Breeders' Cup Or Bust Fundraising Drive To Benefit Cancer Research, Disabled Jockey's Fund

The Brock Talk salutes The Paulick Report and Breeders’ Cup Charities. for planning and executing a final minute fundraising effort for disabled riders and cancer research. Perhaps Ray Paulick's aerophobia and Brad Cummings' driving has never been so well placed as this 10-day BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST FUNDRAISING ‘DRIVE’ across the United States. The ten-day trek begins on Wed., Oct. 28, at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky and concludes in Arcadia, Ca. on the even of the Breeders' Cup.

The drive will be raising money for the Permanently Disabled Jockey's Fund and the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

“We have been blessed with enough success to be able to give back to our community,” said Ray Paulick, who will be joined on the ‘drive’ by business partner Cummings. “It’s important as an industry that we show charitable leadership both inside and outside our community.”

Stopping along the way to raise money and awareness for the charities with special promotions at Keeneland, Hawthorne Race Course, Remington Park, Zia Park and Turf Paradise along with a stop at a Las Vegas sportsbook, the Paulick Report will be
chronicling its journey at The Paulick Report.

Online donations will be made directly through a secured website through Breeders’ Cup Charities. Throughout the planned 2,835-mile trip, Paulick and Cummings will be accepting donations and pledges in increments as little as one cent per mile.

Additionally, the Paulick Report is seeking individuals, businesses or charitable foundations as sponsors for each of the six segments of the drive, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the two charities. To inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please send an email to: info@paulickreport.com.

Also supporting the drive is exclusive Thoroughbred media partner TVG, the
popular national horse racing television network and account wagering service. Gerard Cunningham, president of TVG‐Betfair USA, believes the fund‐raising drive will be well received by TVG’s TV audience viewers and TVG.com community members. “TVG is thrilled to be partnering with the Paulick Report as the exclusive
media partner for ‘BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST’. We hope that our media coverage will encourage viewers to also donate generously to the Breeders’ Cup charities in support of two very worthwhile organizations, the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and The V Foundation for Cancer Research.”

Currently, there are 63 permanently disabled jockeys that need support from the horse racing community. Often with little money to support them after their careers, the PDJF works hard on behalf of these fallen athletes to help give them as normal a life as possible after racing.

A Special Tweet For Racing Fans

One of the spotlight races this weekend is the grade 1 Eddie Read Handicap at Del Mar. The $350,000 Read is 1-1/8 miles on the turf and is the premier turf race for older horses at the meeting.

But this weekend, I thought I would introduce some of you to perhaps a new way to learn about a horse race.

As most of you know, I Tweet. That is I have a Twitter account - user name: thebrocktalk. Yes, I send and read those 140-character messages throughout the day. And I fully admit that it took me awhile to appreciate it but I was compelled to give it try. Even now I know I don't fully understand all of it's benefits. But the benefits I have found I think are well worth the learning curve of a then 49-year-old maiden claimer in the tweeting ranks.

So let me introduce you to the tweets of Randy Moss (photo), the ESPN analyst who just began tweeting from Del Mar. He can be found at www.twitter.com/randy_moss_tv. These were Friday tweets:

-Joe Talamo replaces injured Rafael Bejarano on Artiste Royal in Eddie Read
about 1 pm PDT

-Still mixing racing & NFL at Del Mar. Mike Tice yesterday and ran into Norv Turner this morning. He's racing fan and headed to track today
about noon PDT

-Bob Baffert bought Richard's Kid for synthetic/turf, entered Eddie Read after good grass work. Blinkers added to "keep him a little closer"
about noon PDT

-For what it's worth: trainer John Sadler told us Whatsthescript is coming up to Sat "just as good and maybe a little better" than last year
about noon PDT

-Sounds like a good old-fashioned barn burner to me. Which would seem to be a perfect scenario for Whatsthescript's stretch-running style
2:31 pm July 23rd

-Mike Mitchell on Thorn Song sitting "length and a half" off pace. He said, "We're not giving ( Jazz) that much. Maybe a half length. Maybe."
2:31 pm July 23rd

-Craig Dollase, trainer of Monterey Jazz: "He's a very fast horse and he's on his game. If anyone wants to go with him early, good luck."
2:27 pm Jul 23rd

-Speed duel in Eddie Read between Monterey Jazz and Thorn Song? Made barn rounds this morning and talked to both trainers of both horses.
12:26 pm Jul 23rd

So now we know a little more about how Moss feels about the Eddie Read and a little more about how he prepares for a telecast as the Read will be shown on ESPN2 Saturday at 8pm Eastern. That was also tweeted earlier by Moss. During the day, Moss also gave his thoughts on the opening day crowd (without any references to attendance figures I might add), Brett Favre, other NFL topics including somebody that thought he was the "other" Randy Moss, and updated jockey Rafael Bejarano's condition.

Other tweeters I like to follow are of course Blood-Horse (BloodHorse) and Thoroughbred Times (TTimes) who both tweet updates throughout the day on news that has just crossed their desks. They were also both fun to follow during the recent Fasig-Tipton Kentucky select yearling auction as they tweeted top sellers just moments after the gavel fell as well as information about under-bidders, trainers in attendance, weanling sale prices and more.

Another tweet from Blood-Horse looked like this at around 6 pm eastern Friday.
Mine That Bird Arrives at Mountaineer http://bit.ly/OqAiB.

Both publications also provide stallion news, maiden race developments, stakes previews and a whole host of other racing topics throughout the day.

Another great tweeter is Alex Brown (photo) who tweets under AlexBrownRacing and tweets about everything from his activity as a Woodbine exercise rider to his cause against horse slaughter to jockey Ramon Dominguez getting his record 93rd winner of the Belmont meet. Brown is a prominent voice in the blogging, tweeting, facebooking world of thoroughbred racing and is a good model for those newcommers to the next information level.

Following Ray Paulick on Twitter can also be quite interesting. Not only does he provide updates to his excellent blog The Paulick Report, but Paulick also tweets live from major horse racing events and functions throughout the year. His tweets during the Kentucky Derby trainers' dinner were fun and interesting as he provided followers with the quips being traded back and forth between Bob Baffert and Master of Ceremonies Chris Lincoln and others.

So before you completely dismiss the idea of ever being on Twitter, just think about what you may be missing about horse racing. And if you're anywhere near within the realm of the typical horse racing fan psychographics, you don't like it when somebody knows more than you.