California horse racing is having trouble getting more than five horses to enter a race, Santa Anita has squandered the opportunity for Oak Tree to host the Breeders’ Cup and owners have fled for the East where casino-augmented purses remain relatively lucrative. The dread isn’t regional.
On the fortnightly eve of its Saratoga meet, New York’s horse racing future is as bleak as it’s been in a decade. NYCOTB is $20 million in arrears on the NYRA account and won’t pay for the product it’s buying. The State is left with one option for running the Aqueduct VLT casino. Come December, the franchise will have run through the $25 million advance it received.
In Kentucky, Turfway Park has cancelled all the Kentucky Cup stakes races but one. Keeneland has sliced $1 million and two graded stakes from its 17-day meet this October. In Illinois, the sport faces a legislative thumbs-up or down on having slot machines at the racetracks – but don’t count on it. Nationwide attendance and handle figures dropped again, causing head-scratching, shoulder-shrugging and clock-watching in ivory towers, as if all that a revival requires is a reversal of fortunes in the overall economy.
In the meantime, horseplayers and fans throughout the USA continue to proffer naïve suggestions for making the sport popular. Their ideas range from lowering the takeout to providing lessons in handicapping. Except for a thought from the “King of Car Parts” to create a Geo-sized wager with a Humvee-sized payout and give the racetracks Carte Blanche on their seasons, no seer stood ready to present a plan; each just issued a promise.
The business of horse racing wasn’t meant to be the way it is now – an enterprise that relies on a revenue stream produced by the competition. It wasn’t meant to be one in which partner is enemy, or one in which special interests are separated from common benefit. There’s supposed to be a chain that begins with the premise that men will gather to test their abilities to produce a faster horse. It’s assumed that the contest that proves which is fastest becomes intriguing enough to convince people to watch it.
Horse racing’s current path makes the lives of everyone involved in it less fulfilling. From the top to the bottom, industry members are feeling hurt. The problems might not harm every individual with the same impact. But they’ve dragged horse racing down to a level that disables it from functioning effectively. Who remembers the last time “the good of the sport” was a function of a decision?
As a brand, thoroughbred racing has become a product that will do anything for sales. This short-sighted view has created racetracks that nobody will visit, horse races that nobody can bet on, seasons longer than the bettors can subsidize. Lacking leadership, the industry operates without conscience. Until a compact that unites various elements emerges, there will be no cooperation. The sport is one nationally-televised accident away from having the Feds on its doorstep. In the age of faux rightiousness, a subject like horse racing with its gambling and animal rights issues will be grist on which politicians can grandstand.
The destruction of horse racing has occurred bit by bit over the decades as the forces in each of its segments reacted to challenge. But the world moves so fast now, the luxury of patience to allow time to reverse things can’t be tolerated. People must let go of their individuality and embrace a collective attitude immediately. Believing that things can get better by enabling the sport to evolve slowly is the most ominous theory.
It seems incomprehensible that the NTRA, Breeders’ Cup, TOBA, The Jockey Club and leaders of this country’s top racetracks don’t know that each problem has an effect on another. But often it appears that these entities move to action without recognition of consequence. No person or group is concerned with the sport’s overall welfare. That’s because each person or group is focused on putting a fire out.
Horse racing’s self-proclaimed saviors aren’t serious in respect to their status when they underestimate the cure needed to rid the ailing sport of unhealthy practices. The challenges require more than simple adjustments to the present tense paradigm. Saying the sport needs to function more in the free market or claiming that an improvement in the number of available runners will change the environment doesn’t address the key issues adequately.
The real savior will bring about consolidation of the sport, develop an International outlook, abandon the limiting factor of dirt tracks in favor of reliable synthetics, stop medications entirely, redefine the schedules of when and which racetracks operate, enact graded stakes standards that discourage breeders from raiding the sport of its stars, create a market for horses of stamina, promote the sport collectively and provide full betting access to everyone.
In other words, horse racing requires a salvation that delivers the industry to an entirely unfamiliar place. In the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis, the story is told that Yahweh promised Abraham that he would become the progenitor of a blessed tribe if he left his father’s home for a land he had not heard of. If horse racing’s new saviors believe in that prophecy, they will prosper. If they won’t, the sport’s only salvation will be in the afterlife. So, thus, it is written.
Vic Zast posts his observations about horse racing and related topics at Facebook.com/viczast and Twitter.com/viczast. Beginning on Friday, July 23, Vic Zast’s Saratoga Diary begins its fifth year on bloodhorse.com.
11 Jul 2010 at 11:36 pm | #
Last week’s column didn’t produce enough reader comments to warrant a representative Comment of the Week selection. You can share your opinions on today’s topic by submitting your comment below.
12 Jul 2010 at 02:38 am | #
Horse racing is a fractured, vision-less enterprise dominated by state greed.
It will never be saved, because each state with regulated horse racing will always fleece and milk race going folk for all they can. They will squeeze every last penny out of racing entities. They will always treat it as a “sin” rather than entertainment activity. Racetracks can jump out of their skin to make more attractive and fan-friendly product but it is the root where the poison rests.
Let’s look at two entertainment streams starting somewhere in 1930’s. American Professional Football was a fledging enterprise. My beloved Lions are still Portsmouth Spartans. Shady Maras buy New York franchise rights for $5k. League is fractured. Teams and their owners change schedules on the whim. Championships are bought. It is basically a travelling circus. No promotion, no commissioner, almost no rules.
Horse racing on the other hand is a locomotive rolling at full steam. No need to go into details - we all saw “Seabiscuit”. Movie that is.
Jump to 2010. WHAT HAPPENED??????
This is what needs to be done and why it never will be done because horse racing is a cash (maybe sick but still) cow for state coffers. And state greed will kill it. Not lack of fans, not people not knowing how to read the Form, not even insinuation of fixed outcomes. Racing needs THE COMMISSIONER with vision. The Big Picture vision. The one bullying racetracks and states. When Roger Goodell speaks, everyone listens. When franchises move, state legislatures hold emergency meetings. What does horse racing as a sport have? Frank? Mike? Mace? Sounds like three stooges. I don’t want to insult anyone. I am sure they are all fine standing citizens with the best intentions, but they ain’t gonna cut it.
Our meets are too long. Our purses too small (checked Hong Kong or Japan lately? yes, the Japan mired in a 20 year long economic slump). Our breed is too fragile. We are breeding to run 6 furlongs. We are breeding too many animals and when you have too many animals there will be too many disasters - on and off the track.
My vision - fewer races, fewer racetracks, fewer horses. National system of date distribution. Comprehensive purse structure modifications, where majority of purses would be allocated to older proven animals, enticing owners to keep their stars in public view and and not in the breeding shed.
I like European-style grass racing. This is NATURAL surface for which horses evolved. Forget dirt, forget synthetics, forget Aqueduct and Suffolks in the middle of the winter. Racing is the greatest game played outdoors and it is made for summer. What is better than hitting Jersey Shore and sliding over to Monmouth to catch a feature? Or Del Mar? Or Saratoga? Do we really need winter racing in New York? With Gulfstream and Santa Anita running?
Anyway, I could rant for hours but I got a plane to catch. See you at the Haskell.
12 Jul 2010 at 03:17 am | #
A commissioner derives his power from the ownership, and until they decide to deed him that support (never?) there will be no commissioner.
Grass racing is great but we don’t have the courses that can hold up to extensive grass meetings.
Well thought out column Vic, I especially like the “naive” concept of reduction in takeout that is constantly being brought up.
Here is the timeline over the next 10 years as I see it:
The reduction in the horse population will sound the demise of smaller tracks without slot money-bye bye Turfway and Ellis because of the ignorant, purposeful killing of Kentucky racing by Damon Traitor and his pit boss David Williams.
Churchill Downs will continue to lose days-right now their spring meet was 42 days, 1 less than the “old” Del Mar meet which is called a boutique meet-I believe they will run 6 weeks of 4 day racing, followed by Arlington running 4 weeks of 5 day racing in June and then Arlington directly up against Keeneland in the fall.
Anyway, I get off the subject of saving racing.
Unfortunately, the market place is the ultimate test in survival, and when enough tracks have gone out of business and Frank Stronach is dead, the remnants will be strong enough to continue on as is until the world comes to an end-hopefully a long time from now.
12 Jul 2010 at 03:29 am | #
Allan and Ace, you guys nailed it with excellent comments. Great insightful, enjoyable reading. Congrats!
12 Jul 2010 at 05:09 am | #
Mr. Zast: Allan and Ace nailed what? Neither they or you have acknowledged the sole reason Thoroughbred racing is tanking: competition for the gambling dollar! Simply stated, people since 1980 have preferred to GAMBLE at casinos, not the racetrack. Takeout is not the reason, nor is to much racing, nor is small fields, nor is it that racetracks go their own way.
What needs to be done is to convince people to gamble at their nearest racetrack, racino, or OTB not at a casino; and to do this racetracks must 1) market/advertise racing as an excellent alternative to casino gambling, and 2) turf writers must inform their readers that racing everywhere is simply terrific. Why is this so hard to understand?
12 Jul 2010 at 05:27 am | #
The beauty of horse racing is handicapping and seeing your opinion validated when your horse crosses the finish line first.
The beauty of the game is also proving to be it’s potential death knell.
Handicapping is challenging, takes a long time to grasp and understand. So does wagering effectively on the races,ie:money management.
It’s much easier to bet on a football game, play blackjack, the roulette wheel or slots.
There lies the problem.
It’s not takeout, turf writers, too many race days........It’s not enough people are interested anymore. They’ve found easier forms of gambling and I’m not sure there’s a way to change that.
12 Jul 2010 at 07:06 am | #
Vic, excellent article, elegant writing, diplomatic comments and gentle suggestions.
I’ll be blunt: all drugs need to be banned for a million reasons. Drugs should solely be used as intended to: as therapy, not to mask pain, exhaustion, dangerous injuries and boost performance.
Racing should only be about clean competition of horses owned by sportsmen who breed the best to the best and hope for the best against fair competition. Horses should be healthy, not vanned-off or vet-scratched one day than raced across a state line a week later. Scum and ugliness must be eliminated if racing wants to survive.
If drugs were gone, racing reduced to offer quality, humane entertainment, racing could survive and floorish.
Today, racing is no match against other forms of gambling. The only choice is to assure integrity and fun. Horses should be handicaped, not their trainers. Racing must become limited, humane, clean, special, well coordinated region to region and nationwide instead of tracks and states being engaged in equine canibalism. Racing should offer regular, healthy breaks and save purses for quality racing making it worth while to take excellent care of horses. Enough with endless, pathetic and lethal racing including in terrible hot and humid or cold weather in front of ghosts.
Speed and drugs should be replaced with honesty, stamina, top care, training and racing, tranparency, accountability to promote equine health and longevity. Racing should no longer try to survive as a gambling business that just happens to use a “live product”. Horse racing should be a sport that distinguishes itself by respecting, honoring and showcasing its healthy horses, is unafraid to disclose their health and is able to build fans of horses and handicaping around them.
12 Jul 2010 at 07:23 am | #
Gambling is only part of horse racing. I am a gambler. I love gambling. I can go years between Vegas visits. I don’t dream of hitting a lottery. You can not convince slot machine player to come to the races because they probably will do better in air conditioned sterilized environment. But you can turn a lot of people to the sport if you have stars on and off the racetrack. I go to the races to enjoy the show. Racecard itself can be compressed into 20 minutes of action. Austin nailed it - seeing your 8-1 shot cross the wire first is better than anything else, including you know what. Watching paddock action and horses coming out on the track, jibing with jocks - casinos can not do that. Horse racing is LIVE and full of life. I watched 12 KY Derby post parades and I still choke on that song.
12 Jul 2010 at 08:25 am | #
AMEN.
12 Jul 2010 at 09:42 am | #
Vic, to borrow a line from Springsteen, don’t “waste your summer praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets.” I know that you are not, not really. Your column was elegant but I must wonder if the individuals you mentioned are just easy targets. Seems like anyone who wants to get involved and provide leadership in trying to fix some of the many broken pieces of this industry is surely to draw undeserved derision. Mike Pegram does not strike me as a “self-proclaimed savior” who thinks he has all the answers, or any answers for that matter. How long can someone like Pegram stand to see the sport that is his passion wither away before wanting to do everything he can to fix it?
To state the obvious, racing needs new horseplayers, owners and fans—and just as importantly needs to understand why former horseplayers, owners and fans have turned their backs on the game.
12 Jul 2010 at 11:23 am | #
Allan, the days of big crowds is over with. To expect that they will return is only damaging to the industry if the powers focus on it.
Horse racing is financed by gamblers. We pay for the purses and we pay for the track’s operation.
Horse racing needs to get more gamblers. There needs to be winning gamblers created for that to happen.
This is why poker made it big. A few gamblers with mansions and millions of wannabes.
We have stars right now, none bigger than Zenyatta, but you know what? Handle is down more and more the longer Zenyatta’s win streak lasts, and it definitely isn’t her fault.
Track takeout has to go down or rebates need to be embraced and available to everyone. Take your pick.
12 Jul 2010 at 12:04 pm | #
Racing is doomed because:
(1) the industry doesn’t know how to create new customers and even if it knew how to lure them in, how do you explain to them when they see nobody watching the live races?
(2) the media have no interest in racing except for the 3 days of the triple crown and the few BC days.
(3) a true sportsman like Frank Stronach, who knows the sport and its manifold problems, yet continues to put his money on the table, is misunderstood and crucified as if he were an evil messiah.
12 Jul 2010 at 11:12 pm | #
Mr. Zast: If I may continue with my babble, I wish to itterate the following:
It is fair to say the the sixties and seventies were golden years for Thoroughbred racing. During those years there was takeout, so-called ‘stars’, small fields, big fields, stake races, nice stake purses, and even more racetracks operating than today. To say that there is to much racing today is erroneous. Most racetracks were filled to capacity with ‘fans’, and each racetrack did its own thing; there was no commissioner, no coordination, no leadership, et cetera, yet racing was booming.
Racetrack management didn’t change much as the eighties and nineties flew by, in fact, more exotic wagers were introduced and there continued to be ‘stars’, and stake races reached million dollar purses, yet attendance dropped precipitiously as did handle, and still does. Why?
The reason is so obvious that it is mind-boggling! People departed the racetrack in droves to gamble at casinos, completely destroying the myth that Thoroughbred racing is a sport.
If you, other turf writers, and racetrack management continue to ignore reality, that the betting window and not the horse is the attraction, racing is surely doomed. And if you continue to believe that ‘stars’ and less racing is the answer, then it is utterly hopeless.
13 Jul 2010 at 01:04 am | #
That was one of your more eloquent efforts, VZ. It should be required reading for racing’s messiah whenever he or she finally shows up. Exposing that individual to elitism as well as naiveté might enable him/her to subsequently minimize the impact of both.
On one hand you call for a collective attitude and cooperation with time running out, while on the other you gratuitously distort and disparage horseplayer concerns before putting forth your own agenda that includes continued conversion to synthetic surfaces as a priority.
The successful super savior will have seen that horse safety is less a function of track surface than of horse soundness, veterinary scrutiny, uniform medication policies, and uniform policy enforcement. Support for the principle that off-track customer satisfaction trumps on-track insider gratification will have guided the transition to the new order.
13 Jul 2010 at 06:25 am | #
If I hear one more time that learning to handicap is too hard and takes too much time I may scream. Have you seen the cell phones kids use today and the applicationsthey offer? I understand handicapping but I have hell understanding all of the things a cell phone can do. And they change every 6 months! People have to have a reason to learn to handicap. It is just not much fun to go to the races anymore. Most tracks have given up every idea besides slot machines.
13 Jul 2010 at 07:24 am | #
You having a bad day Vick? The racing business simply doesn’t make enough money. If this were Dubai, the guys at the Jockey Club would operate the tracks, take the write-offs and do what they’re doing as long as unsuspecting hobbyists and race trackers still exist. Racing finds itself in the same predicament as the Newsweeks and the Gannetts of the world – it simply can’t sell enough of what it makes. In the UK, Ladbrokes, Belfair, a menagerie of bookmakers nip away at revenue potential and provide just enough life support (to the tracks) to keep race meets going. In the US, wounds are more self-inflicted with a dwindling pie sliced by guys that shouldn’t have been invited in the first place. In the old days Racing produced a product and got paid for it. Now it’s a perfect storm of declining demand with more stakeholders at the trough. The newspapers – the ones who invented the mass media business for Christ’s sake!! – can’t profitably deliver on line any more than Racing can capitalize on a pre-emptive advantage over virtually every substitute product. The gig’s up . . . racing can’t control (that is, get paid for) for what demand still exists.
13 Jul 2010 at 08:35 am | #
I am reading in your comments today the same arguments of 25-years ago as to the decline of racing. Ironically, casinos and slots were not even considered a cause at the teim. Many of the arguments and possible solutions made sense back then and still today. The fact after all of these years virtually none of them have been implemented leaves no hope for the industry.
VMcorrow is totally correct that today’s decline is mostly from gambling competition. For years, the industry debated, “Are we gambling, entertainment, sport or a combination.?”
Even if one considers this a sport, there is no media coverage to support it. Tracks failed miserably in creating entertainment venues, hence it’s not that. That leaves gambling and the proliferation of casinos and online gambling is killing racing. Add the fact that addition of table games at many racinos is likely to siphon off more racing gamblers and you see what little is left.
The economics of racing leaves a racino owner little reason in promoting or even continuing racing versus the profits from the casino side.
Legislatures thirsty for revenue will soon realize the same and racing could lose its casino/slots subsidies.
I love the line the “revenue stream is your competitor.” A commissioner could possibly get tracks to work together, but never overcome state regulations and laws which would trump it.
There remains no shortage of great ideas, most of them a generation old and some are worth a band-aid effect. Unfortunately, without any blood flowing even a band-aid will be too late.
13 Jul 2010 at 02:18 pm | #
rws,
Handicapping is not hard to learn once you are motivated to do so. An accompanying mentor usually winds up force-feeding the newbie with information until the light goes on. Without such unsolicited education to spark the interest, it is a rare person that catches the handicapping bug.
Our host is probably more interested in newbies who will become owners; where balancing one’s checkbook is the primary number crunching activity. To be fair, analyzing bloodlines can be just as complicated—and motivation just as critical—to acquire expertise.
Where racing is missing the boat IMO is not conducting WAGERING classes. If more casual players understood the strategies of ticket construction, and what it takes to properly cover an exotic wager, they would be more likely to bet more per capita.
Are you listening, Mr. Mills? Though second in command to Mr. Stronach—and so skipped over in VZ’s savior sweepstakes, he is savoring idea submissions from racing fans that will be rewarded by a racehorse to be half-owned by the winning full-wit. As far as I know, all submissions will not be made public, so some good ideas may never be savored by others of a like mind.
Someday, somebody in racetrack or ADW management is going to film a team of players attacking a Pick Six and verbalizing 1) their handicapping (isolating and ranking of contenders) , 2) constructing primary, secondary, and saver tickets, 3) placing the bet on-line or at an automated teller, and 4) cashing and signing for the resulting winning tickets.
In an ideal world, a compatible subset of Messrs. Fotias. Pricci, Platt, Meyers, Meadow, Kling, Crist, Beyer, and/or Davidowitz would create such a training video. I wonder how many iterations would be required to capture all four stages in succession.
Perhaps the first-mentioned five would film taking a shot at the Pick Five during HANA’s day at Monmouth. What a great fundraiser such a DVD would make!
10 Aug 2010 at 07:57 pm | #
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