Going undercover
Posted: 03/09/2010
If you haven’t seen “Undercover Boss” yet, the CBS show about bosses who go under cover and work alongside their under-appreciated subordinates, this week might be a good week to start. The series, which debuted just a few weeks ago, following the Super Bowl, will be featuring Churchill Downs COO
Bill Carstanjan.
I’m not entirely sold on the show yet—“Survivor” has more action, “Biggest Loser” has more drama, and “American Idol” has more terrible, terrible auditions, but this episode in particular looked compelling and it’s great to see the equine industry getting some primetime coverage.
Granted, it’s not the Meadowlands and I don’t expect any Standardbreds will make the cut, but I expect there will still be enough similarities to make the episode relatable to harness fans. The trailer for the episode shows Carstanjan trying his hand at being a janitor, a maintenance man and a groom. And mucking a stall is mucking a stall, right?
Further on the plus side is the fact that most people who don’t know anything about horses, including many of the channel-surfing vagrants who will be looking for something “interesting” to watch on Sunday night, probably don’t know, or care about, the difference between Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds anyway. Many of my friends, despite repeated lectures on the difference between breeds, still ask me if I’ll be writing any stories about the Kentucky Derby this year.
But this is good news. Those same friends, who think the Hambletonian is a professional wrestling move, still know enough to get excited and send me a Facebook message whenever they see a horse on TV. And come Sunday night, at 9 p.m., there will be plenty of horses on TV, and hopefully, plenty of new interest in equine industries across the board.
--Jason Turner, Youth Beats editor and Hoof Beats publishing assistant
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The blog of Hoof Beats executive editor Nicole Kraft and managing editor T.J. Burkett. Get to know how Nicole and T.J. plan, write and edit harness racing’s most popular magazine. Also includes updates from their travels to find the most compelling racing stories.
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