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well said.
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Your post suc ks.
nahhhh. The part about the best horse winning and the fact that this really is satisfying does indeed strike the right tone. Poor Eight Belles totally took me by surprise though. Cant seem to factor that one out. From the horse running suprisingly well (for me), to the accident. To the press this morning again attacking racing. Quandry persists. |
Thanks Andy...you done good!
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Well, your excellent post motivated me, Andy. Salon had an article in the sports section on the race and I took the time to post a long letter trying to address the misconceptions about racing posted by other letter writers. I didn't say it as well as you did, but I did my best. Thanks.
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Andy -- Exceptional! Thank you very much for the comments and thoughts.
Eric |
thanks Andy
I want to thank my good friend Andrew for stating so passionately the events of the derby weekend. Horse racing is a beautiful but at times a brutal sport, what took place saturday was a freak event I was about 30 yards behind 8 belles when she fell and I have never in my 30 plus years in horse racing seen anything like it . I wouldnt be surprised after the autopsy that it was found she had a heart attack and fractured her legs as a result.I love horses and I love racing it is a shame that a beautiful horse lost her life doing something she was bred born and raise to do.Its a bigger shame that people that have no understanding of our horses will use 8 belles death for they're own agenda.I hope I have stated my feelings clearly without offending anyone. Richard Migliore.
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:eek: Thanks for your prospective.. and I agree. |
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I figured what the word meant, but I looked it up anyway. :D BTW, nice post, BTW. |
Fine, true-to-the-heart piece of writing, BTW. Thanks for taking the time. I'll echo the thought of Phil and others that it belongs on the Times' OpEd page, too.
--Dunbar And thanks to Richard Migliore for stopping in and adding some more longterm perspective about how freakish this particular tragedy was. |
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good post, and a good thread since no one has taken it off course. but i don't know that frustration is a strong enough word to describe what i felt at the end of the race, and still feel now. this sport has a lot of potential, and a lot of people involved in it who are dragging it down, while just enough others are trying to keep it upright. so, we barely stay afloat while paddling in circles.
ratings were ok on tv, huge crowd attended (don't think it can ever be larger than the record, since infield audience has been capped), no reason why handle had to drop. but we know why it did. |
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Nice piece Andy...very well said.
It is a shame the affect the media has on the general public, that happen to be non-racing fans. We keep ESPN on at work throughout the day, and the couple times on Sportscenter, when they showed J. Edwards reporting piece on Eight Belles, the senseless drivel that people were spewing during and after her piece was mindboggling to me. To overhear some of these people, who are basically just accepting as fact, everything that the likes of PETA and other non-horse related media spoon feed them, was infuriating. Fortunately for them, and for me as well, that I was in my work environment, so biting my tounge was clearly the proper decision. It took a great deal of restraint to just look at them, shake my head and walk away. Our sport has its shares of tragedies, every day, but it's still the greatest thing going. |
yeah, but fans of the game understand it, and still get upset by it-i did for sure. so how else would someone who really knows nothing about the sport react?
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I wanted to put my foot in their ass sideways... |
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I think he's been 'lurking' for a while... |
the general TV media really picked up on the peta charges. that was the juicy story that the news outlets all chose to run with "Peta wants jockey suspended!". one thing about Peta, they know how to whip up a frenzy and garner attention. how many thousands of people do you suppose heard that and just assumed that the jockey did something wrong?
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Deb, Im referring more to the moronic statements made by these people declaring the sport useless, moronic and brutal. Like Mig said, and all of us understand that here, there is unfortunately a brutal side to this beautiful game that we all love. It's the people that have no idea what horse racing entails and just accept at face value what is spewed forth from TV, radio and other mass media outlets. I realize the difficulty involved in trying to convince these same people to see the same things we see, and for the most part, that will never be accomplished. Too many negative "stigmas" associated with the sport of horse racing for Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public to fully appreciate the same things you, I, and everyone else around here do. |
Andy,
Great post that really got me thinking. I don't know exactly what word I would use to describe my feelings for this weekend's events. I think it is fair to say that, going into this year's race, there was a palpable sense of indifference about the Derby among racing fans. I read many such posts on this board. Perhaps it was the mediocrity of the field; perhaps it was the questions surrounding the favorite and his connections. I guess the problem is that, on a day that should be a celebration for the sport, it's that several of the problems that have haunted racing for the past few years came to the fore in the triumph of Big Brown and the tragedy of Eight Belles. For example, we have a winning trainer who, if the people running racing were serious about cleaning it up, wouldn't have a trainer's license let alone be training a marvelously-talented horse possibly on the verge of racing immortality. (Having Richard Dutrow train a Triple Crown winner would be racing's equivalent of Barry Bonds holding the home run record.) In IEAH Stable, we have an example of yet another group of well-heeled owners who appear to have cast a blind eye towards their trainer's past misdeeds and, given their prior affiliation with Greg Martin, were probably drawn to Mr. Dutrow because of that reputation. On yet another major race day, we have racing conducted on an artificially-created "fast" track that could only be described as a paved freeway (whether that contributed to Eight Belles' demise can't be stated for certain, but it probably didn't help). And for the past 72 hours, we have heard one commentator after another bemoan both the manner in which thoroughbreds are bred in this country and the permissive medication rules that apply to racing on a daily basis. These have been familiar refrains for years yet all that is generated seems to be talk and more talk; little meaningful action occurs. I understand that, for now, there is a need to "circle the wagons" to denounce the misguided and ill-informed attacks from groups like PETA. But what happens after this "storm" passes? Perhaps Saturday's events will prove to be a wake-up call for the industry. In recent times, incidents such as Barbaro's death and the Breeders' Cup pic-6 scandal were also supposed to result in significant industry changes. However, if that history is any guide, industry leaders will hope that this "storm" too will pass and then go back to their comfortable ways. After all, if you were making a lot of money the way things are now, why would you want to meaningfully change anything? As a lifelong fan of this great sport and a participant for the past five years as an owner and breeder, I am always hopeful that the good people in the sport - and I believe that they far outnumber the bad - will reclaim the high ground that constantly seems to be slipping away. Given the high takeout that we face as bettors and the tough financial odds that we face as owners (running for $1.2 billion in purses while spending over $2 billion in care for the horses), there is a certain level of irrational optimism that anyone associated with the game must possess. (Racing certainly isn't a place for those with a "glass half empty" perspective on life.) I simply hope that, at this critical juncture, we get more than "just words" from those leading our sport. |
Points taken about the public... However... They might understand it more if we were led by industry officials presenting a unified voice in response to the inane critiques, and were on the proactive offensive here. As usual, they aren't.
A few numbers from the 1996/2005 economic impact studies of the American Horse Council: $112 Billion -- Racing's overall contribution to the GDP $25 Billion -- Racing's Direct Value of Goods & Services $1.9 Billion -- Taxes/Fees generated for Federal, State & Local Govt's. 1.4 Million -- Employed full time by Racing and Racing-related industries And we have to listen on TV and radio as ignorant buffoons are allowed to relate Thoroughbred Racing to dog and cock fighting? |
Steve, you're absolutely right about the lack of an industry voice.
The industry is marginalized because it is broken up into numerous fiefdoms making it impossible to represent itself to the public in a cohesive manner. |
Steve, those numbers represent the whole equine industry.
"The study reveals: · An industry that is both large and economically diverse, as well as a key contributor to the overall fabric of the U.S. economy; · Horse owners and industry suppliers, racetracks, and off-track betting operations, horse shows and other industry segments all generate discrete economic activity contributing to the vibrancy of the overall industry; · Of the total economic impacts reported, approximately $32.0 billion is generated from the recreational segment; $28.8 billion from the showing segment and $26.1 billion is generated from the racing segment." http://www.horsecouncil.org/2005%20J...%20Release.htm |
Just curious, how does NTRA get paid? They seem useless in taking care of the problems in horse racing or its defense of it.
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I think the American Horse Council is basically a paid organization hired by "the industry" hence take whatever they have to say with a BIG grain of salt and reduce all the fig's 20%.. |
Thanks. I appreciate the kind words but I think my greatest contribution was lost......
....I have paved the way for proof that at least one jockey can both read and write ( and type too! ). |
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Now THAT'S funny!!! |
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LOL!!!! That was a great piece Andy, very concise and heartfelt, Equidaily should post it on their site for all to read. I also saw Jill Byrne on Bill O'Reilly's show addressing charges of Horse Racing cruelty and she was very good as well, this thing will blow over again. |
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Horse racing will survive this like everything. Groups like PETA use these tragedies to raise money.
Horse racing does have a huge drug problem though. There is no denying it and the industry refuses to deal with it. Baseball had a similar problem and made some efforts. Until horse racing has universal rules about drug testing and until horse racing has random drug tests that test for EVERYTHING and are administered by a group like the federal government, it will be plagued with a reputation as a dirty sport. In baseball the two biggest stars Clemens and Bonds are tainted. In horse racing the sport's two biggest stars are with two trainers that have been caught cheating multiple times. The horses are probably 100% clean but the way guys like Asmussen and Dutrow got the top owners to give them horses is due to their success rate. That success rate must be questioned. That is the way it is. Horse racing rewards cheating and until it doesn't the sport will be tossed right in there with boxing, cycling,and track and field. |
Thank you to both Andy and Richard Migliore for your well put insights.
Richard...I had also immediately wondered about a possible heart attack and appreciate you taking the time to tell us what you saw from a position most of us here could never see. May the racing gods be with you and keep you safe, and may our sport recover from this tragic event and the nonsense that has ensued. btw, BTW when are getting some more movies? |
Thanks for sharing such positive thoughts. Its too bad that these types of thoughts or observations are to few and far between. It makes posts like this that much more appreciated.
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Thank you Betterthanhonor and Parsixfarm for your side of the fragmented state of horse racing in the USA. This seems to be a fair and balanced discussion on this thread.
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Makes sense and thanks for explaining. |
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well if ntra wont do are say anything. how come t.o.b.a. isn't saying anything also. |
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Nice brown nosing. How many points yew got fer that one?..What's the Bayers ? |
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