Over 30 years ago, I got involved in the daily information business. To help facilitate more trading of stallion shares and seasons on Matchmaker, we started to provide European stakes results on our closed-end computer system delivered over modems.
When Matchmaker ended, we kept the slightly expanded daily information going by subscription, and delivered by a new technology–the fax machine–calling our offering Thoroughbred Daily News. I partnered first with Dick Broadbent and the weekly Thoroughbred Times, and then Peter Brant and the Thoroughbred Record. When the ACRS ended, and I was looking for my next project, I bought out Peter and shortly thereafter moved the TDN to New Jersey where Sue Finley had joined my team during ACRS and decided to stay on. It was 1993, and neither of us had much idea of our future.
In the 25 years since, we added more news, information, advertising, killed the subscription model, partnered with the Blood-Horse (our idea), ended the Blood-Horse partnership (their idea), mostly ended the fax delivery (hey, Chuck Fipke!) and morphed to another new technology, the Internet. We built a website, added color, pictures, embedded links with charts and pedigrees, built sire lists and research tools, added breaking news alerts and race videos, then video features, a podcast, built an app, geo-located our information, and started a monthly lifestyle magazine.
This has all been accomplished with the excellent assistance of my publishing partner Sue, who spearheaded many of the content and technical innovations, and the most dedicated, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff in the industry, both past employees, and those in the present who make up the deepest and most diverse staff we have ever had.
Why am I telling this story? I have decided to make myself more available to my 10-year-old daughter Juliette, who needs her father's attention more than ever as she approaches adolescence. I plan to spend the kind of time with her that I was unable to with my sons Josh and Brad. It also allows me to spend that time with them now as they navigate their own particular chapters of their lives.
To accomplish this, I am retiring as the publisher of TDN, and passing the baton to Sue and to Gary King, who has ably taken over our international activities.
The responsibility of being the most respected and most interesting information source in the Thoroughbred world will be in good hands.
I am so proud of what we have become and wish our whole team the most successful future. I am not retiring from the Thoroughbred industry. I look forward to letting go of my TDN responsibilities, which will give me more time to spend with my kids, breeding more horses, continuing to chair Trakus, and maybe even being involved in a new project or two. Thank you to all for your support over these many years. It is so very appreciated.
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