Racing's Future: Andrew Champagne

“Racing’s Future” is a new Q&A series in which I aspire to help everyone in the industry. In addition to shining a spotlight on youth who plan to have a career in horse racing, I hope that the opinions expressed in their responses will offer industry leaders insight into what a younger audience believes the sport should improve upon.

Meet Andrew Champagne

Andrew Champagne, 25, is a lifelong racing fan. Born and raised in Kingston, New York, Andrew currently lives in Pasadena, California. His passion for horse racing has led him to a career in the sport; he is currently an Associate Producer in HRTV's Digital Media department, blogs for Horse Racing Nation (check out his blog, Toasting with Andrew Champagne), and has previously served as a turf writer at both The Saratogian and The Saratoga Special.

How did you become interested in horse racing?

My father took me to the track as soon as I could walk, and I instantly fell in love with the sport. By the time I was in middle school, I knew how to read a racing form, I knew what a good horse looked like, and I knew way more about the wagering aspect of the sport than anyone that age has any right to!

What do you love about horse racing?

It's a game that can be as simple as picking a name you like or as complicated as dissecting whatever sheets you can get your hands on. Picking winners, seeing beautiful animals up close and personal, and being able to profit over knowing something someone else doesn't are all things not many other sports offer.

Who are some of the people you admire in the industry and why?

I've been extremely fortunate to work next to some of the best people in the business. More importantly to me, many of them had dozens of chances in the press box at Saratoga Race Course to tell me (by comparison, a motor-mouthed kid!) to shut up, and very few of them ever did. Whether they know it or not, I learned a lot from people like Paul Moran (RIP), John Pricci, Ed McNamera, Mike Veitch, Jeff Scott, Teresa Genaro, Tom Amello, Andy Serling, Ernie Munick, Joe and Sean Clancy, Nick Kling, Jerry Bossert, Ed Fountaine, John DaSilva, Mike Jarboe, and a bunch of others, and I'm extremely grateful to all of them for that.

There are others outside the press box who I've had the pleasure of getting to know a little bit. Tom Durkin, one of the best track announcers in the business, couldn't be a nicer guy. I also got to meet Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg, who gave me one of the best interviews of my career last summer at Saratoga. In the course of fifteen minutes, I asked him a grand total of four questions. He's one of the most insightful people I've ever met.

What aspects of horse racing do you wish you knew more about?

From a selfish perspective, I'm open to anything that can make me better at picking winners!

How often do you go to the races?

I'm at Santa Anita Park every day for my job. When you're at a job that doesn't feel like "work," your quality of life goes through the roof!

What racetracks have you been to?

Hmm, let's see... Saratoga, Belmont Park, Monmouth Park, Meadowlands, Rockingham Park, Canterbury Park, Penn National, Pimlico, Santa Anita, Hollywood Park (RIP), and Fairplex/Barretts.

What is your favorite racetrack? Why?

As great as Santa Anita is, and as fantastic as the weather in SoCal may be, nothing I've seen, and I mean nothing, tops Saratoga in the summer.

Of the racetracks you have not been to, which one do you want to visit most?

Del Mar, especially when they return to conventional dirt in 2015! I'm also planning on going to my first Kentucky Derby this year for work, and I'm really excited for that.

What are your favorite moments in your "horse racing life" thus far?

I can't narrow this down to one moment, so I'll give a couple. I covered the 2012 Travers and hit the late pick four with both Alpha and Golden Ticket when they dead-heated (had Golden Ticket gotten his nose down clean, I would have hit for something like $3,800 before taxes on a 50-cent pick four ticket cost $25!). I was in attendance at the 2013 Preakness when Oxbow wired the field, and I gave him out on Twitter several times during the day. The 2013 Breeders' Cup was an awesome event to work, even with the ridiculous speed bias that reigned supreme on the first day, and I'll never forget Opening Day this past Saratoga meet, when I showed up in the handicapper's box of The Pink Sheet for the first time (I still have that newspaper).

Who is your favorite racehorse of your lifetime? Before your lifetime?

This is extremely difficult to whittle down to a single horse. In my lifetime, I've got a couple I remember very fondly. Blame and I had an up-and-down history with one another; him nosing Quality Road in the Whitney cost me money, but him nosing Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic got me a pretty nice daily double score when combined with Dangerous Midge, who won that year's Turf.

I'll always remember being in the paddock before the Alabama one year, turning toward Blind Luck, and thinking, "She looks horrendous." She was lathering in the paddock, her head was down, she was showing no interest in being there, and I thought Jerry Hollendorfer was insane for running her... then she circled the field in the final three furlongs and left me speechless. She was so much fun to watch, and she completed a pretty nice exacta for me in that year's Breeders' Cup Distaff.

There are others, too. Wise Dan is as close to John Henry as anyone my age may ever see, and following him has been a blast. Big Brown, with the exception of one afternoon at Belmont, was a total freak of nature, and I was also in attendance for failed Triple Crown bids by Funny Cide and Smarty Jones.

Before my lifetime: Obviously, Secretariat was a monster, and I still, to this day, watch clips of his SportsCentury episode and get chills when Bill Nack (for my money, one of the greatest turf writers in history) recalls everyone thinking, "He's GOING. TOO. DAMN. FAST."

From a New York standpoint, Fourstardave also merits consideration. He won a race at Saratoga every summer for eight straight years, which will never, ever be done again.

If you could change something about the industry, what would you change?

The breeding industry is in need of an overhaul. I could go on and on about this until I'm blue in the face, but long story short, the focus of breeders seems to be on speed, speed, and more speed. That's come at the cost of stamina and soundness at times, and if our best horses can't stay on the track for more than a handful of starts, it becomes infinitely more difficult to create new stars. Case in point: The 2012 Breeders' Cup Classic was run without winners of the Florida Derby, Santa Anita Derby, Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont, and Haskell. Something needs to be done, and hopefully the Kentucky Derby points system plays a role in that.

What do you think is preventing horse racing from being a more popular sport?

Racing hasn't been able to create new stars, for whatever reason. Some of that goes back to breeding and horses' careers being shortened, but other factors are in play, too. We haven't had a Triple Crown winner, which hurts, and very few horses since then have given the average sports fan reason to care about the game. There have been a few (Cigar and Zenyatta, to name two), but this sport needs them badly, and they're tough to come by when the best horses may only run once every two months.

What do you think is the most common misconception about horse racing?

It's probably the notion that horse racing is rigged and/or "a sucker bet." In horse racing, you get better odds than you would gambling on just about any other sport.

How would you convince someone who is not an avid follower of horse racing to begin following the sport?

Anyone knocking the sport needs to go to Saratoga or Santa Anita and experience it. Seeing the animals up close and being part of that kind of atmosphere can convert someone into a fan really quickly.

How are you currently contributing to the horse racing industry?

My job at HRTV includes a lot of video production work, and I've been able to stay active as a turf writer with HRN as well. Additionally, my Twitter page (@AndrewChampagne) features a ton of updates from around the racing world, as well as some handicapping insights and musings.

What is one thing you aspire to personally accomplish someday in the horse racing industry?

I've been a passionate fan of this game for as long as I can remember, and I've been fortunate enough to do some work I'm really proud of while loving what I do every step of the way. Ultimately, I'd love to be an on-air personality and handicap races and talk horses for a bigger audience. This is a great game, one I believe I was born to be involved in, and anything I can do to promote it to a larger audience would be fantastic.