The Inconvenient truth of Dr Seuss
Real Writing on Racing đŻ
*Reprinted from the defunct Going in Circles Reader October 2000
How Dr Seuss relates to horseracing
The last place that a person would think to look for lessons about horse racing would seem to be classic works of childrenâs literature. Yet the seminal books of Ted Geisel, better know to the world as Dr Seuss, provide many sage words that the leaders of a sport with an uncertain future truly should heed. In light of the latest transgressions by the industryâs biggest name these simple yet poignant quotes eerily highlight ways the game has gone off the tracks.
âUnless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. Itâs just notâ â Dr Seuss
I say this with all due respect to the people that put on the horse racing show on a daily basis. Iâm talking about the worker bees, the backstretch workers, the people who work on the frontside of racetracks or ADWâs, the bettors that show up in person or online. I know you care, I really do. The passion and love for racing of so many is why this great yet flawed business has survived. However I question if many of the leaders of the sport have that same passion or love because it sure doesnât seem like they do to the rest of us. Passing legislation isnât love. Throwing parties and big events isnât love. Dropping stud fees isnât love. Attending the Breeders Cup isnât love. No one loved the game more than the late, great track announcer at Churchill Downs, Luke Kruytbosch. On the day following the Kentucky Derby when everyone else in Louisville would be taking a rest after the long grind of Derby week, Luke would drive up to River Downs to take in a card of Ohio-bred 5000 claimers and hang out with the guys. No one expects everyone to be as passionate about racing as Luke was for that is an impossibly high standard to meet, but if you really care about racing you have to care about the ordinary horses, the less than fancy people and smaller tracks that arenât holding big races too.
âSometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simpleâ â Dr Seuss
Whenever medication violations are revealed, especially when the connections of the offending horse are of the higher profile variety, the response is generally loud yet often misguided. The connections usually rifle off a defense of some sort which are factually accurate though less than compelling. Social media erupts with calls for the head of the trainer to be served up on a platter or fanboy defenses that use suspect deductive reasoning. The difficult and complex reality is that everyone is probably a little bit right and a little bit wrong. The system of medication rules that has been used in North America for years is massively flawed. Not because the technical minutae of the rules vary from state to state but because of the entire premise of how itâs designed. Without going into a long, dull explanation of the mechanics of drug rules lets just say that the holes and weaknesses of the system are often exposed. The names of the medications in question often sound sinister yet are many are hardly performance enhancing, if at all. Having extremely low allowable limits that amount to residual traces that simply donât have much ability to alter the outcome of races is just poor regulation policy. The 6 oâclock news doesnât lead off by announcing who got parking tickets but in racing many of the violations which are akin to minor transgressions are revealed as though they are felonious. That said the biggest training outfits need to do a better job of quality control as itâs a terrible look for the sport for them to get repeated violations with no visible punishment. Itâs a simple answer, write better rules and enforce them fairly and no the current federal bill doesnât qualify. Itâs just larger version of a system of rules that just arenât very effective nor are they focused on the true performance enhancing substances.
âOh the things that you can find if you donât stay behindâ â Dr Seuss
Racing in North America has rarely been ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation on all levels. The way racing is presented on air has changed yet still feels like it lags behind other sports and international jurisdictions in terms of promoting the actual wagering product. We have more mainstream television coverage than we ever have had before. Between NBC covering the Triple Crown races and Breeders Cup as well as other unique events like the Haskell and Royal Ascot, the daily FS1 coverage of NYRA and Churchill, the holdovers including both TVG1 and TVG2 puts a high volume of racing over the airways. In general the networks do a good job covering the actual races despite sometimes getting a little too cute with camera angles during the race. Itâs the lack of focus on betting strategy or the TVG philosophy of non-wagering experts putting up terribly constructed tickets on every race that isnât helping move the sport forward. Perhaps this isnât easy to do and still keep the telecasts âentertainment valueâ, I donât know. However letâs not forget where the revenue that keeps horse racing going comes from and misinforming those who are providing those dollars is a bigger sin that not educating them in the first place.
âThey say Iâm old fashioned and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast â Dr Seuss
Racing is often accused of not modernizing itself or changing to meet differing times which in a way is both true and false. The actual mechanics of the running of the race; paddock saddling, walking ring, post parade, loading in gate and running to the wire is virtually the same as it was 100 years ago. What could be changed to improve on that? Well frankly I canât think of any major changes that would. The push to eliminate the riding crop (lets be clear, thatâs what this movement is about) is where progress is progressing too fast. The core of racingâs existence is competition, to essentially see whose horse is fastest. Lately I have seen the word encouragement used as a negative in regards to riding crop or whip use which is a strange concept. The idea of strictly enforced regulations that allows the jockey to do his or her job safely and at the same time protects the horses from over-aggressive use is what should be the goal. What we are getting from the regulators with baffling encouragement from some segments of the industry with seemingly no input from jockeys or bettors, isnât that. The idea of societal changes impacting modern sport is not a novel concept. Going overboard and financially damaging your product, aggravating your customer base and generally confusing everyone with no actual, tangible benefit is very typical of modern day racing.
âWhen you are in a slump, youâre not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily doneâ â Dr Seuss
California horse racing Iâm talking to youâŚ
âThink left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks that you can think up if you only try!â â Dr Seuss
Sometimes when we talk about the lack of innovation or forward thinking in racing we assume that itâs about the customer experience or betting menu or something of that nature. While it is true that those areas could use some enhancement one issue that doesnât get addressed is the huge talent distribution issue on the backsides of Americaâs tracks. Oh sure there is hand wringing about super trainers but itâs usually in the category of âyeah itâs a problem but we canât do anything about itâ. One of the biggest flaws in the way American racing is structured is that there is no department of research and development, a lab where smart, passionate people are looking to develop innovative ideas that can solve or temper issues from a less than direct angle. Where Iâm going with this is that condition books and the way races and schedules are written has changed over the years to the advantage of the big outfits and is not only squeezing the smaller players out, its leading to a less than ideal wagering product. At this years (2020) Jockey Club Roundtable conference, Sal Sinatra of the Stronach Group laid out an outline of a different model of classifying horses that can reduce the number of claiming races and better utilize the horse population. This system which is meant to increase field size and competitiveness, protect owners investments by not forcing them to race for claiming prices and reduces the power of large outfits as they wouldnât be able to systematically control classes of races by using sheer volume. Industry reaction to that system? Crickets. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different resultsâŚ
I will leave you with one last quote from the legendary Dr Seuss and this one is straight from the people whose voices racing leaders just arenât hearing, the ones who are just walking away from our great sport.
âBeing crazy isnât enoughâ - Dr Seuss
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You've eloquently expounded on most of the troubles currently afflicting our beloved sport! The "drugging and medications" regulations certainly need overhauling. The flaws in these regulations have not gone unnoticed by many, including some of the stongest jurisdictions ( think NYRA, CDI and Stronach group) who capitalize on those flaws to camouflage their own shortcomings by fining,suspending and villifying top trainers for the dubious offence if getting too many "parking tickets". Holding these "offences" up as being in the same league as the "druggers "and "cheaters" is as dishonest as classifying parking tickets with criminal offences such as DUIs or Dangerous driving causing death. These actions seem to be meant to show that these jurisdictions are serious in their "War on Drugs and Cheating", at least to the public .They would certainly do better to press for changes in the regulations ...but then they'd have to get their own operations in order.
I'm also dumbfounded that regulators have decided to regulate or eliminate crop use. This is much like telling automobile drivers that they can only use a steering wheel that goes part way around . When jockeys cannot properly control and guide their mounts, only negative consequences can be expected. This notion that crop use some how "hurts" the horse is utter nonsense. Just check out that horsehide baseball glove to see how much thicker it is than human skin.
Thankyou for a wonderful and thought provoking piece!
Fantastic