GOOD NEWS FRIDAY sponsored by LIBERATION FARM: THE SOLUTION

by | 11.17.2010 | 12:47am
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By Ray Paulick

The good news on this Friday is that Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella appears to have pulled it off, getting commitments from the owners of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and undefeated two-time champion Zenyatta to contest the Apple Blossom Invitational, which is being moved from April 3 to April 9 at the Hot Springs, Ark., track and will carry a $5 million purse if both compete.


But that’s just one race, and it is hoped the two champion distaffers will face each other a number of times before the year is over. How can racing, an often dysfunctional industry, pull off this even bigger challenge?


I have a proposed solution to this challenge, whether the Apple Blossom dream match comes to fruition or not.


Remember when Barack Obama was campaigning for president and promising to deliver on health care reform, in part by avoiding backroom deals and pledging transparency? He said the negotiations for legislation could be televised on CSPAN. Well, we’re 13 months into Obama’s presidency, and that promise was broken. It was business as usual in the nation’s capital as legislators, lobbyists and the Obama administration went back and forth on health care, winding up with separate bills in the House and Senate that are unlikely to be reconciled with enough support to be voted into law. He should have stuck to his promise.


Jess Jackson, the majority owner of Rachel Alexandra, has been an advocate for transparency in many aspects of Thoroughbred racing in the few years he has been active as an owner. But Jackson, in a press release issued on Wednesday night in which he said Rachel Alexandra would not compete in the Apple Blossom on its original date of April 3, admitted that he had been secretly working behind the scenes with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to come up with a series of races between his filly and Zenyatta. Those talks were taking place without consulting with Jerry and Ann Moss, the owners of Zenyatta, trainer John Sherriffs or his wife Dottie Ingordo, the racing manager for the Mosses.


Jackson, according to sources, has been pushing for three races, with purses ranging from $3 million to $5 million for each race. I thought Jackson was keeping Rachel Alexandra in training for the benefit of the sport, not for the good of his bank account. In my opinion, this is not the way to get a deal done that’s in the best interests of the industry.


So here’s the proposal.


Instead of backroom deals, let’s negotiate this racing series in the light of day. More specifically, on racing’s version of CSPAN—either TVG or HRTV. The two racing networks can bid for the right to televise the negotiations. Of course, we’d want the races to be televised on more widely distributed networks.


We’ll need a tough facilitator with some experience in racing, and I’ve got the perfect candidate: Tom Meeker, the former CEO of Churchill Downs. Meeker is a former U.S. Marine lieutenant colonel who did three tours of duty in the Vietnamese conflict. He’s a no-nonsense leader who speaks his mind. Meeker has just returned from Haiti, where he assisted in logistics for a surgical team sent into the earthquake ravaged nation by Thoroughbred owner and breeder Earle Mack, a philanthropist, businessman and former U.S. Ambassador to Finland for President George W. Bush. Come to think of it, if Meeker can’t serve as facilitator, perhaps Mack could. The lives he helped save in Haiti would call him a miracle worker.


Racetracks and associations interested in luring Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta would be required to put together detailed written proposals for a race that include the two champions, along with their plans to promote it. Each proposal would be accompanied by a non-refundable deposit of $50,000.


The money from the rights to televise the negotiations, along with those non-refundable deposits from tracks would all go to a racing charity chosen by the connections of the horse that does best in the head-to-head matchups. (Update: this proposal is not for match races of just two horses,)


The facilitator would lay out all the proposals to Jackson and the Mosses and their respective advisers (limit of three, please). He would then put on a pair of brass knuckles, lock the doors, and not let anyone out of the room until an agreement is reached on where and when they will try to meet—all while the cameras were rolling.


Racing has a rare opportunity to make something very special happen in 2010. Please, let’s not allow this one to slip through our hands.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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  • http://www.gallopfrance.com G. Rarick

    This would be a fine idea if we were negotiating over what to do with pieces of machinery, not horses. Anybody who handles thoroughbreds can tell you that you can plan a program and target a specific race, but those plans can change in an instant with one bad work or a little heat in a joint. That’s not even taking account one owner trying to duck another. You never really know that a horse is getting a run until it breaks out of the gate. A million things can happen to delay that moment. Inventing a schedule of races where these two horses will meet seems like folly.

  • Richard Coreno

    If this was to add dates to the IRL season, most certainly having such a PR blitz would be beneficial. But this is going down a road which can be disastrous….greed and ego killed Ruffian and it will do the same again if a racer is viewed like a hot rod parked in Gasoline Alley.

    That one “super” race may be held should suffice. And – trust – me, the dumpy Beulah Park won’t look any more appealing to the average sports fan after the race is conducted. A pair of champions on the same track will not cure the cancerous tumors that have engulfed this once proud industry.

  • equine

    Great idea Ray. Mr. Jackson has been on the forefront of the transparency issue and the creation and selection would give everyone an opportunity to understand the concerns of the parties.

    On numerous occassions, he has also promoted the idea of keeping great horses like Curlin racing vs. being rushed off to the breeding shed as an example of great sportsmanship. His plan would enable the public to identify these horses and follow them throughout longer careers creating continual and additional interest in horseracing. RA and Z are currently fulfilling that role.

    I like your idea of having the tv income and racetrack consideration fees going to equine charities. As a great sporting gesture, I have an idea that would help not only ex-racehorses, but would greatly enhance the reputation of the horseracing industry. One of the biggest detractors of our industry is the lack of responsibility for racehorses once they leave the racetrack. There are some groups working at several tracks on local retirement programs, but the funding generated cannot possibly provide for all the horses coming off the track each year.

    The match up of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta would be the perfect venue for the announcement of a national TB retirement fund. It would promote the quality and depth of people involved in our industry who feel a responsibility to the horses around which the sport revolves. If great sportsmen and women like Mr. Jackson and the Mosses would considering donating earnings from special events like the Apple Blosssom with the magnitude of the $5MM AB purse, it would be a huge leg up to an all volunteer national retirement program.

    If great, great, people get behind this it can happen. Anyone can have a great horse, but leaving a legacy of changing the face of the industry will live long beyond the memory of one horse.

    With the economy depressed, the welfare of OTTBs is at an all time high. Add to that the hyperawareness of catastrophic injury in the triple crown, and the PETA faction; the timing is perfect.

  • Cgriff

    I don’t believe in a planned series of “head to head” matchups. If tracks want to bring the two greats to one race – increase the purses on some of the best Grade 1s and promise a promotional plan that will really enhance the build up.

    Jackson tried to work a 3 race deal because he wanted the control to manage the events to his best advantage. I see the reasoning -but it’s not sporting. Better to just target some of the premier races and see if Zenyatta shows up in the same race.(and she would, believe me.)

    There is more to the honest competitiveness in showing up to face a rival on any given day than to pre-planning when/where and having the ability to train specifically for that schedule

  • http://www.delawareway.blogspot.com Nancy Willing

    Remember when Barack Obama was campaigning for president and promising to deliver on health care reform, in part by avoiding backroom deals and pledging transparency? He said the negotiations for legislation could be televised on CSPAN. Well, we’re 13 months into Obama’s presidency, and that promise was broken. It was business as usual in the nation’s capital as legislators, lobbyists and the Obama administration went back and forth on health care, winding up with separate bills in the House and Senate that are unlikely to be reconciled with enough support to be voted into law
    *

    yeah, I remember! SHEESH~!

    I agree that at least three meets for this pair would up the ante and the excitement –and lessen the disappointment that is sure to happen when one of these great, great fillies wins and one doesn’t.

    Best of Three sounds good to me.

  • D. Masters

    From an industry and business smarts perspective, the possibilities of RA v. Z throughout the racing year is the test of the humans.

    As to the horses, I’m sure everyone realizes the nature of the game and it’s athletes are subject to hourly change. Let’s hope the connections always err on the side of caution for the welfare and longevity of the horses involved.

    But I get RP’s point…let’s see what the connections, industry leaders and track owners (hell, why not the betting parlors[internet/ADW/etc]) can put together….once in a lifetime chance.

  • T.N. Trosin

    The dichotomy of the racing press will never cease to amaze me.

    Ray spends a month cracking back on the way Michael Gill handles his business, but a race between two great horses, contrived by a group of rich men it’s literally Kattie bar the door to get it done? Look west Ray I’m calling B.S. Horses that shouldn’t race for any reason, shouldn’t race. No difference between bottom claimers or the best two horses in the country.

    Like every racing fan I would like to see these two horses hook up but the decision should be left up to their trainers who to this point, have done a pretty damn good job with their respective charges by the way, and not to good time Charlie Cella, Mattress Mack, Jess Jackson, or the racing press.
    .

  • Joe

    I don’t like the pre-determined series idea, especially with such swelling madness. No Ruffian, NO HARD TRACK . The assurance of a deep enough, safe track should be part of the deal to protect the lives of Z and RA. It shouldn’t be about breaking lighting fast surface and track records, especially because it would favor RA while endangering both, if RA was asked to go 1 mile 1/4 since Z can run all day.

    Pre-determined big deals don’t work well for fragile racehorses. The purse size shouldn’t matter much as long as it is big enough to attract good competition. Purse $ could be secured and added to this or that race whenever and wherever Z and RA are able to meet.

    After being asked by a reporter why he didn’t run more horses in the KY Derby, Bobby Frankel said that (paraphrasing) about $50 Million worth of horses are lost each year while pushing them to run in the Derby. The welfare of horses should never be dwarfed by ego and greed. At least here we are dealing with a very cool and compassionate Team Zenyatta. Steve Assmussen is a good trainer and I believe JJ has Rachel’s best interest at heart, despite the punishing whippings she received last year.

    I hope that most if not all potential charity funds raised by Z & RA will go to retirement farms and rescues to allow them to save a higher % of the dumped racing and breeding horses and offer them the compassion and protection they deserve.

  • D. Masters

    Since the proposition is to put these great mares into existing stakes races with the plus up of purse money (OK, might have a point there) seems to generate interest in existing races with the hope that the expanded purse will attract full fields.

    The decision is ALWAYS up to the trainers (with a ton of pressure from owners, as it always has been). Some trainers have the likes of the Moss’s and some trainers have the likes of Jackson…how that shakes out is up to the trainer. And we all know the history of owners axing trainers.

  • D. Masters

    Joe:

    Not all match races have ended in tragedy. I don’t think anyone here (or the connections for that matter) is pushing match race. I, for one would like to see full fields because it speaks more to the tactical nature of the ride. Time will tell.

  • Joe

    D. that’s right!

    A tad of subject but… That’s why horse racing needs serious reforms to protect horses and protect owners from themselves. Beside regulating and lowered the use of drugs or banning them altogether leading to a race and on race day so only healthy and fit horses are able to race, plus total transparency with equine health and treatments, I believe that official vets at all tracks should mandate rest and retirement as needed to protect horses and trainers from being fired. This would mean less catastrophic injuries and bigger fields full of “live” horses, less injured jockeys and less horses to rescue or euthanized.

  • Joe

    D.: I was not thinking about a match race but how hard the track was at Belmont Park that day and how hard the track tends to be for the KY Derby, etc. It seems to me that the more excited a track is about a race the harder the surface becomes.

  • dray33

    “Instead of backroom deals, let’s negotiate this racing series in the light of day.”
    Branching out into humor, Ray?

  • D. Masters

    Joe: I’ve never been to Belmont, but from a close friend that ran regularly there….it’s a GREAT TRACK. Well, I guess that’s in the eye of the owner, trainer, jock, horse, yahduhyaduh.

    Show me a trainer that has ability and staff to read by feel and eye the legs and movement, the surface doesn’t matter to a point (some are just better on turf v. dirt. v. syn, etc). If they know their horse, can read a walk, canter, gallo, condition effectively…feel the legs with intelligent staff to support them, the horse will not be jeopardized.

    And if I remember correctly, rivalries were common place in the distant past because horses ran in more races, across multiple venues and with age at unheard of weights.

  • Ray Paulick

    Thanks for the feedback so far. I do want to clarify one point, that I am not calling for a “match race” between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. The reference to head-to-head matchups was purely a scorekeeping suggestion for how to determine the ultimate winner if they race against each other multiple times (i.e., one of our last great racing rivalries between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer was three wins for Sunday Silence vs. one for Easy Goer in head-to-head matchups).

    Also, I do know these athletes are not machines, and anything can happen at any moment.(Going back to Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, they were going to have a glorious series of races against each other as 4-year-olds but but both were injured by mid-season).

    Why not at least set the wheels in motion to try and plan for something under a best-case scenario? Maybe it’s the optimist in me.

  • D. Masters

    I’d love to see some kind of bonus for both camps that get their horses to the BC; fit, ready and more than ready to rumble as long as they meet or at least try to meet (injuries, health, weather, locations, distance, etc.) all things being considered.

    Since the humans hold the reins, a reward should be offered by the industry (OK, NTRA/BC…NOW YOU CAN STEP UP!) that if these great athletes with other competitors show up on BC day, you qualify for a bonus.

    The BC being the somewhat final qualifier of which horse is the best.

  • Joe

    Post #8: my reference to Ruffian was only with regard to how hard (as I recall) the track was that day and NOT about a match race! Churchill Downs tends to be hard and fast for the KY Derby, as it was in 2008. Enough broken bones. I would be very comforted to know that a reasonable cushion would be guaranteed whenever and wherever Z and RA meet. I trust that the Zenyatta team will make sure that’s the case.

  • D. Masters

    I believe both connections and those with the guts to run against both will do what’s right for their horses. Without that, the sport is doomed.

  • Joe

    Ray, based on what happens to the average race horse, it is a miracle that Z and RA stayed sound throughout last year, won so many races, are still healthy and back in action this year. IMO, we should take it one race at a time, celebrate the moment and don’t ask for more. Meanwhile, the few suitable tracks could be prepared to accommodate the two champs if and when they meet again.

  • kyle ferraro

    Ray, I couldn’t agree with you more

  • jr

    Let me see. First he won’t run on Poly, then a three race series then we move the date back, let me see, a quarter crack next. Lots of feces in that camp right now.

  • Don Reed

    Agreed. Now, a favor being asked: Can we for once and for all times, retire the word “dysfunctional”?

    It has been used to death.

  • Susan

    Ray,
    Excellent ideas, all around. I too, have been comparing the current White House circus with the Jess Jackson circus, but thought better of “going there”. Lots of similarities with those two.
    Anyway, there should definitely be some sort of “charitable” angle to all this.It can’t hurt, it can only help. Can we actually do anything about it? I know nothing is written in stone with horses, and anything can happen between now and the Apple Blossom, but if horseracing can use all this positive energy in a charitable way, how great would that be???!!!!!

  • EUGENE LEVEY

    What would SUNNY JIM, HIRCH JACOBS, PRESTON BURCH, CITATION MAC & etc say if they read these comments???

  • ITP

    How about 10% takeout on all bets in these RA vs Z races………Oh, I forgot…..nobody involved in racing thinks about the customer unless they are forced to.

  • sunny farm

    Thanks for bringing to attention, again, Mr.Tom Meeker. The actions he took on behalf of Haiti (sp?) were amazing !
    #24 , Your statement about what would all the great trainers of the past say to all of these comments”……..I think they would be preparing their horses for the five million dollar race in Oaklawn (AR) and being good horsemen , they would have the horses fit & ready ,and accept the challenge. They would keep their word on all agreements from the beginning.
    They were also sportsmen but were also clevor in how they went about planning their races.
    I think they would also show dismay at the negative comments all the way around, not just in todays blog , and back then both people and horses were a lot tougher, complained less and just went about getting things done.
    When & how to race the horses should be up to the owners & trainers & of course , the horse it’self.
    Back in the ‘old days” , racing was about money as well as glory, as well as it was about beating the other top horses…so not much has really changed except the interpherence of the many animal rights groups who seem to love to control everything…..whats wrong with trusting the owners to do what is best for their coursers….and to decide what charity they may want to donate to. So many times I read of the newst controls others try to emplace, as though the horse owner has NO common sense nor love for his horse, and so must be made to comply. Horse people on the whole are fiercly independent and I have seen quite a few quit the business due to the reasons I have just stated. Believe it or not, MOST horse people DO love their horses and DO try to do what is best………so should there be a three race series ? Why not, but whats wrong with the races that are already available….and then there is the World Championships at the Breeders Cup…This big race in AR. is a good place to run both ZENYATTA & RACHAEL ALEXANDRA, they have both raced there before & their attendence will boost the sport throughout the USA in a positive note.
    A final thought : Both distaffers are absolutely magnificent…but who else is gallopping, and may snatch the crown ? To me it is this fact that also adds ”extreme excitement”.
    Thank-you, keeping abreast of all developements is a good thing…to pack ? To un-pack ?……….I do hope the AR. race is going to go forward…..we fans really are looking forward to this big event !..five million is a LOT of carrots !!!!!

  • Rachel

    Not a bad idea at all.
    I do think the purses should be high, otherwise it will be a two horse race…besides, I think both parties risking these fillies to possible injury, health problems, should be rewarded.

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