal of overlap in the demographics of typical web users and those of veteran racing fans?
I’m not sure that is a completely fair thing to say. By and large, yes, some of the younger generation are more apt to be utilizing Facebook and Twitter, for example, than some folks that are in an older demographic. That being said, I have been approached by some people that have been wagering on and attending the races for quite some time that do follow and appreciate what we are doing online. So I would say that one of the advantages of web-based initiatives is that they allow us to more easily reach a younger and more tech savvy demographic, but at the same time that certainly doesn’t exclude an older demographic from taking advantage of our internet platforms.

Is this viewed as an investment in racing’s future or something that you are getting tangible benefits from now?
I view it as both. Hopefully the new fans that discover some of our internet and video initiatives will continue to follow racing for a long time. I also am pretty sure that we are getting tangible benefits from it now. For example, people who follow Andy Serling on Twitter, probably wagered more on the Saratoga meet than they would have otherwise. And I don’t consider tangible results only in terms of wagering. The Friday Night Live Chats, the NYRA Spotlight videos, and similar initiatives are providing information and education to those that want to learn more about racing. If someone watches our Spotlight video on stewards, decides they want to pursue a job in racing, and goes on to help the industry, it’s a win for racing.

How do you quantify or benchmark the results? Is it having an impact on handle?
I think it’s very difficult to try and quantify the effects these initiatives have on handle. There are so many factors that effect handle, like field size, weather, the overall economy, that it is very hard to try and identify the effect that one specific factor has on handle. For me, when I get emails from industry leaders asking to use our NYRA Spotlight videos as teaching tools, or from racing fans thrilled they have a chance to chat with Richard Migliore, it means that they are having a positive effect on people.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned through this process?
I think whenever you launch something new, it is imperative to consider what segment of your fan base you are launching it for, and then proceed with how best to connect with that group. You have to be careful not to take the approach of throwing everything at the wall and hoping some of it sticks. We carefully consider each new initiative that we launch, and will continue to do that.

As a closing thought, I’d also like to commend you, Ray, for what you have done with the Paulick Report website. It’s a great resource for racing fans to catch up on all of the latest racing news and also get to read some excellent original articles and viewpoints.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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According to Tom LaMarra at the Blood-Horse, Satish Sanan discussed the possibility of a permanent host site for the Breeders’ Cup on the satellite radio show ‘At the Races with Steve Byk’.

Suggesting that Santa Anita Park will change surfaces, Sanan explained the Southern California track has everything needed to become the permanent site. However, when a caller asked if a decision had been made, he responded by saying ‘It’s not ratified yet."

Read it at the Blood-Horse

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

By Ray Paulick
Jess Jackson could have waited until Friday night at 9 o’clock or so to send out a press release anouncing his regrets for not pointing Rachel Alexandra to the April 3 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park. Oaklawn owner Charles Cella had proposed increasing the Apple Blossom’s purse to $5 million if Jackson’s 2009 Horse of the Year and the unbeaten two-time champion mare Zenyatta were both in the starting lineup for the race.

That’s what the president of Toyota did—schedule a press conference for 9 p.m. on a Friday night–to respond to mounting public outrage over safety problems with cars produced by the world’s leading automotive manufacturer. Spin doctors always advise their clients to put bad news out late on a Friday to get the lowest possible publicity and media coverage.

But not Jess Jackson. He had the courage to send out a press release at the end of the business day on a Wednesday, when most racetracks East of the Mississippi were closed due to blizzard conditions. His press release was very clever, too, utilizing an old-fashioned smokescreen—a grand proposal for a three-race series between the two distaffers—to obscure the fact Rachel Alexandra would skip the Apple Blossom. To make matters worse, he made trainer Steve Asmussen the fall guy who had to deliver the bad news: ““Out of respect for the level of competition and the importance of this race, I have told Mr. Jackson it was not in the best interest of the horse to race on April 3,” Asmussen was quoted as saying in the press release. “Getting to this level of fitness after a six-month layoff takes time.  If all goes according to schedule, and we do not have any further weather delays, the earliest we could have a prep race would be the middle of March. It is then not fair to Rachel to ask her to race again three weeks later.”

I could be wrong, but I think that’s the most Jackson has allowed Asmussen to say since the California winemaker bought Rachel Alexandra after her victory in the Kentucky Oaks last spring.

But the confusing part of the release was Jackson’s statement that the proposed racing series between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta has been “in the works for several weeks.” If that’s the case, why did Jackson indicate even the slightest bit of interest when Cella proposed the Apple Blossom purse increase?

Also, why is Jackson suddenly relying on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to put something together? The NTRA owns no racetracks, has no authority over tracks, stakes schedules or race conditions, and doesn’t even have any juice left with television networks.

If anything, Jackson should be asking the Breeders’ Cup—not the NTRA–for assistance in putting the series together and promoting it, since racing fans hope the two fillies will remain sound throughout 2010 and eventually go head-to-head in either the Breeders’ Cup Classic or Ladies’ Classic this fall at Churchill Downs. A series of races betweem the two leading up to the Breeders’ Cup would be in that organization’s best interests, and the Breeders’ Cup does have stronger ties to ESPN for broadcast opportunities.
 
Finally, if the proposal by Jackson was genuine, why on earth were Jerry and Ann Moss not even mentioned in the press release. As Zenyatta’s owners, I think they might want to have some say in this proposed series.

Sorry, Jess, but I’m calling your bluff.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
OK, so we were a little steamed at Sentient, the private jet membership company that failed to provide transportation solutions to Brad Cummings and me on the BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST fundraising drive when we were forced to traverse ridiculously long stretches of highway between racetracks in the American west.

Of course, it might have helped if we had actually asked Sentient for a lift between Oklahoma City, Okla., and Hobbs, N.M., but we were too proud. All they could have said is “no.” Besides, we figured someone at Sentient headquarters would have been following our journey to raise money for Breeders’ Cup Charities, felt sorry for us having to drive 12 hours a day, and sent a little Citation jet to bail us out and keep Brad and me from fighting over the radio dial or singing showtunes together deep into the night.

Send us a jet, Sentient, and we’d happily have given you a shout out.

But that’s water under the bridge now. We put the pedal to the metal and made it back home in one piece (though I’ll be happy if I never set foot inside another Waffle House as long as I live).

Upon our arrival back in Kentucky, we learned why Sentient may have been too busy to notice our little fundraising excursion. The company’s marketing whizzes were putting together a promotion and advertisement that ran in the Wall Street Journal this week celebrating Zenyatta’s historic achievement in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and hailing the unbeaten superstar as the winner of the Sentient “Perfect Trip” award.

I’d like to think BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST might have been the runner-up for the "Perfect Trip" award.. The only thing that could have made it better was a smooth ride in a Citation or Hawker jet. Oh, well. Wait till next year!

On a serious note, however, the Sentient ad in WSJ (and a similar promotion on the company’s website) is a great example of how corporate sponsorship can bring much more to racing than mere dollars. In a down market, Breeders’ Cup managed to increase sponsorships (thanks to the work of senior vice president Carter Carnegie), and Sentient’s participation helped increase awareness of the event and the excitement of horse racing within an important demographic.

Although I don’t necessarily buy her conclusion that Rachel Alexandra “must” be elected Horse of the Year for 2009, I can’t disagree with Natalie Voss that we have two very exciting and deserving candidates for the sport’s top honor. Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra are to many in Natalie’s generation what Secretariat, Ruffian, Affirmed or Seattle Slew were to mine, or Seabiscuit was to a previous generation of racing fans.

A University of Kentucky Equine Communications student, Natalie joined the Paulick Report earlier this year as an intern. This, her first published piece for us, reflects both her enthusiasm for Thoroughbred racing as well as her burgeoning knowledge of the sport. But most importantly, as we look to expand our audience in the future, it is imperative that we listen to the voices of the next generation. — Ray Paulick

By Natalie Voss
Right before this year’s Breeders’ Cup, the Paulick Report posted a handful of editorials and news articles taking the view that Zenyatta could not beat the males in the Breeder’s Cup Classic. The Europeans were too tough, it was too big a test for her first try against boys, Summer Bird was a sleeper sitting on a big performance: the reasons were various and valid. I’ll admit that if you had asked me, I would have pointed out all these things, particularly because although Zenyatta has a tremendous lifetime record of victories, she hadn’t blown away any of the fields she’d beaten.

On these points I’ll admit I was proven conclusively wrong. For perhaps the first time in her career, Zenyatta was forced to overcome adversity and did so with ease. The loading debacle before the race, her slow start and spotting 12 lengths to the leaders early made me shout in disappointment ”She’s done” as the field moved down the backstretch. I gave my television set a round of applause right along with the Southern California crowd when we realized she had fought through to the lead coming to the wire. It was a truly incredible race.

But now the party is over, and we are left to all put our two cents in on which horse will be forever associated with this season by carrying the title “Horse of the Year 2009,” and here are mine: as incredible as Zenyatta’s win was this weekend, the title still must go to Rachel Alexandra.

There have been, and will continue to be a flurry of editorials on the Paulick Report and elsewhere from various handicapping experts and journalists voicing their (sadly, ultimately irrelevant) opinions on which of the two fillies should go home with this honor. Mine may perhaps be less relevant than any of them, as I am just starting out in the racing industry, a mere college intern for the Paulick Report, but for what it’s worth here are my assertions:

– Zenyatta has faced and beaten stakes company males once. Rachel has done it three times, with many (although not all) of the horses she beat also appearing in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Both fillies ran against and defeated many top fillies and mares this year. In short: they have faced almost all of the same opponents.

– Considering the above, Zenyatta does just enough work to win, weighing in with an average margin of victory of two lengths. That is what a winning racehorse is supposed to do–just enough to get the job done. But a champion is a horse who smashes their competition impressively, particularly in the face of adversity. Rachel’s 20 length margin over her peers in the Oaks, her crushing six-length margin in the Haskell, and even her hard-fought length victory in the Preakness, so soon after the Oaks and despite her dislike of the Pimlico surface, all make her victories more impressive than Zenyatta’s.

– Zenyatta had a relatively easy season, in my opinion, only running five times this year while Rachel has run nine times, each time facing harder competition and setting five stakes records along the way. Zenyatta set one.

– Rachel’s exciting victories made a splash in the sports world at large, which the racing industry so desperately needs. Granted the attention of the “non-equine world” is not a great indicator of what events in racing are most relevant, but name me a horse that has captured more (positive) attention from casual fans this year, or even within the last ten years. We need a horse like her. And now that we have one, we need to reward her for what she’s done for the industry: she’s given us a great athlete to point to when people ask us to explain why this sport is great.

Whoever wins the award will be deserving. The most remarkable aspect of the debate to me is that, for the first time in my young memory we are choosing between two females for Horse of the Year. Looking back at the list of past winners, I have always become immediately jealous of other generations that they have lived to see such greats as Secretariat, Affirmed and Ruffian, while as a loyal fan since 1995 the greatest season I can boast witnessing is Silver Charm’s in 1997. Now I think finally, we are all privileged to have seen something truly, timelessly great for the first time in years and that is a pair of horses who should both be remembered through history for their accomplishments…and perhaps that is the greatest reward of all.

By Ray Paulick
Horse of the Year won’t be the only racing subject being debated in the coming weeks in the wake of the 26th Breeders’ Cup championships from Santa Anita Park Nov. 6-7. For what it’s worth, if I had a vote in the Eclipse Awards (and I don’t), it would go to Zenyatta as Horse of the Year. I can’t blame anyone for supporting Rachel Alexandra, but I am a believer in the Breeders’ Cup being a key factor in determining  year-end championships, including Horse of the Year. Zenyatta showed up and turned in a performance for the ages. Rachel Alexandra remained in her stall, resting on her own historic achievements from earlier in the year.

Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra make up the greatest unfulfilled rivalry since…well…Curlin and Big Brown in 2008. If you’re like me, I’ll bet you’re getting tired of these rivalries, the ones that only play out in the mind. I prefer the type settled on the racetrack: Affirmed and Alydar…Sunday Silence and Easy Goer.

The other subject worthy of discussion and debate is the Breeders’ Cup itself. This is year three of the two-day version of this event, one that began in 1984 as an audacious seven-race, $10-million day of racing. It’s now a 14-race smorgasbord that includes more “championship” races than we have championships (as measured by the Eclipse Awards).

The expansion in large part was based, not surprisingly, on money. In 2005, then-Breeders’ Cup president D.G. Van Clief Jr., who was serving in the dual role as commissioner of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, set a goal of $200 million in handle for the event by 2010. Total handle that year (when the event was at Belmont Park) was $124.0 million, and it rose to $140.3 million in 2006 (Churchill Downs was the host site), the last time the Breeders’ Cup was conducted on one day.

The expansion to two days and more races was also designed in part to be more attractive to an international audience of horseplayers. The downside is the dilution effect it has on the entire event. Has victory in a Breeders’ Cup race lost some significance?

The first two-day Breeders’ Cup, held at a very wet Monmouth Park in 2007, yielded a total of $147.2 million in handle, and $155.7 million was bet at the 2008 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree Racing Association meeting. Handle dropped in 2009 to $150.2 million, despite the availability of common-pool wagering for the first time to Betfair’s two-million-plus customers.

Barring some sort of a miracle, the 2010 Breeders’ Cup will fall well short of Van Clief’s stated goal. In fact, it could be argued the event is less successful today from a wagering standpoint than it was 10 years ago in 1999, when it hit $100 million in handle for the first time and was still conducted on a single day.

But should handle (or television ratings, which also are lower today than they were 10 years ago) be the yardstick for success? The expansion from eight to 14 Breeders’ Cup races has broadened participation in the event from a horse owner’s standpoint, and it’s given the breeders who support the program through nominations more chances to recoup the fees they’ve paid over the years.

I wouldn’t pretend to compare the Breeders’ Cup Marathon or Juvenile Fillies Turf or some of the other new races with the Turf or Classic in terms of importance or prestige. Those races aren’t going to produce as much betting turnover, either. But they are races that should attract the best of their division from around the world, and they are interesting betting races for fans (compared to the standard fare of five- or six-horse fields that plague so many top races nowadays). In addition, though the new races have increased the total prize money to $25.5 million, roughly one-third of those new purses are paid for by pre-entry and entry fees.  So in my mind these new races do serve some purpose.

Have Breeders’ Cup officials hit on the perfect formula on how to present the two days? Probably not. There are many who feel stacking all the filly and mare races on Friday (along with the Marathon) is insulting and sexist. There are other options, including putting the newest and least compelling races on Friday and keeping Saturday with the traditional Cup races. They could also consider making Friday all turf racing and Saturday the main track races.

But the real problem with the Breeders’ Cup is not the event itself, or the order in which the races are run. It’s the absence of an understandable, easy-to-follow ranking or eligibility system in the weeks and months leading up to the Cup.

The Win and You’re In qualifying races are a start, but not the end game solution. It also doesn’t help that so many other tracks are hosting live races on the same day as the Breeders’ Cup and, in effect, competing with the championships for wagering dollars. Our industry should take a look at another racing sport that has its biggest event early in the season and has still managed to create an exciting and engaging championship Cup. NASCAR has the Daytona 500, as big an event for NASCAR as the Kentucky Derby is for horse racing, and has managed to create a build up after its early climax with its Chase For The Sprint Cup. In order for horse racing to build itself back to national prominence outside of the first Saturday in May, a similar invention must be instituted with the Breeders’ Cup as the final act.

It’s a challenge to organize a sport that lacks structure and organization, but that’s the challenge the Breeders’ Cup was given through a long-term strategic plan presented to the board of directors earlier this year. For this plan to be fully developed and implemented, it will require the cooperation of not just horsemen, but of racetracks that in years past have been reluctant to work with the Breeders’ Cup. Those tracks have to understand that a healthy and prosperous Breeders’ Cup is in their best interest, just as the Breeders’ Cup has to realize that tracks must be viewed as partners in developing the strategic plan.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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Our first day of the BC or Bust trip has started off with a bang. We were fortunate to have about ten jockeys attend an autograph signing including stars Kent Desormeaux, Jon Court, Robby Albarado and Julien Leparoux. We sold nearly 100 hats with all the proceeds of course are going to our two charities, the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

These proceeds are great and will add nicely to the over $20,000 we have already raised privately. A special thanks to our Keeneland to Chicago segment sponsors Lane’s End Farm, Darley, Airdrie Stud and Overbrook Farm for coming through with a generous donation to the charities. The outpouring of support has been remarkable but we still have more money to raise. If you are interested in sponsoring a leg of our trip, drop us an email at info@paulickreport.com. If you would like to give a smaller amount, you can always make secure credit card donation on the Breeders’ Cup Charities page linked here.

It only took two hours into our journey for Ray to cop out so this first blog falls on the shoulders of his humble correspondent, Brad Cummings. I’ve become accustomed to carrying his water so nothing new on my front!

According to Mike Wolken who works at the Equestrian Room, the best bet of the day is the grilled rueben sandwich here. That seems to be a safe bet as Tom Leach, voice of Kentucky Wildcats football and basketball lost his first bet on the opening race with a win bet on the four horse. Here’s to hoping that was our only stroke of bad luck today!

Please drop any suggestions you might have in the comments section below.

A few video clips from today. First is a quick look at the autograph lineup of jockeys. Some of the best in the world are here at Keeneland.

Second is a great interview with Kent Desormeaux who was gracious enough to give his time. (Due to user error, the first 20 seconds were chopped off. I promise this will be my first and last mistake over the next 10 days…)

Two races down and few more bets have failed. Our TVG Community friend Angelo missed on his first leg of the Pick 4, going with the 4 and 11 horses. No worries though, he’s got a couple more bets to go. Due to our association with TVG, we’ve been able to include a couple of their top community handicappers and look forward to much success on their bets.

Be sure to catch Tom Leach and Ray on TVG as they talk about the BC or Bust fundraising drive right after the third race at Keeneland.

Ray’s got his first bet of the day in the fourth race on the three horse. Looks like Tom is going for the ten. Both would be great for our charity drive. May the best man win! (Appropriate that Tom would pick a horse named flexthegoldenpipes since he’s a radio guy)

And another poor showing. We’re bleeding here folks. On a side note, Petecarol won the race. Ray’s wife’s name is Carol and a USC grad. For those of you who don’t know, Pete Carroll happens to be the name of the USC football head coach. I think Ray might be in the dog house for not catching on to the obvious sign here.

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By Ray Paulick
TO SAY THE WAGERING SELECTIONS HAVE BEEN COLD would be an understatement. My solo wager of the day, Doubles Partner, broke a bit slowly and then rushed up to engage for the lead around the turn. But the son of Rock Hard Ten paid for his early efforts and had nothing left when Petecarol cruised past at the top of the stretch. 

Tom Leach, who was kind enough to take time from his busy schedule to go one-on-one with me in a handicapping challenge (he’s calling a Blue-White University of Kentucky basketball scrimmage later today on WLAP/630 and 98.1 FM The Bull) hasn’t had much luck, either, but we’ll both be swinging in the seventh race. Our TVG community partner, Angelo Lieto, has his big bet of the day in the eighth, on the Indian Charlie filly Silver Time. 

In the seventh, Tom and I both are trying to beat the favorite, the Bernstein filly Orchestrator, and we’ve wound up on the same horse: Check the Label, a daughter of Stormin’ Fever owned by Brereton Jones and trained by Graham Motion. I’ll not only be playing a straight bet on Check the Label, but I’ll be pulling for the filly because Jones’ Airdrie Stud is one of the four sponsors for the first leg of this fundraising drive, along with Lane’s End, Darley and Overbrook Farm.

Julien Leparoux will be riding Check the Label. He was one of the many jockeys who took time out of their schedule earlier today to sign Breeders’ Cup caps in front of the Keeneland gift shop. Proceeds, as Brad Cummings mentioned, go the two charities.

At the end of the autograph line was Robby Albarado, who was showing the effects of a nasty spill at Keeneland the weekend before last when he went down and was kicked in the eye. This was one of those spills that could have been devastating, and Robby was lucky to escape with "only" an eye completely swollen shut. 

Sitting next to Robby in the autograph line was Kent Desormeaux, who lost the hearing in his right ear from a spill 17 years ago. He’s come back and is riding at the top of his game, but both riders know the dangers of their profession and how important it is to have a safety net in the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. 

Just 10 minutes to post before our last bet of the day, and unless our TVG online community friend Angelo Lieto is correct, we could be shut out on the day, a tough way to start this portion of the fundraising drive. Silver Time, his pick, Silver Time, has been bet down from her 8-1 morning line to 9-2 with just a few minutes to post time. A win by Silver Time and Jesus Castanon for trainer Larry  Jones and the Cottonwood Stables will give us a profit on the day. A loss puts us in a hole that we’ll have to dig out of tomorrow at Hawthorne.

Well, no complaints. Silver Time ran a good race, just not good enough to win. She got a good trip from the inside, bid for the lead turning into the stretch, and was simply outfinished by the late-running Diamond Song, an Unbridled’s Song filly owned and bred by diamond explorer Charles Fipke. Diamond Song was ridden by Kent Desormeaux and trained by Dallas Stewart.

No one said picking winners would be easy. We’ll take our swings tomorrow in Chicago. For Brad and me, it’s our kind of town, Chicago.

Thanks again to the management and staff of Keeneland for helping us launch the BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST fundraising drive, and thanks to the jockeys who gave their time to meet fans and autograph Breeders’ Cup caps, TVG for helping promote the fundraiser and to Tom Leach and TVG online community member Angelo Lieto.

And a special thanks to the four sponsors of this segment of the journey: William S. Farish’s Lane’s End, Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley, Brereton C. Jones’ Airdrie Stud and the Young family’s Overbrook Farm for their generosity toward the two charities.

Please consider a donation of any amount to Breeders’ Cup Charities, to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Click here to donate.

More to come…