There is a phenomenon in the pressbox known as the blog bounce, a mysterious, eerie force that accompanies articles written about specific riders, trainers or the like.
In many cases, a horse or rider, recently boosted by a bounce from the blog in the form of a complete article, profile or even a mere mention, will respond with a win against even imposing odds.
Sometimes the bounce will break a losing streak or even start a winning streak. It is absolutely impossible to explain how it works. It simply does. It would be like asking why people live on earth but have not been found elsewhere. We don’t know why that is, but it is.
Explanations have been offered but they always fall short.
An anomaly in the bounce has been noticed recently. Bounces have been experienced by riders while an article is being written or, such as the case was Thursday night, a day after the interview and a full day before seeing print.
Chamisa Goodwin grinned when told about the phenomenon Thursday night only moments after winning cleanly on the 4-year-old filly name Recognizethestreet, owned by Curtis Sampson and trained by Tony Rengstorf in the third race.
Big deal you say?
Consider this: Ms Goodwin is a Minnesota native, from Bemidji, and the win was her first at Canterbury Park. She began riding here in 2006 and has ridden in Maryland and Arkansas among other states.
Her first Minnesota win was special for other reasons. Her brother, Nik, also a rider at Canterbury, watched the race from the jockey lounge. Their father, Duane, was present for the race and so, too, was their sister, Neah, who gallops mornings. Nik’s son, Lane, was also on hand to see his aunt Chamisa get her first Minnesota win.
Chamisa arrived in the jockeys lounge and received congratulations from other riders. Nik Goodwin appeared and gave his sister a fist bump. Chamisa watched a replay of the race, perhaps storing it in the memory bank for future consideration.
And all of this, a full 24 hours before her blog story is scheduled to appear.
Clearly, the bounce mechanism works… but it needs adjustment.
INTERNET ABSURDITIES
There is internet propaganda, internet falsehood, internet misinformation and internet absurdity.
An article that circulated Thursday fits the latter category, a story about a horse that ran at Belmont Park the previous day, finished first after dislodging her rider and yet received no mention from the track announcer.
Yes, folks, stories do appear by individuals who know absolutely nothing about the subjects they discuss. The aforementioned instance is one of those.
In fact, the article included this statement:
“You ‘d think the big story of the race would be Downtown Hottie overcoming adversity and the lack of a jockey to win at Belmont, but no, nary a mention of her by the race announcer. That’s a totally bogus move, man.”
How can a person respond, other than to say something such as:
“The ball was fumbled by Adrian Peterson and then picked up by the field judge, who carried it unmolested into the end zone. You would have thought that the announcer might have given the fellow some much deserved credit. But nary a word…”
This blog was written by Canterbury Staff Writer Jim Wells. Wells was a longtime sportswriter at the Pioneer Press and is a member of the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame.
