Promotion vs. Reality

Old school handicappers are openly venting frustration more and more everyday.

Powerful rumblings have been going on within our sport of late, like an earthquake on the horizon, ready to take it all down. It has been boiling beneath the surface, and this week, it became frighteningly active.

Computer Assisted Wagering is attacking that tote board on a daily basis. Huge problem.

The non-transparent scratch of White Abarrio less than 3 minutes before loading in the gate in the Dirt Mile at DelMar culminates in a lawsuit and a shut-out for those who had no time to re-wager. Huge problem.

The "New Owner of the Year Award" was given to Griffin Johnson by the same people who gifted him a 2.5% stake in Sandman because of his social media presence. Embarrassing problem.

Embarrassing on so many levels. For a great synopsis on the backstory, head to Jon Stettin's article at Past The Wire. He lays the groundwork quite well.

I also take umbrage with this award and I believe the entire "social media approach" with creators who have zero knowledge in the sport is a cringe-worthy fiasco that adds fuel to that fire. Words matter in more ways than one.

When I hit that PUBLISH button on any article that provides a race analysis with picks and tips, a summary of a colt's pedigree and distance limitations, and/or advice of any kind that could eventually affect the reader's wallets, I must tell you, the anxiety is through the roof.

When it is right on point, I breathe a sigh of relief - but when it is wrong, it affects me for weeks. Words matter.

When there is a very strong possibility that the posted words may indeed affect someone else's money, it should be about accuracy, not quantity of post views, click counts and demographics.

At first, none of it interested me at all. Then I read the following X post and my head damn near exploded.

"I made {Sandman} the most famous horse in the world. That was my job and I did it." - Griffin

The fact that Griffin sees this as a major accomplishment, one deserving of an award based on "social media name recognition" fractures the very soul of this sport.

In a nutshell, this guy pushed and promoted a horse to thousands upon thousands of people, so much so, that he can confidently claim that he made him the "most famous horse" - in the world, mind you - and this is somehow a huge feather in his cap.

Let's assume this is true based on social media data. Let's also add in a portion of his response directly to me on X.

Cope with this reality, Griffin.

Let's assume that "your wealthy community" also took this famous horse's name right up to those betting windows. Thousands upon thousands of dollars lost based on your promotion for click status, creation content and an award.

Basically, you artificially produced a popular horse with a dismal race record and promoted him for clicks. People lost money backing him because of that. But yeah, you did your job.

That doesn't faze you in the least, does it? They may be wealthy, but the smartest? The "most famous horse in the world" paid your smart community $9.40 for a win bet in one race in his entire career.

A gambler who consistently loses by betting on name recognition as opposed to UNDERSTANDING THE GAME will never be a true patron of the sport. It becomes an illusion, unsustainable, and false. It undermines the sport and makes a mockery of it.

If you believe that they know this name so much and simply sat on the sidelines without betting on that horse because of you, Jimmy Fallon and Metallica, you are sadly mistaken. They all lost, over and over again. But here's your award.

What type of retention will culminate by promoting a colt who lost your casual reader's money over and over again? But yeah, they know Sandman's name. Cool.

When promoting a colt to the betting masses at such a level, you may want to remember that horse racing means putting up money to make a profit. It is not about pushing a name for click bait. That is not a commendable job.

"Trust me, by the time I'm old like the people complaining, I can promise you, I will have plenty of horses under my name." - Griffin

That statement right there will stand to prove that no matter how many horses this guy buys with his social media content earnings, he will never ever understand the true allure and undying commitment of the "OLD PEOPLE" who stood by this sport through generations.

He will never grasp the concept that most every living TRUE horse-player today was influenced to remain committed to it by those who came before them. No amount of social media posts and ridiculous promotion by the Jockey Club will ever override dedication and perseverance of a tradition lasting through decades.

The "old people" take pride in their love of these horses and learned the trade by the "old people" who came before them. They grew up eating pretzels and sipping sodas with their grandparents at seedy tracks across this country.

They were schooled at an early age about fractional times, energy distribution and how to compute profit off of that huge lit-up odds board long before they read their first books. These are the people who keep this sport alive and no amount of viral posts on the internet will ever take that away.

Having horses under one's name would still never nullify the "old people's" influence. We kept it alive for well over a century through TRADITION, no Twitter necessary.

Send your tweets out about the majesty of the sport. The history of it. The beauty of it. That would mean something. People knowing Sandman's name means absolutely nothing.

Good luck to Griffin and his new set of horses. I'm sure they'll make a "social media" splash.

Horse racing is not about being irrelevant in mainstream culture.

It is not about knowing the name of an un-accomplished horse. That is not promoting the sport. That is making a mockery of it.

It is not about Jimmy Fallon or Metallica.

It is not about marketing strategies or social media engagement.

Horse racing is about heart. Soul. Love. Tradition. Respect for those who came before us, both four-legged and two legged.

It is all about hard work, raw dedication, and a commitment to keeping the past alive more than anything. You can't learn that through a post on twitter, you have to feel it running through your veins.

That community will never understand what it truly means to love horse racing.