Letter to the Editor | Horse Racing Free Tips

Letter To The Editor: ‘Petty Jealousy And Elitism’ The Motivations Behind MyRacehorse Bashing

Dear horse racing Twitter, and the industry at large:

Do better. Stop shooting yourself in the foot. Stop creating division and strife where there is no reason for it; we have enough issues as a sport.

Over the weekend, yet another tweet made the rounds mocking a MyRacehorse owner. While there were prominent industry members that defended the legitimacy of ownership through micro shares, there were multitudes chiming in with condescending disdain for the “fake” ownership through MyRacehorse.

For years, the industry has discussed and lamented how to bring in new participants. No significant changes have occurred since the creation of syndicates, until MyRacehorse. When the model was first launched, I was skeptical. However, there is no denying that the model is working. MyRacehorse is bringing in thousands of new owners to the industry, and yet somehow many in and around the industry view that as a bad thing.

In the “Sport of Kings,” one of the greatest appeals is the ability for the underdog to win at the highest level. Yes, million-dollar horses win the Kentucky Derby, but so do California-breds that would have brought a small fraction of that price if offered at auction. When syndicates like Team Valor, West Point, or Starlight win the Derby, their co-owners are not met with challenges to the legitimacy of their ownership. Yet it seemed as soon as Authentic crossed the wire, Twitter was exploding with condescension for the ecstatic micro shareholders. So, what is the difference?

Was Animal Kingdom celebrated because he was trained by Graham Motion, and not Bob Baffert? Did the shareholders in Authentic just suffer as collateral damage from “Baffert in the winner's circle” fatigue? That can't be it, because there was no issue with the Starlight partners in Justify, also trained by Baffert. Likewise, Starlight bought in after Justify had broken his maiden, so it can't be that MyRacehorse bought in later.

As a $350,000 yearling, Authentic brought the same price as Always Dreaming. With syndicate owned Derby winners selling for much more and much less, he was neither “too expensive” nor “too cheap” to support.

The only true difference that can be noted in the industry's reception to successful syndicates seems to be share price. It is the height of ignorant elitism to think that writing a bigger check makes you more of an owner. Any individual willing to spend their money to own any piece of a horse is an owner. Working with syndicates, and advocating for ownership through them, I have said, “Nobody asks how much of the horse you own when you're in the winner's circle” many times. And that was true, until MyRacehorse.

Are people jealous they didn't come up with the model first? Or that they chose not to buy in and have missed out on ownership of some truly spectacular horses? Do they feel that owners with MyRacehorse didn't suffer through enough failure to have “earned” the levels of success achieved? I truly don't know the answer, but there isn't an explanation I have come up with that is anything other than petty and self-sabotaging.

The one argument I've seen that almost makes sense is that MyRacehorse is a “scam.” I say almost makes sense because they are the most transparent entity I have seen. The reason everyone can criticize share prices and number of owners is because that information is readily available. They can complain about fees, and claim to be defending those buying in, because those fees are explicitly stated on the website. MyRacehorse is utterly open about what your financial contribution goes to, from acquisition of the horse, to training costs, to overhead and management fees. And you know who I've not yet seen complain about those things? Actual MyRacehorse owners. I have seen them defend their ownership, I have seen them express gratitude for all the information provided ahead of commitment, I've seen them brag about the access to their horses they have, and I have seen them celebrate their horses on the track.

And the part the entire industry should be celebrating? I have seen them progress to individual ownership.

As MyRacehorse continues to blaze new trails in the industry, they appear to be striving to continue to bring in more owners, and to help those owners fulfill their horse ownership dreams, whether that is always at the micro share level or something more. I wish I could say it's baffling to me that the industry is so opposed to such a positive force of change, but it's really just par for the course. The industry faces a multitude of challenges to long term success, and is consistently divided on every aspect of them. While most issues have legitimate arguments on both sides, there is no reason to dismiss new participants for not spending enough money on the sport other than petty jealousy and elitism. As an industry, we need to do better.

*I do not work for nor do I own shares through MyRacehorse

–Erin O'Keefe, Farm Manager & Bloodstock Services, BTE Stables

If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please write to info at paulickreport.com and include contact information where you may be reached if editorial staff have any questions.

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Letter To The Editor: More Transparency Of Racehorses’ Medical Records Is Needed

Jerry Brown, in an op/ed recently published in the Thoroughbred Daily News, stated his belief that horses running in stakes races were not running true to form possibly because of not running on Lasix in those races. Brown pointed out that these horses may have been scoped post-race, but very often the fans, handicappers, and the public have no idea what the results of these scopes are.

This issue is not related to just scoping a horse looking for bleeding, but in all facets of a horse's medical care, including when it comes to the death of a horse that occurs on the grounds of a racetrack or training center. Racing woefully fails this transparency test, a fact known for years.

I know that there are legal hurdles to making this information easily accessible. Medical records kept by a veterinarian can only be released to another party with the consent of the owner of the animal in question. This type of language is present in basically every Veterinary Practice Act in every single state in the country. I also know that there is an easy fix to the issue as well. All that is needed is to add a simple line or two on every state racehorse owner license application that reads something akin to, “I hereby give consent for the medical records of any horse that I have a full or part ownership in to be released or transferred to a party requesting them.”

It should just be a required part of being able to obtain an owners license. All it takes to make it happen is the desire for change.

I know one of the arguments against providing full transparency of medical records and fatal injury data has always been that the public will not understand it, and the animal rights crowd will try to twist it to fit their narrative on things. Well, that argument is correct on both counts. You know what else is correct though? It is taking the time to make the information easy for the public to understand and fighting back against the misinformation.

The industry can no longer rely on the old refrain of “You just don't understand the industry” when presented with any question or argument against racing. Take the time to explain what we all “don't understand,” especially to followers of the sport who have the greatest chance of becoming fans.

It is something I have come to call the “10-80-10” rule that I have learned from working in the non-profit realm. 10% of people are always going to think racing is wrong, inhumane, and should be forever banned. They are never going to see a different point of view or accept explanations of data that are not fitting their narrative. On the other end of the spectrum there are 10% of people who think nothing needs to change in the racing industry and there really is not a problem at all. They will not agree to changing anything even if the data points to a need for it. Neither extremes are where racing needs to focus (even though both often shout the loudest and we all know what wheel get the grease).

What racing needs to focus on is the 80% in the middle that are asking to be heard but are also willing to sit down and discuss things in a productive way that benefits the sport and its fan base. Providing not only transparency but an explanation about that transparency in a manner that people can understand builds the trust needed to bring new blood into the game.

–Dr. Bryan Langlois, past president of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, board of directors of Animal Care PA and Thorofan

If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please write to info at paulickreport.com and include contact information where you may be reached if editorial staff have any questions.

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Letter To The Editor: Illinois Horsemen Need To Wage Legal Battle To Save Arlington

An earlier report includes an article that says Churchill Downs refuses to discuss sale of Arlington Park for racing purposes, rebuffing several overtures by horsemen groups. They want the place redeveloped for another purpose only.

Read that aggregation from reporting by Thoroughbred Daily News here.

Isn't it time for Chicago horsemen to go to court and get an injunction against CD, which has shown total disregard for AP's horsemen and their livelihoods?

When they purchased Arlington Park from Richard Duchossois, it was with the intent of making AP a great racetrack, expanded to include casino gambling when it became available. That ship sailed while Churchill refused to undertake the opportunity to build a casino when given, and now they want to raze yet another great historic racetrack.

Mr. D rebuilt this track from the ground up after a devastating fire in 1985. Anyone who has visited there knows it is a first class facility, with great and historic racing. The Arlington Million comes to mind, with John Henry — now demoted by Churchill to the Arlington 600K. Or the brilliant Dr. Fager's (still standing) mile world record [in the 1968 Washington Park Handicap].

Chicagoland has already lost Sportsman's Park. Hawthorne cannot carry the year-round load. It is time for the government to step in – anti-trust, anti-competition, find something to prevent yet another racetrack from being torn down.

Lament for Hollywood Park, Bay Meadows, Rockingham, Suffolk Downs, Aksarben, Hialeah, Calder, and a dozen other tracks now gone the way of the buffalo. Don't let AP be another casualty: not without a fight. CD is a merciless competitor who has forgotten its origins – more interested in making money than in preserving the industry that gave them rise.

–Frank Ingrassia, racing fan, retired software developer of handicapping products The Horse Expert and SQL Performance Analyzer

If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please write to info at paulickreport.com and include contact information where you may be reached if editorial staff have any questions.

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Letter To The Editor: Racing Officials, Investigators Need To Be Accountable For Their Mistakes

“Ganas…all we need is ganas.”

-Jaime Escalante, Stand and Deliver

Pretty simple words to say, but much harder to truly live by, and the racing industry is at the point now where it needs to truly not only say these words, but to live them.

(The Spanish word “ganas” translates in English to “desire.”)

If we look around rulings made by stewards and/or racing commissions, we often see cases that are overturned on appeal (either at the commission level of the public court level). Many times it can all be due to a technicality or a lack of proper work being done on the part of the investigators.

Sometimes rulings or decisions are made with no obvious basis in legal reasoning (as many have argued in the ongoing saga of the “Justify” positive case that is on its way to the courts). More baffling is when we see no proper investigative work being done at all. Look no further than the bizarre case out of Louisiana, where a groom was sanctioned for stealing a prohibited compounded medication from a trainers barn, yet the stewards never even decided to do a search of the trainer's barn to look for possible other illegal substances. No action was ever even taken against the trainer in the case.

(Read more about the Louisiana case here.)

We cannot blame defense attorneys for getting their clients' cases dismissed on these premises, for that is their job. You can, however, hold the investigators and stewards more accountable for not thoroughly investigating and prosecuting cases. Do the job right and the loopholes disappear. (Yes, I know this will not be true in every single case, but it will be for a vast majority of them.) No fan, new or old, will tolerate such incompetence at times when their gambling dollars are on the line.

I will admit I do not have all the answers to fix this problem, but routine requirements such as a mandatory level of training and continuing education are an easy basic start. Perhaps all those who are stewards, investigators, and commission members should be held to the “Kranz Dictum” that went out from NASA flight director Gene Kranz after the tragic Apollo 1 launchpad fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee in 1967:

“From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: “Tough” and “Competent.” Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write “Tough and Competent” on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.”

Simply replace some of those space related terms with racing locations, and the names of the astronauts with the names of the horses and humans who have died because of lack of giving 100%, and the dictum more than fits for racing.

It should be mandatory that all stewards, investigators, and commission members to have “Tough” and “Competent” written in places where they can always see it, shouldn't it? It probably should be mandatory for all participants in the racing industry. All it takes to make this happen is “ganas.”

–Dr. Bryan Langlois, past president of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, board of directors of Animal Care PA and Thorofan

If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please write to info at paulickreport.com and include contact information where you may be reached if editorial staff have any questions.

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