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CNN Sunday Morning
Point Given Takes Title at Preakness
Aired May 20, 2001 - 08:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's horse talk time. It will be at least another year before there's a triple crown contender, Monarchos, who easily won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, out of the money. In yesterday's Preakness in Baltimore at Pimlico, the winner was Point Given, who was supposed to do what you're seeing right here at the Kentucky Derby but didn't. Still to come in the triple crown series, although there won't be a triple crown this year, the Belmont stakes in New York.
Now, anyone who has admired a field of sleek thoroughbreds sundering toward the finish line knows what a rush horse racing can be. And if you have some money riding on the winner, it is a very thrilling experience. Every year, the sport gets a little bump in interest with the Kentucky Derby and then the expectation of a potential triple crown winner.
Jeff Lifson is a reporter and producer with the Television Games Network, which broadcasts thoroughbred racing and offers online betting in addition. He joins us from Washington to talk about yesterday's Preakness and the high stakes in the business.
Jeff, first of all, what did you think of the race?
JEFF LIFSON, TELEVISION GAMES NETWORK: I thought it was a great race. I thought it was a race that confirmed what we had seen in California from Point Given and I think it probably gave Bob Bafford (ph) a couple extra years on his life. That's the trainer of Point Given. Because he was scratching his head and really trying to figure out what happened at Louisville, at Churchill Downs two weeks ago. This was kind of, you know --
O'BRIEN: I guess it makes me wonder as a lay person what happened there in Kentucky? Did it, was it just a bad day for the horse or did they do something wrong tactically?
LIFSON: I think that there's a couple of explanations and you've hit on two of them. They felt like they probably were too close to the lead off a very, very fast pace in the Kentucky Derby and also I think that Gary Stephens (ph) rode the horse, according to Bob Bafford, maybe with a little bit too much confidence, asked him to move throughout the race too many times without making big, one big sustained punching kind of run like he did yesterday.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jeff, let's talk in general about horse racing here. Every year those of us who don't follow it on the day to day basis like you do get interested at this time of year because of the potential of a triple crown winner. How important is that overall to horse racing and casual interest in it and the fact that there hasn't been a triple crown winner since 1978, has, does that in some way hurt the sport?
LIFSON: Well, I think it can hurt the sport if you don't have any stars. We've been lucky to have a few stars that have kind of captured the imagination in the 1900s, for example, Cigar, who had a winning streak that equaled Citation. I think Silver Charm, even though he didn't win the triple crown back in 1997, was a captivating horse. He was a good looking gray and he had, he was a kind of a gritty competitor and for that reason I think a lot of people kind of got interested in him. And Bob Bafford has kind of helped, kind of raised the star level for the trainers of these horses.
But yeah, we could use a triple crown winner and I think at some point we'll have one. I don't think it's an impossibility anymore, but a triple crown winner would be nice. Superstars in any way you want to, you know, bring them up are going to be important to the sport.
O'BRIEN: But isn't it true that attendance, actually, track side is down significantly?
LIFSON: Not necessarily. It depends on the track. For example, Keenlan (ph), which is in Lexington, Kentucky, just had an outstanding spring where their numbers were up. We've also seen numbers increasing at the Preakness yesterday. For those star studded kind of real high interest type of races people are still coming out to the race track. And that's something that TVG is trying to do, my company is trying to do in terms of identifying who the stars out there are and also telling the stories that get people kind of captivated about that.
O'BRIEN: Let's take a look...
LIFSON: And you...
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, go ahead. Finish up.
LIFSON: Well, there's a new book out, or a relatively new book by Laurie Hillbrand (ph) called "Sea Biscuit" that's also been on, you know, the top 10 of the "New York Times" best seller list, proving that if there's a good story to be told and if there's a horse that's compelling and captivating, people are going to want to be interested in that.
O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at your Web page for a moment and we'll give you a sense of what you can do at TVG. Now, TVG is designed to allow people, I guess this is safe to say, this is sort of a niche sort of thing for people who are avid as far as following horse racing and wagering on it. Give us a sense of how people can use this and I presume you have to be in a state where this is legal, but explain the whole process. LIFSON: Yeah, it's, there are specific states across the country where account wagering or online wagering is legal for betting on horse racing. All you do is you go to the Web site, which is tvgnetwork.com and it'll kind of take you through setting up an account and then you watch the races and bet online or you come back after a day's work, after betting on the races, and see how you did. It's probably a little more fun to actually watch the races throughout the afternoon. You can do that on the weekends, actually.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jeff, real quick because we're running out of time. I've just got to ask you, do you think it's dangerous to have so much online betting available out there? Does that in any way encourage unhealthy approaches toward gambling?
LIFSON: It could be. You know, obviously it's my brad and butter. It's where, you know, my kids are getting fed from. But I think that the one kind of exception to horse racing is that it's also an agribusiness. It's a sport, an agribusiness and also gambling involved. And for that reason I think it has a special place in the kind of gambling spectrum.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Lifson is with TVG. Thanks for joining us on this post-Preakness day and maybe we'll check in with you after the Belmont. We appreciate it.
LIFSON: Will do.
O'BRIEN: All right.
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