- Patrick has a link to Google's cache of Haskin's piece in Bloodhorse over at Pulling Hair. (The original link comes up as a blank.) Check it out and see what you think. Haskin questions Bernardini's retirement, as many other journalists have, and opines: "The chance of Bernardini reproducing himself at stud is slim to none."
A poster on the Thoroughbred Champions board says:
I just spoke with Ron Mitchell, the online editor at the Blood Horse. He told me that the article was pulled at the direct request of the editor, Ray Paulick.Thanks to weegee for sending that information along. Perhaps the editor will drop by and let us know what's up.
8 Comments:
The plot thickens...thanks for following up, I'm curious to see where it all leads.
I think it's really important for Ray Paulick to respond to this and explain what is going on here. The blood-horse prides themselves on a certain degree of journalism, and if they took it down under pressure, or for fear of reprisal I would lose a lot of respect for Ray and for that publication.
Really fine job you're doing over here, alan. You must be getting regular offers to write for top teir publications, as you put most columists to shame. Well done.
>>You must be getting regular offers to write for top teir publications, as you put most columists to shame.
I wish.
As far as i'm concerned, this IS a "top-tier publication". Except that it's not published, of course, and unfortunately Alan isn't getting paid for it. Doesn't mean LATG isn't superior to Bloodhorse or the Racing Form though. Obviously, Alan doesn't have a slew of reporters working for him, so he can't get exclusive quotes from trainers, but he does provide links covering most of the top stories (and how he finds some of that stuff, i'll never know). Beyond that, all LATG lacks are entries, results, and past-performances. None of which are provided by Bloodhorse, btw. There's also a lot more truth involved when evaluating horses, because LATG doesn't have to worry about offending owners, trainers, or whomever. For instance, if you listen to Haskin on Bloodhorse, every 3yo with a pulse is a legitimate Derby contender. Occasionally, you'll see some negative commentary (such as with the Beyer piece), but it's few and far-between. I believe LATG offers a far more realistic (and therefore better) view of the racing scene than is found anywhere else on the web. Hopefully Alan can pick up some advertising or whatever that'll help make this thing worthwhile for him. I'd hate to see it disappear.
Well, it looks like Equidaily has picked up on it... so hopefully something will come of this.
yeah, what walter said. this is a top tier publications, and you don't write like your worried if someone's going to cancel an ad contract.
@scoop, yeah, patrick & alan do the leg work, but equidaily has the distribution. hopefully we'll hear more.
I'm going to give Blood-Horse the benefit of the doubt here. Haskin's piece is fairly tame and not all that provacative. The sheikhs have bigger things to worry about (tho a couple of thin-skinned 'company men' could be running amok).
Sometimes a pulled article is nothing more than a pulled article.
The decision to pull Steve Haskin's editorial commentary from bloodhorse.com was mine and mine alone. It was made minutes after a member of our editorial staff brought the commentary to my attention Thursday afternoon. (I was in meetings throughout the day in advance of a West Coast business trip and did not previously have a chance to read the piece; the commentary was posted by a night editor who mistakenly thought it had been okayed for publication by our regular online editor, who would have brought it to my attention had he read it.)
There was no pressure or contact from anyone to remove or edit the piece. Again, the decision was solely mine, and I discussed the matter with Steve.
With the exception of an occasional Final Turn, which is labeled an opinion piece, Steve was not hired to write editorial commentaries on industry issues. The Blood-Horse and Bloodhorse.com are not blogs or vehicles for personal commentaries appearing in articles meant to convey news and information. This article was billed as a Breeders' Cup wrapup but clearly was written as a commentary; it should not have been posted as written. I'll take the blame for that.
Steve remains a valuable member of our editorial team who will continue to offer his insights on racing.
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