Social Media's Role in Racing News Discussed

A panel at an industry gathering on Tuesday, Dec. 9, largely agreed that track publicists could use social media to fill some of the news void created as papers and other sports publications reduce racing coverage.

Having track representatives carrying a bigger news load was one of the topics during a Tuesday afternoon panel at the Global Symposium on Racing and Gaming sponsored by the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program in Tucson, Ariz., titled, "Crisis Management in Racing: How Social Media Has Changed the Game." The panel was presented by the Turf Publicists of America.

Panelist Dave Grening, New York correspondent for Daily Racing Form, said there is a need for more racing news coverage. He noted that there are only two reporters and one handicapper remaining in the Aqueduct Racetrack press box. He said if tracks are going to try to fill that news void, they can't limit themselves to good news.

Grening said a lot of tracks are good at using social media to quickly get out good news, for example, information that a top horse is coming to race in one of their stakes. But if there's bad news, say a change of plans by the connections of that top horse who'll no longer be coming, that information is slow to get out.

"That's where I think the racetracks fall short," Grening said.

Thoroughbred owner Maggi Moss, who is outspoken on social media, said she uses Twitter as her primary source of racing news. She said she has learned which people she can trust on social media for such news as the number of reporters at tracks have dwindled.

"They all went away and we all became media," Moss said. "The first thing I do in the morning is get on Twitter to learn what has happened in the world of racing. ... It is the primary source."

With people turning to Twitter for news but reduced numbers of journalists covering racing, panel moderator Jim Mulvihill, director of media and industry relations for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, said perhaps tracks could fill that void.

Racetrack executive Chip Tuttle, who has handled social media operations for Breeders' Cup, said he also views Twitter as his primary source for breaking news and tracks need to weigh in on breaking stories in which they're involved. He said beyond providing breaking news, tracks need to stay ahead of developing stories on social media.

As chief operating officer at Suffolk Downs, Tuttle said he once had to answer unfounded questions about 100 abandoned horses at the track because the story had snowballed on social media. Tuttle said tracks need to monitor social media and weigh in on issues if they are becoming big points of discussion, especially if there are factual inaccuracies.

"We've witnessed terribly inaccurate things being repeated over and over again," Tuttle said. "It's up to us to correct the record, in a way, before it's out of control."

With more people at the track taking on the role of reporter, the panel discussed Twitter problems, including premature reports of the death of Juan Saez following an Oct. 14 spill at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino. Some social media postings reported the death of the 17-year-older rider hours before he actually passed. 

Grening said his biggest problem with social media is in some ways it's replacing old school journalism of confirming information from a reliable source.

Similar problems occurred when Racing Hall of Famer Cigar died in October. There were reports about Cigar's death on social media hours before anyone official confirmed his passing. Mulvihill noted that the Kentucky Horse Park withheld a news release on Cigar's passing because Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear wished to weigh in on the horse's impact and he was traveling.

Mulvihill suggested that perhaps the Kentucky Horse Park could have confirmed Cigar's death sometime before the press release was issued, which was hours after social media speculation. 

Moss called the premature reports of Saez's death her worst experience on Twitter this year.

Moss said she has leveraged social media as an activist for one of her passions: the proper retirement of race horses. She sometimes has called out trainers racing old horses, especially former top stakes winners now entered at the lowest claiming levels. The posts are meant, in part, to shame horsemen into retiring the horse. 

More than just comment, Moss has claimed such horses or orchestrated private purchases of them to be retired.

Some initial mistakes on social media taught Moss to do the research before posting anything. With that in mind, she plans to continue to be active.

"I have learned not to go nuts unless I've done the research," Moss said. "I'm going to continue to be outspoken...to try to do my part to make it a better sport. I'm not going to shut up."