Tradition till death?

[angelsprite]

I was speaking with one of the old timers who is rather "influential" in racing in Texas. Meaning he is oil rich by inheritance and never did a day's work in his entire life, but thinks he knows everything there is to know about every business on the planet.
We were discussing the potential for improvement in the industry changes were made to reduce corruption (race fixing, jockey tampering, doping). Since I complain so much about the various forms of corruption in racing, I thought I should post a little something of this conversation as an example of why I complain so much.
Corruption or race fixing and doping really doesn't affect me much because I mostly break babies. I will race them for an owner if another trainer won't take them, and I love racing horses, but I know the game and quite frankly, if I want a horse to do well, I'll send it someplace else to race under a trainer who can afford to pay off the jocks, or take them out on fishing trips, or hunting, or partying till dawn with other trainers riders. The things they do to encourage the jockeys to ride for them and mess up other people's riders for the races.
Anyway, this fellow said, "I like the way the racing business is and I don't want anybody changing it. It's good for me. It's good for my friends. Why are we going to change it when we can get the purses and other people can't. If they're good, they'll come up eventually. But, only if they play the game our way."
And I asked him, "So, you would keep doing it this way, even if it killed racing in the state?"
And he said, "As long as I'm the one who gets the winners share of the purse of the last race they run. This is the sport of kings and I'm a king, so I make the rules."
And I very delicately pointed out that he would be dead in less than a decade. I said, "You know, you're going to lay down and die pretty soon here (this is why I'm so popular) and you don't give a damn whether there is racing for my son or my daughter after your gone? You would rather your legacy be killing the sport than building it up?"
And he said, "What do I care if there's still racing after I'm dead. I'll be dead, so I won't be racing anyway."
The very idea that he should be concerned for the health of the industry could not be pounded into his head. The use of drugs in racing is so institutionalized, some trainers are proud of their ability to get by with it, and others are offended at a suspension if they get caught. They know the tracks know, the owners know, the racing commissions know and they don't understand why there are any regulations of meds on the books since everybody knows that the vast majority of horses are racing on prohibited medications.
This is what the industry is up against. The old timers are going to pass on and we will be left to pick up the pieces. If race people try to keep doing things the way things are done now, it doesn't look like racing will get any better or more popular as a sport. I think racing should be treated as a professional sport and that it should clean itself up for its own good. For the health of the industry. Slots can't really save us from ourselves. They will help for a while, then the fad will pass, people will find something else to do or legislate away what they voted in, and then what? With no fan base, then what? We've lost our fans over the last 30 years, letting these so called kings be in charge. There aren't enough kings in America to keep the sport alive. We have to create an environment that allows average people to be fans or owners, without the whole game being a rip-off. In short, people have to be able to make a profit doing it, or there is no incentive to continue. That's why I'm so passionate about it. It's because I am worried that racing is in decline and will not recover from the harm done to the sport in the last 30 to 40 years.