Dear Breeders Cup People...

[bdw0617]

I remember my very first breeders cup experience. I was 20 years old (I think). It was the year pleasantly perfect won the breeders cup. I was starting my first business at the time and I was looking for something to do on a Saturday and I saw horse racing. I was the definition of a causal fan at the time, I liked racing but it was never on. IT was on this particular day and i Had nothing else to do so I watched


What I Remember about it more than anything that day was not only the level of horse racing, but the pageantry was outstanding. The all purple saddle clothes. Race after race after race being the best of the best horses. At the time I was 20 freaking years old and I was glued to the TV.


Somewhere along the lines, someone decided that horse racing had to become start catering to the younger crowd. And someone decided that to do this horse racing had to become more "hip".


Horse racing trying to become more hip is like, my 75 year old grandfather coming by and blaring the new Jay Z CD in his new Crysler 300 on 20 inch rims, to show me that he "gets me" and that he's Hip"


I have 3 issues with this.


1. It's embarrassing. Whatever happened to the breeders cup theme music why do you have to get special. If it were not the breeders cup classic and I had not had so much interested in the race I would have changed the TV channel the second that bullshit call to post rock star guy got up there with that bullshit. whoever came up with that idea ought to be fired, then hanged, drawn and quartered on the spot. That is quite possibly the worst idea in horse racing I've ever seen and we are talking about a sport that thinks its perfectly fine to run the vast majority of their races when their patrons are at work.

While I have always had a mini crush on kristin chenoweth from the west wing days, please just stick to a traditional call to post.


Just stop trying. Even as a 20 year old African american I could appreciate the pageantry and the class of the Breeders Cup for what it was.

Which brings me to my next point


2. You still don't get it. When we say you need to cater to a younger audience, we don't mean play urban music and guitars at the breeders cup. That's like me saying my dad needs to do a better job of communicating with me and he deciding the best way to communicate with me is to go on a weekend drinking binge with me. Since that's what I like to do (I don't lol i'm just saying)

You don't connect to the younger audience playing loud music and having people who have nothing to do with horse racing give out trophies. You do so by simply, not belittling young people who want to be interested in racing. That's all you have to do.

Racing on its own merit, can sale itself to the young generation. The problem is that when most young people show any interest, they are shooed away and belittled. Told they are stupid. Told they are broke. Told they don't know anything because they don't come from a horse family or they don't train horses. It has nothing to do with the type of music or the people associated with racing. I remember, on this very forum no less, when I first got interested in horse racing I would ask questions, that to me were honest questions and half the responses were basically telling me to go find another hobby. that's the problem with horse racing connecting with the younger crowd

You need a shift in mindset and to be more welcoming, not louder music and movie stars.



3. The pageantry IS the point of horse racing. And you're taking it away. I miss the purple saddle clothes.I miss Tom Durkin's voice over the loud speaker it was so much more dramatic. Even the classic i feel is called like a good allowance race at Monmouth now. "War Chant is FLYING UP THE OUTSIDE" there will never be that moment as long as Larry is calling the races.

The point being, I don't come to, nor does anyone come to horse racing looking for hip and cool. The pageantry is the point. Dressing up, being classy, doing classy people stuff. That's the point.



I just don't like the direction horse racing in general is going trying to market the sport. It's like they are seriously missing the boat.

[FOS]

hi bdw0617

Re: your Dear Breeders Cup People commentary/post...

...Bravo for sharing what certainly seem to be heartfelt life's experiences/thoughts/suggestions/concerns/issues from a guy who genuinely cares, you.

Best to ya.

Respectfully

[Whirlaway]

I remember my very first breeders cup experience. I was 20 years old (I think). It was the year pleasantly perfect won the breeders cup. I was starting my first business at the time and I was looking for something to do on a Saturday and I saw horse racing. I was the definition of a causal fan at the time, I liked racing but it was never on. IT was on this particular day and i Had nothing else to do so I watched


What I Remember about it more than anything that day was not only the level of horse racing, but the pageantry was outstanding. The all purple saddle clothes. Race after race after race being the best of the best horses. At the time I was 20 freaking years old and I was glued to the TV.


Somewhere along the lines, someone decided that horse racing had to become start catering to the younger crowd. And someone decided that to do this horse racing had to become more "hip".


Horse racing trying to become more hip is like, my 75 year old grandfather coming by and blaring the new Jay Z CD in his new Crysler 300 on 20 inch rims, to show me that he "gets me" and that he's Hip"


I have 3 issues with this.


1. It's embarrassing. Whatever happened to the breeders cup theme music why do you have to get special. If it were not the breeders cup classic and I had not had so much interested in the race I would have changed the TV channel the second that bullshit call to post rock star guy got up there with that bullshit. whoever came up with that idea ought to be fired, then hanged, drawn and quartered on the spot. That is quite possibly the worst idea in horse racing I've ever seen and we are talking about a sport that thinks its perfectly fine to run the vast majority of their races when their patrons are at work.

While I have always had a mini crush on kristin chenoweth from the west wing days, please just stick to a traditional call to post.


Just stop trying. Even as a 20 year old African american I could appreciate the pageantry and the class of the Breeders Cup for what it was.

Which brings me to my next point


2. You still don't get it. When we say you need to cater to a younger audience, we don't mean play urban music and guitars at the breeders cup. That's like me saying my dad needs to do a better job of communicating with me and he deciding the best way to communicate with me is to go on a weekend drinking binge with me. Since that's what I like to do (I don't lol i'm just saying)

You don't connect to the younger audience playing loud music and having people who have nothing to do with horse racing give out trophies. You do so by simply, not belittling young people who want to be interested in racing. That's all you have to do.

Racing on its own merit, can sale itself to the young generation. The problem is that when most young people show any interest, they are shooed away and belittled. Told they are stupid. Told they are broke. Told they don't know anything because they don't come from a horse family or they don't train horses. It has nothing to do with the type of music or the people associated with racing. I remember, on this very forum no less, when I first got interested in horse racing I would ask questions, that to me were honest questions and half the responses were basically telling me to go find another hobby. that's the problem with horse racing connecting with the younger crowd

You need a shift in mindset and to be more welcoming, not louder music and movie stars.



3. The pageantry IS the point of horse racing. And you're taking it away. I miss the purple saddle clothes.I miss Tom Durkin's voice over the loud speaker it was so much more dramatic. Even the classic i feel is called like a good allowance race at Monmouth now. "War Chant is FLYING UP THE OUTSIDE" there will never be that moment as long as Larry is calling the races.

The point being, I don't come to, nor does anyone come to horse racing looking for hip and cool. The pageantry is the point. Dressing up, being classy, doing classy people stuff. That's the point.



I just don't like the direction horse racing in general is going trying to market the sport. It's like they are seriously missing the boat.

~

I'm not certain, but likely the folks producing the Breeders' Cup are a generation or two removed from the current generation - the programming is indicative of their values. How could anyone think a song written in 1959 - The Best Is Yet To Come - could be appealing 54 YEARS LATER! You gotta be jokin' me right? And I believe that is the Classic Theme Song! Get in the game! That little ol' gal did the best she could with it, but song doesn't fit. Last year it was Tony Bennett, I believe he was 86 years old at the time.

I agree with you with respect to the rock and roll star coming on . . . soon as I saw that, I tuned out and came back when the race started. Another example of the lack of understanding of what is current. Who was that guy anyways? And announcer Tom Hammond, thirty years as announcer. Can't they find a fresh face? And Neumier and that guy with the funny voice who calls the races somewheres in Kentucky - get those two out of there! And who was that young guy with the pink jacket? Once again, the programming is indicative of the values of those doing the programming. Get some new producers.

I have to respectfully disagree about the pageantry. Sure, its always been the blue bloods showcasing their horses and their celeb followers, but the game has always been about the horses. Without the horses, no game. Without the fans betting billions and billions of dollars, the game would die. And its always been the casual fan, the rail bird, that has made this game great. The every day fan, the cigar smoking, cigar chompin' fan', the fan of the great generation.

They are nearing the end of their time now, the great generation. They made the sport great and we owe them a debt of great gratitude. It has been difficult for me, but I have come to realize, understand and accept, the game will never be the same without them.

It was fun to watch the ol' timer and the horse - Gary Stevens and Mucho Macho Man - they made the Breeders' Cup great.

[Kari]

They are nearing the end of their time now, the great generation. They made the sport great and we owe them a debt of great gratitude. It has been difficult for me, but I have come to realize, understand and accept, the game will never be the same without them.

I started following horse racing in 1987, and the pageantry oozed through the TV screen. I literally FELT that it was "the sport of Kings." I can understand why NBC tries to work in celebrities and pseudo-celebrities during the telecasts. My 13-year old daughter views anyone that shows up on TV or on a magazine cover as "royalty," even though adults know better. There's hundreds of television channels available now that weren't around 30 years ago, and we now have reality shows, talk shows, and worthless shows that give everyone their 15 seconds of fame. I know now that being on TV doesn't mean you're famous or powerful or a celebrity, but my daughter and her friends haven't grasped that yet. That's the difference between the generations, I guess.
For the record, the man in the pink/salmon jacket, Billy Bush, is a waste of good oxygen. His sole purpose is to feed the machine that promotes the idea of ALL people that get on TV or in magazines are something to look up to. I wish Paynter would have got a hold of him for the cameras.

[bdw0617]

Tom Hammond looks like someone just threw a butch of baking powder on his face and put him in front of a TV. Dude looks half dead. Like seriously they need a new face

My point being, i don't want my horse racing to be current. That's the point. I want my horse racing to be about what it's about. it's the oldest sport int he country. When I tune into horse racing I don't want them to try to mesh the two worlds. I want to be submerged into that one. That's the point.

[ides of ice]

We need to get NBC out of the picture-there coverage is an insult to the sport.

[bdw0617]

I would love NBC if they would go to the pre guitar playing NBC coverage. their old coverage of the Breeders cup was outstanding.

[ides of ice]

ABC was better for the Derby...

[Mahubah]

ABC was better for the Derby...

Second that. I really miss Jim McKay and Charlsie Cantey. Best part of the NBC coverage IMO is Donna Barton doing the on-track interviews -- she knows what it's like to ride a race and she asks good questions about the running, not the canned how-do-you-feel stuff.

[steward]

Broadcasts necessarily will be a compromise between hipness and tradition, simply in order to gain the biggest ratings possible. I have no problem with it. Huge events get huge because people perceive that something important is happening, and if cool and important celebrities are shown at big horse racing events, they invariably will attain that facade. As far as I'm concerned, there needs to be MORE scenes that show attendees having a blast, and I would make it an emphasis.

The problem was NBC's execution of it. The horse racing aspects have become too formulaic, their announcers are not appealing, and the entertainment segments were mostly cringe-inducing. Sure, any network will use these sort of affairs to promote their own primetime program stars, but this version of it was a fail.

[Strategic Maneuver]

Tom Hammond looks like someone just threw a butch of baking powder on his face and put him in front of a TV. Dude looks half dead. Like seriously they need a new face

My point being, i don't want my horse racing to be current. That's the point. I want my horse racing to be about what it's about. it's the oldest sport int he country. When I tune into horse racing I don't want them to try to mesh the two worlds. I want to be submerged into that one. That's the point.

Well said throughout this post. Couldn't agree more.

[reenci]

the real stinker moment for me was the call to the post with a guitar ? oh my god was that TERRIBLE

[Matchemforever]

Infotainment TV. It has become the formula. It's even half of what used to be serious news anymore. Spoon fed to the public and an industry wondering why viewers are turned off. They feel they have to program everything to the lowest common denominator and that low point any more is frivolous interviews of people who are allegedly "stars"- never mind the stars of the show are the horses and the people who work with them.

NBC really missed it on this one. The story was there, last years runner up, Gary Stevens, and Ritvo. I don't need them to get smarmy about it, but here was the human interest side- and they missed it.

And I really don't need to hear everyone give us their picks. Lets cover the horses and the race. And instead of watching all of the fluff, why didn't they show a replay of the Mile? The Distaff? Didn't they show the mile last year?

One gets the impression that very little thought or production value went into this one. All the pre-production was taken up with cutesy stuff, rather than any relevant content.

[reenci]

agreed...telecast SUCKED

[Whirlaway]

Infotainment TV. It has become the formula. It's even half of what used to be serious news anymore. Spoon fed to the public and an industry wondering why viewers are turned off. They feel they have to program everything to the lowest common denominator and that low point any more is frivolous interviews of people who are allegedly "stars"- never mind the stars of the show are the horses and the people who work with them.

NBC really missed it on this one. The story was there, last years runner up, Gary Stevens, and Ritvo. I don't need them to get smarmy about it, but here was the human interest side- and they missed it.

And I really don't need to hear everyone give us their picks. Lets cover the horses and the race. And instead of watching all of the fluff, why didn't they show a replay of the Mile? The Distaff? Didn't they show the mile last year?

One gets the impression that very little thought or production value went into this one. All the pre-production was taken up with cutesy stuff, rather than any relevant content.

~
Hear, hear and well written.

That was the story and the network missed it - Stevens and Ritvo and of course the horse, Mucho Macho Man. Stevens demonstrating the heart of the old timer coming back, Ritvo displaying the determination and courage to come back after her heart transplant and the heart Mucho Macho Man displayed to win the big one against foes that had defeated him in earlier races - it was a story of heart.

Don't know that I'm surprised the network missed it as likely those producing the program have had little to do with or have little understanding of the heart of the game.

I took a look at the ratings and found the ratings were down 43% from last year. "On NBC The Breeder's Cup notched a 0.4 adults 18-49 rating down 43 percent from last year's 0.7." I took a look further back and found the rating was 1.2 for 2011 and 3.1 for 2010 - dismal and trending downward. NO doubt the elite programmers have seen the trend - why not change the structure of the programming? They gotta be the best of the best doin' this stuff, what could they possibly be missing?

From the data, celebrities don't increase the viewing share. How about we make it easy, How about the right celebrities. The gal that played on Seabiscuit, Elizabeth Banks, she has the right stuff, she has worked with horses and she is fun to listen to and is quite appealing. Why not bring Jeff Bridges in, he co-starred with her in the movie. Pincay Jr. he is good, Jerry Bailey, good . . . more of the jockeys and their stories, more of the trainer and their stories, more of the horses and their stories and most importantly, what about the regular fans, us guys, the rail bird, cigar chompin' regular fans - don't see many of the regular fans being interviewed. Why not? Easy to understand. Those doin' the programming don't share the same values, they aren't the regular fan, don't understand the regular fan and don't believe the regular fan can up the ratings - rating couldn't be any worse - why not give the fan responsible for the growth of the sport some rightfully earned air time? How about interviewing a WW II veteran who was around when horse racing was hoss' racin', everyone loves a veteran, now don't they? Too easy. How about a salute and a tribute to the veterans who attended the races back in the hoss' racin' days . . .

They've got a whole year, we'll see what they come up with.