A Horse With the Right Name to Tie the KYD to a Prizefight
Apr 25, 2015 11:01:00 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Apr 25, 2015 11:01:00 GMT -5
Anyone a boxing fan? Not us!
A Horse With the Right Name to Tie the Kentucky Derby to a Prizefight
By MELISSA HOPPERTAPRIL
NYT
After his final workout ahead of next weekend’s Kentucky Derby, the colt Itsaknockout retreated to Barn 40 on Friday for a bath. He was swaddled in a black blanket with the words “Mayweather,” in orange, and “Pacquiao,” in yellow, printed on the side.
It was the first sign of a partnership between Starlight Racing, which owns Itsaknockout, and the promoters of the long-anticipated championship welterweight match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, which will be held about four hours after next Saturday’s Derby.
In addition to Itsaknockout’s donning the blanket until he is saddled for the Derby, his team will wear apparel to promote the fight. During the race, the jockey Luis Saez will have the words “Mayweather” on one leg and “Pacquiao” on the other.
The arrangement, for which the fight’s promoters will pay Starlight an undisclosed amount, came about when Jack Wolf, Starlight’s founder, approached Chris Mara, the senior vice president for player personnel for the N.F.L.’s Giants and a partner in Starlight, about marketing the horse. Mara suggested they speak with Steve Rosner and Frank Vuono, who founded the firm 16W Marketing in East Rutherford, N.J.
Rosner and Vuono know something about marketing horses. After Big Brown added the second leg of the Triple Crown to his résumé in 2008, his owners contacted 16W about a licensing deal if he were to win the Belmont. The colt I’ll Have Another’s team contacted the firm, too, about possible sponsorship deals when he was vying for a Triple Crown in 2012.
When Rosner, who represents the former N.F.L. quarterbacks and “Inside the NFL” analysts Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms, heard the horse’s name, it became obvious that the Mayweather-Pacquiao match was the perfect fit. He mentioned the idea to Showtime Sports’ Espinoza, who was intrigued.
“Once I said the horse’s name, I could see his wheels start to spin,” Rosner said of Espinoza. “We thought, Wouldn’t it be something from a sponsorship and branding standpoint if the boxing community was talking about the Derby and the Derby people were talking about boxing?”
One of five Derby contenders for the trainer Todd Pletcher, who is 1 for 40 in the race, Itsaknockout entered the $1 million Florida Derby on March 28 undefeated in three starts but finished fourth. On Friday, he held his own while working with his stablemate Materiality and erased doubts about whether he belonged among this year’s strong Derby field.
“He looked fantastic,” said Wolf, who said his wife, Laurie, had named the horse Itsaknockout because his sire’s name, Lemon Drop Kid, reminded her of a boxer. “I think it was the best breeze he’s ever had.”
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Wolf added: “To have this caliber of fight coming up and this field in the Derby, it’s pretty exciting. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and this is probably the best crop of 3-year-olds we’ve seen.”
Rules about advertising are set by the local racing commission, and the issue has been contentious at times. Besides objections from racing commissions, some owners believe that the silks are not the property of the jockeys to sell or rent advertising space.
“It was a very quick, easy and stress-free process,” Espinoza said of working with Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to get approval for the advertising. “Between the first phone call and the first horse blanket arriving, it only took about a week.”
Mayweather Promotions and Pacquiao’s promoter, Top Rank, are rivals, as are Showtime and HBO, but they quickly agreed on the value of advertising at the other marquee event of the day.
“It’s no secret that there has been animosity on all sides,” Espinoza said. “It’s like Coke and Pepsi working together. It takes a once-in-a-lifetime event to connect competition like that.”
On a day that will also include the final round of the N.F.L. draft and N.H.L. and N.B.A. playoff games, the Derby, the longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, and the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, the richest boxing match ever, will very likely capture the bulk of the attention.
One person who will be involved in the draft and the Derby is Mara, who plans to arrive in Louisville, Ky., just in time for the 6:24 p.m. post time.
Executives at Showtime will be watching from afar. “There’s a definite rooting interest,” Espinoza said.
Later that night, Wolf will host his own fight viewing party at his Louisville home for his partners, friends and family. Like Muhammad Ali, Wolf, 65, is a native of Louisville, but he said he was not a boxing fan.
“But I’m going to be Saturday,” he said emphatically.
A Horse With the Right Name to Tie the Kentucky Derby to a Prizefight
By MELISSA HOPPERTAPRIL
NYT
After his final workout ahead of next weekend’s Kentucky Derby, the colt Itsaknockout retreated to Barn 40 on Friday for a bath. He was swaddled in a black blanket with the words “Mayweather,” in orange, and “Pacquiao,” in yellow, printed on the side.
It was the first sign of a partnership between Starlight Racing, which owns Itsaknockout, and the promoters of the long-anticipated championship welterweight match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, which will be held about four hours after next Saturday’s Derby.
In addition to Itsaknockout’s donning the blanket until he is saddled for the Derby, his team will wear apparel to promote the fight. During the race, the jockey Luis Saez will have the words “Mayweather” on one leg and “Pacquiao” on the other.
The arrangement, for which the fight’s promoters will pay Starlight an undisclosed amount, came about when Jack Wolf, Starlight’s founder, approached Chris Mara, the senior vice president for player personnel for the N.F.L.’s Giants and a partner in Starlight, about marketing the horse. Mara suggested they speak with Steve Rosner and Frank Vuono, who founded the firm 16W Marketing in East Rutherford, N.J.
Rosner and Vuono know something about marketing horses. After Big Brown added the second leg of the Triple Crown to his résumé in 2008, his owners contacted 16W about a licensing deal if he were to win the Belmont. The colt I’ll Have Another’s team contacted the firm, too, about possible sponsorship deals when he was vying for a Triple Crown in 2012.
When Rosner, who represents the former N.F.L. quarterbacks and “Inside the NFL” analysts Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms, heard the horse’s name, it became obvious that the Mayweather-Pacquiao match was the perfect fit. He mentioned the idea to Showtime Sports’ Espinoza, who was intrigued.
“Once I said the horse’s name, I could see his wheels start to spin,” Rosner said of Espinoza. “We thought, Wouldn’t it be something from a sponsorship and branding standpoint if the boxing community was talking about the Derby and the Derby people were talking about boxing?”
One of five Derby contenders for the trainer Todd Pletcher, who is 1 for 40 in the race, Itsaknockout entered the $1 million Florida Derby on March 28 undefeated in three starts but finished fourth. On Friday, he held his own while working with his stablemate Materiality and erased doubts about whether he belonged among this year’s strong Derby field.
“He looked fantastic,” said Wolf, who said his wife, Laurie, had named the horse Itsaknockout because his sire’s name, Lemon Drop Kid, reminded her of a boxer. “I think it was the best breeze he’s ever had.”
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Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Wolf added: “To have this caliber of fight coming up and this field in the Derby, it’s pretty exciting. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and this is probably the best crop of 3-year-olds we’ve seen.”
Rules about advertising are set by the local racing commission, and the issue has been contentious at times. Besides objections from racing commissions, some owners believe that the silks are not the property of the jockeys to sell or rent advertising space.
“It was a very quick, easy and stress-free process,” Espinoza said of working with Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to get approval for the advertising. “Between the first phone call and the first horse blanket arriving, it only took about a week.”
Mayweather Promotions and Pacquiao’s promoter, Top Rank, are rivals, as are Showtime and HBO, but they quickly agreed on the value of advertising at the other marquee event of the day.
“It’s no secret that there has been animosity on all sides,” Espinoza said. “It’s like Coke and Pepsi working together. It takes a once-in-a-lifetime event to connect competition like that.”
On a day that will also include the final round of the N.F.L. draft and N.H.L. and N.B.A. playoff games, the Derby, the longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, and the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, the richest boxing match ever, will very likely capture the bulk of the attention.
One person who will be involved in the draft and the Derby is Mara, who plans to arrive in Louisville, Ky., just in time for the 6:24 p.m. post time.
Executives at Showtime will be watching from afar. “There’s a definite rooting interest,” Espinoza said.
Later that night, Wolf will host his own fight viewing party at his Louisville home for his partners, friends and family. Like Muhammad Ali, Wolf, 65, is a native of Louisville, but he said he was not a boxing fan.
“But I’m going to be Saturday,” he said emphatically.