SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, January 14, 2013--Ray Paulick wrote a piece sparked by coming across an old issue of Daily Racing Form. As are many relics of time gone by, it spurned a nostalgic reflection and a look at how numbers from 25 years ago—a boon of sorts for horse racing—matched against today’s.
Naturally, the reader comments started to take on the usual tenor banging on casinos, banging on VLTs, banging on Beyer Speed Figures, banging on Daily Racing Form. And, to a certain extent, they had a point. How many columns have we written here about what we would do to “better the sport”? How often do we read these fix-it columns?
Writing about the game I ask myself every week: what would I like to see happen? What can happen? Where does my optimism lie? I just don’t know.
I think it was Jesus who once said, “Pick a man a winner, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to handicap and he becomes a degenerate and starves for life.” True story.
The concern on growth of the sport has grown tiresome. At what point do you look in the mirror and say, ‘No amount of exercise will ever make me look as good as I once was … or good at all.’ There is such a thing—a lost art, mind you—of aging gracefully.
Horses do this better than anyone.
The best thing tracks and betting facilities can do for the game of horse racing is to treat its current customers like Saudi Arabian princes. I’m talking rock star treatment. I’m talking booth ready, beer cold, Racing Form still warm, pencil sharpened kind of treatment.
Think about it. For as much complaining as horse players, horse media, everyone short of the horses do, they still come back and play the early double and take a crack at the Pick 5 or 6. Perhaps that’s the reason horse players don’t get the treatment they deserve: they come back no matter what. It’s like the fruits of Tantalus or a self-esteem starved spouse.
Real growth of the sport will only come from empowering the loyal base. All the talk about new promotion and jazzed up TV coverage, and night racing are nice. Boutique meets remind us that—when it tries—horse racing can still turn a head or two. It’s the “after” picture in “The Biggest Loser.” The rest of the year is the sorry backslide.
Slam dunk customer service is the only way to stand out in today’s climate of automation, Indian phone reps, and consumer disenfranchisement.
It’s very “horse racing” to look to the past to forecast the future. After all, the game’s fundamental tenets rely entirely on what happened so that we may determine the future.
Because horse racing is a sport, marketers study other sports. Makes sense on the surface, but it doesn’t translate. The best models have to be other customer service-driven businesses.
Provide a winning bettor experience and the sport will survive just fine. Southwest Airlines has great service, open seating, and no baggage fees. Specialty running stores fit people properly for footwear. The best restaurants provide a winning experience from the host, to the servers, to the back of the house.
Then, and only then, will its image change and, more importantly, people’s attitude change toward it.
Follow Brendan O'Meara on Twitter @BrendanOMeara.
15 Jan 2013 at 09:53 am | #
The above written like a true turf writer; one who apparently has little regard or understanding of how businesses achieve financial success.
But first, Hey-suse is wrong: I learned to handicap; am a degenerate, lowlife horseplayer, and was told by my doctor just yesterday that I should lose five or so pounds; thus I am not starving yet.
The first rule is to know the business one is in, and horseracing is not a sport by any stretch of the imagination.
The second rule is to inform and make the potential customers want what is being offered, be it a product or a service.
Quoting ‘real growth of the sport (ugh) will only come from empowering the loyal base’. What company, expecting success, is content to merely maintain their base; where is the growth? how will newbies be attracted (not from providing me with fine food, papers, and sharp pencils).
Quoting ‘all the talk about new promotions and jazzed up TV coverage’ ....How can any business on this planet expect success without new promotions and TV coverage directed at the unknowing?
BTW, I don’t believe Southwest Airlines, Specialty stores, or five-star restaurants are in the gambling business; how studying these business models will translate to improving Thoroughbred racing’s lot makes about as much sense as having a college president who has never wagered on a pony, owned a pony, or steppd in doo doo on the backstretch be chairman of NYRA’s board.
Yup, your a turf writer, one who I suppose measures the success of a Saturday’s race card by the all-source handle, giving no credence to the fact that the handle failed to even come close to covering the race card’s purses.
15 Jan 2013 at 11:47 am | #
1. Yes, I said horse racing is NOT like the other sports.
2. I think by addressing the loyal base with what they want—more than what they want—they would bring more people into it. Right or wrong? Did you stumble into horse racing or were you introduced to it? I was introduced to it.
What good are new promotions and jazzed up TV coverage if the customer service isn’t fit to serve cockroaches?
I couldn’t give a damn about all-source handle. When have I ever cited handle? I haven’t even referred to it with irony. That’s how little I care about handle.
Southwest sure as hell is in the gambling business. Any time you pump an aircraft full of fuel and launch it into the air, that’s a bet I have a hard time placing every time I get groped by an overweight, middle-aged, male TSA agent with 8-hour-old blue latex gloves.
Looking at businesses that aren’t on the side of the majority sounds exactly like the ones to model.
15 Jan 2013 at 02:33 pm | #
Mr. O’Meara: I don’t follow what you mean by writing that ‘horse racing is NOT like other sports’. Of course horseracing isn’t, but it ain’t a sport neither. Take away the ability to gamble on the nags, and you should immediately realize that horseracing wouldn’t be of interest to anyone.
Is it up to the ‘loyal base’ (that’s me, Alice) to ‘bring more people into it’? Will I get paid for doing such? Racing associations should not be depending on me, my group of sharpies, you, and other ‘loyal base’ gamblers to do the work of the racing associations.
Did I stumble into racing, you ask? My first visit to a racetrack was a couple of centuries ago; if I remember correctly, the year was 1958, and three characters where I worked induced me to go with them to either Lincoln Downs or Narragansett Park. I made money that day, and almost quit my job, thinking I had found the easy life.
You seem to allude to customer service as being far more important than promotion of Thoroughbred racing. Sure, I do appreciate decent food and beverage, clean facilities, and courteous employees; however, if you ‘hit’ the early double, cashed on a win ticket in the third, and were a few bucks ahead, would you now really care about peripheral amenities going into the fourth race?
The cry (I like cri de coeur) for improved customer service comes from losers!
How you coincide Southwest Airlines as being in the gambling business leaves me wondering ......
15 Jan 2013 at 03:47 pm | #
Well done, B. Customer service will keep the base coming back instead of possibly playing poker on line or, worse, sit transfixed in front of a VLT. Further, if a satisfied customer has something to brag about, something that also happens to be his passion, he could be the world’s best recruiter.
People today will only spend (read gamble) their money, when they’re getting their money’s worth of entertainment. Aside from professional bettors (which make up what, 2,3 percent of the population) gamblers want to be entertained and appreciated (comped in some form or another).
As for WMC, don’t allow him to push your buttons. He will never acknowledge a point fairly made, only one that is in line with his own opinion.
(And, yes, the beat does go on. Where’s the Cat when you really need him? Probably trying to handicap Jodie Foster’s Golden Globe PPs is my guess).
15 Jan 2013 at 04:00 pm | #
wmcorrow
what was the takeout in 1958? pehaps 10%?
wpuld ypu still have made money that day if it was 20%, like today’s average takeout?
brendan
I think what you’re saying makes sense.
I do agree with wmc about the gambling. tracks need to advertise the fact that some people win a lot of money - at least sometimes.
15 Jan 2013 at 05:06 pm | #
The key to having an intelligent discussion about different perks that the Track should hand out requires a detailed knowledge of how the revenue is distributed. Prior to my my “activism” I had no idea how things worked.
In a perfect world horse racing could get a “Do Over” for the last 30 years starting with the ADW’s and moving on from there.
15 Jan 2013 at 06:24 pm | #
The ‘thread’ in the commentary from Mr. O’Meara and Mr. Pricci is customer service. I’m all for improved customer service. However, I find myself asking just what customer service has to do with racing’s decline when well over 90% of all wagering is off-track. Duh?
Where does customer service become relevant when one is wagering from his living room; while being handed a Foster’s on a yacht two naughtical miles south of Bermuda; or working an Ipad, Iphone, Ipod, or ‘I’ this or that in an air-conditioned room on the 25th floor of a Vegas mega-hotel, as your trophy showers.
The ‘base’ (us lowlife regulars) are dwindling, and any newbie isn’t thinking about customer service, but how to make money; or it’s back to the casino.
______
Isn’t that amazing! Jodie Foster and Foster’s beer.
15 Jan 2013 at 07:00 pm | #
One element of customer service is constantly updated information. A Tampa tweet the other day on its closed circuit feed was amazing” Paraphrasing, “the track has been watered and horses making late outside moves will have a better chance now,” or words to that effect.
Conversely, at Gulstream, there was late information about a horse--about the seventh race or so but certainly after there was a quarter-million bet into the Rainbow carryover pool and if it was ekither re Lasix or equipment; both being significant--too late to help bettors, including those betting from home. The point: Poor customer service can result in reduced betting, or worse.
15 Jan 2013 at 08:20 pm | #
B, What no link? I have to google the Paulick Report myself?
Two dollar DRF’s then and now $7, now thats bad customer service. Ray got it wrong, the boon of horseracing was 40 years ago with the legend of Secretariat, then Seattle Slew and Affirmed. With no TC winner in 34 years to carry the torch the boon went bust.
With Rick Dutrow Jr. so much in the news lately I’ve had this FATHER AND SON relationship thing on my mind. My father would would take me to the track when I was a child and my love for horses began. When it was my time to take my son with me to the track I did. Great bonding opportunity. Unfortunately I have not had that TC moment at the Belmont Stakes with my son like my dad had with me...yet.
And now for my “Jodie Foster” coming out speech…
Horseracing is a SPORT and will always be a sport Alice. If it is not then why do more fans show up at the Belmont Stakes when a TC is on the line?
Yeah, whatever happened to aging gracefully??? Anyone going to take their son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter with them to the track anytime soon? We need the young newbies.
The beat goes on…
Father
It’s not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
You’re still young, that’s your fault,
There’s so much you have to know.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy.
I was once like you are now, and I know that it’s not easy,
To be calm when you’ve found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you’ve got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.
Son
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.
It’s always been the same, same old story.
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.
Now there’s a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.
Father
It’s not time to make a change,
Just sit down, take it slowly.
You’re still young, that’s your fault,
There’s so much you have to go through.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy.
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore it.
If they were right, I’d agree, but it’s them you know not me.
Now there’s a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go…
15 Jan 2013 at 10:11 pm | #
wmcorrow: I usually agree with your comments but in one posting you grouped ‘decent food, ‘clean facilities’ and ‘customer service’ with Narragansett Park and Lincoln Downs. What’s next? Darrell Madden in the Hall of Fame?
Give Brendan some credit on this one - OK, maybe partial credit.
16 Jan 2013 at 08:32 am | #
wmcorrow: You’re darn right it’s up to you and other ‘regulars’ to bring in new blood! You may get paid with higher payouts as the newbees get their feet wet and learn the game. Also tracks on the brink of extinction may survive with higher attendance. But it will never happen. People just sit back and bitch on sites like this and nothing changes.
Back in my day working at a racetrack, management wanted suggestions to improve handle and attendance. The only stipulation was that they wouldn’t spend any money to implement the suggestions!
My suggestion was to have a mentoring program, where players would bring a newcomer and would get double their points on a player’s club card for both their wagers and the wagers of their friend. Do you think it was ever implemented? I was rewarded with a layoff after 35 years of employment.
16 Jan 2013 at 09:12 am | #
Rid, so, you thought it was a good idea to screw with the status quo? No wonder you were shown the door. Racetrack execs move slower than Congress. Meanwhile, mentoring program where you could earn points wit a type of Players Club card? Good idea. What are the chances..?
And Cat digs into his recesses with a Cat Stevens tune. Haven’t thought about him in years. Great song, actually.