Pacemakers

Since Saturday's Sword Dancer, there has been a lot of talk about rabbits, both here on the blog and elsewhere. Frankly, you can't go to a story about the Sword Dancer and not read comments about the practice.

The World has a differing view on using a horse to set a pace (or kill off the speed), so another horse from the stable coming from off the pace has a better chance to win. Big stables in the UK, for example, want their well bred horses to win as many group one's as possible to increase the horse's worth in the breeding shed. This is one way to help.

This practice is technically against the rules in North America (and obviously not enforced), but it's not used often, and it's not particularly spelled out.

In places where it is accepted, it is spelled out, because, the betting public means something, of course. In the UK, pre-race, the horse being used as a rabbit is announced to bettors. This is why, as Sid Fernando put it today, Bullet Train, a very good horse in his own right, was 600-1 while being used as a rabbit for Frankel. I remember old Bullet Train 1000-1 at Betfair, where racegoers knew he was there as cannon fodder.

Places like Hong Kong, where you may think the Euro way would be followed, however, it's not. Rabbits are banned by the HKJC, and are not tolerated.

One quote from the Chief Steward for the HKJC caught my eye:

"Our rules don’t allow for pacemakers – we expect all runners in any race to employ tactics with the intention of winning or obtaining the best possible place in the field and that isn’t going to change," Kelly said. "And, if you are asking me for a personal opinion, the use of pacemakers in other jurisdictions is a blight on racing. Once you cross the line into allowing a horse to be ridden as a pacemaker for a better-fancied stablemate, you are allowing that horse to be run in a manner which may not be in its own best interests, and then I think you cross into very dangerous territory."

That last line, "cross into very dangerous territory" reads prescient after watching the Sword Dancer, doesn't it? Being a rabbit for Flintshire wasn't quite enough, the horse had to be used as an offensive lineman at the head of the lane.  A slippery slope indeed.

It's probably no surprise to frequent readers of the blog that I don't like gaming a race by using another horse to artificially inject pace. I love the pureness of the sport. I love 'my horse can beat your horse' spirit of it. I love the magic of a Zenyatta racing against glacial paces, and then seeing her overcome like the beast she was. I love seeing great horses proving they're great by winning races, not by winning races with help.

Horse racing is a beautiful sport when we let it unfold as it's intended.

Related - "Race Fixing for Me, But Not for Thee", via Crunk

A Tale of Two Worlds

I was going through a few statistics this morning, and something jumped out at me.

Yesterday's post regarding the Sword Dancer stakes had traffic I have not seen in some time. It was through the roof. I looked back to see if any other post I had rivaled that traffic number and one other popped up. It was the post on the Churchill Downs Jackpot Pick 6. That pick 6, if you recall, was cancelled after a storm hit, with a bettor holding a ticket with a chance at $700,000. The stewards decided not to turn over too many rocks to try and get the race in.

These two posts had a few things in common.

They were not linked by any industry sites, retweeted by heavy hitters, or showed up on some massively trafficked link farm. The traffic came from the grassroots.

Second, both posts challenged the industry to change - in the Sword Dancer case by not allowing the rules of racing to be simply "suggestions", and in the pick 6 case, by treating a customer with a $700,000 live ticket, like they'd treat a $700,000 stakes race for horsemen.

Third, no industry site talked about either story. It's like the events didn't even happen.

And last, both stories were chastised publicly by some racing insiders, for being naive, showing a lack of understanding of horse racing,  and for rocking a boat that should not be rocked. The 'shut up and bet' phenomenon.

Well for both posts, it seems the proletariat disagreed. Yesterday's post had 130 likes on Facebook, last I checked (where even Paulick Report stories can have barely a half dozen), and will likely be the most trafficked post on this blog for the last three years.  The Churchill Downs post (with a simple customer issue) had similar traffic, which was mind-boggling to me.

There is a silent group of people out there that did not like what they saw Saturday. They did not like the way a rabbit was flaunted on national TV, with no response from racing except, "oh whatever, we do that all the time." There's a large group of customers out there who did not like that Churchill cancelled a guy or gal's chance at a life changing score, without putting in an effort to get the race off, like they would for a Juddmonte, or Chad Brown, or Bob Baffert.

There are people out there who don't like the way things are going; who feel marginalized. And they're yearning to read about it and share their opinion. Mostly the industry press ignores them, so at times, they end up here, and other places on the web, which choose to address these issues.

Taking time to make a post at lunchtime that I know will not be popular with insiders, or the elites, tends to be not pleasant. It's much easier to tow the line. But I am glad some of you feel like I do - that the sport has to change - and show up from time to time to read this little blog and share your opinion, whether you agree with everything or not. For that I am grateful.

It also gives me hope that maybe racing can change with the times, because there are so many of you -- silently yes, but a lot of you -- who realize it has to. I must say, looking at today's traffic reports, I don't know much, but I know one thing : you're out there.

Have a nice Tuesday everyone.

Sword Dancer Shenanigans Proves the Public's Point

Ask any random person who has not watched a horse race, or maybe have seen one or three : "Is horse racing fixed?"

They'll probably say, sure it is; common knowledge.

At that point, racing folks get excited to defend their sport. 99% of the races are clean, there is too much money involved to fix races, etc etc. 

"Hurry, come on through!"

Then we have yesterday's Sword Dancer, where not one of us can blame anyone for thinking like they do about the sport.

It's probably bad enough that a "rabbit" was entered for an old-time form of race fixing, but that the horse was ridden like a quarterhorse made the optics look terrible. That another horse - Roman Approval - had to be physically restrained due to the cowboy style race riding of the horse sent to destroy him, is probably just as bad optically.

But that was just the beginning. The real story had just begun.

At the head of the lane, this rank, spent, heart-ripped out rabbit, needed to do even more work for the 1-9 shot. He had to move over, to let his stablemate through, to ensure his victory. In the process - safety and integrity be damned - he bumped the horse he dueled into submission.

For those who remember the Hambletonian about ten years ago now, your memory banks flood with what happened with driver Trond Smedshammer. He, like these connections, wanted to increase his chances of winning the race with his two horses. He moved over, let his stablemate through, who ended up coming third, picking up a nice slice of the purse.

Trond was suspended 45 days and given an $18,000 fine.

In thoroughbred racing, with these connections, with these owners, there is no way that's happening. Too big, too powerful.

 When you and I enter a horse to race, it is incumbent upon us, as owners and participants, in trust with the people who pay everyone's salaries - slot pullers and bettors, as well as fellow owners - to have one sole goal, and that's to try and win the race. When shenanigans like the above happen, it shows there are others who play by a different set of rules. That horse was not entered to win, he was there so another horse could.

I read a little on social media as this happened, right in front of our eyes on national television.

"It's horse racing"

"It's the way it is"

"It's gone on forever"

In case you haven't noticed, with foal crops down, handle down, and all economic racing indicators on life-support, forever isn't looking so good.

Yesterday's Sword Dancer was a travesty, and the people in charge of this sport should never allow it to happen again.