By Bradford Cummings
It’s a young person’s world. With the advent of computers and the web infusing every corner of our lives, every industry must strive to reach younger and younger audiences in order to stay relevant, much to the chagrin of the ever aging Thoroughbred industry. According to the superbly written and researched R2Collective, our demographics are trending in the opposite direction. A super majority of 91.7% of racing’s audience is 40 or older and 49.7% is over 55 while a whopping 0.3% is under 25. With the knowledge that most people make their lifetime purchasing decisions by the age of 30, these numbers are depressing, no matter how you look at them.
But enough of the bad news. After all, this is Good News Friday sponsored by Liberation Farm. Instead, we’d like to share a strong kernel of hope for the future of racing. Despite the downward trends we are currently seeing, there will always be an opportunity to recapture the imagination of our youth. Because even in the face of basketball, football, poker, baseball and other endeavors, we will always have one advantage on the rest of the competition. At the center of our industry, we have the opportunity to celebrate one of the most beautiful and elegant creatures known to man…the horse.
An eight-year-old giving up birthday presents is like Jess Jackson passing on a press conference but that’s exactly what Logan Resnick did this year. I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Kimberlee Resnick, this selfless boy’s very proud mother.
A family from a northern suburb of Chicago, Northbrook, the Resnicks have a passion for racing. The majority of their stable are Thoroughbreds who run at Arlington Park and Oaklawn Park with a few Standardbreds featured at various parks around the country. As with many owners, racing is not the family business but instead a hobby. When asked if it was a money making opportunity, Kimberlee chuckled and simply answered, "No, like I said, it’s a hobby and a passion."
And they have effectively handed this excitement down to their young son Logan who absolutely delights in being around the horses, helping to take care of them and watching them run. "He was a year old when we started into it," said Mrs. Resnick in a familiar fast-talking Chicago dialect. "He developed the passion along with his dad."
"Like father, like son?"
"Yes, exactly."
So when they were planning Logan’s birthday party this year, they were discussing their options and a friend’s party came up that had left an impression on Logan. Apparently, his friend Rachel had asked her friends to make a donation to a local food pantry in lieu of gifts. When Kimberlee brought this up to him as an option, he showed some interest but had the natural questions one might suspect an eight-year-old would have about a potential birthday party without presents. More on that later.
Quickly, Logan decided to go with the charity idea. "When we asked, do you have any place you want to give money to, he said ‘The horse mommy, the horses that get hurt," said Resnick.
After some research, the Resnick’s landed on Thoroughbred Charities of America.
As of yesterday, the TCA has received 17 donations totaling $318. When his donations started to be received, the TCA noticed and sent Logan a care package as a thank you for his support. In the care package included a letter that thanked him for his support and indicated he was helping to save horses. "The money people are sending are actually helping the horses?" Logan asked. It’s then that it really sunk in the positive effect his generosity was having. One friend Jacob even got into his piggy bank and found $20 to give with his parents matching him dollar for dollar.
Is $318 going to turn the TCA upside down? Of course not, but that’s also not the point. It’s just so refreshing to hear the tale of a little boy who is so selfless that he would sacrifice a part of the biggest day of his year to help a cause he cares about so deeply. We should make it our mission to celebrate every Logan out there. After all, they are the ones who will one day grow up to help make our industry stronger.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, he still received gifts from his family. There are some things even the greatest of eight-year-olds can’t give up. This thirty-two-year-old completely understands.
By Ray Paulick
If anyone can explain the confusing situation in Maryland regarding slot machine revenue to horsemen and the future ownership of the Maryland Jockey Club racetracks—Pimlico and Laurel Park, owned by Frank Stronach’s bankrupt Magna Entertainment Corporation—I figure it’s Richard J. Hoffberger. A longtime owner/breeder and operator of the equine specialist Hoffberger Insurance Group, Hoffberger has been president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association since the group’s formation in 1987.
The Paulick Report caught up with Hoffberger on the road this week somewhere between Baltimore and Philadelphia Park to get an update on the challenging circumstances the Maryland racing and breeding industry is facing, with increasing competition from slots-rich states all around: Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
What is the general feeling of Maryland horsemen right now?
Certainly there is a feeling of why didn’t we do this a long time ago? Fifteen years ago I stood at a podium talking to the press and introducing the concept of slots at Maryland racetracks. We said we would send $100 million to $150 million in tax revenue to the state each year and help save the Maryland horse industry. Using the conservative figure of $100 million a year, that was $1.6 billion ago. The state needs the money and the horse industry is in dire straits.
It’s typical political wrangling and it’s happening in too many states on too many issues. I don’t think anybody in today’s world would argue health care doesn’t need reform, but how do you do it? Nobody has really argued that slots at the racetracks is a bad idea, but how to you do it? It’s not just us: Kentucky, New York and some other states are going through the same thing. There is definitely a feeling of frustration.
Does the Maryland THA have a preference among the six groups eligible to bid on the Maryland Jockey Club tracks in the bankruptcy auction that’s been delayed several times and is now scheduled for March 25?
We hope a scenario exists where there can be slots at Laurel. We’ve always wanted slots at the racetrack. Our philosophy and desires are unchanged. We want somebody who wants to run races. We are in the racing business and we want somebody who wants to run races. We never contemplated slots would not be at the racetrack (the Arundel County Council approved a plan putting slots at the Arundel Mills Mall and not at nearby Laurel Park). If slots are at the track, they would be required to run 220 days of live racing a year, or less with agreement of the horsemen. But if there are no slots at the track, that provision doesn’t apply.
What is happening with slot machines throughout the state, and in particular Anne Arundel County, where there’s a petition drive to overturn the council decision?
The way it works in Maryland, slots revenue to the horse industry is not location specific. Two locations, in Cecil County and Ocean Downs, will probably be the first of the five specific locations approved for slots to open. The split going to purses is the same irrespective of location. The problem is if the racetrack operator can’t make any money, we could have the scenario of cash available for purses but not have any place to run. That’s the big fear.
Theoretically, higher purses attract better horses and create better wagering opportunities, driving up handle. Could that apply in Maryland if the tracks don’t get slots?
Throughout the U.S. in the last 20 years we haven’t found a scenario where tracks can compete favorably with slot machines. The biggest example is what happened in Illinois when (Richard) Duchossois spent all that money to rebuild Arlington Park and is struggling because of the riverboat competition and actually closed down for a while.
So what’s up with the petition drive to overturn the county commission’s zoning approval for slots at the Arundel Mills Mall?
The law in Anne Arundel County not specific to slots says if the zoning board, the county commission, passes a zoning law, then the citizens have the right to overturn the zoning approval with a petition signed by 19,500 people within 40 days of the zoning regulation being signed into law. It then it goes to a public referendum. Approval of slot machines is predicated on zoning approval. When Arundel Mills got zoning approval, there was a move afoot to overturn the ruling. Enough signatures appear to have been gathered; approximately 40,000 have been submitted though not yet approved. Any referendum would be in November.
If the zoning decision is reversed in Anne Arundel County, the whole bid process starts again, and somebody else has to apply for zoning. It’s back to square one.
What impact does the Anne Arundel situation have on the value of the Maryland Jockey Club tracks and the potential auction?
Obviously if the potential for slots existed, assuming that Arundel Mills gets knocked out, then the possibility exists for them to go back to Laurel. You don’t have to be an economist to see the value of the property goes up. It’s a gamble. But every business is a gamble.
When horsemen do get benefits from slots revenue, how much of a difference could it make to purses?
Assuming the Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County locations are up, we could be looking, by the time the machines are mature, at $70 million to purses each year. That’s the maximum. We could be looking at $100 million a year in total purses in Maryland.
What do you think is going to happen to Pimlico and the Preakness?
I think they’ll stay. Pimlico and the Preakness is a money maker. If you won Pimlico in a poker game this afternoon, you’d be the happiest guy in the horse business.
Have the delays and uncertainty damaged Maryland’s breeding industry beyond repair, or can it bounce back?
Look at what happened in Pennsylvania. That came on pretty quick. Can we bounce back? Yeah. Have horse will travel. We tell politicians it’s very easy to put horses on a van. We talk about the Baltimore Colts packing up everything in a moving van and leaving in the middle of the night. The difference is, in the horse industry, you can ship five mares a day, and in 100 days you’ve lost 500 mares. Your breeding industry is dead.
The key in Maryland, everybody in the horse industry wants to see what happens with the auction of the tracks. Is it going to get delayed again? Magna, in bankruptcy, has been running races, which is good. We’ll see who buys the tracks. There’s six groups putting in proposals, which is kind of like nominating for a stakes. Even if you won the lottery this afternoon you couldn’t become a bidder. Penn Gaming is a potential bidder. Who knows what they want to do. Cordish (which won the Arundel Mills Mall zoning approval for slots) is a bidder, and MID (Stronach’s MI Developments, which struck a deal in bankruptcy court to keep Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park, and Golden Gate Fields) is in there. It’s anybody’s guess, and I don’t even think the people bidding know how it’s going to end up. All those players say they are in it to get the job done.
By Ray Paulick
Those who think all the “suits” in racing’s ivory towers know nothing about the people who put on the show at racetracks across the country should talk with Churchill Downs Inc.’s chief operating officer Bill Carstanjen. He had a crash course for 10 days last September working incognito alongside employees on the front and backside of Churchill Downs, Arlington Park and Calder, and the experience was enlightening if not life-changing.
Carstanjen played the starring role in the new CBS television series “Undercover Boss,” which puts executives at major companies alongside front-line workers.
“Each week a different executive will leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their company,” the reality show’s website explains. “While working alongside their employees, they will see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organization and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad while discovering the unsung heroes who make their company run.”
Other companies profiled so far include Waste Management, 7-Eleven, White Castle, and Hooters.
The episode featuring Carstanjen and Churchill Downs Inc. employees is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. (eastern) March 14. Click here to see a preview.
Originally, CBS tried to get CDI’s chief executive officer Bob Evans to go undercover, but he was convinced too many employees would recognize him and his cover would be blown. Too bad: the Paulick Report has learned Evans has plenty of experience toiling in the trenches, reportedly helping pay his way through college by working as a janitor for the local school district.
Carstanjen disguised his look, replacing glasses with contact lenses and growing a scruffy beard on his jaw. Cameras followed him around through various jobs—as part of the clean-up crew on the front side, mucking stalls in the stable area, shadowing the track’s outrider, working with a jockey valet, and even the bugler for the call to the post.
Employees were told someone hoping to land an entry-level position was being documented by a film crew. “They thought he was an unemployed schmo trying out some entry-level jobs,” said Julie Koenig-Loignon, CDI’s vice president of brand development and marketing. “They were giving him a trial run as much as anything.”
Carstanjen didn’t just pose for the cameras. He was put to work alongside CDI employees.
“There are some very high pressure jobs in horse racing where you’ve got to keep up,” Koenig-Loignon said. “Bill definitely got put to the stress test. There was also some down time spent with employees. In some cases, he got to understand more about their families, along with personal and professional challenges.”
Carstanjen learned a lot more than how to much out a stall or clean a urinal.
“The best part of the 10-day voyage into the workings of the company was seeing and feeling the passion and dedication of the employees,” Carstanjen said. “Being undercover meant the people I was working side by side with, could speak frankly about their work. They could freely speak about their personal sacrifice, health issues and time management, all while showing up every day for work with the same attitudes so many of us feel for this business—the passion, dedication and drive to get more fans to love the sport as much as we do.
“For me, it was a lifetime experience. There was a lot of enjoyment in experiencing the fun and passion without the corner office pressure, which focuses on the problems.”
Did he learn any lessons about how corporations like Churchill Downs can better connect with their employees?
“I could see all the things we’re doing right and all that we’re doing wrong and one takeaway and initiative will be to have a ‘Walk a mile in the other people’s shoes day’ at Churchill Downs Incorporated properties. Not forgetting about safety or security, we plan to have people switch roles to really appreciate and teach everyone from the front side to the backside, what it takes to run a racetrack operation.”
The show’s preview indicates there are some emotional moments between Carstanjen and those he worked alongside.
“There are so many moments we worked and lived through,” he said. “I performed many different jobs and I don’t know what is in the final film; that is part of the arrangement with CBS. I can tell you there are moments of joy, pride, and a whole lot of humble moments. I truly did very few of the jobs very well.
“Probably the most raw, emotional moment was when we revealed who I was. I really can’t say anymore, other than to tune in with us on March 14.”
Carstanjen plans to be with some of his family and Churchill Downs team members at the track on the night of March 14 “so we can all watch for the first time together and have a good laugh at my expense.”
The partnership between former Turfway Park owner Jerry Carroll and Arlington Park boss Dick Duchossois always seemed like a strange one. Okay, they literally see eye to eye, since they share a similar physical stature, and both men were among the earliest proponents in horseracing for tracks to get slot machines or full-scale casinos. But when they joined at the hip to become partners in Kentucky Speedway, a Northern Kentucky car racing track with aspirations of becoming a NASCAR juggernaut, it was the Odd Couple redux.
Duchossois is a world traveler who owns a yacht that might have made Aristotle Onassis jealous. He’s a bigtime entrepreneur with a huge vision that he followed in building a personal empire in Chicago. Carroll is more of a six-pack in a fishing boat on the lake kind of guy who did well bottom feeding when Turfway Park was on the skids, then made a small fortune selling off the excess property for development.
Duchossois (or his company) is now suing Carroll after the latter decided not to pursue any further legal action against NASCAR following a court’s rejection of a lawsuit against the car racing company for cutting Kentucky Speedway out of the loop for a Sprint Cup race.
It’s a partnership that seemed destined to have an unhappy ending, and things have now gone sour. Read the story about the lawsuit here and come back to the Paulick Report to comment on the issue or the two legal combatants.
By Bradford Cummings
It is amazing what a difference a year makes at the Paulick Report. Traffic has more than doubled, debate is livelier than ever and Ray has pledged to stop talking about jet lag. (I’ll believe it when I see it…or don’t see it) We made a cross-country trip to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita and raised $75,000 for two great causes in the process. Ray flew to South Africa on the premise that some horse people actually wanted to hear what he had to say, then later to Japan (where apparently he and David Hasselhoff are quite well known), where he took in some very exciting racing. And we have been blessed to have such a strong stable of supportive advertisers who believe in the mission we set off to accomplish in June of 2008. Perhaps most remarkably, we started a business two months before the largest recession since FDR and we are still kicking.
In what is turning into a tradition (if you can call twice a tradition) we are looking back at the year that was and rehashing the top ten stories based on reader interest. Basically, the more you clicked on these stories, the higher up the list they traveled. So take a trip down memory lane with us and let us know which stories still resonate with you today. Or let us know about a story that touched you we don’t have here. Because sometimes even 1.5 million user sessions can be wrong.
In a year where horse racing started to admit it has a drug problem, it was disheartening to learn that Kiaran McLaughlin was a new member on the list of medication violators. A trainer that featured prominently on our American Graded Stakes Standings brought to you by Keeneland, McLaughlin had become a bit of a Paulick Report favorite as a successful trainer who found himself a bit under the national radar. Unfortunately for him, if his standing in Graded Stakes wins didn’t do it, our tenth most popular story of the year did.
Perhaps no organization has had the upward trend on the Paulick Report that Equibase has experienced. In what was the most popular story on the Thoroughbred Racing Associations/Jockey Club-owned statistics company, we compared what Equibase provides versus what other major sports give their fans in the way of data. Unfortunately, the comparisons were not favorable as this industry seems content to charge its loyal customers for everything from parking to the very data Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA make readily available for its fans.
But whether it was the Paulick Report or an internal struggle that finally made its way to the light of day, Equibase started to get it right and quickly saw their headlines become more favorable. Equibase Takes Step in Right Direction and Equibase Gets It Right is more along the lines of what we’d like to write about. Keep up the momentum.
Any time a jockey is paralyzed, it is an unspeakable tragedy. We saw it first hand on several occasions during our Breeders’ Cup or Bust fundraising tour when we had the opportunity to spend time with several permanently disabled riders. In a precursor to our decision to take on such a trip, Rene Douglas, the top rider at Arlington Park, was severely injured in a spill at the Chicago track when a horse ridden by Jamie Theriot brushed his mount in a move that stewards rarely penalize a rider for. Ray’s point was that stewards should keep a tighter rein on the race riding that goes on and far too often can lead to clipped heels and spills. By doing the best job they can do, stewards can help protect jockeys from serious injury.
What do you get when you combine a 60-day suspension for your 13th medication violation in Florida since 2004 with a rich stakes program at Calder? An opportunity to start four horses if you are legacy trainer Kirk Ziadie. One of several stories this year that were out there for the picking but ignored by the mainstream Thoroughbred media, people seemed to be drawn to the laundry list of infractions by this trainer who piles up the wins and medication violations in uncommon numbers.
Know and Trust. That’s the ironic mantra of this Kentucky-based journalist turned bloodstock agent (hey, he’s giving journalism a bad name, if that’s possible!). It’s also the name of one of the horses that Jim Cullen consigned for his overflowing book of clients who have felt taken advantage of over the last several years. The evidence is too large to encapsulate in this brief recap but judging from the amount of people who read this story, you don’t really need a point-by-point description.
The only thing more disturbing than his previous actions was his personal defense, a convoluted web of seemingly nonsensical explanations that never really came close to exonerating him.
We aren’t saying he is the Bernard Madoff the horse industry, but there are some folks plenty mad at him. Oh, and Jim, the fact that Know and Trust ran a good race after this story came out is not newsworthy. It only proves that even a blind squirrel can find an acorn from time to time.
It was a rough year for racing’s court jester, the sometimes funny and consistently offensive Indian Charlie aka Eddie Musselman. While his legal troubles were probably the most noteworthy news to come out of his newsletter in years, the readers of the Paulick Report really enjoyed reading the Indian Charlie parody being distributed on the grounds of the Keeneland September sale.
Who did the parody? We honestly have no idea. But at least it helped give what was a torturous sale a bit of levity.
The biggest news in Kentucky racing this year was by far the unsuccessful push for slots at racetracks through the state House and Senate. While it got narrow approval in the House, Gov. Steve Beshear’s slots bill stalled in the Senate’s Appropriations and Revenue Committee, stonewalled by David "Blackjack" Williams and his crew of Republican merry men.
Of course, Ray was there to watch the whole thing happen and reported live from Frankfort. Real time blogging, it’s the greatest thing since slots at the racetra…er…never mind.
Not the way any website wants to experience a spike in traffic, but Ray was the first to uncover the absolute travesty that was the lice-infested and under-nourished stable of horses at Paraneck Stables in upstate New York. The pictures are gruesome and the effects of this tragedy are still being felt as horse welfare groups from around the country are trying to find homes for these truly victimized animals.
A man of many talents, Ray Paulick pulled off a feat of unprecedented magnitude…he live blogged the Eclipse Awards without a computer! Transmitting his thoughts and some appetizing pictures (we’re all still craving that dessert with the chocolate sticks on top) via his cell phone, Ray was able to give moment by moment updates to all of those people on the "tubes" who weren’t able to watch the TVG telecast. And looking at the number of comments and readers, that was no trivial number.
For those of you wondering, Barbara and I have since made up after she took offense to my comment about the shininess of Steve Asmussen. Love it or hate it, we call them like we see them here at the Paulick Report.
At first blush, we were a little shocked that this story was number one. A past-posting incident, while surely problematic, is not the sexiest of topics. But when you consider it potentially hurt the pocketbooks of thousands of horseplayers across the country and the fact that we were first out of the gate with the story, it makes a whole lot more sense. Wouldn’t it be nice if the propeller heads at the tote companies were able to figure out how to stop betting when a race begins?
By Ray Paulick
A number of people I respect most in the Thoroughbred industry consider Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bob Evans to be the smartest man in the racing business. Last week’s $126.8 million stock and cash acquisition of youbet.com, which also includes the totalizator company United Tote, only strengthens that assessment.
With the deal, which won’t close until sometime in the first half of 2010, CDI will own roughly half of the Advance Deposit Wagering market share. According to a presentation made by youbet.com at an investment bank conference last month (click here to read the presentation), youbet.com and TVG are the market leaders, with about 29% market share each, followed by the Churchill Downs-owned TwinSpires at 21% and Magna Entertainment’s XpressBet at 14%.
The current North American ADW market is roughly 14% of the $14 billion expected to be wagered on horse racing this year. It has been growing steadily, but not nearly as quickly as online transactions in other businesses such as event ticketing, travel, or music. It is widely viewed as the only current growth sector in racing. The growth of online wagering is in Evans’ sweet spot.
ADW wagers are also more profitable for a company like CDI than other types of bets, including those made on-track, especially when they are made at one of the tracks the company owns (Churchill Downs, Arlington Park, Calder, Fair Grounds).
So the acquisition of youbet.com looks very much like a win for CDI shareholders, because of the anticipated jump in both revenue and earnings, stemming from the bigger share of the ADW market and the reduced costs of personnel, marketing, technology, etc that Evans discussed in a conference call following the deal. It also gives the company a stronger technology platform than it has with TwinSpires. CDI’s purchase of AmericaTab from Bloodstock Research Information Services jump-started the company’s ADW business, which it was slow in developing. “I’ve been pretty impressed by the technology capabilities of the youbet organization,” Evans said in the Nov. 13 conference call.
The United Tote part of the deal makes sense, too. United Tote currently has contracts with Churchill Downs, Keeneland and the New York Racing Association tracks, but not with CDI-owned Arlington, Calder, Fair Grounds, 19 off-track betting parlors and TwinSpires—all of which use AmTote. Look for United Tote to pick up those contracts either as existing deals expire or buyout clauses are used.
There is the potential for pushback from some of United Tote’s current customers who might fear that Churchill Downs is becoming too powerful, but the upside to the ownership of United Tote far outweighs any downside. Also, as Evans said, United Tote might be able to improve tote system stability, performance and wagering integrity. If that occurs, it’s good news for the entire industry and especially for horse players, who have serious concerns about the integrity and dependability of the current wagering systems.
Of course, there could be some losers in this deal. As CDI gains more market share with its ADW company, it will wield even more clout than it currently carries in contract negotiations with horsemen around the country through TrackNet Media, which negotiates its simulcast contracts with wagering outlets. That could reduce purse revenues from ADW wagers even more than the already-too-low levels that currently exist.
The other obvious losers will be some employees at either TwinSpires or youbet.com, but that’s pretty standard in corporate mergers and acquisitions. There will be plenty of corporate carnage, either at the youbet.com offices in Woodland Hills, Calif., at CDI’s Louisville, Ky., headquarters or its Silicon Valley “digital think tank.”
One of the unanswered questions of Churchill’s acquisition is whether youbet.com will continue to operate in “gray” states where Advance Deposit Wagering is neither expressly legal or illegal and if TwinSpires will move into those states. In the past, youbet.com recruited customers in states where other ADW companies, including TVG and TwinSpires, did not conduct business.
One final note about the deal. Youbet.com executive chairman Michael Brodsky will join the CDI board of directors, a move that some insiders greeted with a yawn. Neither Brodsky or youbet.com’s largest shareholder, Hyatt Hotel mogul Jay Pritzker, were viewed as visionaries in the online gaming world. They both held onto longshot hopes that youbet.com would somehow, with approval from Congress, be able to move into the sports betting or online casino gaming business.
When that didn’t happen, their energies shifted toward selling the company, something they managed to accomplish.
But it looks to me like CDI and Bob Evans got the better end of the deal.
This weekend is the predictable “calm after the storm”, and though there are plenty of restricted stakes on the country’s racing agenda, only one track has an American graded stakes on its schedule. Churchill Downs will run complimentary stakes; Saturday’s card features the G2 Mrs. Revere for 3-year-old fillies, and its counterpart, the Commonwealth Turf (G3) for 3-year-old colts and geldings, will be Sunday’s feature. Both races are 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
The Mrs. Revere has a full field going postward, including five fillies from Keeneland’s G3 Valley View which was so over-subscribed that it was run in two divisions. The winner of one of the divisions, Bluegrass Princess, is competing here, as is Miss Keller and Keertana, the runner-up and third-place finishers of the other division. Hot Cha Cha and Miss World are the fillies to beat, though; they’re coming out of the more prestigious G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, also run at Keeneland last month. Hot Cha Cha won the QEII by over four lengths, and previous to that, was victorious in the G3 Pucker Up at Arlington Park. Miss World posted an upset win in the G1 Garden City before running fourth in the Queen Elizabeth.
Get Stormy comes into the Commonwealth Turf with a three-race winning streak, including his last out, Keeneland’s G3 Bryan Station. The son of Stormy Atlantic will be challenged by the likes of Proceed Bee who most recently won the G3 Hawthorne Derby. Hot trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has two entries here—Street Move and the Darley-owned Florentino.
Aqueduct had carded the G3 Stuyvesant for this weekend but it was canceled due to lack of entries; it will not be rescheduled this year.
By Ray Paulick
Every kid should be so lucky to have parents like Sandy and Beth Straight.
“They are very inspirational people,” said Nancy LaSala, executive director of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.
The Straights are parents of 23-year-old twin sons, Michael and Matthew, who were living out their dream together as professional Thoroughbred jockeys until that dream turned into a nightmare in a split second on Aug. 26. That’s the day Michael Straight suffered severe spinal and head injuries in an Arlington Park racing accident. The lives of the family from Albany, N.Y., took a dramatic and tragic change.
Sandy and Beth Straight were watching the race at the Albany OTB parlor. Matthew was riding in Kentucky. All of them knew immediately that this was a bad spill. Arlington Park chairman Dick Duchossois dispatched his private jet to New York to bring Michael’s parents to the hospital. Matthew didn’t need to be told. He got in his car and began driving to Chicago within minutes of the accident.
Sandy and Beth Straight put their lives on hold and have remained with their son in Chicago since August. Every day they come to the hospital, first at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and now at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where Michael was moved Oct. 11 and is now undergoing occupational, physical and speech therapy. They are there from nine in the morning till seven at night many days, offering support, love and hope to their son. “It’s one day at a time Michael,” Beth Straight said.
The Straights aren’t wealthy people; they work for the state of New York’s labor department—or used to until Michael was injured. But thanks to fellow riders, friends, family, people in the horse industry and organizations like the Jockey Club Foundation, the Don MacBeth Fund and the Jockeys’ Guild, they are getting able to stay with Michael. Right now, the situation is grim. “No one knows,” Sandy Straight said. “The spine is a mystery. You just can’t give up hope.”
Matthew has been there for his twin, too, spending as much time with him as he can. “He likes us to be around,” Sandy said, “but there’s nothing that lifts his spirits as much as seeing his brother.” Earlier this week, Matthew took Michael out for lunch and cruised the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue, not far from the Rehabilitation Institute.
Michael and Matthew Straight have always been best friends, and they both grew up dreaming of becoming jockeys. Sandy Straight talked about how as young boys he’d seen them straddling the back of a couch, using pillows for saddles and crouching low while driving their mounts to the wire in an imaginary race. When they were nine, the boys went from riding the couch to practicing on an Equicizer, the simulated riding device developed by jockey Frank Lovato and used by professional jockeys to get back in riding shape after taking time off. At 12, Michael and Matthew learned about an organization started by the late Trudy McCaffery, “Kids to the Cup,” which offered expense paid visits to tracks hosting major races around the country including the Breeders’ Cup. Getting a close-up look at their sport through the “Kids to the Cup” program cemented their desire to ride.
Eventually they went to the North American Riding Academy that Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron established at the Kentucky Horse Park, Matthew graduating in 2007 and Michael the following year. As required by the NARA curriculum, Michael served an apprenticeship, working in the stable of trainer Wesley Ward. He launched his career earlier this year, winning with his first mount at Tampa Bay Downs on March 6. He had 39 career wins when Im No Gentleman, the horse he was riding Aug. 26 apparently clipped heels and fell, throwing Michael to the Polytrack surface awkwardly. The horse, which apparently died from a broken neck, did not fall onto or roll over the jockey.
One of the Chicago-area owners Michael rode for, Dan Sullivan, organized a fundraiser for the jockey and his family on Oct. 25 at a restaurant Sullivan owns in a Chicago suburb. “Dan Sullivan has been incredible,” Sandy said. “He’s done so much for us. One of his kids wrote that letter up there on the wall,” he said, pointing to an over-sized, hand-printed letter signed by all of his classmates.
“Bill Thayer (Arlington Park racing executive) just loves Michael and he’s devastated over what happened. Guys like Wesley and Chris are being really hard on themselves, thinking they somehow are to blame for this, but it’s not their fault.”
Sandy and Beth said it was tough to watch Matthew when he rode at Arlington Park for the first time after Michael’s injury, and they watch his races from a completely different perspective today. “We always said ‘just get around the track safely,’” Sandy said, “but now…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence.
We had the opportunity to visit with Michael and his parents, along with the PDJF’s Nancy LaSala on Friday morning, while in Chicago on the second stop of the BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST fundraising drive from Kentucky to California. The drive, in partnership with Breeders’ Cup Charities, is benefiting the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research. We’ve had some fun raising money for the charities, but today’s visit really hit home what these seriously injured riders go through.
Everyone in racing is hoping that Michael Straight will not have to become the next rider to benefit from the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund—certainly not his parents. But the PDJF has to be there to help these riders when there are no miracles and prayers are not enough.
Michael and Matthew Straight will turn 24 years old in a couple of weeks, on Nov. 12. The best birthday present for them would be an improvement in Michael’s condition, but the odds are against that happening so soon. A donation to Breeders’ Cup Charities to benefit the PDJF and V Foundation would be an appropriate way to recognize their birthdays. Please click here to make a donation.
If you can’t give, please consider sending a birthday card to lift Michael’s spirits. (It can be sent to Michael Straight, c/o Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 345 E. Superior, Chicago, IL 60611.) It might also lift the spirits of Sandy and Beth Straight. They have shown incredible strength over the last 10 weeks, but the stress they are experiencing and the pain they are feeling is taking a toll on them, too.
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Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them. To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.
By Ray Paulick
When a jockey goes down in a race, there’s no one that shows more concern than a fellow rider, even if it’s been 45 years since that fellow rider has been on a horse’s back. I witnessed that concern Thursday afternoon at Hawthorne, when a horse named Loose Lips got cut off a few strides out of the gate in the seventh race and jockey Angel Stanley tumbled to the ground.
Brad Cummings and I were sitting with former jockey Dennis Keehan in the box area when the incident occurred, and the look in his eyes when Stanley went down was a picture I’ll remember for some time. Fortunately, Stanley jumped up and apparently was uninjured.
Keehan wasn’t so lucky the last time he fell onto a racetrack. It was 45 years ago at Sportsman’s Park when a horse he was riding was shut off, stumbled and went down in a four-horse spill. A trailing horse tripped and fell right on top of his chest, paralyzing him from the waist down. Keehan was 21 years old, and needless to say, he’s been through a lot since then. Claire Novak tells his story in a poignant ESPN.com article here.
Today, Keehan is a witty and engaging man who now and then enjoys coming out to the track, handicapping the races and betting a couple of bucks. Life isn’t easy when you’re in a wheelchair and on your own, but the monthly check he gets from the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund helps Keehan get out from under the medical bills that can pile up when you have special needs.
To see the Dennis Keehan interview, click below.
We were at Hawthorne on day two of the BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST fundraising drive from Kentucky to California, and as I said in our sendoff from Keeneland yesterday, where we were blanked at the betting windows, Chicago is our kind of town.
We’d like to thank TVG, Bill Casner and WinStar Farm, Barry Irwin of Team Valor International, and Kate Lantaff of Tahoma Stud for sponsoring this segment of the trip. Their sponsorship dollars go directly through Breeders’ Cup Charities and will be divided equally between the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Lane’s End, Darley, Airdrie Stud and Overbrook Farm sponsored the first segment.
Hawthorne’s management and staff provided the same great hospitality we were treated to at Keeneland, but the horses here were much more accommodating. The wagering bankroll provided to us by Breeders’ Cup more than doubled (thanks largely to a 7-1 winner, Watch Pat, in the fifth race) making up for a tough start in Kentucky. Our guest handicapper from the TVG online community, Steve Hunsberger, also had a good day at Hawthorne, hitting an exacta in the sixth along with a sizable place bet on the second-place finisher, Napoleon’s Retreat, whose Waterloo came in the final sixteenth of a mile. Had Napoleon’s Retreat held on for the win, Steve would have cashed an even bigger ticket. on behalf of the charities. Thanks to TVG for their partnership on this fundraising effort and to all the members of the TVG community who participated.
Hawthorne got into the spirit, too, bankrolling Katie Mikolay, the track’s personable simulcast hostess and handicapper, and assistant general manager Jim Miller. If they went bust (like I did at Keeneland on Wednesday), Hawthorne was going to make a generous donation to Breeders’ Cup charities. A special thanks to Hawthorne president and general manager Tim Carey.
All proceeds from the winnings go to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Whether you are an owner, breeder, trainer, racing fan/horseplayer or someone like me who has had the good fortune to make his living in this industry, I hope you’ll consider making a donation to support these two worthy organizations.
Please click here to go to the Breeders’ Cup Charities page and make a donation.
Hawthorne was where I became a racing fan and horseplayer when I lived in Chicago in the mid-1970s, and it’s always fun coming back to the track where I “cut my teeth” in racing. Like any racetrack in Illinois that has to compete with casinos in the Chicago suburbs or in neighboring Indiana, there have been some struggles, but the Carey family that’s owned Hawthorne for 100 years is committed to racing, and it shows.
While here, we had the opportunity to meet several members of the jockey colony, including Jerry LaSala, a board member and treasurer of the Jockeys’ Guild, and the unique father and son riding duo of Randy and Brandon Meier. Randy Meier’s broken 50 bones during his career, and he wasn’t crazy about his son following in his footsteps, but racing has a way of getting into your blood. In talking with him about 21-year-old Brandon, though, you can sense the pride he has in him and can tell how much fun he’s having riding with and against his son.
See interviews with Jerry LaSala and the Meiers by clicking below.
We’re meeting PDJF executive director Nancy LaSala Friday and hope to have a chance to talk with Michael Straight, who suffered a devastating injury this summer as a young apprentice rider at Arlington Park and is undergoing rehabilitation. Then it will be back on the road for the drive to Remington Park in Oklahoma City for some fun and fundraising activities on Sunday.
We’ve got a long road ahead of us between here and California for the Nov. 6-7 Breeders’ Cup, but it’s nothing compared to what these disabled riders face when their passion and their world comes crashing down on them.
If I haven’t asked you already, and I know I have, I’ll ask you again: please give.
Earlier this week, we were the first to publish Bill Farish’s editorial on why slots were an important step in give aid to Kentucky’s horse industry. Claiming that as a Republican this shouldn’t be a partisan issue but instead a Kentucky issue, Farish took Senate President David Williams to task over his divisive tactics of pitting Republicans against Republicans.
Late last night, the Paulick Report received an email response to Farish’s editorial from Williams. While 7:45 on a Friday night is generally a slot relegated for the announcement of John Edwards’ love child, we felt it important to give both sides of this issue a proper hearing. What follows is the counter argument to the pro-slots lobby. Where do you stand? -
Bradford Cummings
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By David L. Williams,
(R-Burkesville), president, Kentucky Senate
I never cease to be amazed by the manner in which slot interests and their spokesmen such as Bill Farish continue to mislead Kentuckians. The proposed expansion of gambling in Kentucky is bad economic policy for the state and for the horse industry. Those tied to the slots may do their best to raise the specter of false divisions and false hope, but the reality of the situation is unchanged.
 Fact #1: Expanded gambling will flood Kentucky with funds that will skew our body politic.
Bill Farish failed to mention his family’s financial affiliation with the tracks as well as to the 527 “issues†group formed by the tracks and their supporters to circumvent campaign finance laws in order to intimidate legislators to support slots. During the recent special election, his pro-slots 527 ran negative ads that never even once mentioned slots. State after state with gambling in the mix has been rife with stories of political corruption.
 Fact #2: Once slots arrive, horse-owners and trainers will get the short end of the stick.
In Florida, horsemen have complained that their promised doubling of purses has never materialized. In Ohio, under the Governor’s executive orders, owners were left to their own devices to negotiate purses with the slots people. In West Virginia, purse money was shifted back to state government to make up for shortfalls. And in Kentucky, have we forgotten the bitter battle waged by Churchill Downs attempting to force our horsemen to accept a smaller slice of the revenue from Internet bets? Or the fact that Churchill Downs pays to transport horses to its own Arlington Park in Chicago in direct competition with Ellis Park? Once slots come in the picture, players will thrill to the speed of the machine and ignore the speed of our ponies.
 Fact #3: Slots will not “save†Kentucky’s budget.
Gambling is an unstable source of revenue. In spite of gambling, Illinois raised taxes. Hardly a session has passed without Indiana’s casinos and racinos asking for yet another tax break. And gambling revenues are in a decline nationwide sending governments addicted to them scurrying for additional funds.
 Fact #4: The horse business is beset with problems endemic to the industry itself.
The horse industry acknowledges that it breeds too many horses and runs too many races in a national economy that is fragile. Racing fans are growing older. The industry’s weak marketing has done little to help. Very few people these days have the discretionary cash to plunk down a cool million for a horse, or even tens of thousands of dollars.
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During the Special Session in June, Senate Democrats and Republicans unanimously passed legislation that would have nearly doubled funding for the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund and actually doubled funding for the Kentucky Breeders’ Incentive Fund without slots. Our plan would have kept the KEES scholarship program whole and not hurt charitable gaming. It would not have used any General Fund dollars.
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The House plan would have forked over more than 50% of the revenue to the tracks and massively undervalued the license fees the tracks would have had to pay. All businesses are suffering in this economy, yet the tracks insist that they and they alone deserve special treatment.
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When the House introduced its gambling bill during the 2008 session, committee members were mysteriously replaced in order to ensure passage. The 2009 version was heard in a committee that didn’t even allow the opposition to testify. Finally, with the addition of over $1 billion worth of projects the bill barely passed during the Special Session. It was a far cry from the fair hearing the bill received in the Senate committee where both sides were allowed to air their views.
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The House plan relied on Kentuckians gambling a whopping $11.9 billion – a figure that represents five times more than what is currently wagered at the tracks, at out-of-state casinos, and through charitable gaming. Where are these players going to come from? With gambling already in many of our sister states, slots will only cannibalize our own people — our most vulnerable sacrificed for what a horse industry insider, Ray Paulick, calls a “band-aid†solution.
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We need to explore all the ways Kentucky horsemen can control their own future because as Churchill Downs trainer Michael Lauer recently noted, “…once the tracks get the slots, the horsemen become secondary citizens.â€Â I respectfully would amend that quote to include all Kentuckians.
“Each week a different executive will leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their company,” the reality show’s website explains. “While working alongside their employees, they will see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organization and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad while discovering the unsung heroes who make their company run.”
film crew. “They thought he was an unemployed schmo trying out some entry-level jobs,” said Julie Koenig-Loignon, CDI’s vice president of brand development and marketing. “They were giving him a trial run as much as anything.”
“For me, it was a lifetime experience. There was a lot of enjoyment in experiencing the fun and passion without the corner office pressure, which focuses on the problems.”
