Showing posts with label Jess Jackson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jess Jackson. Show all posts

July 2, 2010

Appearance Fees in Racing?

Money, money, money.

It happens in tennis, it happens in golf. In fact it happens wherever a person of celebrity desires to pocket a buck at the expense of an event organizer who is more than happy to make the expensive hand out in order to glamorize their show. Now we can add one miss Rachel Alexandra to the list of celebrity cash grabbers.


Is it right, or is it wrong for the Rachel Alexandra ownership to run their star at a track, and at a race, only when the purse is significantly raised ?

It seems to me the idea of appearance fees is Capitalism 101. If the celebrity, or in this case, the owners of the celebrity, are willing to decide where they will appear based on cash, and the event organizers, in this case, a racetrack, are grinning ear-to-ear with their agreement, who are we to say the agreement, rooted in American capitalism, is wrong?

OK, so it is acceptable for a celeb to make some dough by availing themselves to their fans in our chosen form of economics, but what about on the athletic landscape? Doesn’t this smack of forgetting the competition just to assure the attendance of one of the competitors? Doesn’t this lessen the importance of the actual competition? Well, yes and no. In golf, when Tiger Woods is paid $2 million to play in a tournament, while the winner of the tournament gets a measly $650,000, then yes, I apply pressure with my thumb and index finger directly to both nostrils. When the appearance fee is paid regardless of performance, it belittles the event. Does Tiger Woods have as much to play for as Joe in-the-field Golfer? Of course not, he already got his.

Is this a worry in racing? No. Two big reasons why it is different. First off, Rachel does not know of cash. She will run just the same regardless of her owner’s bankbook. Secondly, this appearance fee is the good kind in sports. Jess Jackson is not being paid only to show up, he is being paid when Rachel wins. Many would say, knowing her brilliance, that these two things are the same. Maybe so, but the truth is the extra purse money is out there for all.

Who are the losers as a result of this deal? Not team Rachel. Not Monmouth Park. Not the fans of the sport. We now get to see Rachel, and know ahead of time where we can see her. Also with the purse hike, it should attract at least as good a field as we would have seen in the Ruffian Stakes. Perhaps the losers are NYRA and their elite meet of Saratoga. To them I say, check your Econ textbooks. Monmouth won, fair and square. Besides, Saratoga should still host another Rachel race before their meet is done. Perhaps the American Graded Stakes system is a loser. Monmouth’s Lady’s Secret is ungraded, now rich, but still ungraded. Saratoga’s Ruffian is a grade 1. This may actually only hurt Rachel’s resume, while benefiting the Ruffian winner.

In the end, I am not against this devilish deal between the good people at Monmouth Park and Rachel’s owner, Jess Jackson. It takes nothing away from our sport, even if somewhere Gordon Gekko is smiling.

This matter is the topic du jour for the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance http://www.tbablogs.com/, please check out their main page to find numerous other points-of-view. Some not nearly so kind to JJ as I am.

June 7, 2010

To Rachel or not to Rachel

That is the question.  I am heading down to Churchill Downs this Saturday for two somewhat disproportionate reasons; to see what should be a strong edition of the Stephen Foster Handicap, and to get my first glimpse of Rachel Alexandra this year. Sure the Foster is a big race, but truth be told, this is a Rachel trip. But will I see her?  Trying to get info out of Jess Jackson can be tougher than hitting a two-iron to an island green. The Foster, the Fleur de Lis, (both at Churchill on Saturday) the Ogden Phipps, and the Obeah Stakes, have all been mentioned as possible starts for my heroine. Secretive to a fault, Jackson leaves us with four races, three tracks, and two regions of the nation where she may appear in five days. Come on Jess, tell me, will I see her?
***The remainder of today's column can be found on Youbet.com*** Click Here

August 26, 2009

And Her Next Race is ...

I’ve been waiting. We all have been waiting. The Alabama, The Travers, The Woodward, The Personal Ensign, or The Pennsylvania Derby all seemingly or supposedly had a chance to attract the mega-star filly. Turf writers, like myself, Rachel Alexandra’s legions of fans, and pretty much anyone connected to a horse that was considering any one of those five races were waiting. Tick-tock Jess Jackson, tick-tock. Why must you make us wait so long? Don’t you know we just want to see her run?

Finally, we have an answer.

Rachel could not run in the Pennsylvania Derby. Come on! Philadelphia Park or Saratoga? No offense to Philadelphia Park and it certainly would have been different if she had already raced at Saratoga. She was stabled all Summer at the Spa, she needed to race at this venerable race place.

Rachel could not run in the Alabama. Her races against 3-year-old fillies have been so ridiculously easy that no one interested in competitive horse racing wanted to see that again. As it turned out, Careless Jewel would have been the most competition that she would have faced within her division, but Rachel rightly will not run in a 3-year-old filly race ever again.

Rachel could not run in the Personal Ensign. The older mare division, save one, is frankly a little boring to me. If there is no Zenyatta, then there is no reason for Rachel to be running against the older females. By the way, if Zenyatta had come to Saratoga for the Personal Ensign, then it would have become my first choice.

Rachel could have run in the Travers, but… there is the matter of her stablemate, Kensei. It would have been fun to see her in the Mid-Summer Derby. One mile and a quarter, and one more chance to prove that she is the best 3-year-old out there. A chance to beat a horse, Quality Road, that people are talking about in glowing terms. Prestigious and historic, the Travers would have been a nice feather in her cap. In Kensei, however, the Rachel Alexandra team has a horse that could win the Travers and vault into the front runner position for 3-year-old champion. They obviously do not want to run them against each other.

Rachel will run in the Woodward. She will become the first 3-year-old filly, or for that matter, the first female of any age, ever to win this prestigious, Grade 1 race for older horses. Yes, I expect her to win. The list of Woodward winners reads like a who’s who of American racing; Sword Dancer, Kelso, Buckpasser, Damascus, Forego, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, Slew O’ Gold, Precisionist, Alysheba, Easy Goer, Holy Bull, Cigar, Skip Away, Mineshaft, Ghostzapper, St Liam, Lawyer Ron, and Curlin have all won the Woodward. Now Rachel Alexandra. As she takes her next step towards greatness and once again does something no other 3-year-old filly has ever done.