ascot aug08
This is a single article. Click HERE to go to the main page.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

MEDIA CIRCUS


How cool is it that RAGS TO RICHES is going to be entered in the 1 ½ mile Belmont. Okay, I know what some of you may be thinking – the RUFFIAN book is out, the movie is going to be on TV Saturday night…we’re all a bit squeamish about the grisl versus the boys thing but Todd Pletcher et al are not going to do something like this without knowing they have a tough, strong filly.

Time Squared’s trainer Patrick Biancone pulled that colt from the field once the filly entered the mix.

Interesting that Garret Gomez doesn’t get to ride her now…he committed to Hard Spun and those folks won’t let him out.

Woodbine fans get to see Gomez and Rags’ rider Johnny Velazquez at Woodbine on Sunday for the Woodbine Oaks.

The last filly to win the Belmont? 1905 – Tanya. Wow.

Readers who have made the effort to send comments to THOROUGHBLOG on yesterday’s two stories I posted – one from Randy Moss, one from Stan Bergstein, had some interesting and very solid opinions. Some were quite humourous.

Yes, racing’s stars have a short shelf-life, most anyways, but the fact that a BARBARO special, RUFFIAN SPECIAL (on National TV) and features on CBS News on Old Friends Retirement group – these are all examples that racing is still in the picture. It’s up to us to keep it there.

Flogging racing personalities is not really going to do it – some of the readers here are right – getting the folks to the races to bet on them has to be the goal. Teach them the nuances of handicapping (and no, reading the DRF is not that difficult) and go from there.

Racing really is not all that different from other sports although the people get away with a lot compared to other sports. Hockey players, etc. get trashed in the media on a regular basis if they play poorly. Write about a bad ride in racing (especially at Woodbine) and these folks will never talk to you again. Racing personalities have it made and some of them are the ones with their heads in the sand.

As for the PERSON who wrote about the Clowns in the press box – I would assume that that person has refrained from coming up to the press box if that is the opinion…yes?

QUEEN’S PLATE BATTLE ROYAL CONTINUES TONIGHT

The Score show has results, next set of match-ups

From producer Rob Platts:

ROUND 1 OF THE QUEEN'S PLATE BATTLE ROYAL IS COMPLETE AND 5 NEW

MATCHUPS ARE SET FOR THE SEMI-FINALS.
TUNE IN WEDNESDAY NIGHT TO RACE NIGHT ON THE SCORE FOR THE SEMI-FINAL MATCHUPS AND LEARN JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT EACH OF OUR COMPETITORS’ PLATE WINS.
MATCHUPS WILL APPEAR ON WWW.QUEENSPLATE.COM FIRST THING WEDNESDAY MORNING.
Here are the randomly drawn semi-final matchups.
Voting will begin Wed. morning and continue until next Tuesday.
On next Wednesday's Score show the 5 finalists will be announced.
1989 (WITH APPROVAL) VS. 1993 (PETESKI)
1991 (DANCE SMARTLY) VS. 1990 (IZVESTIA)
1988 (REGAL INTENTION) VS. 1997 (AWESOME AGAIN)
2004 (NIIGON) VS. 1987 (MARKET CONTROL)
2002 (TJ'S LUCKY MOON) VS. 2003 (WANDO)
Jen’s votes – WITH APPROVAL, he won every race almost by as little as he had too and the Plate led to his Triple Crown sweep.
IZVESTIA – one of the biggest margins in Plate history
AWESOME AGAIN – Was unnamed at the time of the Winterbook odds’ release in March of that year
MARKET CONTROL – Another Kinghaven colt – not a great horse but came from far back after prepping in the Piston Stakes at Detroit
WANDO – the hero!

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS…
1990 (IZVESTIA) - 71%
1998 ARCHERS BAY -  29%
 
1993 (PETESKI) - 65%
2006 (EDENWOLD) - 35%
 
1987 (MARKET CONTROL) - 54%
2005 (WILD DESERT) - 46%
 
1996 (VICTOR COOLEY) - 18%
2003 (WANDO) - 82%

1997 (AWESOME AGAIN) - 56%
2001 (DANCETHRUTHEDAWN) - 44%


SAM-SON FARMS BREEDER OF WEEK on TT News

Sam-Son Farms’, whose homebred STRIKE SOFTLY won the Grade 3 Nassau Stakes on the weekend for her 2nd stakes win of the season, was named Breeder of the Week on the Daily News Thoroughbred Times.

The farm bred Smart Strike, the sire of Strike Softly, and the dam, Wilderness Hush, a daughter of Wild Again.

The farms’ QUIET JUNGLE (Forest Wildcat) has a big chance to win the Labatt Woodbine Oaks on Sunday. The farm has won the Oaks 7 times from 52 runnings.

WILD DESERT WORKS

Two years after making his way to Canada to win the Queen’s Plate, WILD DESERT (Wild Rush) has popped up again on the worktab. The Windways Farm-bred was at Churchill yesterday for 4 furlong move in 51 3/5. He has not won since the Plate but was recording some huge Beyer Figures late last year.

Top Canadian-bred (according to the THOROUGHBLOG list!), JAMBALAYA, worked yesterday on Woodbine Polytrack,his first prep since his 2nd graded stakes win on the grass at Gulfstream. The gelding went in 1:02 4/5 and he is heading for the King Edward Gold Cup.

posted by Jen Morrison @ 7:52 AM  

6 Comments:

  • At 8:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Did Jono Jones work Jambalaya???

     

  • At 8:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    A couple of comments from yesterday's thread just to keep the discussion going....
    Not so sure handle is up from last year at Woodbine...from what I've been hearing - numbers everywhere are down (across North America).
    One comment was made to horse racing not being on a network like CBC for more people to see it....from what I understand - the folks at Woodbine have been trying for years to get their big races back on the big networks but none of the networks seem interested. Is that Woodbine's or racing's fault? I say no....I say it's the big t.v. types out there not recognizing this sport and the stories it has to tell as something that would be attractive to viewers. (Last year TSN was smart enough to get the Plate on their network and it had over 350,00 viewers across Canada - finishing in the top 10 sports viewed that weekend).
    I think TSN has the Plate on again this year - so good for them!
    If CBC wasn't so focussed on things like amateur swimming and marathons - maybe there'd be room for racing on their dial!

     

  • At 10:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    As a longtime horse racing fan I am having problems understanding steward's decisions concerning inquiries and objections at Woodbine. Two recent decisions concerning Rainford/Fairlie winners which were allowed to stand, in my opinion were rediculous, does someone have to be seriously injured before something is done?

     

  • At 11:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    the biggest problem I see is, sure the Queens plate can draw a half decent rating but...

    How many of those 350,000 (a number i have a hard time believing) even watched the other 2 legs of the Triple Crown, let alone another Horse Race the rest of the year?

    Going by the less than stellar ratings on the Score and SUNTV, i would say very few if any.

    The industry needs to find a way to get all these people interested in the game the 364 days a year.

     

  • At 12:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    One thing that hasn't been touched on yet is the importance of ' big days' in drawing in fans. Media loves covering ' big' events. The coverage from the events while fleeting can create exposure that continually rewards the tracks.

    International Day could easily be the definitive day of racing on the Canadian racing calender. It has all the necessary ingredients: big purses ( Check) , large and competitive fields (Check) International prestige ( Check). Its a great idea, however in practice, it isn't a fan friendly event. First off its held in late October in Toronto. Most years its cold and wet. Mainstream Toronto sports fans want to go to the track in the summer, not late October. Secondly, its a week before the Breeders Cup. This has two negative consequences. Obviously the fields suffer because a lot of the top class horses will choose the Breeders Cup. Also it affects the number of fans that do show up. Locals stay home on account of nasty weather. Many American fans, especially those on the eastern seaboard would love to come to Woodbine for a championship day however, when given the choice of traveling to Woodbine or the Breeders Cup a week later, 9 out of 10 will choose the Breeders Cup. Two trips in back to back weeks just isn't feasible for many fans. So my suggestion would be, move the Canadian International back to the weekend of the Atto Mile. So on say September 16th, you'd have The Canadian International, The Atto Mile, The EP Taylor, The Neartic and the Summer Stakes. 5 Championship races in one late summer afternoon. You'd still get international fields and you'd get fans coming from all over to take in woodbine on what is usually a lovely late summer. Woodbine would be the toast of the racing world for one afternoon and could probably parlay that exposure into numerous new fans that stick around long after the big horses have left. I am sure you could even get the CBC to air such an event.

    I understand WEG likes to think that International Day can stand alone without having to be a Breeders Cup Prep but I just think moving the date back could only help....

     

  • At 1:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Jen,

    I don't quite understand why North Americans are so "squeamish" about running fillies against colts. The Euroopeans do it all the time and don't think twice about it.

    Ruffian happened 30 odd years ago and I DO remember the day and how upsetting it was. However that, as you well know, could have happened to her in any race, it just so happened to be in a match race, against a colt, on national TV. Because she was racing against a colt it helped create this bias against running fillies vs colts as well I might add against match races.

    Go For Wand broke down if front of millions as did Pine Island last year in the Breeders Cup while running against their OWN sex.

    Altlhough it is always horrific when a horse breaks down the fact that Ruffian did it while racing against a colt has skewed people's view of fillies vs colts.

    Rags to Riches is hardly breaking new ground and while it has been done before it hasn't been done often. Genuine Risk, Winning Colors and Silverbulletday all tried and failed but they at least tried and all emerged intact.

    So lets just try to enjoy the moment and the challenge she faces without rearing the ugly past unnecessarily.

    Tom M

     

Post a Comment