Meet the Candidates - Josephine Abercrombie

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. JOSEPHINE ABERCROMBIE Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup today and, if voted to the Breeders Cup board, how would you propose this issue be solved? A: The Breeders' Cup fan base and participation is a big issue that has been addressed by other nominees to the Board, but I believe that more transparency towards breeders' awards and the promotion and distribution of these throughout the year should also take high priority. As breeders, we obviously support the Breeders' Cup through our foal and stallion nominations, which is a substantial amount every year. We need the satisfaction of knowing where our nomination monies are best spent; hence, I would like to see a greater portion of these funds be redistributed back through the breeders' awards. To accomplish this I would suggest that there be a larger percentage taken out of the nomination fees to increase the breeders' award for designated Breeders' Cup races. Also, the recipients of these awards deserve to be aggressively promoted either on the Breeders' Cup website or in our trade magazines for their achievements. We all agree that the key element here is to remain united as an industry, which is the great concept in Breeders' Cup racing. I have been an owner and breeder involved in racing for sixty years and I hope my experience can be of service to the Board if elected.

Meet the Candidates - Barry Weisbord

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup today and, if voted to the Breeders Cup board, how would you propose this issue be solved? BARRY WEISBORD A: In my mind, the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup is: how do we make our invested dollars return more to the industry? John Gaines' idea was a grand one, and he coalesced the industry into implementing that idea as a way not to just give our money back to ourselves, but to put ourselves on the sports marketplace map, and he was successful in doing so. In the 25 years since that time, however, the advances of other sports organizations have created an even more crowded marketplace, as golf, NASCAR, and even all of the major professional leagues have all expanded their footprint in the entertainment marketplace. At the same time, we are seeing enormously competitive forces from the gaming industry, which has exploded in the past quarter-century. And what we have learned, just like a lot of the other sports have learned, that a championship day in and of itself is not strong enough to change the habits of the public. It is therefore encumbent upon the Breeders Cup to add elements of rational and meaningful structure, including schedule and standings, to differentiate our best and most marketable product--the best races in order that people may better understand and follow the sport. Just as the Super Bowl without a preceding season would be far less effective, so, too, is a champi- onship day where no real champions can be formally crowned. How do we entice the best horses to run against each other on a regular basis in order that we produce a meaningful and effective television product with a serious impact on the American sports and entertainment consciousness? That is a challenge I would look forward to tackling.

Meet the Candidates - Richard Mandella

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup today and, if voted to the Breeders Cup board, how would you propose this issue be solved? RICHARD MANDELLA A: I am very proud to be considered to run for the Breeders Cup Limited Board. My thoughts are the Breeders Cup is going in a very promising direction and I have difficulty finding any faults. I would only hope to help further this endeavor.

Meet the Candidates - Roy Jackson

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup today and, if voted to the Breeders Cup board, how would you propose this issue be solved? A: The biggest issue I see facing the Breeders Cup is to convert the casual racing fan and family into permanent fans of Breeders Cup Day. This entails making sure that it remains the preeminent day of racing in this country, attracting the best horses possible from around the world and offering a sound purse structure. More importantly, it involves working with ESPN and all sponsors in innovative ways to create a unique championship day of racing. I was lucky to be involved in various aspects of professional minor league baseball when many of the promotions were developed that are used in minor league baseball today (bat day, cap day, helmet day, batting glove day, fireworks, mascots, etc.) Everyone laughed at Bill Veeck when he hired some people from the minor leagues to develop these ideas to use with his major league team. As it turned out, his ideas were adopted with success by all. The lesson here is that racing could examine what has been successful in other sports and try to adapt some of the best ideas to promote with ESPN and their sponsoring partners a championship day of racing. (A few ideas from the Barbaro experience: guest of honor from each country participating, each year choose vet school to be honored, get pony clubs around the world involved, contest {writing or art} in local schools with winner honored, tickets at gate for kids to take part in drawing to win jockey's goggles of winner of each race, honor one official from all state breeding organizations each year.) Just as there were in minor league baseball, there are some bright young minds that, given the opportunity, can make inroads with the general public and casual racing fans to promote the horses, jockeys, owners, trainers (tell their stories) who come together for the Breeders Cup. In the future, there may be challenges to the Breeders Cup Day from some other racing venues in the world. I feel we must expand the interest of fans now to ensure the Breeders Cup Days of the future.

Meet the Candidates - Charlotte Weber

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. CHARLOTTE WEBER: Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup today and, if voted to the Breeders Cup board, how would you propose this issue be solved? A: The biggest issue is a level playing field and that the Breeders Cup remains a USA racing challenge. I believe that they both speak for themselves and the answers are obvious. Make the punishment fit the crime and have a uniform ruling that is mandated at all tracks. Racing a series in the USA should be a majority of the vote.

Meet the Candidates - Chris Young

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup today and, if voted to the Breeders Cup board, how would you propose this issue be solved? A: For more than 20 years, the Breeders Cup Limited has created the premier day (now two days) of racing, featuring the world's best horses across racing divisions, sex and age groups. In the weeks surrounding Breeders Cup day, the fan interest and excitement generated about our sport is tremendous. The challenge, as I see it, is building upon this short-lived exposure and extending it throughout the year. The newly instituted "Breeders Cup Challenge" races are a good start, and need to be constantly evaluated for efficacy with regard to building fan interest. Additionally, I propose that even greater effort be made with technology to better connect our sport with the fans. This can be accomplished through greater community involvement on the Breeders Cup website and could include blogs, chats and forums. In addition to allowing fans to communicate with one another, I think this could be used to create better communication with trainers, jockeys, and owners. The industry should be constantly striving to keep our fans informed and involved, and using technology to do that is essential in this day and age. We can never forget that horse racing is nothing without the support of the fans. Chris Young

Meet the Candidates - ANTONY BECK, TERRY FINLEY, R.D. HUBBARD, WATTS HUMPHREY & ROBERT MANFUSO

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. ANTONY BECK, TERRY FINLEY, R.D. HUBBARD, WATTS HUMPHREY & ROBERT MANFUSO issued a joint statement. The TDN has requested each of us as candidates for the Breeders Cup Ltd. Trustee election to individually express our views on the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup and how, if re-elected as Trustees, we would address that issue. Given our shared experience on the 13-member Breeders Cup Board since January, 2006, we believe it makes the most sense to provide a collective response to this question as follows. Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders Cup? A: The most important issue facing the Breeders Cup is: A - How to build on the positive momentum of the past 18 months. In the latter half of 2005, the Breeders Cup was an organization in crisis. Concerns over governance structure, financial management and the combined operations with the NTRA led to the creation of a new 13-member Board of Directors, change in senior management and a substantial reduction in staff and overhead expenses. Since January 2006, the new stream-lined Breeders Cup has acted quickly and decisively in the following areas: Terminated the NTRA operating agreement and restored to the Board full governance over all Breeders Cup programs and operations. Increased Breeders Cup funded purses to a record $32.67 5 million more than $10 million in excess of nomination fees. Developed the strongest financial position in the organizations history with record wagering totals ($140 million) and host site fees (over $6 million) from the 2007 Championships. Laid the foundation for continued economic growth and broader international exposure with new deals with the Hong Kong Jockey Club (will accept wagers on Breeders Cup races this year for first time) and the Oak Tree Racing Association (record $5 million in guaranteed host fees for 2008). Expanded the Championships format to two days with three new $1-million races. Created the Breeders Cup Challenge with 24 automatic qualifying races to provide a 10-week period of supercharged promotion leading into the Championships. Many of these programs will debut for the first time in 2007. As with any new initiatives, we expect some will be immediate successes and others may take more time to develop and may require changes along the way. We believe it will be critically important for the Board of directors, the Trustees and the nominators to give their full support to these new programs in the next few years to allow them the maximum opportunity to succeed. Respectfully submitted Antony Beck, Terry Finley, R.D. Hubbard, Watts Humphrey, Robert Manfuso

Meet the Candidates - Thomas Gaines

The Thoroughbred Daily News has been kind enough to allow me to reprint their Q&A's with the candidates up for BC board election. If you enjoy the below check out their website, and they do offer one week free. TODAY’S CANDIDATE: THOMAS GAINES Last December, Breeders’ Cup stallion and foal nominators voted to select 13 candidates to stand for election to the Breeders’ Cup Limited Board of Members and Trustees. Those candidates are joined by 12 existing trustees who have chosen to stand for reelection. Thirteen will ultimately be chosen. The voting opened on May 1 and will conclude June 18. While bios of the 25 candidates are contained in documents circulated to nominators, the TDN is responding to reader suggestions that we provide more information on the candidates’ viewpoints. To that end, we posed the following question to each of the 25 candidates and have given them 300 words or fewer in which to respond. Their responses will be published over the next few days, beginning with Thomas Gaines. Q: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the Breeders’ Cup today and, if voted to the Breeders’ Cup board, how would you propose this issue be solved? A: I think the biggest problem facing the Breeders’ Cup is the biggest problem facing the sport of Thoroughbred racing: creating a larger fan base. When my father created the Breeders’ Cup, he envisioned a day of championship races as a means to market the sport in new, protracted, exciting ways. I feel that recent steps have been taken to accomplish this goal, most notably the long-term relationship with the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN. This relationship has already generated new ideas and a fresh approach and perspective to many of racing's year-long marketing problems. It is important to understand that there is no magic formula, quick cure, or silver bullet. Disagreement may exist regarding some of these new strategies, their implementation, and even the philosophy upon which they are founded. Fortunately, these strategies are measurable; if one idea isn't working so well, quantify its shortcomings and brainstorm a better solution using the considerable talent within our industry combined with the marketing strength of ESPN. The key is to make sure that we remain flexible, not wedded to only one approach and open to trying several solutions, if necessary, to the age-old problems that have plagued us. If elected, I hope to bring this kind of open-minded approach to the problems we all face and need to get right. Thomas Gaines