The thoroughbred racing industry has multiple, complex layers that can become overwhelming to the average fan. A lack of one unified governing body as found in most organized sports has proved detrimental to our sport. Each state determines their own rules and regulations, trainers and jockeys are all over the place, and the horses don't race long enough or provide a strong enough marketing campaign to remotely spark the interest of a fan. In recent light of the recession and decline of business, industry leaders such as Jockey Club and NTRA have made great attempts to comply with the needs and demands of the general public in an effort to revive racing.
It becomes a very frustrating task to encourage new people to enter the sport when in reality, racing has a lot of repairs to make before I would enjoy showing our teams. I would hope the ultimate goal is a unified league with one governing across the board set of rules, regulations, disciplines and rewards. I am well versed with many reasons why this task will be difficult, but the general public need not be bothered with the political nonsense. I often follow and input many opinions and discussions on forums such as FaceBook and Twitter with fellow industry members. The conversations can become frustrating because people sometimes have the tendency to be so well educated in their own aspect of business, they forget the marketing dynamic. I speak with industry professionals that are not often around the every day race fan or owner and they forget how to relate. They can't remember what it was like the first few years they might have been exposed to the confusing business of racing. I have been lucky because I am surrounded by multitudes of different people that have different understandings, education, and appreciation for the sport. I try to listen and incorporate the opinions of the general public and relay the message to industry leaders so we can market this sport in a way that would appeal to the general public. One example of differential understanding comes from a statement made by a beautician making small talk. The girl was asking typical questions, one being "So what do you do?". I replied as usual "I work with horses.". She then asked a series of follow up questions in which I replied as usual "I do everything, nothing specific, just a lifestyle.". She went on to tell me, like a lot of people do, that she had some relative that had a horse and she always thought they were just dumb animals, like cattle, and she was scared of them. Of course this was the only entrance I needed to start giving my patented soap box education about the beauty, power, and personality that these creatures possessed and flourished in the stories of all the history in racing. Any time I find the tiniest opportunity for relaying my passion of the sport, I take advantage. The shame comes from those in the industry so caught up with arguing politics and stats that they forget the simple grandeur of this magnificent sport. My only hope is that one day we can become a unified league and take pleasure in introducing our new fan base to the teams and athletes of the sport.
The sport already has the skeleton for a major league sport. Racing, trainers, jockeys and horses are completely different in the West coast as opposed to the East coast. The racing condition and atmosphere vary widely and certain teams will camp out, traveling to tracks solely restricted to one coast. Example: Jockeys Julien Leparoux and Calvin Borel will primarily race on the East coast and Jockeys Joe Talamo and Chantal Sutherland will race on the West coast. The same is true for trainers and horses. The track conditions and method of training are really very different and involve different techniques. Often times, a California trained horse will never compete in an East coast race track unless they are very talented and vice versa. Having demonstrated some differences I will now make the point. Every league has different divisions and in this example I will use football. The National Football League has the AFC and the NFC, basically the West coast verses the East coast. The teams in each division will play each other when scheduled and in the finale... The best team from each division will meet up in the Super Bowl to determine the champ. Football involves teams and believe it or not, so does horse racing. The sport of racing has many team members that the general public is sadly not made aware. Some team members include the horse, groom, hot walker, exercise rider, jockey, assistant trainer, and trainer. A stable. I would like to hope one day the industry will resolve petty differences and market this sport like it should be done. We do have teams, each team has a player, I will try to plan and market each team over the next year so you can choose the one to root. And in my opinion, our Super Bowl is the Breeders Cup...the best of the best from all around the country and World. I will put together a roster of teams with all their stats and info shortly and hope that you will choose to join the greatest adrenaline rush in sports.
The thoroughbred racing industry has multiple, complex layers that can become overwhelming to the average fan. A lack of one unified governing body as found in most organized sports has proved detrimental to our sport. Each state determines their own rules and regulations, trainers and jockeys are all over the place, and the horses don't race long enough or provide a strong enough marketing campaign to remotely spark the interest of a fan. In recent light of the recession and decline of business, industry leaders such as Jockey Club and NTRA have made great attempts to comply with the needs and demands of the general public in an effort to revive racing.
It becomes a very frustrating task to encourage new people to enter the sport when in reality, racing has a lot of repairs to make before I would enjoy showing our teams. I would hope the ultimate goal is a unified league with one governing across the board set of rules, regulations, disciplines and rewards. I am well versed with many reasons why this task will be difficult, but the general public need not be bothered with the political nonsense. I often follow and input many opinions and discussions on forums such as FaceBook and Twitter with fellow industry members. The conversations can become frustrating because people sometimes have the tendency to be so well educated in their own aspect of business, they forget the marketing dynamic. I speak with industry professionals that are not often around the every day race fan or owner and they forget how to relate. They can't remember what it was like the first few years they might have been exposed to the confusing business of racing. I have been lucky because I am surrounded by multitudes of different people that have different understandings, education, and appreciation for the sport. I try to listen and incorporate the opinions of the general public and relay the message to industry leaders so we can market this sport in a way that would appeal to the general public. One example of differential understanding comes from a statement made by a beautician making small talk. The girl was asking typical questions, one being "So what do you do?". I replied as usual "I work with horses.". She then asked a series of follow up questions in which I replied as usual "I do everything, nothing specific, just a lifestyle.". She went on to tell me, like a lot of people do, that she had some relative that had a horse and she always thought they were just dumb animals, like cattle, and she was scared of them. Of course this was the only entrance I needed to start giving my patented soap box education about the beauty, power, and personality that these creatures possessed and flourished in the stories of all the history in racing. Any time I find the tiniest opportunity for relaying my passion of the sport, I take advantage. The shame comes from those in the industry so caught up with arguing politics and stats that they forget the simple grandeur of this magnificent sport. My only hope is that one day we can become a unified league and take pleasure in introducing our new fan base to the teams and athletes of the sport.
The sport already has the skeleton for a major league sport. Racing, trainers, jockeys and horses are completely different in the West coast as opposed to the East coast. The racing condition and atmosphere vary widely and certain teams will camp out, traveling to tracks solely restricted to one coast. Example: Jockeys Julien Leparoux and Calvin Borel will primarily race on the East coast and Jockeys Joe Talamo and Chantal Sutherland will race on the West coast. The same is true for trainers and horses. The track conditions and method of training are really very different and involve different techniques. Often times, a California trained horse will never compete in an East coast race track unless they are very talented and vice versa. Having demonstrated some differences I will now make the point. Every league has different divisions and in this example I will use football. The National Football League has the AFC and the NFC, basically the West coast verses the East coast. The teams in each division will play each other when scheduled and in the finale... The best team from each division will meet up in the Super Bowl to determine the champ. Football involves teams and believe it or not, so does horse racing. The sport of racing has many team members that the general public is sadly not made aware. Some team members include the horse, groom, hot walker, exercise rider, jockey, assistant trainer, and trainer. A stable. I would like to hope one day the industry will resolve petty differences and market this sport like it should be done. We do have teams, each team has a player, I will try to plan and market each team over the next year so you can choose the one to root. And in my opinion, our Super Bowl is the Breeders Cup...the best of the best from all around the country and World. I will put together a roster of teams with all their stats and info shortly and hope that you will choose to join the greatest adrenaline rush in sports.
Posted By: Jessica Maciejewski
