Macedonio: Yearling sales broadcasts should be so much more
I just want to be entertained. Is that too much to ask? The Lexington Selected Yearling Sale got underway and apparently their streaming service failed for the first group of purchases. My Facebook timeline was suddenly berated with posts of how Harness Racing can’t get anything right, etc. So they fixed it, and when I tuned in to watch the show, I said to myself, ”Why do people even care if this stream exists?” It offered absolutely nothing to any FAN of what the actual Yearling Sales SHOULD BE!
Here’s what you saw . . . a horse on a pixelated, low quality feed, with a low budget and low creativity graphic production that showed HIP number and price. That’s it! You hear the auctioneer in the background, which is absolutely something you want to hear for two hours straight during a broadcast! Yeah, the other guy chimes in every so often to prop up the pedigree of whatever horse is in the ring, but it’s not enough! DRF, HRU, USTA, Sale Website, and plenty of other media outlets were reporting in real-time each purchase, so I don’t need to actually see it. It’s boring and it only benefits a small amount of people.
Instead, here’s what I want to see next year. A broadcast team actually talking about the horses’ pedigree in detail. Pick one thing out of each pedigree and talk about the story of that horse. Just talk and entertain me by being REAL. Get some of these owners and trainers up in the booth afterwards to talk about their purchase, their hopes and dreams! That is what the sale is about, not the prices. Every horse that was purchased is worth nothing right now. It’s how the next 18 months of their lives are shaped that will determine their value. It’s a long, curvy road when buying a dream, so showcase that! I’ve interviewed plenty of connections of horses that are already established, but I want more raw emotion, more free emotion, and it doesn’t get any rawer than after you throw down some money on a yearling!
Every other sport has drafts that are televised and are generally entertaining. The fans are overfilled with the idea that their draft pick is what will get them over the hump to a championship! Even in the deep rounds, fans can say, “this kid from Iowa State can really secure our nickel blitz package with his closing speed.” Fans watching at home usually retort with, “no way, dude will get smoked when he’s put in single coverage.” Whatever the opinions, people CARE about the draft and the rosters. Right now, I know nothing about what happened because the Sales Company didn’t do anything to steer me in any sort of direction or even attempt to ENTERTAIN me.