On a balmy February evening in Lexington, Ky., this week, representatives from some of the region’s most celebrated Thoroughbred farms streamed into a packed bar area at Fasig-Tipton’s sales pavilion to hear a presentation about the newly-formed organization Light Up Racing.
The non-profit is modeled off a program called Kick Up Racing in Australia, which emerged in the wake of mainstream media attention and social pressures for horse racing after a series of high-profile breakdowns in the Melbourne Cup. Vicky Leonard, founder of the Australian organization, gave the room a crash course in the science of social change and its necessity for horse racing to continue to exist. Leonard explained how she had been inspired to start Kick Up after she realized she was the only student in her MBA program who didn’t have a negative perception of the sport.
As Leonard told the Kentucky group this week, the modern, social media-driven world gives the individual a lot more power to exert social change than they once had. The reason so many companies market their brands through influencers these days is people are more likely to trust the opinion of one of their friends (or someone who reminds them of a friend) than an advertisement. Skepticism of institutions – which includes for-profit companies, organizations and even mainstream media – is at an all-time low, but social credit is higher than ever. Animal rights groups, which have used social media to influence the public expertly and for many years, are well ahead of horse racing on this front. Using her marketing expertise, Leonard has created a multi-pronged approach for Australian racing. This includes a website that confronts some of the most common questions (many of them welfare-focused) the general public has about horse racing with verified data, as well as media training and resources for owners, breeders, and trainers to help guide them in how to confront misperceptions about the sport. The idea is that racing insiders can be ambassadors for their sport out in the broader world, but must do so with honesty, transparency, and zeal to be successful.
It was really fascinating information, even for someone who has spent a career in media, observing social change. All of it was incredibly well-presented, and was something that Kentucky’s Thoroughbred establishment desperately needed to hear. (I cannot tell you how thrilled I was at the idea that people in racing other than the AAEP On Call Veterinarians could soon access media training.)
But the thing is, I know the archetype in that room. I’ve worked around it for more than a decade. And I think many of Leonard’s completely valid guidelines are beyond what stakeholders are willing to do to save the business they rely on.
For one thing, the approach of any good social change strategy for racing requires racing folk to have some idea of what the general public thinks or worries about with regard to our sport. Leonard gave an example that if you saw five of your Facebook friends post the same image or hashtag in support of a social cause, you may be more interested in learning more about the cause.
Let’s reverse that. Do I think this highly insular group of people all have five friends who aren’t racing insiders?
No. The long hours and highly specific challenges that come with a life made in racing or breeding are usually most understandable to other racing folk, so they understandably seem to gravitate towards each other on and off the clock. But that means I doubt they have a strong sense of what the average person on the street knows or believes about horse racing.
This article was written by Natalie Voss for Paulick Report. Link to the original article here.
