Twitter
 

Do any trainers or Jockeys twitter? Is it against the rules? How about owners? It would be a good think if they did, it would link the public closer to the players in the game. And it would make for good PR for the game.

Have you searched twitter for any jockeys and trainers?

Prediction: Twitter in its current form will be extinct sooner rather than later.

Yea, don't see any of the main players

Joe Talamo "tweets" sometimes.

I hope Twitter and Facebook both go away. Far away. And never come back. Text messaging too.

Facebook is useful. Have you ever tried to look up someone you lost contact information for? It's impossible without websites like Facebook.

As for Twitter....I find no use for it

I was a panelist last week at the International Simulcast Conference -- panel looked at racing and new media.

I said that I thought both Twitter and Facebook had F-A-D written all over them. At the same time -- I threw in the caveat that I didn't want to be like the clowns in the late 40's who declared television a fad, and so I thought it was worthwhile -- particularly given the low-cost -- for racetracks and industry groups to pursue both at this time (but frankly, I'd like to see these groups spend more time improving their own websites!).

It will be interesting to see how my prediction plays out over the next 2-5 years.

I would agree with "Letswaste..." however that Facebook -- or some form of it -- might linger as a useful way to keep in touch with friends, classmates and colleagues.

Facebook's not going anywhere. There's way too much of a following in the 40-55 age group for it to go anywhere. People are into the connecting with old friends, classmates, etc.

Now that they've integrated these ridiculous games and nonsense that clogs up the log-in page the damn thing is impossible. But I still don't think it's going anywhere.

NT

You can hide all of that crap if you want.

I didnt say Facebook was going anywhere. I said hoped.
I just enjoyed day to day interaction a lot more before all this tech stuff took over everybody's lives. Kids dont play sports anymore. Teenagers would rather have internet chat sex than the real thing in the back of their car.
Adults are spending hours on end on facebook letting everybody know what drink they are mixing or who they saw at the high scholl reunion. Who the hell cares?

You guys can have all the gadgets and social networking web sites. I'd rather put these toys down and go have drinks (real liquid drinks, not icons) with my friends and look at real actual people.

Call me a scrooge all you want. Thats just me.

First of all, this assumption that one can't screw around on Facebook during the day and then go socialize at night is ridiculous. Secondly, Facebook and the like promote in-person socialization, they don't discourage it. I've hung out (and had liquid drinks!) with a bunch of people I wouldn't normally have ever seen again because we connected on Facebook.

The constant status updates of course get silly, and I don't see the need for regular people to have Twitter, but I think acting like that has some correlation to whether or not people have social lives is trite and wrongheaded. As is this "you nerds can e-chat or whatever all day, but unlike you I'd rather go see some real humans and breathe some real air, DORKS" attitude.

I also don't know what the hell text messaging has to do with Facebook or Twitter.

Sorry Tim, no personal offense, but technophobes crack me up.

I didnt say Derbytrail was going anywhere. I said hoped.
I just enjoyed day to day interaction a lot more before all this tech stuff took over everybody's lives. Kids dont go to races anymore. Teenagers would rather have internet handicapping talk than the real thing at the track.
Adults are spending hours on end on Derbytrail letting everybody know what horse they are betting or who they saw at the DeeTee race. Who the hell cares?

You guys can have all the laptops and horse racing networking web sites. I'd rather put these toys down and go see horses (real horses, not icons) with my friends and look at real actual races.

Call me a scrooge all you want. Thats just me.

;)

:tro:

Thanks to Artie Lange for this one...

I'm growing ovaries just reading this thread.

I don't Twat but I hear twatting regularly can be fun?

Wow, I guess you told me!

So in conclusion - there is no networking when it comes to anyone at the tracks and the betting public in this age of instant access. Is that right? Truly sad that the racing industry cannot be more accessible and therefore transparent. Not much has changed in the last 30 years I guess.

During Arlington's meet John Dooley (and Jessica) are twittering ( god..i hate typing that word) during every day of racing.

Let us not forget that racing was tops in the 70's and 80's well before the advent of twitter and facebook. Do you remember when people actually went to the racetrack because they had horses that were fun to root for, that actually ran and didnt duck each other?

Regularity 25,000 during the week and 40-50,000 on weekends in New York. Those were the golden days, however time doesn't stand still unless you watch Mad Men. It's a new time and the industry has to change to the times.

So because you dont like the amount of tweeting being done the industry is somehow less transparent? Virtually every track does this crap and most of their handicappers do too. What exactly are you looking for?

An edge!!

I am pretty sure people went to the track back then to bet about 98% of the time. People are overly obsessed with only the top horses and their effect on "the game". Back then there was virtually no simulcasting so the only top horses you could closely follow were the ones who ran at your hometrack or on the televised races. The big days are not the problem. It is the other 350 days a year that need addressing.

So you aren't really interested in transparency after all.

Transparency is for Obama and other politicians. Why do we enjoy the trials and tribulations of this sport? Everyone can answer for themselves. When I pick up a racing form I just don't go directly to the PPs I read about the entire form, breeding, legislative actions, racing personalities, casinos, etc. Why do we write on this forum and listen to ATR? Thus, when I ask a question about twitter I want more information, all that I can get my hands on, because at the end of the day it's all about money. Yea, the sport is regal and exciting and I am addicted to all facets of it, but I don't spend the time invested for my health.

I can't imagine how anyone can possibly gain a betting edge reading tweets from jockeys and trainers.

Well transparency certainly isnt one of obama's stronger areas but that is for another section.

I suppose that twitter can be useful for late changes, change in track/weather conditions, etc. But no trainer is going to offer op much useful information to the general public just as a football coach isnt going to post his gameplan for upcoming games on the net.

Desourmaux has a facebook page.

He added me as a friend because I am cool.

Most of the racetracks have a person tweeting about their goings-on.

As for gaining an edge by following trainers/jockeys, here's a sample tweet for you:

"I like my chances today"

You guys see that one episode of Jockeys when Joe talamo goes suit shopping and buys a $5K = suit?

Somebody should tweet back to Joe Talamo and tell him when he goes to buy a suit, its probably a good idea to bring ample ways to make payment, rather than to rely on just 1 credit card.

First question, who doesnt carry more than 1 credit card? Either a debit card or additional credit cards?

Second question, why doesnt Joe Talamo have a bigger limit than $3K?
The guy makes twice that in a typical weekend.

If he shopped in the kids section the suit would have been a lot cheaper

Does he update his status frequently to tell you the best horse he's ever ridden? Cuz he might find Twitter more useful for that.

I've seen that episode. Unless they were just playing for the camera, it's mind boggling that a guy who makes as much money as Talamo didn't have enough money for that suit.

having read about the episode where solis watches a race in which he was supposed to ride, but his horse scratched...when in fact he picked up a mount, and was in the race, tells me all i need to know about how 'real' the show is.

He does update his status frequently. He just recently posted that Summer Bird worked like a dream the other day.

Of course they are playing for the camera. What fun is it to watch someone go shopping without getting into some sort of predicament.

Its really dumb that they have Trevor Denman dub his own race calls for the show where he calls the name of the jockeys more than the names of the horses.

What about Jimmy a Hat? Why do they always show him? What value does having a gambler on there add to the show?