The anatomy of a story

Patrick Patten of Handride and Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance asked on Twitter how a story as big as Lava Man returning to training slipped by the media for several weeks. I can't answer that question specifically, but here's what went down in the Thoroughbred Times office:

The e-mail came Tuesday afternoon from my boss, Thoroughbred Times Managing Editor Tom Law.

Lisa Groothedde, a correspondant of Thoroughbred Times and owner of Thoroughbred Information Agency, wrote on her blog Monday that Lava Man had returned to training with Doug O'Neill.

We in the newsroom knew immediately that this story would have legs. That is, that once it was out there among the masses that people would talk about it, want to know more, etc.

Since Lisa had already broken the story, I didn't see any reason to keep it secret even though it had yet to appear on Thoroughbred Times (or Blood Horse or Daily Racing Form). I posted on Twitter a link to Lisa's story on ThoroughbredInfo.com while our lead racing reporter, Jeff Lowe, tried to track down more details.

Those details were being kept under hats, however. People usually very forthcoming with the press (or at least Jeff) were referring questions to other people. Some people were employing stall tactics (e.g., "let me give you the story next week"). Others didn't call back.

The only person who did talk was Michael Blowen, who was as blindsided by our news as we were when we read Lisa's blog. Until Tuesday, he was under the impression that Lava Man would be at Old Friends later this year.

We left the office on Tuesday knowing that Lava Man was back with Doug O'Neill but did not feel comfortable enough with the why he was back with Doug O'Neill to go with a story. Was he in training for a race? Was he put back in familiar surroundings before a flight to Kentucky? We wanted those types of questions answered before going with a story, but as I said above, few people were talking.

The story took another turn late Wednesday morning when Equibase and DRF both listed Lava Man as having worked a bullet three furlongs at Hollywood Park. My initial reaction to that news was that was all the confirmation we needed that he was back in training and that we should put a story up now with the information learned yesterday and the workout.

Cooler heads prevailed, however, and we decided to wait to hear from either O'Neill or one of the owners before posting something. This lag cost us being the first to have the story among the trade media (Blood Horse posted something about 10 minues before we did), but I do feel as if our story is the most in depth with quotes from an owner, trainer, Blowen, plus some perspective on the returns of other notable retirees.

Questions still linger, though. How did O'Neill's team keep quiet the return of such a noteworthy horse? I realize this isn't the same as Brett Favre boarding a plane for Minnesota, but there had to be someone besides Lisa who knew Lava Man was back but kept it quiet.

It's an interesting story, and being a part of watching it unfold is why I became a journalist. I knew people wanted to read about it and providing that service is very appealing and satisfying to me.