The Ubiquitous Alex Brown Speaks Out on Community and Horse Welfare

Alex Brown is a busy guy. In the morning, Alex works horses for Steve Asmussen's Woodbine stable. Almost immediately after the morning session ends, Alex pops up on Twitter where he has become a bit of an expert with TwitPic. This past weekend, Alex provided TwitPic coverage of Queen's Plate Day and on Tueday he was Tweeting the price of horse meat at the Olex auction in Kitchener, Ontario.

Though Brown is branching out into other ventures, horse rescue is still the focus.


Turn on the TV on Wednesday night and there's Mr. Brown walking a horse around the Woodbine paddock. Somewhere in the midst of all this, the man finds time to update his website, send out Facebook emails, write articles for NY Times - The Rail and take on the odd interview. And of course, let's not forget Alex Brown Racing on Youtube.

It's not all about the fight to stop horse slaughter either. Brown has friends across the racing landscape and his daily updates include posts updating the status of racehorses being galloped by friends hundreds of miles from Woodbine. Recently, Brown penned a piece for Eclipse Magazine regarding the success of Woodbine jockey Chantal Sutherland. Sutherland has recently launched her own website, and Brown had a few ideas to share with the local star.

Alex Brown Appears on Wharton's Social Media For Social Causes


Whether you are a supporter of Brown's cause or not, you have to admire his dedication and drive to raise awareness for horses in need of rescue. The Knowledge @ Wharton interview above is an excellent insight into the beginnings of Alex Brown Racing and pours over the details of how what was once a blog plodding along at three hits a day became a community galloping full out at 3000 hits an hour at the peak of Barbaro's fame.

Brown's work is something I've come to follow because, in the midst of his political battle, he has not lost sight of his love for the game. Buried in the middle of this 28 minute interview, Brown states, "You know, we're a horse welfare site essentially hosted from a horse racing perspective."

I've pulled together some of the more interesting points of the K @ W discussion below.

Knowledge @ Wharton: Any other early lessons besides frequency? What else was it that drew attention?

Brown: Obviously frequency is important. Transparency is also very important in this arena. You say it the way it is. You can't sugarcoat anything. That just comes back and bites you later. There are other things, but certainly frequency and attention to your audience are very important.

* * *

Knowledge @ Wharton: How do you feel a discussion board drove the revenue or the donation movement?

Brown: I'll explain a little bit about how the fundraising model works. We're not a non-profit organization. In fact, we don't exist as an entity. We basically provide a medium for fundraising. Horse rescuers can go to our discussion board and can start a discussion -- for example, about a couple of horses that might be in a kill pen on their way to slaughter. They might need a thousand dollars to get those horses out of harm's way. They'll provide the information, and various members of the community -- the community is actually called Fans of Barbaro -- will contribute $50, $20, $100. The money will be raised and the horses are then out of harm's way.

* * *

Near the end of the interview, Brown makes one final impassioned statement regarding the goal of the site that resonates through the connection of all his work whether through Alex Brown Racing, Facebook, Youtube, Wikis or otherwise:

"Sadly, in the horse world, the horses need a voice and it needs to be said the way it is so that we can get passionate about issues like horse slaughter. At the end of the day, I absolutely believe we'll end that practice simply because of the combination of transparency and connectedness. We continue to grow, get more people involved, and the reasons that we have horse slaughter can no longer be maintained because they're not authentic. I'm not going to go into the political debates about the particular issue, but that's my belief and that's my passion and that's why I think we are successful and can continue to be more successful. But without this sort of social networking site, it would be a lot harder."

Brown continues to lead the fight byte by byte.

* * *

If you are a collector of horse racing memorabilia then you absolutely have to get onto eBay and start bidding on Queen's Plate saddle cloths. The proceeds will go to the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society.

Visit eBAY on Tuesday, June 23, and bid on the saddle cloths worn by all 13 competitors in the 150th renewal of the oldest continually run stakes race in North America, the $1,000,000 Queen’s Plate, to be run on Sunday, June 21, at Woodbine. This unique auction, initiated in 2008, was the brainchild of Woodbine’s own Jane Holmes and Steve Koch, and will raise funds to help ensure that the horses who run for our pleasure will enjoy a happy retirement once their racing days are over.

MANY THANKS TO WOODBINE ENTERTAINMENT FOR ITS SUPPORT!

OPENING BIDS

Winning Horse - $2,500.00
Second Place - $1,000.00
Third Place - $500.00
Unplaced - $250.00

AUCTION CLOSES JUNE 30, 2009

Please click on this link to view the items up for bid.

* * *

Saturday marks the running of the $1.5M North America's Cup North America's Cup for three year-old pacers. Post-time is 9:40PM live from Mohawk Racetrack!

The field shapes up as follows, with Well Said likely to be the favourite:

PP Horse Driver Trainer

1 OK Boromir Luc Ouellette Frank Baker Jr.
2 Mr Wiggles Corey Callahan George and Brenda Teague
3 Dial Or Nodial Brian Sears Jim Campbell
4 If I Can Dream George Brennan Tracy Brainard
5 Well Said Ron Pierce Steve Elliott
6 Keep It Real Steve Condren Joey Shea
7 Art Colony John Campbell Casie Coleman
8 Chasin Racin David Miller George and Brenda Teague
9 Annieswesterncard Tim Tetrick Terry Deters
10 Millionaire Cam Jody Jamieson Tony O’Sullivan
AE1 Arctic Warrior TBA Ben Wallace

A preview of the race will be posted in advance on Saturday.

If you're a fan of the standardbreds, please take a moment to check out the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society website.