TOP TEN THINGS YOU MAY HAVE LEARNED ONLY BY READING THE PAULICK REPORT
Much to our surprise, it seems we have kept the high-priced fancy lawyers from Letterman and Public Broadcasting off our backs. Don’t tell anyone, but we’ve found a nice hiding spot at Calder racetrack and if Ray’s recent photos of empty stands mean anything, we don’t suspect anyone will come out here to find us.
And that brings us to today’s top ten list. The aforementioned photo seems symbolic of the realistic and oftentimes untold side of the Thoroughbred industry that you have grown accustomed to at the Paulick Report. We have decided to highlight our favorite ten facts you would not see anywhere else in the media. Unfortunately, Ray’s propensity to injure himself with sharp sausages didn’t make the list.
10. Keeneland never formed a sale company; it merely convinced Kentucky breeders to hand over the Breeders’ Sales Company co-op in 1962 and has since profited to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
9. Internet entrepreneur Halsey Minor inquired about purchasing Magna Entertainment racetracks in California and Maryland but was led to believe by a Magna executive that despite public pronouncements to the contrary they really were not for sale.
8. Stonewalling and ultimately defeat of the Thoroughbred Championship Tour by the NTRA and Breeders’ Cup boards helped convince Houston Texans owner Robert McNair to get out of the Thoroughbred industry.
7. Simulcast bettors at Tampa Bay Downs bet into the pools of a June 28 race at Philadelphia Park – minutes after the Philly Park race had been run. The industry and tote companies have yet to report on how the past-post-betting was allowed to occur.
6. Board-room politicking by the father-son duo of Will and Bill Farish kept Richard Santulli and John Sikura off the Breeders’ Cup board of directors in an election earlier this year.
5. NTRA president and CEO Alex Waldrop took a “neutral” position on slaughter legislation before Congress despite earlier pledges that the NTRA was leading the way for the industry on horse welfare issues.
4. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is an inefficient and uninspiring facility secretively run by people whose spending oversight rates it “zero stars” (out of four stars) from an unbiased organization that rates charities.
3. The NTRA held secret meetings in Kentucky before circulating a confidential memorandum recommending numerous industry reforms ranging from racetrack safety standards to eliminating timed workouts at 2-year-old sales.
2. Keeneland convinced nearly all of its original investors to turn their shares over to the association; in 2002, it quietly formed a new non-profit holding company called Keeneland Trustees, the de facto “owner” of the Keeneland run by three people: Will Farish, William Lear, and Louie Lee Haggin.
1. A roadmap of how Jockey Club chairman Dinny Phipps, vice chairman Will Farish and their surrogates exert extensive control over numerous industry organizations including the Breeders’ Cup, Keeneland, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and its American Graded Stakes Committee, Bloodhorse magazine, and the New York Racing Association, Now that you are reminded of the unique product the Paulick Report offers, we ask you to please consider sending a donation of $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or even $50? Any amount is greatly appreciated and rest assured that donor anonymity is guaranteed. Please click the link below to our ‘Support the Paulick Report’ page where you can make a donation either by PayPal or through the mail.
9. Internet entrepreneur Halsey Minor inquired about purchasing Magna Entertainment racetracks in California and Maryland but was led to believe by a Magna executive that despite public pronouncements to the contrary they really were not for sale.
8. Stonewalling and ultimately defeat of the Thoroughbred Championship Tour by the NTRA and Breeders’ Cup boards helped convince Houston Texans owner Robert McNair to get out of the Thoroughbred industry.
7. Simulcast bettors at Tampa Bay Downs bet into the pools of a June 28 race at Philadelphia Park – minutes after the Philly Park race had been run. The industry and tote companies have yet to report on how the past-post-betting was allowed to occur.
6. Board-room politicking by the father-son duo of Will and Bill Farish kept Richard Santulli and John Sikura off the Breeders’ Cup board of directors in an election earlier this year.
5. NTRA president and CEO Alex Waldrop took a “neutral” position on slaughter legislation before Congress despite earlier pledges that the NTRA was leading the way for the industry on horse welfare issues.
4. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is an inefficient and uninspiring facility secretively run by people whose spending oversight rates it “zero stars” (out of four stars) from an unbiased organization that rates charities.
3. The NTRA held secret meetings in Kentucky before circulating a confidential memorandum recommending numerous industry reforms ranging from racetrack safety standards to eliminating timed workouts at 2-year-old sales.
2. Keeneland convinced nearly all of its original investors to turn their shares over to the association; in 2002, it quietly formed a new non-profit holding company called Keeneland Trustees, the de facto “owner” of the Keeneland run by three people: Will Farish, William Lear, and Louie Lee Haggin.
1. A roadmap of how Jockey Club chairman Dinny Phipps, vice chairman Will Farish and their surrogates exert extensive control over numerous industry organizations including the Breeders’ Cup, Keeneland, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and its American Graded Stakes Committee, Bloodhorse magazine, and the New York Racing Association, Now that you are reminded of the unique product the Paulick Report offers, we ask you to please consider sending a donation of $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or even $50? Any amount is greatly appreciated and rest assured that donor anonymity is guaranteed. Please click the link below to our ‘Support the Paulick Report’ page where you can make a donation either by PayPal or through the mail.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Ray:
Can my $25.00 make your list of considerations: ” . . . we ask you to please consider sending a donation of $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or even $50?”
Your Faithful Reader
Homestretch II
September 25th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Our 2nd contribution has been sent. The 3rd is already in the budget. The PR is doing a great job, and I hope that the heavy hitting donors are on board, as well.
Glad to see the Museum story - which I missed, being up at Saratoga when it was posted.
My wife and I at one point were contemplating getting more involved.
And then we made the mistake of accepting invitations to a Racing Museum social (cocktails and a dinner), @ four-five years ago.
The people assembled - aside from the genuinely warm museum staff at the front door - could not have been more unfriendly, stiff, and socially inept. The food was awful, as was the experience of having to eat in the proximity of these ungracious people. We cut it short and - literally - fled.
Never have been back. No chance it will ever happen.
Regards,
DR
September 27th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Ray– this is a seriously great body of journalistic work for a (barely just) four-month-old website. The industry can’t thank you enough for your bravery, honesty, insight, and hard-hitting perspective. It deserves mention in the “Top 10 Most Positive Things To Happen In The Thoroughbred Industry”. The only problem is, there are about seven empty spots on that list…