Posts Tagged ‘equibase’

By Ray Paulick
I hate to rain on Equibase and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s bad news parade, but there was some good news in horse racing’s monthly economic indicators released on Thursday.

Average daily handle for the month of February increased by 4.80% in comparison to 2009 figures. Average daily purses were up by 4.29% in February. Year-to-date figures for average daily handle are virtually dead-even (down 0.14%), as is the number for average daily purses (plus 0.81%).

Those are signs, like the few glimmers of hope in the general economy, that our worst days may be behind us.

Why, then, did Equibase and NTRA only report the bad news, that gross wagering and purses were down double digits? The business figures compiled by Equibase make things look terribly bleak: gross handle down 13% in February and purses down 13.43% from 2010, and year-to-date figures down 12.51% and 11.67% in those respective categories.

They include the total number of racing days for February and for the year to date, which show drastic declines of 16.99% and 12.38%. We are not going to increase gross handle with we run nearly 17% fewer race days. Those gross numbers do not tell the complete picture, and an organization like the NTRA should be doing a better job of interpreting its own economic indicators.

The good news about February and handle comes on the heels of Fasig-Tipton’s successful sale of 2-year-olds in training at Calder race course in South Florida.

There has been severe weather this year in many parts of the country, reducing the number of race days because of cancellations. But some tracks are simply running fewer live dates, a trend that we’ll see more and more of going forward.

The days being dropped intentionally by racetracks are going to be weekdays when handle and purses are lower, so it’s logical to expect average daily numbers to increase when weekend cards represent 50% of the week’s action on a four-day racing week instead of 40% on a five-day week. Del Mar saw its average daily numbers increase last year when the Southern California track dropped its Monday programs.

So, part of this increase in average betting and purses for February is likely due to the loss of more weekday programs than weekends. The message here is that less can be more.

Call me a contrarian, since other publications focused on the negatives—the drop in gross purses and handle. However, I’m willing to take any scrap of good news I can find these days.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.



Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

PRESS RELEASE

foaltrack.com, a website which enables fans and industry participants to follow the development of young Thoroughbreds and sales horses, has incorporated Equibase Virtual Stable® notifications to further assist users in tracking named juvenile horses, it was announced today by Drew Rayman, founder of foaltrack.

“As yearlings turn two, get named, start breezing, racing and winning, foaltrack members will know immediately with free workout, entry and result notifications provided by Equibase Virtual Stable,” said Rayman.

A unique homepage is created for every horse entered on foaltrack. Many of the entries include photos of the horses, enabling an overview of a stallion’s progeny and the progress of each horse through the conclusion of its racing career. Through foaltrack’s relationship with The Blood-Horse, each horse’s page includes TrueNicks nicking information and links to the Stallion Register.

“It’s like Facebook for horses,” added Rayman. “foaltrack has consolidated multiple sources of free data (race results, entries, workouts, nicking, pedigree) onto a single platform, where buyers, breeders, owners and thousands of racing fans experience the thrill of the sales and track their favorite horses. This is a huge achievement for our industry.”

Launched in August 2009, foaltrack.com has become a leading website for tracking young Thoroughbreds and sales horses. Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland participated in the foaltrack.com launch, adding over 10,000 foals of 2008 to the foaltrack database during the 2009 yearling sales season. foaltrack’s partnerships with forums, blogs, social sites and industry organizations has already attracted over 5,000 participants, giving foaltrack a reach well beyond 50,000 Thoroughbred buyers, breeders, owners, stallion farms and fans. 

Equibase Company is a partnership between The Jockey Club and Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America. Its website, equibase.com, features a comprehensive menu of free entries, results and race charts as well as premium handicapping products from past performances to selections for handicappers of every skill level. The site is also home to Virtual Stable®, which provides e-mail notification of entry, result and workout information for horses that fans want to follow. Virtual Stable also offers seasonal “race series” notifications, a once-daily report of activity for contenders for the Triple Crown races and the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

An editorial in today’s San Diego Union-Tribune lauds Del Mar’s dedication to its synthetic track despite Santa Anita’s likely return to dirt. They touted studies from California’s equine medical director and the Equibase Company that show the benefits of synthetic track in regards to horse fatalities.

Click here for the rest of the editorial from the San Diego Union-Tribune

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

- Bradford Cummings

By Ray Paulick
If only Michael Gill had kept his word in 2006 when he said he was getting out of horse racing after being leading owner in North America by money and races won for three consecutive years. A lot of people would be happier and a number of horses might still be alive.

Gill did get out of racing in 2006, the year after he was inexplicably voted an Eclipse Award as outstanding owner. Unfortunately, he got back in the game late in 2008, and he was back on top again as leading owner by both races and money won in 2009.

But wait, doesn’t horse racing need more owners, not fewer of them? Not if they’re like Mike Gill. Not in my book, at least. Gill claims relentlessly and runs an absurd number of horses: he had 2,235 starts in 2003, 2,885 in 2004, 1,870 in 2005, and 2,247 in 2009. His best year earnings-wise was $10,811,631, an average of $3,748 per start. Many people feel he is using the animals as nothing more than a commodity to get what he wants. His critics, and there are many, say the horses too often pay the ultimate price.

Nothing outstanding about that. For the life of me, I don’t see how anyone ever could have voted to give him an Eclipse Award.

Jockeys at Penn National Race Course apparently took a vote of a different type on Saturday night, allegedly telling track management they would refuse to ride in any more races in which Mike Gill-owned horses were entered. The vote was taken following the fifth race, after third-place finisher Laughing Moon broke down past the wire, causing another horse to also go down. Laughing Moon’s jockey Rickey Frazier escaped injury.

It was the second breakdown of a Gill-owned horse at Penn National in three nights, Melodeeman having suffered a similar catastrophic injury on Thursday night. Melodeeman was trained by Anthony Adamo and Laughing Moon by Darrel Delahoussaye—Gill’s two trainers at Penn National.

There was a lengthy delay between Saturday night’s fifth and sixth races as the jockeys stated their case. Eventually, a Gill horse, Justin M, was scratched from the sixth race, and the remainder of the card was completed without incident. Gill had no other horses entered following the sixth.

“Gill’s horses are breaking down at a race that’s just not normal,” said a Penn National horseman who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “and it’s not the racetrack. The track is safe. The riders did a very honorable thing, finally saying ‘enough is enough,’ and did so at the risk of a backlash from management. The guys said we are not putting our lives in danger, or the horses in danger.”

According to Equibase charts, in just over three months, 14 other horses owned by Gill have either broken down, were pulled up, returned lame, or eased at Penn National. There were nine in October, three in November, one in December and two in January. (The count includes Saturday night’s incident involving Laughing Moon, even though the Equibase chartcaller did not report the horse broke down past the wire.) Most of the horses are running in bottom level claiming races. At Penn National, however, thanks to slot machine revenue, $5,000 claimers can run for as much as $20,000, with $12,000 going to the winner. An owner can make money squeezing a win out of a horse he claimed for $5,000, even if that horse never runs another race.

Chris McErlean, vice president of racing for Penn National Gaming, said he was not at the track on Saturday but got a report on the incident. McErlean said it is his understanding that horses entered by Gill to race later in the week already have been scratched voluntarily by their trainers. “That wasn’t necessarily at our direction,” McErlean said. “No formal actions have been taken.”

McErlean also said the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission is investigating. “They could be looking into Mr. Gill’s horses in particular, but breakdowns in general,” he said. “They also could be looking at certain veterinarians.”

At the beginning of 2010, Penn National has started reviewing all breakdowns, McErlean said, conducting meetings that involve “the trainer and any other interested parties, the track, the racing commission, and our vet. Every horse that breaks down gets a necropsy done, starting at the beginning of this year. This was initiated by Penn National with the cooperation of the racing commission. Every horse that does break down or is involved in a death does get a necropsy done. We are doing this more for information gathering, to see if there is any connecting of the dots. People are concerned about this and we want some answers.”

Many of Gill’s starters are not stabled at Penn National but ship in from his Elk Creek Ranch in Oxford, Pa. While those horses are on private property, neither the racing commission nor Penn National has access to them. When any horses ship in to race and go to the receiving barn, a state or association veterinarian conducts a pre-race inspection. Horses stabled at the track (and Gill is believed to have 40-50 stalls at Penn National) are not routinely given pre-race exams.

Controversy has followed Gill everywhere he’s gone in racing. He’s been denied stalls at some tracks, banned from the entry box at another, and has not been shy about filing lawsuits.

When he failed to win an Eclipse Award in 2003, Gill put out a statement comparing himself to Seabiscuit’s owner, Charles Howard, in an underdog role against the establishment.

“I can’t help but think that the vote was a vote against me, rather than a vote against the accomplishments,” Gill wrote. “And I don’t understand that. We all cheered ‘Seabiscuit’ last year, a movie about hope and the underdog rising from obscurity to challenge racing’s establishment and emerge victorious.”

Unfortunately, for Laughing Moon and numerous other horses that took their last breath while racing for Gill, there is no hope. The best hope is that he leaves the sport again—this time for good.

Efforts to reach Gill were unsuccessful.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.



Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

Equibase just released their economic indicators for the past year and unfortunately to no one’s surprise, virtually all indices are down. Do you think we will see another $1,000,000,000 drop in US wagering or have we hit the bottom in 2009? What are your other thoughts on the results displayed here? Inquiring minds want to know.

- Bradford Cummings

Press Release

For the first time, female Thoroughbreds occupy the top two spots on the list of leading North American earners in 2009, according to final statistics released today by Equibase Company LLC, the Thoroughbred industry’s official database for racing information.
 
Zenyatta earned $3,330,000 in 2009 to become the fourth filly or mare, and the first since Dance Smartly in 1991, to top the leading earners list. Runner-up Rachel Alexandra earned $2,746,914.
 
In the other categories, Steven Asmussen, Garrett Gomez and Michael Gill head the individual lists of the leading trainers, jockeys and owners, respectively, by North American earnings in 2009.
 
The year-end compilations are distributed annually by Equibase and include results from Thoroughbred racing in North America only. The top 100 North American leaders in each category are accessible at equibase.com.
 
Asmussen, who previously topped the trainers’ list in 2003 and 2008, won a single-season record 650 races from 2,944 starts for North American earnings of $21,876,405 in 2009. Runner-up was Todd Pletcher, whose horses won 238 races from 1,108 starts for earnings of $15,454,429 in 2009.
 
Completing the list of top 10 trainers by North American earnings in 2009 were Bob Baffert, $9,574,394 (117 wins/504 starts); William Mott, $7,957,370 (116/689); Jerry Hollendorfer, $7,309,169 (273/1,210); Kiaran McLaughlin, $6,983,433 (113/555); Scott Lake, $6,928,884 (307/1,462); Christophe Clement, $6,849,013 (91/448); Robert Frankel, $6,586,098 (42/293); and John Sadler, $5,999,956 (132/637).
 
Garrett Gomez, with earnings of $18,571,171, topped the North American leading jockeys’ list for the fourth consecutive year in 2009. He rode the winners of 210 races from 967 mounts. Julien Leparoux finished second, with 247 wins from 1,284 mounts and earnings of $18,560,565.
 
Rounding out the list of top 10 jockeys by North American earnings in 2009 were Ramon Dominguez, $18,348,422 (391 wins/1,651 mounts); Kent Desormeaux, $13,262,760 (177/936); Joel Rosario, $13,073,777 (284/1,476); John Velazquez, $13,069,881 (204/1,160); Rafael Bejarano, $12,403,993 (240/1,129); Rajiv Maragh, $11,736,729 (236/1,479); Robby Albarado, $11,504,625 (204/1,148); and Alan Garcia, $11,280,481 (183/1,049).
 
Michael Gill won 370 races from 2,247 starts and earned $6,669,950 in North America in 2009 to lead all owners. Runner-up was Juddmonte Farms Inc., which won 27 races from 116 starts for earnings of $6,525,818. 
 
Completing the list of top 10 owners by North American earnings in 2009 were Zayat Stables LLC, $6,323,286 (113 wins/573 starts); Darley Stable, $4,977,513 (78/343); Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, $4,880,906 (151/819); Augustin Stable, $4,825,552 (57/244); Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Moss, $4,172,533 (31/128); Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, $4,108,857 (140/521); Melnyk Racing Stables Inc., $3,991,368 (81/387); and Maggi Moss, $3,799,637 (193/716).
 
In addition to the official North American racing leaders’ lists available at equibase.com, Equibase also provides a second set of leaders’ lists that includes the results of the Dubai World Cup card from March 28, 2009, at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. Including these international earnings, Well Armed was the leading Thoroughbred with earnings of $3,649,000 and WinStar Farm LLC was the leading owner with earnings of $7,145,236. Steven Asmussen remained the leading trainer with earnings of $21,876,405 and Garrett Gomez the leading jockey with earnings of $18,571,171.
 
Equibase Company is a partnership between The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and serves as the Thoroughbred industry’s official database for racing information. In addition to year-end rankings of the top trainers, jockeys, owners and horses, the company’s website, equibase.com, features daily rankings of the top 100 by category for the current year as well as an ever-increasing menu of racing information and handicapping products for handicappers of every skill level.

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.

10. McLaughlin Horses Allegedly Test for Banned Substance in KY

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.

9. Equibase Strikes Out

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.

8. When It Comes to Douglas, Racing Stewards Share the Blame

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.

7. Ziadie Blames Drug Violations on ‘Chaos’

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.

6. Cullen: Sales Ban Only the Beginning

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.

5. Indian Charlie: Racing’s Court Jester

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.

4. Live Blogging: Kentucky Senate Committee Slots Hearing

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.

3. Van Driver: Paraneck Horses Were ‘Walking Skeletons’

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.

2. Live Blog: Mr. Paulick Goes to the Eclipse Awards

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.

1. Hollywood Park Past-Posting Incident Under Investigation

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?

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.

Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

By Ray Paulick
Voting for the Eclipse Awards will begin in just over a month, and the biggest debate and perhaps most hotly disputed division will be for Horse of the Year, where early- and mid-season leader Rachel Alexandra and undefeated Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta will vie for the most votes from members of the National Turf Writers Association, Daily Racing Form staff, racing secretaries at National Thoroughbred Racing Association tracks and Equibase chartcallers.

I hope voters will spend as much time assessing the relative merits of some of the other categories as they will on Horse of the Year. Specifically, if they take their responsibilities seriously, they will examine as much of the season-ending statistics on leading breeder as possible before casting their votes. As I’ve written before, I don’t think that’s been the case in some years. Too many voters simply look at which breeder has won the most money.

If that’s the criteria, then Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs will win the outstanding breeder award for the sixth consecutive year. But Adena’s breeding program has produced just two American Graded Stakes winners of 2009, a far cry from some of its previous Eclipse Award winning years. Adena Springs-bred horses have won all that money through the size of Stronach’s broodmare band, producing runners that started 3,568 times in North America so far this year, far more than any other operation. The average earnings per start for Adena-bred horses is just $3,286. Those aren’t bad numbers, nor is the 14% win rate, but I don’t think they should qualify Adena for another Eclipse Award.

The award for outstanding breeder shouldn’t be about who has the biggest operation or who wins the most money. Scanning the list of leading breeders of American Graded Stakes winners of 2009, there are 10 entities that have bred at least three AGS winners alone or in partnership. They are Darley and Stonerside, with five each; Juddmonte Farms and Edward Evans, four each; and with three each are Gainsborough Stud, Phipps Stable, Classic Star, Diamond A Racing, William Farish,  and Wertheimer et Frere. Our leaders list only includes Gainsborough and Phipps Stable in the group with three as their AGS winners won a total of five graded stakes, versus four or three for the others.

So if the Eclipse Award for outstanding breeder should go to one of those operations, which one? You can make a case for several, but special attention should be given to Saudi Prince Khalid’s Juddmonte, which has won four previous Eclipse Awards in this category (1995, and 2001-03). Juddmonte is third behind Adena in money won in North America, with $6,771,260, and has done so with only 280 starts, 41 one of which resulted in winners. That works out to an average of $24,183 per start.

Unlike some of the other breeding operations, Juddmonte sends the majority of its homebreds to Europe to begin their careers, and they don’t normally bring the poor performers back to the U.S. once they have established their form. So its North American stable is stocked with quality from the outset.

A large part of Juddmonte’s success is attributable to the consistently top-class work done by Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, whose death earlier this week was mourned by the Juddmonte family and everyone in racing who knew him.

Another breeder having an outstanding year with his homebreds is Edward P. Evans, whose four AGS winners have won six races (though one of them, Charitable Man, was sold at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Evans has a much more select broodmare band than Juddmonte but has still managed to produce the winners of $4,154,264 from 506 starts (89 winners), putting him eighth in the money rankings. His average earnings per start is $8,210.

There are still some big races to be run, so it’s too early for me to say who I think should win as outstanding breeder. But the hope is when the ballots are sent to voters, the voters will spend some time assessing the overall quality of the horses a breeder produces.

By Ray Paulick
Last week I wrote that if I had a vote in the Eclipse Awards, I’d cast my Horse of the Year ballot for unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta. Well, I don’t have a vote, and I have no one to blame but myself.

A little more than seven years ago, I resigned from the National Turf Writers Association, one of the voting groups for the Eclipse Awards. The other eligible voters are selected staff members of the Daily Racing Form; chartcallers for Equibase; and racing secretaries at National Thoroughbred Racing Association member tracks. There may be a handful of others, including some Breeders’ Cup employees who have a vote.

I quit the National Turf Writers Association after the 2001 media Eclipse Awards were announced and then-NTWA president Jay Privman of the Daily Racing Form unfairly, in my opinion, questioned the eligibility of a piece written by one of the winners, Laura Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand, author of the best-selling book “Seabiscuit: An American Legend,” had previously won an Eclipse Award in 1998 for an article on Seabiscuit published in American Heritage magazine. Her 2001 award was for an original adaptation from the Seabiscuit book that appeared in Equus magazine.

As I recall, Privman, as NTWA president, sent an email to members criticizing the awarding of a second Eclipse to Hillenbrand and suggesting it was “unseemly” of her to even submit the piece for consideration. It was my understanding he was trying to have her stripped of the award.

I had never met Hillenbrand but admired her work, believing that her treatment of Seabiscuit (which was made into a wildly popular movie) was one of the biggest boosts in positive publicity Thoroughbred racing had received in many, many years. I even wrote that Hillenbrand be given an Eclipse Award of Merit, in part because of her personal circumstances: she was afflicted with chronic fatigue syndrome and often struggled to even sit upright and work on her computer while writing the book.

I was offended by the tone of Privman’s letter to NTWA members and asked several individuals on the board of directors to demand an apology or reprimand Privman for what I felt was an abuse of his office. When they did neither, I quit the organization.

Several years later, I asked an executive at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association if I could qualify to vote under the NTRA’s umbrella. I was told “no,” and remained on the sidelines when it comes to voting for Eclipse Awards, something I did for nearly 20 years.

If I really wanted to vote for the Eclipse Awards, I could put aside my strong disagreement with Privman and the NTWA board and reapply for membership in that organization. I’m just not ready to do that.

But enough about me.

There are many others who should have a vote for Eclipse Awards and do not. They include numerous individuals who cover racing regularly or on a full-time basis for television and radio, including ESPN, TVG and HRTV. They aren’t eligible because they aren’t “turf writers.” This group includes knowledgeable individuals such as Steve Byk of Sirius satellite radio’s “At the Races”; Carolyn Conley, Kurt Hoover and Jeff Siegel (among others) at HRTV; Bob Baedeker, Simon Bray and Todd Schrupp (among others) at TVG. It’s incomprehensible that individuals like these do not have an Eclipse Awards vote. In fact, I think it’s time to bring a public element to Eclipse Award voting in the same manner that Europe’s Cartier Awards have done.

As the ranks of full-time turf writers diminishes, racing should take advantage of the growing list of knowledgeable individuals who make their living covering the sport for non-print media outlets. To ignore this reality is just the latest confirmation that the people who run this sport have their heads buried in a place where the light doesn’t shine.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.

Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

What’s this? Happy horseplayers? Why the racetracks must be giving money away. EIther that, or someone has paid attention to the needs of these long-suffering, often forgotten supporters of the game. In this case, it’s the latter, and the group paying attention to horseplayers was Equibase, the racing industry’s data base owned in tandem by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and the Jockey Club. 

The Paulick Report has chided Equibase to be more responsive to the needs of the industry and suggested the company focus more on using its data to help build the fan base and worry less about turning a profit for its owners. Shortly after our critique of Equibase, the company announced that it was loosening restrictions on access to historic charts. Most recently, we were pleased to see that Equibase announced a new and improved method of communicating late scratches and changes to horseplayers and fans. We hope these two recent imnprovements in service are signs  that Equibase takes its mission seriously.

Jeff Platt, president of the Horseplayers Association of North America, tells the story of how this new program came to be. — Ray Paulick

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
By Jeff Platt
president Horseplayers Association of North America

Equibase recently announced completion of a new project called Scratches Today. A press release was distributed on Oct. 1 (click here to view). HANA was involved right from the very beginning. Here is the story…

Early Beginnings
In April, 2009 while we were in Lexington, Ky., for the first HANA Day at the Races at Keeneland, we met with Equibase CEO Hank Zeitlin and his management team. We talked about several issues that are critical to racing and we were given a tour of the Equibase facility.

When the subject of scratches and changes came up, everyone in the room admitted the current system in place was lacking. Reporting of scratches and changes had always been a point of player frustration. More so for players following and wagering multiple tracks online than for players following a single track while wagering at the track live.

For the online player, reporting of scratches and changes had always been hit or miss. Each and every week we could point to at least a handful of scratches that were never reported at all. Every once in a while we could point out instances of the wrong horse being reported as scratched. The same could be said when it came to reporting of rider changes. Ditto for races off the turf.

A little bit of background information about me might be in order here. Back in 2004 I created a module for JCapper called Scratch Bot. Scratch Bot’s sole function is to allow the user-player to scour the web for scratches and races off the turf and import new changes as they become available. I’m telling you this as a way of letting you know just how acutely aware I am when it comes to scratches and changes information and just how unreliable that information can sometimes be.

To give you an example, when the Breeders’ Cup was held at Lone Star Park in 2004, Seek Gold officially finished second in race one, and was part of a $2 exacta paying $970.20, while listed in the Autotote/Brisbet system as a scratch!

While chatting with Hank that morning we let him know just how strongly we felt that there needed to be a reliable web-based source for scratches and changes information. While sitting at the table in one of Equibase’s conference rooms, I "white boarded" a design for a web-based system capable of getting the job done on a legal pad and showed it to Hank. I even volunteered to stay on in Lexington for the next several weeks (or the entire summer if necessary) to do software development work on the project for free.

I guess Hank must have seen how passionate we were about the need for the industry to do a better job in this one area. He agreed to a follow-up meeting which was held a few days later. From that beginning the idea of Scratches and Changes in Real Time became a reality.

The Scratches Today Project
The Scratches Today Project enables Equibase to propagate scratches and changes information onto the Equibase site in something pretty close to real time. Click here for a direct URL to the page at Equibase.com:
When you click on the link for an individual track, you will see a page that looks like the following screenshot:

The page html shows the track name, date and time of the last update, and continuously updated changes for each race.

RSS
Players can also subscribe to a free RSS Feed.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication  which allows anyone to subscribe to a feed of data using a software client of some kind.

What is cool about RSS is that any new information is pushed to you direct. There is no need for you to visit Equibase and constantly refresh the page. Once you subscribe you will just receive an update with new information each time there is a new scratch or change. There are also RSS clients available for mobile phones, so a player wagering on multiple tracks online, at an OTB, or at a track live, can easily receive updates on any or all tracks as well.

You can find the most popular standalone RSS clients here.

A list of popular mobile RSS clients can be found here.

XML
In addition to the web pages for each track and the RSS Feed, a downloadable XML File has been provided for those players who wish to parse the latest scratches and changes. The XML itself looks like this:

The XML contains nodes populated with information for race date, track name, race number, horse name, program number, change description, and a timestamp. In early meetings with Equibase, everyone was in agreement that a central XML feed was the perfect source data format for delivering this information.

How does it work?
In the past, an employee at each track was responsible for letting Equibase know about scratches and changes. At most tracks the employee responsible for scratches and changes wears many hats and is responsible for many different things on race day. Generally that employee could be counted upon to let Equibase know about early scratches and changes. But if that employee happened to be busy later in the day when subsequent scratches and changes were announced, reporting such information to Equibase had always been given low priority.

Enter the Equibase chart caller. Before a chart can be cut, all scratches and changes need to be entered into the system. Hank Zeitlin, the CEO of Equibase came up with a novel idea. Instead of waiting until after the race to enter late breaking scratches and changes – why not be proactive and have chart callers enter scratches and changes data into the system as they are announced by the track announcer over the public address system? If that could reasonably be done – then changes could be propagated from the database into the XML and out onto the Equibase site within a second or two after the chart caller clicks the submit button.

The following info model was adopted:

A designated track employee would still be responsible for entering early scratches and changes. As part of the project Equibase went out into the field and sold the tracks on the idea of giving higher priority to scratches and changes.

Responsibility for entering scratches and changes shifts to the chart caller 45 minutes to an hour before post time for race one.

In late April, 2009 Hank committed a team of Equibase IT people to making Scratches in Real Time a reality. Hank has kept HANA in the loop and asked for our involvement and input right from the beginning. The system that Equibase has created is more extensive than the one I initially “white boarded” on a legal pad in that first meeting. It contains protocols for error checking/error correction that the initial system I was proposing didn’t have.

HANA is honestly thrilled with what Equibase has produced. The new Equibase system meets all of the requirements we wanted to see in every way. It is web based. It records scratches and changes in a central database. And it propagates those changes out onto the web within a second or two of when the submit button is clicked.

For the online player wagering on multiple tracks the Equibase Scratches Today project is a vast improvement over what was available in the past. As well, for those at tracks or simulcast centers, they now can get accurate real time jockey changes, surface changes and scratches "pushed" right on to their mobile phone, eliminating the need to watch TV screens or visit the posted scratches sheets for their updates.

Where do we go from here?
It is our sincere hope that players everywhere will enjoy the benefits of this new system for many years to come. We are also envisioning that tracks, in an effort to cut costs and improve standardization, will move to use the Equibase XML feed as a data source for displaying Scratches and Changes in Real Time right on their own track websites as soon as reasonably possible.