I’m asking for feedback here. The question is …am I too indulgent? The next issue of Down The Stretch, Canada’s most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper, comes out tomorrow and racing fans- to their delight (or perhaps not) - will discover at least six full pages of coverage from Saratoga. I guess the first question someone might ask is, ” Why is a paper that claims to be covering Canadian horse racing devoting so much space to Saratoga?”
The answer is this: I went to Saratoga for a week with my friends Jim and Clint. I like to write about myself. I used the paper’s budget to pay for the hotel. I think some people like to read about wanton, borderline irresponsible betting. But I am getting grief about this. Writer Perry Lefko, who is almost certainly bereft of any personal agenda, complained about the four pages I have used up in which I chronicle, on a day by day, practically race by race basis, my betting at Saratoga. Perry has written a poignant story about a Fort Erie jockey and how he has dedicated himself to helping his partner regain her life after a terrible accident. I told Perry we’d run this most excellent story next month because this month’s issue is full… of my Saratoga betting experiences.
We also have a page of Saratoga hats and if that’s not horse racing, what is? Aside from a one page piece on Saratoga announcer Tom Durkin, this month’s issue of Down The Stretch, Canada’s most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper, does have a great volume of local race coverage – how Roger Attfield shocked the bettors in the Breeders’ Stakes, how If I Can Dream conquered the Confederation Cup, how San Pail surprised in the Maple Leaf trot. This issue is jammed with harness racing stories – Jody Jamieson winning 7 times in one night, Sylvain Filion’s six-bagger at Mohawk, Luc Ouellette and his 101-1 stunner!
Lefko does get a couple of good shots in – he writes about his work as a Sportswriter covering the pacer Sportswriter on a stormy night at Mohawk and he also gives us a nice piece on the older trotter Lucky Jim who just keeps winning.
Keith McCalmont has a nifty piece on jockeys twittering and we have all the regular stuff – another hilarious cartoon in which Perry and Mooch poke fun at the editor’s weak grasp of geography and the ever popular oddities and entities page which continues to prove that there are more interesting and head scratching stories in horse racing than any other sport.
Ok…that’s my huge and indulgent plug for my newspaper. Am I pushing the envelope just a little too much on my own agenda or do I really understand what readers want? I’d like to hear your response at this site.
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