Harness Speed Show

Today in HRU the harness speed show was looked at, primarily from a style of racing point of view.

" Just this year we've seen sub-150 qualifiers or training miles about as many times as we've seen a negative campaign ad for the Presidency. We're now teaching horses to go fast, while as recent as four years ago something crazy would have to happen to have them go that fast. I think we have to look at the environment as much as we look at a final time, just like we always have. People didn't go crazy when the time trail world record was set in the 1990's, or when Steady Star did similar about 40 years ago. We looked at a body of work. Today we have to take the teletimer with a grain of salt, factoring in what we're actually seeing, too; the only difference being we seem to be  doing it much more often than in the past."

Read the column here on page 4 (pdf)

Precarious Policies, Friday Notes

There was a very good opinion piece at the Thoroughbred Times on Lasix yesterday. The author contends that there is a parallel between lasix and milkshaking. Both are performance enhancers, both are argued as being "good for the horse" and only one of them is banned. In addition, both substances (apparently) can mask other drugs.

• What this issue really comes down to is not science but the integrity of the game. When horses are administered drugs on race days, old suspicions arise of a crooked sport. Fair, or not, is debatable … but it's a fact. This was pointed out once again in the McKinsey & Co. study that was presented last year at the Jockey Club Round Table on Matters Pertaining to Racing. For that reason alone, the industry must rid itself of race-day medications.

This is a very logical argument, no matter what side you're on. If we allow lasix, why not allow tubing? If we allow those two things, what about allowing meds for joint pain before the race? What about other things to help the horse feel better?

It's a slippery slope, and what we always have to remember: We're dealing with horses, not humans. It's okay if Tony Romo wants to take a cortisone shot before a game for sore ribs. He is human and he can make that decision. A horse, standing in cross ties, can't say no to a needle.

Gwiner looks at the harness racing speed barrier on DRF Harness. We've discussed that here, and Bob Marks makes some good points. This weekend in Harness Racing Update there'll be an article of a similar nature. I'll post it here when it's up.

Saturday night's card at the Hawk is a good one as we prepare for the Canadian Trotting Classic. Champlain divisions are pretty stacked, too.

I played Turfway Park last night for the opener. It was pretty formful. Turfway is a good place to play - in fact, Kentucky racing, in my opinion, is one of the best jurisdictions to play horse racing. I've always had a soft spot for Turfway because they try. The lack of slots are killing them.

There was a conversation on twitter last evening with the Knight Sky speaking about harness track takeout rates in Canada. Flamboro Downs, for example, has 24.7% WPS take (no that is not a mis-type). The prevailing thought was 'how did executives (with slot money pouring in) let that occur?" I have no answer. It makes no sense to me. When 80% or more of your purses and profits are coming in from slots, you should have 10% takeouts and try and build some business. This should've happened the day slots were introduced.

Germany is looking at horse racing reform, because they have too many racetracks and not enough customers. I remember taking economic geography in university in second year (I think), and we learned about locating businesses, market areas and all the rest. I swear when I look at racetracks, no one read those books or took that class. It's like this world wide. When you are granted a monopoly the rules of regular business seem to go right out the window.

Cangamble looks at what Ontario racing should look like with a new deal. Whatever it looks like, it's going to be a whole lot smaller. If the rules of business are not undertaken with what's left - short meets, bundling signals, lower rakes etc - it'll probably never fly.

There is a poll up on Standardbred Canada asking what purse money for the 5th place horse should be used for, when the field is not made up of five horses. What's running last is not surprising.

Have a great Friday!

Art Modell & The Vision To Work Together

I was on twitter last night for the start of the "NFL Kickoff". The Cowboys were playing the Giants, and whipping boy Tony Romo was already trending on twitter after the first series, with the words "Damn Romo" reaching number three. Amazingly, this morning (after the Cowboys won) Romo is still trending.

Art Modell, long time owner of the Browns (and Ravens of course) passed away at age 87 yesterday. He never knew what twitter was for many of those years, but he's one of the reasons a quarterback could trend on it for 15 straight hours. 

In the 1960's the National Football League had some issues and it was mainly based on television. Pete Rozelle, the commissioner, had to convince the owners that television was the way of the future and that the only way the sport could grow was to work out a collective plan to exploit it for the leagues gain. The team owners were up in arms because at that time live gate was the major revenue driver for football. Owners - especially those in smaller cities - did not want to embrace this new medium in fear of losing their fan base.

Eventually Rozelle convinced these businessmen that the status-quo was not an option. The NFL was the first league to embrace television, creating NFL films, the Super Bowl and much more.

Fast forward several years. As television got bigger and bigger and the league and teams were making more and more money, there were the inevitable problems. Up popped revenue sharing. Rozelle had to convince 30 or so folks that sharing TV revenue would be good for everyone, and a boon for the league.

It worked. Multi-billion dollar TV deals have made the NFL the most successful sport in the western world. The power structure and revenue share allow small market teams like Green Bay to compete with the Giants on all levels.

In the words of Art Modell, Rozelle got "a bunch of fat cat republicans to become socialists".

Now let's think about this: How did a league worth millions upon millions with owners who possessed the ego the size of the federal deficit agree on something so large and fundamental to do what is right for everyone, not just a few? The easy answer is that they had a commissioner, but that's probably too easy. Each of those twenty five or so owners had to take a leap of faith, and being businessmen they're used to doing it. Leap they did.

Let's rewind to 1960, but apply our current structure in racing to it. Not only is there 25 or 30 owners of the AFL/NFL teams sitting around the table, but let's say each team has a player group associated with it. The players all have a seat and there is not one, but one for each team. As well, let's say they control 50% of all the revenues.

You probably have 100 people sitting around a table, all wanting to speak, with lawyers in tow, ready to fight. Would they have been able to get together to do what is right? Probably not. After an hour of it, Rozelle would probably quit and send in an application to work for the NBA.

In 2009 players are signing ten million dollar contracts due to the forward thinking that went on in the 1960's. Without that forward thinking they would probably be making a million a year, if they were lucky. NFL teams are now worth a billion bucks or more.

All with a little forward thinking, a structure that rewarded working together with vision, and strong leadership.

With billions of slot money hanging around in some states you'd think working towards some sort of vision and common good would be palatable. With the opportunities of having a near monopoly on internet wagering, you'd think we'd try to make it as easy as possible. With betting exchanges, new fractional bets, world wide common pooling, you'd think we'd move heaven and earth to get it done. But as we've seen for so long in racing, it's easier to fight and protect slices, rather than grow them.

Related: Modell Was Known For More Than the Move