Being a Good Guy or Gal in Sports Is Important

In the throes of the PGA Championship, it always amazes me how professional golfers handle themselves so professionally. But maybe it should not be surprising, because the bar has been set really high. Golf is a gentleman's game and it's steeped in tradition. We all know this is a sport where golfers call a penalty on themselves, but it's more than that. Byron Nelson, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer (among countless others) have all carried themselves with class. This class and respect is very rarely challenged and younger players follow suit. It's the culture.

I saw this last night in an interview. Jason Dufner, who is leading the PGA Championship, is a young man who did not grow up blue-blooded. The son of a single parent, he was denied a golf scholarship and earned his stripes the old fashioned way, by walking on and earning a spot. He's worth a pile of money, he's young and one might think like so many other young athletes, have young athlete syndrome. He doesn't. After breaking a course record yesterday he was humble and deferential. Beating Curtis Strange's and Ben Hogan's record he was asked what it was like. He said he was proud, but "Mr. Strange and Mr. Hogan" are light years ahead of him. Class.

Bob Carney in Golf Digest looked at the 30 most gentleman's gentleman on the PGA Tour as voted by peers, sponsors and others involved with the Tour. It's a great story and worth a read.

Participants in horse racing have a similar responsibility to fans and bettors as well. We don't say it enough, but fans and bettors pay everyone's salary. Sure you can get a little government help (which business doesn't nowadays it seems), or have slot machines. But in the end, like Ontario is learning now, without fans and bettors, you are racing for ribbons and a cooler from the local thrift shop race sponsor.

Bettors and fans don't ask for much from you. It's a short list and it should not be too difficult to live one's life by.

All any bettor asks is for you to make an effort. Jim from Chicago just got off night shift and is at the track making a bet in the first. He sees you strangle a horse, or go to the back because you just feel like it. You put forth no effort. Jim bet $20 on you and that's an hour and a half's paycheck at the plant. Give Jim some respect and put your horse in a position to win. It's your responsibility to do so.

Susan from Boston just tweeted to you, after you won your 500th race, congratulations on your milestone. Susan is joined with 30 other well-wishers on your connect button on twitter. For goodness sakes, take five minutes and personally tell them thank you. They took time out of their day to wish you their best. They are in your corner and are happy you succeeded. If you're busy with the kids, do it after the kids go to bed, but just do it.

Bob tweeted that he hated your ride. Bob does this from time to time. But Bob pays your salary too. Don't be a dick and get in a protracted argument with Bob. Ignore him or say "sorry you fell that way and I did my best." But don't be a goof. People are watching how you handle it, and fans remember.

Phil Mickelson is worth $100 million or more. He has three kids at home, sponsors to cater to, and for many years a wife and mother sick with breast cancer.  it'd be easy for him to blow off fan interaction. On the contrary: At a tournament he will sign autograph after autograph for fans. There's few who stay longer to do that. If he can do that, you can make time for a few kids too.

PGA Tour golfers deal with the unruly, the "idiots" (sorry Mr. Mullins, but that stuck) and all the rest. Golf is a frustrating game too, and a missed putt can cost you millions. But as the article above showed, that doesn't have to dictate how you act as a man or woman who earns his or her living in the game. They, through tradition and respect, tend to do the right thing more often than not. It's a culture any pro sport should live by, including racing.

Friday Racing Notes

Good morning racefans. Here are a few things that caught my eye today.

The Ladies Classic is again being called the Distaff, which for Pocket readers won't be a difficult thing to get used to because I've called it the Distaff here since the blog started. However, for those of you clamoring for the Breeders Cup Classic to be called the Gentleman's Classic, this is a huge setback. I understand why they changed it from the Distaff, with Breeders Cup needing a Friday championship to promote to newbies and all, but I think that name really stunk. Horse racing needs to change and evolve on things like exchange wagering, takeouts, better digital product distribution, carding better races, horse retirement and better rules protecting the animal - on and on - but changing traditional names of races to new ones is not on my evolving list.

Harness Racing Update reported Hambo handle will be up this year (pdf). No matter how you slice it, the heats did hurt handle though. The Oaks Final beat the Hambo Final in handle, and really, the Final's handle by any measure was anemic.

Dan, a Saratoga meet staple, made reference yesterday to the meet:

Is it just me or is the Saratoga vibe a little off this year? Haven't been there yet so it's just a feeling.
— Dan Needham (@thorotrends) August 9, 2013

I don't know if that's true or not, but six days a week with all those races a day does feel like a bit much. The brand is so strong you could run 5 claimers every race and still garner big handle, but it makes me wonder.  Most marketers will tell you a brand is hurt when a brand is hurt; you rarely, if ever, notice it while it's happening. Perhaps Jerry Bossert's tweet a bit ago on a particularly long card told some of the tale. In race eleven's post parade, you could fire a cannon on the tarmac and not hit anyone. I think the customers might be telling NYRA something.

For harness fans who don't follow Thoroughbred's, Wise Dan races this weekend at Saratoga in the Gr. II Fourstardave . I think he's assigned the high weight of a small refrigerator.

Rumor has it that there have been three trainers caught with synthetic EPO in Pennsylvania, which were apparently caught with the new testing. If so, it makes you wonder how many others, as well as for how long it's been going on. 

Old Home Week starts in Charlottetown this weekend. There are three trials for the Sobey's Gold Cup and Saucer. Again, the Island track attracts a quality field of older pacers for one of the more unique and interesting races in harness racing.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Oh Those Nasty Gamblers

There are a lot of generalizations in horse racing and all sides are usually generalized or stereotyped in some way, at some time. Just this past week on the USTA site a newbie wrote a column (I am not here to be critical of a newbie learning the game; the article is good and worth a read), and in one section:

• Gamblers are fickle people, both in racing and otherwise, and keeping their attention can be tough when they’re in it for their betting money and not because they are truly interested in the sport or the horses. I recently read a 1988 interview of the late Dunbar Bostwick, who said what a shame it is that bettors “don’t give a damn about horses,” and he couldn’t be more right.

Maybe it was true some of the time in 1988, or 1948. Horse racing 'gambling' was the only game in town, so it attracted plenty of people who "don't give a damn about the horses", I am sure. But it's not 1988. Most of those people are playing Keno or stuffing quarters in a slot machine. The people I know who attend racetracks and bet on horses from home or otherwise, care about them just fine.

Mike Beychok is a gambler alright. He won the national handicapping championship a couple of years ago on a $6,250 claimer who won the last leg for him at good odds. He thought she showed such fight in her win, and that he 'owed her something', he claimed her, and not long after retired her. "I figured this was a great opportunity to do what I thought was the right thing and make sure, regardless of how she finishes her career, that she would be around for as long as she could be," he said.

I sat on a panel several years ago with a 'gambler'. He decided to dabble in the ownership game. He bought two fillies. When I asked him why he didn't like a gelding I thought was a good buy he said "I'd be worried about what happened when I lose him. If I buy a mare that's well bred I plan to breed her so she can have a good long home".

Jim and John, Woodbine regulars and some of the biggest gamblers at the track, recently had a mare pass away of old age. It was one of the few horses they've owned. They took care of her each month writing a check from when they bought her until when she passed. They were city boys who didn't have a farm. When they bought her, she probably didn't know she'd end up so lucky to be owned by 'gamblers'.

How about Dana Parham. He's the biggest gambler in North America - likely. He knows every trainer with magic potion or one week turnarounds as a matter of course; that's his business after all. Does he choose one as an owner to 'make more money'? No, he chooses someone on the up and up with no questions surrounding her. 

Some 'gamblers', and I am one of them, won't bet or watch steeplechases because we cringe each time a horse goes over a barrier. I'm afraid for their safety, whether it's something to be concerned with or not. We just are. Some gamblers are so upset when they see a horse breakdown, they turn off the races and can't watch the rest of the card. Some gamblers abhor whipping and in harness racing, when a hock shot comes on their charge, they'd like to give the horse the same opportunity with the driver.

Those are anecdotal of course. But maybe the 2,000 or so 'gamblers' that filled out the HANA questionnaire wanting raceday meds looked at don't care about horses, either? Maybe they "don't give a damn about the horses"? I don't think so. 74.5% of them answered in the affirmative, and in survey after survey these hard core 'gamblers' want racing cleaned up, uniform penalties, and checks and balances on the people who are racing our four legged friends.

Meanwhile, how about the industry insiders? Some care, for sure. But there are some with immense power who block change at every turn. Whether it be vet reporting, lasix, meds or anything else, it seems.

I don't know too many gamblers who are the way Mr. Bostwick described. Maybe I don't get out enough and just aren't looking closely. But I do know one thing: Don't be so quick to dismiss those nasty gamblers as non-caring. They're not the ones blocking change.