ICE ICE BABY

If April showers bring mayflowers..what does an April deep freeze bring?
Ice, snow and sub-zero temps! Yikes.
Do or die for my Maple Leafs tonight, a little afraid to watch.


(new) GLOBE WRITER TAKES ON STANDARDBRED CANADA, RACING INDUSTRY

The following letter/story appears in THE HARNESS EDGE. Only three things I will comment on at this time regarding Bev's letter being someone who attempts to cover racing in Toronto for various publications:
1 - She is right that it's not the media's job to promote the sport
2- But many writing folks around here have been known to take it to another extreme just to make it look like they ARE NOT promoting the sport
3- The letter rambles but Aminorex is not the giant to-do that is has been made out to be. Sure, there are cheaters but test results may ultimately prove that many of these tests were flawed. Jumping to conclusions wears thin.

Here's the letter:

April 4 2007,

Mainstream Media Is Not Responsible For Promoting Racing


I'm all too aware of the comments made recently about major media
outlets rushing to give negative coverage to harness racing, but
ignoring the positive. Frankly, that argument is wearing a little thin
with me.

I'm one of the guilty ones writing about the aminorex positive tests,
and I write about it because it's news and that's my job. My job is not
to promote the sport. That's the job of people you hire to promote your
sport. We are independent observers.

And it seems that people want to read about the aminorex issue, because
my aminorex stories were among the top 10 in receiving hits on our
website for a couple of days. That says a lot for a news outlet like
The
Globe and Mail, which focuses on international, national and business
news. There's no denying it, the aminorex issue is a major one. And
remember, the media didn't cause the aminorex problem.

I've covered racing for 28 years and I've probably written more
positive stories than negative ones. I won a Sovereign Award a year ago
with a positive story. But you can't take positive without the chance
of
negative coverage, if you want people to pay attention to you. The
answer is in how you respond to negative coverage. Take some hints from
the way Ben Wallace and Brian Webster handled their positive aminorex
test.

And so how easy or hard is it to get positive coverage? It's up to the
sport. I've done more than my part. I fought for three months to get a
story on Mark MacDonald in the paper during his first record run. It
was
a story that kept falling through the cracks and actually disappearing
out of our computer system. I was able to find an original draft,
rewrite it and get it back into the system. I did this three times
before it finally ran, and I had to push and scrub all the way. We have
a sports section with limited space, and in the eyes of our editors,
harness racing was at the bottom of the hierarchy of sports. It would
be far better for me if I wrote sports that were at the top of the
hierarchy.

I had the same problem with a feature I wrote on Blair Burgess last
year. A piece I wrote on Doonbeg ran quickly, but was cut severely and
so was much of the colour from the story. Ditto on the Burgess story.

So why am I working so hard? Why am I not writing about Paul MacDonell
winning five races in a night, too? People like MacDonald and MacDonell
and Burgess and James Dean and John Campbell and a host of others in
the
sport deserve every good word written about them. But these stories
aren't appearing because nobody tells the mainstream media about them.
For some reason, everybody expects this stuff to appear magically,
without effort.

There is the odd exception of course. I got an email from Ellen Harvey
a couple of months ago, offering me first dibbs on a story idea.
Harness
Racing Communications is doing a great job. But who is doing it in
Canada? I get very few emails from Canadian sources, with the exception
of Woodbine thoroughbreds. Standardbred Canada used to have a media
liaison person, but I - like other daily writers - almost never heard
from this person.

Speaking of Standardbred Canada, I'm often puzzled about its attitude
toward the media. At one induction ceremony for the Canadian Horse
Racing Hall of Fame, I was invited to sit at a non-media table by Bob
Hall, the former ORC lawyer and OHRIA official. But I was taken aback
to
find the dinner's organizer come up to the table and tell me not to sit
there, because we were told there was a defined seating arrangement at
the table. I was told to go to the media table. It was embarrassing to
us both. I took one look at this media table. It was crowded and full
of
media I've never seen in my life, and I'm not sure there was a free
spot. Yet here was a whole room of industry people that I knew and
would
have loved to talk to. I ended up sitting with Lou Cauz. Throughout the
dinner, my chair at the Bob Hall table remained vacant. I hadn't
inconvenienced anybody. I had been invited to sit there. That little
power play was totally unnecessary and very unproductive.

Turn that ahead to the O'Brien Awards of more than a year ago. This
time I ended up at a table at the very rear of the room, almost out the
door into the hall. At least I got a table. For the Canadian Horse
Racing Hall of Fame inductions last summer, I was issued an invitation
and I dutifully gave my RSVP, saying I was coming. I go every year. I
have been going for many years. The only year I missed was in 2004,
when
I hadn't returned yet from the Athens Olympics. But when I got to the
ceremony, there was NO seat reserved for me at all. I ended up sitting
with the RCMP officers in the back corner of the room, near the back
door again.

Yet I was probably the only daily newspaper reporter who showed up. And
I always write a Hall of Fame story. Last summer, my Hall of Fame story
about Doug Brown took me to Kawartha Downs, a track I don't usually
see.
I drove miles for that story. And Kawartha treated me royally. Not so
sure about Standardbred Canada. Next year, I wouldn't be at all
surprised if Standardbred Canada will bar the door to me. You'd think
Standardbred Canada would want to encourage media. But they seem to
favour weather reporters over sport reporters - the people who might
actually cover the sport.

Volume doesn't always work either. At one time, I used to get reams of
copy from Ontario Sires Stake publicity, but the volume was so
staggering that I couldn't possibly read all of it, and after a while I
gave up trying. And none of it contained information that piqued my
interest. It all sounded the same: Horse owned by so-and-so goes in
Woodstock OSS and has earned x number of dollars and has x number of
wins. Not that I can imagine having the space to cover a Woodstock race
in a newspaper with national scope. But if the idea was very novel, and
suited to a national newspaper, perhaps I would have. You have to be
smart about how you sell stories.

It doesn't work to tell somebody from the daily newspaper media the
next day or the next week about Paul MacDonell winning five races. You
have to get the information out immediately, or it's old news. And you
have an added problem: your events run primarily at night. Half of my
deadlines are gone before the feature Breeders' Crown race goes to
post.

I also remember one year that I covered the Confederation Cup at
Flamboro Downs. A little media crowd tried to talk to Buddy Gilmour
after he won with On The Road Again, but Charlie Juravinski waved us
off
impatiently while his track photographer took a great number of
winner's
circle photos. He told us to meet the drivers in the hospitality lounge
afterwards instead. Can you imagine how we felt? We certainly learned
where we stood. I was on a tight deadline and I wasn't there to
schmooze
in a hospitality lounge. For one, because it was an afternoon race, I
had a chance of making all editions, and this helped me sell the trip
to
the editor.

The result? The story came in so late, that only a six or seven-inch
story ran the next day. It also doesn't help the quality of the story
when you are left with only 20 minutes to write it. I don't think I
covered too many Confederation Cups after that. You have to decide what
you want: pretty photos hanging on a wall or media coverage from major
dailies. Do you want to growl at media people? Or welcome them in the
door?

I can't be at the racetrack every night seeing these things like I used
to. Those days disappeared 20 years ago. Newspapers can't afford to
staff a sport like harness racing full time. Currently, horse racing is
no longer even my beat any more, although I can continue to write about
it, if I feel like adding it to the growing list of my other duties.
I'm
a person who actually likes the sport, but I've been frustrated by
sectors of the industry who only alienate me. How are you going to
attract media who aren't interested at all?

Every day, the harness industry falls a step behind in getting positive
coverage by doing nothing. There is far too much grumbling and not
enough action in this sport. And nobody ever asks what you need. If you
want positive coverage of the sport - or any coverage at all -start
welcoming media instead of alienating them.

Beverley Smith, Toronto, Ontario


FRIDAY RACING, KEENELAND OPENS

It may be winter all over again here in Toronto but Keeneland opens tomorrow, the first race is for 2yo’s so let’s just get our work done and curl up on the couch and watch racing.
Oh yes, Woodbine has its third card, a small one and who knows what the track will be like with the temperatures plummeting.
Good spring trainers like Jody Hammet, Mark Casse, Abraham Katryan, Reade Baker, Ian Black, Laurie Silvera, Scott Fairlie and Robert Tiller all have horses in the entries who look very strong.

Keeneland’s first 2yo race features some youngsters with very fast workout times (remember, the Keeneland surface has been yielding quick times). One that worked fast at Turfway on Polytrack was G Areyoukidding (Matty G), who sped 5 furlongs in :59 4/5 from the gate. Trainer is 0 for 14 with debut winners from starters though.
Berry’s Pride is from the first crop of Blue Grass Stakes winner MILLENNIUM WIND and WHYWHYWHY (a graded stakes winner at 2 by Mr. Greeley) has his first crop out and his son Nownownow is in the field.

Keeneland’s racing is so unique and interesting that the DAILY DOUBLE is made up of a 2yo race at 4 ½ furlongs and a 1 ¼ mile starter allowance.

Race 5 – Queen’s Plate eligible INCLUDE US takes on some very expensive maidens like TIME SQUARED, by Fusaichi Pegasus, (I touted him as a potential superstar earlier this year), at $1.05 million and SAMHOON (A.P. Indy, and a $1.4 million baby, beaten 64 lengths in 2 starts) plus AMELIAISLANDMISSILE (Golden Missile), a Florida-bred half brother to Prince of Wales winner MALAKOFF who cost just $5,000 as a yearling.
Include Us, a $125,000 yearling owned by Bill Werner and Mickey and Phyllis Canino, was 3rd in his 2nd start as a juvenile at Woodbine last year to the promising Giant Gizmo.
He is a Manitoba-bred and Edgar Prado will ride.

Plate hopeful COBRADOR, who seemingly has been sold privately to Graph Racing since his last start, is the 3rd choice for the Plate on the winterbook odds but he switches back to grass for the featured Transylvania Stakes. The Cobra is by El Prado.

DERBY DISCUSSIONS

Racing forums and blogs are filled with KENTUCKY DERBY discussions and, as one THOROOUGHBLOG reader cites, everyone is an expert
That’s what makes it fun - having bragging rights when the race is over is the best feeling in the world (one I have not had in a while – I still say MENIFEE should have won!).
Anyway, CIRCULAR QUAY is going right into the Derby off an 8-week layoff - how intriguing. Who wants to see all these horses race over and over again and then show up for the Derby, let’s have some mystery.
Word is that HARD SPUN may also go right into the Derby and pass on the Blue Grass.
Meanwhile, I like Circular Quay a lot but I can’t imagine STREET SENSE not winning the Derby. But that is just my opinion.
This weekend’s Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby should only add to the discussions.

WOODBINE’S POLYTRACK UPDATE

Details on the work on Woodbine’s POLYTRACK came out in the Daily Racing Form this week and while the addition of more wax and the new ingredient jelly cable was already addressed in this corner, the projected dates of this work are available.
It has been a disappointing turn of events since last fall when the weather got cold for Polytrack but, as seen on Sunday, when the track is right, the surface is nice (okay, so the speed bias wasn’t all that nice). It’s laughable to read stories about Keeneland’s Polytrack and how great it is (wait a minute, the horse’s are setting land-speed records in workouts there right now). Remember, Keeneland already has jelly cable in its Polytrack.
Read more:
http://www.drf.com/news/article/83692.html


PAPERS JUMP ALL OVER DRUG ISSUE

Toronto newspapers have been following the drug issue (re: Aminorex) at Woodbine, centred on the standardbred industry currently, but now the entire situation is getting cloudy, like a post-race test.
Horsepeople on the Woodbine backstretch received a release from the CPMA yesterday regarding the possible presence of a substance in a wormer medication that could lead to an Aminorex positive. As reported here before, the situation is a unique one and should be treated as such.
It’s good that the public is being made aware that Woodbine is dedicated to cleaning up the horse sports but let’s hope we all don’t get carried away just to have a story in the paper everyday. Yesterday, Jamie Martin had to do some clarifying…

Read more
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/iss0407/martinclarifieswegposition0404.html

In other newspaper news, The Globe has been sending Larry Millson to the Derby prep races to report on the contenders leading up to the first Saturday in May.

TRAKUS INFO OFFERED AT EQUIBASE

The “Chicklets” are here and Equibase is offering packages of the Trakus information for Keeneland including a Virtual Race and the chart of running positions and actual distances negotiated by horses in each race.
The information that Trakus can provide, as far as lost ground, is valuable to any trip handicapper and Woodbine, the first track to actually have the moving squares on its television broadcast, began displaying the information about how far each horse ran as far as lost ground, saved ground. Problem is, they show that page after the replay for a minute and now I can’t seem to find it anywhere else.

And later…SATURDAY RACING including a fast 2yo filly who could offer some value at Keeneland, Woodbine card and the Derby preps.