Kicking the can

A cursory search on the bloodhorse website, as it pertains to wagering reform:

1. "It's a work in progress as far as I'm concerned, but I think we're drawing closer to a cooperative effort," (2001)
   
2. Having discussions to discuss (2002)
   
3. In 2003...'Also discussed technology for the progressive scanning of wagers.'
   
4. 'With regulation, bet exchanges can work'
   
5. Confab to discuss.
6. 'Time has come to not just pay lip service to integrity'
   
7. $50 billion in handle by 2023
8. Then...'Nothing is going to happen easily'
9. 2004
10. Next
    
11. In 2006...'TRPB's efforts in wagering security during the past five years could provide invaluable assistance to any current or future plans by NTRA or RCI, and we are receptive to discussions regarding the retention of TRPB's unique expertise on behalf of those initiatives.'
    
12. 2009...Developing security initiative
13. Independent monitoring systems a 'non-solution'
    
14. 'On a mission...from God'

I'm sure this time, it's different.

The enemy of the good

Reinventing yourself is not easy.

That's why Wile E. Coyote never does manage to catch Roadrunner. He is locked in to doing things the way he has always done them. Even when he has a brilliant idea; backed by the laws of physics; with sound engineering and design; his ass always ends up under the ACME anvil.

The hardest part is starting out. As Goethe said:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
 Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!”

Innovation and entrepreneurship need not be uncertain endeavours. They are based on economics; market structure; demographics and, as Peter Drucker referred to it, Weltanschauung, perceptions and moods.

According to Drucker, managers need to learn to practice systematic innovation. It consists in the purposeful and organized search for changes, and in the systematic analysis of the opportunities such changes might offer for economic or social innovation.

Racing does not suffer for a dearth of opportunity. It suffers from a lack of effective management. The current circle jerk is either blind or apathetic to the problems that plague racing and unwilling to abrogate the status quo.

Managers are paid to exercise their best judgement as it pertains to the welfare of the organization. They are not expected to be infallible. They are, however, paid to realize and admit when they are wrong. A behavior more common in omission than practice.

The ideas exist. Pick one.

Implement it and see what happens. Run experiments vs control studies. Pick a meet, or several, and play with takeout. See what happens to handle. If handle goes up as takeout goes down, you might have something there. Try to control for confounders.

Gather the major entities and form a federation of sorts with a commissioner, or supreme leader, or high priest or whatever the hell you want to call it. Draft a two or three or five year charter, during which time the game is run as if it were under control of a single organization. Get serious people involved and work out a blanket structure. After the charter period expires, if nothing improved, go back to taking each other out at the knees.

Create a league or two or three. Graded races and then everyone else. Standardize distances. Establish some progression.

Do something. Pick one thing and do it.

I'll do it for you. I have the time.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Mass at the point of decision

Where the hell do I start?

The problem, as I see it, is the lack of a unifying theory that governs horse racing. The individual fiefdoms and the petty lords that govern them do not lend themselves to cooperation and success.

The government holds the literal purse strings of our game and that federal adjudication induces the heterodox and sclerotic tendencies of the sport's superintendents.

That singularity separates our game from everything else. From that provenance, all decisions spurt. Small fields; large takeout; obscene breeding practices, prices and schedules; early retirement; restricted and expensive data; myriad jurisdictions and regulations; saddle cloth colors...all of it.

Jefferson's opinions regarding revolution notwithstanding, I am not advocating the violent overthrow of our government-although wiping the slate clean does have its allure.

I think the largest impediment to this game is the lack of central authority, in whatever form that has to take. I am not suggesting giving control to the federal or state government-they couldn't orchestrate a happy meal-my thought is for racing to appoint itself a central governing body and to adhere to its proposals and regulations across the board.

Without clearly defining the problem, then developing a philosophical algorithm if you will, we are all just taking up space. Once identified, we address the conditions the resolutions must adhere to in order to be effective.

This is of course my opinion and I am happy for the debate. I want ideas. What is the single thing that has to change in order for everything we all blather about to have the proverbial snowball's chance in hell of succeeding?

Without vision there can be no goal and without goals there can be no plan. Without a plan there can be no action and without action there can be no success. This is management 2.0.

Resolutions

"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
-Ferris Bueller

The world, somehow, continues its rotation. Much like Don Birnam and his misplaced weekend, I seem to have lost 2009. What sort of year was it?

I've had better.

But the arbitrary nature of modern, ordinal event tracking, allows one to file events in the catholic recycle bin and hit the virtual delete button.

A good scotch performs this same function.

I missed out on most of last year, as it pertains to...well, everything and racing in particular. I was aware of racing, much the same way someone is aware of their own breathing; you know it is a function simply because you are not dead. The autonomic system is brilliant. Someone should patent it.

Racing, unfortunately, does not have the luxury of operating on autopilot, although I would argue that in most instances it is mindless. Real things need to happen. Real changes are needed and all the bemoaning and carping is not going to make a damn bit of difference when the butcher's bill comes due.

I am going to take this blog in a different direction and I need help in doing it. I am no longer satisfied to take potshots at mediocrity and then laud my own wit.

I intend to outline and initiate simple tasks that can be achieved in order to provide some resolution to the intransigence and incompetence that pervades this game. I want a seat at the proverbial and literal table (I imagine they must sit at a table sometime). I intend to engage in meaningful and actionable steps that can provide genuine solutions. I want to help.

I'm not deluded enough to think anyone will actually listen and I am fine with that.

It will afford me the opportunity to then take potshots at mediocrity and laud my own wit.

Debate is good but at the end of the day, debate does not solve problems. As Peter Drucker wrote, 'In fact no decision has been made unless carrying it out in specific steps has become someone's work assignment and responsibility. Until then, there are only good intentions.'

I have no idea what I am doing. I don't know where to start or where the hell I want to go with this but I know I can't do this alone. I do know a few things-If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.

I am looking for anyone and everyone interested in actually doing something, no matter how insignificant it might seem, to help me.

In the coming weeks and months I hope to make this forum a nexus for meaningful and lasting change. There are no projects, only tasks. The focus of this blog will be to determine what if anything can be done and then to actually, you know, do it.

I want the debate. I want to hear all sides of the issue but at the end of the day I am going to filter all that noise out and determine, with help, what, if anything, can actually get done.

Bloviating is for empty shirts and I no longer choose to be in that cadre.

Resolutions without action are wishes. As my old man used to say, 'You can want in one hand and shit in the other. Tell me which one fills up faster.'