It's a pretty common occurrence to see analysis of the media - any media really - nowadays that contains a whole lot of grains of truth regarding a strong disconnect; a disconnect with statistics - like handle and TV coverage - or something seemingly as tangible as what's happening on the ground right in front of our eyes.
Last night, this was the headline from a trade paper about a performance of a driver. Big night; one for the ages!When you scroll the article, youtube videos are linked, including to the second race, which was not won by the driver in the headline.As his #MapleLeafs were starting to collapse during their #NHL qualifying round game before the #StanleyCup playoffs against Columbus on Thursday, Jody Jamieson was rising to the occasion at Woodbine Mohawk Park with a five-win performance » https://t.co/7Fptuqx4It #harnessracing pic.twitter.com/mraQ8xzP8N
— Trot Insider (@trotinsider) August 7, 2020
Jody was driving the 1-5 shot and if you watch the video, there was something for the ages and it was something. He sat behind a leaver, and never pulled, only getting out at the end. It's one of those drives that in Hong Kong would get you shipped onto the next plane to Northern Tibet Raceway. It was one of those drives where in North America, bettors scream "fix!" and head to the poker tables. It's the drive customers were were talking about on twitter.
If you read the headline of the trade paper, you'd never know it even existed. "Local Driver Has Great Night", time to move on.
Now, I don't point out that drive to suggest something sinister happened. Not only do I not believe it did, suggesting it (without fact or knowledge) I'd be as bad as the media we criticize so often. The filly could've felt like she had zero go, she could've felt lame; a hundred things where a chalk might sit in.
But the fact remains - what you at home were talking about was not reflected in a trade media story.
Horse racing media - and I think this is true with most media - lives in a vacuum. Sometimes this is by necessity (advertisers, don't rock the boat) and sometimes it's by an unwillingness to listen and understand what's happening around it. For whatever reason it's been here since what seems the beginning of time. And it doesn't appear to be getting fixed anytime soon.
As for Jody's drive, well, that's a pox on horse racing's house. As I note, I have no idea why he drove the filly like that and neither do you. And that's the problem.
Information needs to be disseminated in this sport; things can't just be buried. When upwards of $200,000 is bet in multis and in-race wagers on a race like that, the people giving you their hard earned money deserve more than silence and a story in a trade paper about what great a night the guy had.
It leaves you scratching your head and it leaves me scratching mine too. It's no way to run a gambling sport.
Have a wonderful Travers and Hambo weekend everyone.
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