Jason Bonnington

[aussiebreno]

I now see what Brendan was talking about (only read it just now)

Sports journalism, like so many iconic industries, has somewhat involuntarily endured an exponential evolution in recent decades, and, particularly, recent years.

In the ‘good old days’ there were rules. In the halcyon years, there was structure.

Back then – with ‘then’ representing an undefined construct as this revolution was rendered via stealth, not force – sporting scribes followed similar rules to their more ‘serious’ contemporaries.

Being right was infinitely more important than being first.

Accuracy superseded splendour.

And the journalist accepted their role as what one might call a consistent conduit.

Never the hero, always the messenger.

While many hold fast to such virtues, the gluttonous nature of sporting fans ultimately demands those previous principles – noble as they are – simply won’t cut muster.

Marketing terms like ‘agile’ should, and do, make most self-respecting humans’ shudder.

But sad it may sound, that very term applies when discussing media and broadcasting approaches across different sporting disciplines.

On one hand you have pervasive products like AFL, NRL, NBA, NFL and some other acronymic sporting bodies which thrive across the globe that have subtly adopted the concept of ‘narrative’.

Different folks will carry different opinions on this subject, but most dedicated zealots that religiously follow these gargantuan industries – locally or otherwise – care precious little for narratives.

If your world shifts and shapes by whether Carlton, Manly, Miami or New York win or lose on a weekly basis, manufactured storylines about their seasonal journeys mean near on nothing.

Harness racing, however, that’s a different yarn.

While those that love the trots are probably more passionate about the game they relish than any other single sporting fanbase we – unlike the behemoths referenced above – need narratives to thrive.

And fortunately, we have them in tonight’s inaugural edition of the world’s richest standardbred contest, The Eureka.

For myriad reasons, harness racing was painfully slow to leverage slot racing’s many benefits.

In retrospect, however, the results of said tardiness may represent more blessing than curse.

Against significant odds, The Everest has courageously paved the path for races of this nature to garner unexpected respect in record time and greyhound racing’s Phoenix has only helped that cause.

This means The Eureka, which isn’t Australasian pacing’s first crack at this concept, yet certainly it’s most ambitious, finds itself following triumphant footsteps.

And, as outlined, it also delivers the narratives that smaller sports require to capture broader interest.

Firstly, we have race favourite Leap To Fame, whose narrative is all about his Queensland bona fides.

Then there’s Catch A Wave, this season’s mercurial Miracle Mile champ who races to the beat of his own drum.

It doesn’t end there either.

The Lost Storm symbolizes youth and excitement, the three-year-old wunderkind tackling older rivals while Captain Ravishing encapsulates the very nature of flawed genius and unlimited potential.

Those that don’t live harness racing need these stories to engage.

And, once they engage, the rest is up to us.

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...f-opportunity/

Everything in red is superfluous and should have been cut by his editor

I cannot tiptoe around this due to rumours about JB's health, his superiors are not doing there job and keeping him on topic!
Media is so important to our industry's survival and this waffle has to stop

not doing their* job (sorry talking about editing was too hard to ignore)

I am still scratching my head that his point is we need to sell the narrative, but he used the platform that we can use to sell the narrative to waffle on instead of selling the narrative.

[Messenger]

Thanks for that Brendan
I have sent JB's last 2 waffles to Matt Isaacs (think I have his right email as they have not bounced) but no reply

[Showgrounds]

He sells the narrative, alright. It's just a case of being no buyers for his verbal sludge.

[Messenger]

Brilliant Irish playwright, political activist and general genius George Bernard Shaw once declared that defeatism is the wretchedest of policies.

And, while opinions will differ, as they do, it’s tough to argue against this pithy proverb from the man who penned Pygamlion and also formulated the phonetic dialect.

Sadly, without judging any particular participant or any specific zealot, harness racing can struggle at times with a certain brand of cynicism which horribly hampers the sport.

Think of it this way.

If you were invited to a party, and other invitees, perhaps even the hosts, were talking said soiree down, what would the ramifications of these bleak and gloomy reports be?

It’s possible you’ll still attend, but probably not.

Even should you patronise this party, your expectations will be compromised and your excitement nullified, despite the fact it may well be the greatest gathering ever.

On Saturday night, Australian harness racing, contrary to the curses of those "negative nellies" who damage the game with their miserable mindsets, created what the kids now call a "core memory".

The cause for enthusiasm was a little contest called the TAB Eureka.

This wasn’t the first slot race in Australasian pacing.

That honour goes to The Race by Grins at Cambridge, which has now enjoyed two fantastic editions.

Then came Western Australia’s inaugural running of The Nullarbor, staged in conjunction with thoroughbred and greyhound slots contests respectively titled The Quokka and The Sandgroper.

Trailblazing as those events have been, and elitist as it sounds, no race of this nature possessed a pragmatic chance of permeating public consciousness unless staged in Melbourne or Sydney.


https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...of-negativity/

P is for Pink

I think his thesaurus is open at P or maybe he just has a pea stuck in his throat

This zealot has become -

[Messenger]

You want the rest of the article:

Make no mistake however, this event, this TAB Eureka, ferociously fulfilled every objective and every outcome outlined in its brief.

Critically, the crowd at Menangle was massive.

Not massive in that miserly, manipulative manner where numbers are multiplied, and the atmosphere accentuated.

Genuinely gigantic, at least in harness terms circa 2023.

That part, though, remains within Harness Racing New South Wales and Club Menangle’s control. And they should be lauded for achieving what they did.

What nobody assumed ownership of was the race itself.

And the staggering, sellable, succulent nature of those narratives which organically bloomed from what materialised on Western Sydney’s unique, 1400m circuit.

Only one mare contested The Eureka.

Her name was Encipher and she defied tradition by beating the boys.

Her owner/breeder was Tyson Linke, a hobbyist trainer from South Australia that bred his newly-crowned champ in a town of 5000 people.

The horse herself, Encipher, in case you’ve forgotten, was not among the original slot holders and only called up late, while her slot holders, Summit Bloodstock (along with Aaron Bain Racing), only came to existence during a global pandemic when three young blokes chanced their arm with little, or nothing, to lose.

Defeatism is wretched.

Dreams are real.

And ambition, individual or collective, is everything.



https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...of-negativity/

Congratulations on the emboldened paragraph JB
Call me Mr Negativity but you are getting worse

ps Please leave 'zealot' out of your column just for a week or two

[gutwagon]

One day JB will drown in his own excrement and that day can't come soon enough for me !

[Messenger]

Why Why Why does he have to start every article with paragraphs of WAFFLE.
He is clearly not answerable to any superior as they would edit this non trots crap out

He is however answerable to the harness public and I for one want him to stop trying to show us how educated he is (in his eyes) and stay on track (pun intended)

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

This durable dictum, most often attributed to prolific polymath and American forefather, Benjamin Franklin seems, on face value, to represent a truism simplistic and self-evident by nature.

In spite of initial appearance, however, this plaintive platitude, this fundamental cliché has confused and confounded its adherents in a way few other proverbs of such universal usage do.

And, if you’re dubious about the debates this idiom initiates, simply check Google.

It’s a wild ride for sure.

If you quietly cogitate on this headline phrase, however, and reference it to racing, soon you’ll comprehend the chaos experienced by those that feel its message has been lost in a maelstrom of misunderstanding.

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...igious-series/

[Messenger]

Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.

As most will recognise, these are lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s hit tune, Big Yellow Taxi, a song which has been regularly covered, most notably by Counting Crows with and Vanessa Carlton.

The track itself was a protest anthem in no way connected to racing.

Nevertheless, this one line tacitly transcends her politics and acts as a maxim of universal meaning.

We all know that feeling.

As children we carelessly catapult toys which no longer interest us, then beg for their return when somebody else, typically a sibling, chooses to enjoy this discarded plaything without our consent.

Even as adults, we often regret failed relationships only when former partners find someone else.

One suspects similar emotions may prevail when wunderkind training duo Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin terminate their ownership of Victorian harness racing.

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...eyre-all-over/

As usual the whole intro above should have been edited out. The harness racing based rest of the article is OK
No 'zealots' this week but we did get 'zeitgeist'

[Messenger]

Congratulations JB - straight into the topic!

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...-finals-night/

[Messenger]

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/the...our-appetites/

Two in a row without the waffle intro