Last year’s participants in the Ladies Riders Challenge at Parx (EBarnes624)

You should know that the second annual Lady Riders Challenge is taking place this Saturday at Parx in conjunction with the Cotillion Stakes (which features a pretty great line up!) / Ladies Day. I only know about it because a reader, who remembered that I had grumbled posted about the lack of coverage of last year’s, was kind enough to let me know.

No doubt John Barnes (the previously mentioned reader) will be there to cover all the action again this year. The Parx events page barely makes mention of it and I’m not really expecting to see any mention in the trades either (sad).

So, if you don’t already have plans for Super Saturday, perhaps you’d like to head over to Parx, apparently it’s not half bad!

The son of AP Indy out of Balance who eventually went for $4.2 million

Last night Keeneland’s September Sale got underway (and apparently off to great start!). As many do, I enjoy watching the live feed of the auction. The auctioneer and the announcer have a great chemistry and can be downright funny when trying to whip a bidding frenzy. All and all, it’s quite enjoyable, even for those of who don’t know a heck of a lot about pedigrees.

In uncharacteristic timeliness I made my way over there right as the auction kicked off. Much to my surprise there were two folks at a desk discussing the upcoming sale. This seemed like a fine addition, a little intro never hurt anything. Then I started to notice that first auction had started and that they were still talking. They’re going to stop soon, right? The next HIP came up, and then the next… still talking.

Folks on Twitter and Facebook started grumble (me being one of them). And then the most miraculous thing happened… Keeneland responded… quickly! They got rid of the running commentary and the live feed was back to straight-up auction action. They even responded to complainers both on Facebook and Twitter to let them know they had addressed the issue. Why can’t everything be that simple?

Common sense dictates that if you’re going to have multiple digital media channels, that you respond to feedback, input, grumblings, etc in a timely manner. But what Keeneland did last night was nothing short of miracle, particularly for a racing entity! So, a big thumb’s up to Keeneland for swiftly responding to the outcry of their users, perhaps there’s hope after all!

(and PS… hi, I miss you guys too. Come visit!)