Q & A With Gabby Gaudet

[Wandering Eyes]

Most racing fans know Gabby Gaudet from her job at FanDuel TV, where she was one of that network's top talent. It sounds like a dream job, but Gaudet has found one that she thinks will be even better. It was announced last week that Gaudet was named the new Director of Communications at Keeneland. She sat down recently with the TDN to discuss her new job and why she decided to trade in her microphone.

   TDN:  The Keeneland job looks like a great job. It's a very prestigious position. But most people would say you already had a great job being with FanDuel TV and being the voice for a lot of big races. So what made you want to make the transition from FanDuel to this job?

GG: If I'm being perfectly honest, I was interested in this job at Keeneland because of the lifestyle change it represents. I have a soon to be 4-year-old (Crew), and a soon to be 2-year-old (Miles). This past winter I would say was really the moment that it became extremely difficult to juggle everything.  I keep saying this, but it's so true. It was like trying to put a round peg in a square hole. It just felt like every time I kept trying harder and trying harder to make this work something was working against me, especially during the winter. During the summer, my husband (trainer Norm Casse) is either at Oaklawn or Saratoga. I have a full-time career. And I was traveling all the time. I found myself having to really put together a chaotic puzzle to try to figure out childcare. And not only that, my job kept pulling me away from my kids. And so that was number one. This is a game-changer. You're absolutely right. I'm glad you said that. You hit the nail on the head. It was like I went from one great job to another great job, and that's what made this decision so difficult. I love where I am and I love what I've done. I'm proud of what I've done with the team at FanDuel over the past several years.

TDN: You reside in Louisville, will you commute back and forth from Louisville to Lexington?

   GG: Yes, as of now. Norm and I are kind of open, but yes, that is the plan, to just commute as of now.

TDN: The job, your travel, your kids. Some how you made it all work, although you say was never easy. Just how did you pull this off?

GG: I was actually speaking to one of our producers this morning and we laughed and he was like, I can't believe you did Royal Ascot when you were six months pregnant. Part of it is just the way I am. I think sometimes I'm a glutton for punishment and I just want to work so hard. It's kind of ingrained in me. But I don't know, I think I will look back on certain moments and think, how the hell did I pull that off? When you're in it, you're just kind of taking a deep breath and you're going day to day and just kind of figuring it out as you go along.  I was really emotional about this the other day when I was talking to my husband. He's had to make a lot of sacrifices as well. He has a budding career that he wants to be able to dedicate a lot of time to. And because I'm not flexible or my job isn't as flexible as some other jobs would be he's had to really sacrifice a lot for his career as well. I think at the end of the day, hopefully there will be a kumbaya and moment we can kind of figure everything out and get back on track here.

TDN: How much do you think you'll miss being in front of the camera and doing that role that you did so well for all these years?

GG: I definitely will miss it. But the opportunity is still there to do both from Keeneland. When I get my feet underneath me in this new role, that's not impossible, that I might pop up on television throughout the year on occasion. I don't think that that door is completely closed. I'm still open to the idea of doing some television. It just won't be to the extent that I have been doing.  Based on the conversations I've had with (Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer) Christa (Marillia)  this is a very forward facing role. Much of it is going to be a spokesperson and being able to be the voice of Keeneland in many aspects. So there's still that public speaking element to it. And I'll still be doing some of the simulcast during the fall and spring meet. So I think I'll be busy enough.

Gabby Gaudet (second right) | Keeneland

   TDN: Reading the press release that announced your hiring, they said you will “shape how Keeneland connects with fans, media and the broader racing community.” Could you elaborate on that? What are some of the things in the back of your mind that you'd like to try and like to do?

GG: It just seems like such a dynamic role. I was a dual major at Towson University and one of the majors was mass comm and the other was graphic design. I did a lot of PR advertising with my mass comm degree. Kind of thinking back to that and then looking at the experience that I've had with storytelling within FanDuel and public speaking, I think I have acquired some important skills over the past several years. I would say that a huge part of this is being on the other side of the media and understanding where there are gaps and how some of these entities communicate important information as well, whether it be incident reports or crisis communication. And Keeneland is a gold standard. That's why I love Keeneland, because they really do try hard to do the right thing every single time. But I think there's some opportunities to streamline those processes and get more creative with how we tell, not only the stories within Keeneland, but in the broader community, whether it be horse racing or Lexington or even farther out than that. I've got some great ideas. I don't want to give them all away because we still have to refine them, but my brain is really, really turning. And what I love about this opportunity is it's a very collaborative environment, so I can take an idea and go to (VP of Racing) Gatewood (Bell) or I could take an idea and go to (Vice President of Sales )Tony Lacy or Christa or (President) Shannon (Arvin) or (Senior Director of Marketing ) Dara Allen, who I'm now working with. It just seems very collaborative. I hope to  get a lot of good feedback and hopefully we can refine some of these goals and hit the ground running come the fall.

TDN: You made some history a few years back where you helped out the team at the sales as an announcer. Is that going to be part of your future at all? Do you see yourself doing more of that?

   GG: I won't be announcing at the sales, but I definitely will be involved in the sales, especially as it pertains to communicating. And again, I have some ideas about the sales. Sometimes, especially to new owners, it can be extremely overwhelming. I remember when I first started getting into the sales world, I was so overwhelmed. There's so many different facets to it and so many different players and it all moves very quickly. It's very fast paced. And I think if we can kind of slow that down, tell a couple of stories, and inform the members within the industry, or outside of the industry, that are interested in coming in and buying horses. That's kind of the goal. It's always been my goal, even in my role right now, to be able to educate fans and educate people who are interested about the sport and just make sure that they have a really good entry into this industry.

   TDN:   Your family is very well known in Maryland racing, Your father, mother and sister all trained. Why didn't you go that route?

   GG: I don't like to get up that early. Seriously, that was part of it though. I'm not going to lie. I did gallop in the mornings during high school and part of college. I worked for my dad and I worked for Hammy Smith, Tim Keefe, and a couple of other Maryland horsemen. I love going out in the morning, but occasionally when I was going out every morning, it kind of took the luster out of it for me. I like to go out on my own terms. I grew up very much in a horse racing family. It wasn't just my mom and dad, it wasn't just my sister (Lacey), who knew what she wanted to do by the time she could walk. My aunts were jockeys. My uncle was a farrier, my other uncle was a horse owner and trainer. So it was ubiquitous within my entire family. We'd be sitting down at the dinner table at night and it would be like, oh my gosh, we have to talk about this again? Can't we talk about something else? And so I did kind of take my own route, going to college, being involved in sports, traveling, doing my own thing for a very long time. And I came back into it because, truth be told, I went to work for the Saratoga Special. When I worked for that publication when I was in college, I went up to Saratoga for the first time and it was madness. It was chaos. But it was so much fun being able to tell those stories and meet those people. And it really honed my writing skills. But that said, looking back, sometimes I cringe at some of those articles I wrote and sometimes I look back and I'm like, 'Hey, that wasn't so bad.' My sister knew what she wanted to do from the get go. I did not know what I wanted to do. And at one point I didn't think it had anything to do with horse racing. Then I found that different entry point and I loved the media side of it. I didn't even know that that really existed at the time.

TDN: You've done a lot of work for the TAA. Will you continue in that and how can you contribute to them?

GG: I really want to expand my role with them as well as the Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, as well as some other non-profits that are within the industry. I've done some work with the Backside Learning Center here at Churchill as well. I'd love to get more involved with them. As for the TAA, I've just been a member of the advisory board thus far, and I just haven't been able to commit as much time to it just because of everything else. But I hope to be able to actually have a stronger presence moving forward with that.

TDN: If you have any good story ideas, you know where to reach me.

GG: Absolutely. And honestly, that is the goal. I even had a long chat with Tony Lacy yesterday, and I said, you guys are in it. You're weeding through all of these yearlings, all of the players with all these horses. You kind of are privy to these stories. I was like, please don't hesitate to just reach out to me. So that's my goal too. Knowing the television side of it, sometimes we're scrambling. We have so many things to cover day to day to day to day to day, and we can't have the resources, the people, the time to commit to try to find these stories. So I want to find these stories, package them up beautifully, and be able to give them to various media entities. So that's another huge component. I think being on the other side, on the outside looking in that I can contribute in that way too.

   TDN: Terrific. Well, Gabby, again, thanks for your time. Congratulations, and I'm sure you'll do a great job.

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