HBO's "Real Sports" interview w/ Asmussen, 5/20

[TouchOfGrey]

From the press release:

"Hidden amidst the beauty and pageantry of the Triple Crown lies a darker picture of the thoroughbred racing industry – one of a widespread and dangerous drug culture that’s killing dozens of horses at tracks every week. The issue has gained notice over the last two months as shocking undercover video filmed by PETA exposed the team of highly accomplished trainer Steve Asmussen allegedly drugging and mistreating their horses. Asmussen sits down with Real Sports’ Bernard Goldberg for his first extensive one-on-one interview to answer the charges.

Goldberg, who won the Sports Emmy Award for “Outstanding Sports Journalism” for HBO’s 2008 exposé on the hidden world of horse slaughter, also interviews Asmussen’s former assistant, Scott Blasi, as well as veterinarians Dr. Kate Papp and Dr. Mary Scollay to find out what the racing industry is doing to protect the well-being of the horses."

[Dawgswin]

DOZENS of horses are dying at tracks each week ? Even if you agree wholeheartedly with PETA's position that no animal should be bred for entertainment or profit....statements like that are ridiculously irresponsible. Particularly for an othereise credible tv newsmagazine.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Dawgswin

DOZENS of horses are dying at tracks each week ? Even if you agree wholeheartedly with PETA's position that no animal should be bred for entertainment or profit....statements like that are ridiculously irresponsible. Particularly for an othereise credible tv newsmagazine.

They're using the utterly manufactured NYTimes number, conjured out of charts of TB and QH races using 'broke down, vanned off, etc.' as the basis for average equine fatalities.

[Dawgswin]

And that makes sense to me, Steve, that they would use that number. I suppose that in a case like this there is no such thing as "overreacting."

I've even seen posters on here take the opinion that this should just blow over, and the racing industry doesn't need to "overreact." Again...that's just not a credible way of dealing with crisis communication. And whether people believe PETA is full of it or not, this is a crisis communication situation.

Where is NTRA on this disputing the figures in NYT? I can only hope that someone, anyone from the racing industry who is credible will be interviewed for this piece. If there's no response with facts and figures, then the sport has no one but it's own self to blame.

Not to rehash the whole Asmussen thread, but the troubling thing to me about the response is this long period of silence before one interview, and who knows after that. It smacks of lawyers making decisions on how to communicate and when.

There must be some voice saying, "Yes, horses are given Lasix....no, they don't "need it" but it is a performance enhancer...and here's what we do to ensure the horses are healthy and not injured."

There is far too much of the age-old fear that responding to PETA's criticism somehow lends it credibility. Sorry to say...it IS credible until someone refutes it.

If the majority of horseplayers believe (and I don't know this, I'm just speaking hypothetically) that this should just be ignored because "you can't win" against the perception of the public....well then we'll get the game we deserve.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Dawgswin

And that makes sense to me, Steve, that they would use that number. I suppose that in a case like this there is no such thing as "overreacting."

I've even seen posters on here take the opinion that this should just blow over, and the racing industry doesn't need to "overreact." Again...that's just not a credible way of dealing with crisis communication. And whether people believe PETA is full of it or not, this is a crisis communication situation.

Where is NTRA on this disputing the figures in NYT? I can only hope that someone, anyone from the racing industry who is credible will be interviewed for this piece. If there's no response with facts and figures, then the sport has no one but it's own self to blame.

Not to rehash the whole Asmussen thread, but the troubling thing to me about the response is this long period of silence before one interview, and who knows after that. It smacks of lawyers making decisions on how to communicate and when.

There must be some voice saying, "Yes, horses are given Lasix....no, they don't "need it" but it is a performance enhancer...and here's what we do to ensure the horses are healthy and not injured."

There is far too much of the age-old fear that responding to PETA's criticism somehow lends it credibility. Sorry to say...it IS credible until someone refutes it.

If the majority of horseplayers believe (and I don't know this, I'm just speaking hypothetically) that this should just be ignored because "you can't win" against the perception of the public....well then we'll get the game we deserve.

There are serious problems in the sport. You can blame PETA all you want but there are serious changes that need to be made to better protect the horses. I think the NYRA has done a very good job so far. When they had all those breakdowns, instead of getting defensive, they realized there were some problems and they made some pretty serious changes. The changes have been very positive and I believe the breakdown rate has gone way down. When there is a problem, we don't need to kill the messenger. We need to deal with the problem.