Comments on: POPE TO OWNERS: ‘IT’S YOUR GAME’

By: SJ

SJ — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:00:01 +0000

In response to edmund’s comments, (see post 1.), he’s right, Dinny & Will haven’t been two very busy guys over the last 25 years. Just read the other two articles in Mr. Paulick’s trilogy on the subject and you’ll start to realize the damage to the sport & industry they’ve managed to accomplish entirely through their inaction while in control of so many important organizations. Therein lies their crime…

By: Ray Paulick

Ray Paulick — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:57:58 +0000

Dear “Louisville Larry” - Yes, I deleted your comment yesterday and deleted a portion of today’s because your comments about Mr. Musselman were personal in nature. That’s not the intention of this site.

Ray Paulick

By: Louisville Larry

Louisville Larry — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:01:08 +0000

Ray you did deleted my comment yesterday even tho i was giving you congrats for your work and pointing out what a complete stooge Eddie Musslemen is. Everone hear in Louisville knows he is the original Big Brown, a nickname he deserves because [deleted] Phipps and Farish and their cronys. Little Eddie is their puppet and as long as he keeps going after you, you got them guys scared.

By: Priscilla

Priscilla — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:25:06 +0000

Another great history lesson. Owners’ money trickles down to support trainers, grooms, hotwalkers, exercise and pony riders, farriers, vets, feed companies, transport companies, insurance companies, and also trickles back to breeders and farm owners. Owners support the meat and potatoes of our industry. Certainly they should be calling the shots with regard to revenue, and they should be treated like kings when they come to watch their horses run. Instead we make them jump through hoops to get licensed in every state where they run a horse. How about a national VIP pass to the races wherever an owner’s horse runs?

And jeff p: it appears that Mr. Paulick is indeed one of our most talented, and hopefully influential journalists - a sorely needed asset to our industry.

By: Ray Paulick

Ray Paulick — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:25:15 +0000

Dear “Jeff”‘ -

“Time and again posts that are critical….or disagree with his point of view are removed from the site?”

You mean posts like yours….which is still here?

Ray

P.S. — By the way, what is it exactly you disagree with?

P.P.S — I attempted contacting you by email to discuss your comments and to assure you that I am doing just fine these days, but it appears that you have given a “fake” email address. Yet I still allow your anonymous rant to be published on the site. I think there are some racing trade publication Web sites that have a far more restrictive policy (i.e., bloodhorse.com) on publishing comments.

By: jeff p

jeff p — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:00:10 +0000

Seems like Mr. Paulick can dish it out but can’t take it. Why is it that time and again posts that are critical of him, or disagree with his point of view, are removed from this site? Why is it that when Indian Charlie started calling attention to Mr. Paulick’s hypocrisy (along with other failings) that he removed the link to Indian Charlie from his home page?

This site is nothing more than the one sided rantings of a bitter man who has no one to blame but himself for destroying his life. What a shame, because at one time Mr. Paulick was a talented journalist.

By: Garrett Redmond

Garrett Redmond — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:29:17 +0000

My apologies to anyone reading my earlier comment. In reference to Thoroughbred Daily News I wrote that Barry Oppenheimer called me; I intended to say Barry WEISBORD. The same correction applies to my comment on the Breeders’ Cup. Barry Weisbord is now on the inside there. Coincidentally, Bill Oppenheim (who writes frequently for TDN) is also a BC Trustee.

By the way, it is not easy to find on it’s website who is a BC Trustee or Board member. It appears under what I believe is an unlikely heading.

By: Garrett Redmond

Garrett Redmond — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:14:18 +0000

Like so many others, I was about to quit this business in despair. Now, through Ray Paulick’s revealing journalism, there is a feint glimmer of hope horseracing here may survive.
Leadership is critical to any reform movement. I believe Fred Pope is the leader we need. He recently had an Op/Ed article in Thoroughbred Daily News. I wrote TDN in support of Pope’s idea and making the same recommendation in hope others might voice the same support. It went into the “round file”. Why? Surely because TDN is now dependent on advertising. It will not bite the hand that feeds.

Last year, I wrote TDN about the Breeders’ Cup refusal to publish the actual vote tallies in it’s “election”. Barry Oppenheimer called me to ask if parts might be modified, so as not to be too tough on some individuals. His Editor sent me a rewrite. I agreed to his watered -down version. It was not published. Why? Cowardice.

Fact is, any segment of the media which is dependent on advertising by the establishment is not going to help reformists. Moreover, Barry Oppenheimer is now on the inside at Breeders’ Cup, so don’t expect any reform suggestions from the quarter.

Fact is, the Paulick Report is our best hope for the kind of journalism we sorely need. Support it: send a subscription today.

By: Al

Al — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:07:30 +0000

The tracks have nothing without the stars of the show. Most horse owners can do something else for profit, or can indeed run in hunt meets in the fields and enjoy the fascination of the pure sport. However, race track owners have no business without our horses. PERIOD. So who has the power? Congrats Fred Pope for proving you still care. A conversation we had a couple of years ago led me to believe that you were “tired” of fighting. Something has rejuvenated your entusiasm and hope? This is good. Farish and Phipps have contributed to the industry for generations, but they have now lost their way. I know Will Farish and have fatih in him as a keen man with good judgment, so my bet is he whispers into Dinny’s ear and the establishment cedes control without losing the best box seats at Saratoga and Keenland. I would respect and embrace them while proving there is a better way.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:09:27 +0000

With all due respect to owners who spend more on horses and their care and feeding than they can hope to recoup, where are you going to run? You don’t own anything but the animals. You don’t own the venues or the wagering rights or the simulcast distribution rights or the simulcast distribution channels or the commercial media and television rights, whatever small value those have in this day and age. I recall Ed Friendly or someone like him making an impassioned speech at (coincidentally) the Jockey Club Round Table years ago threatening to run the horses in fields off the backs of vans. Good luck. Let me know how much you handle.

Fred Pope didn’t like it when he lost control of the NTA to the NTRA a decade ago but let’s not engage in revisionist history. The best chance the game had was everyone pulling in the same direction. The NTA wasn’t going to hold a gun to the tracks heads then and its not going to now.