GOODBYE TO AN ERA - IT SURE WAS FUN

[patrick]

For people who love the thoroughbred horse racing industry accepting the fact that industry will soon end is a bitter pill to swallow. Horse racing had a virtual monopoly on gambling for decades and as a result lost the competitive drive that is required to succeed. In 1960 horse racing had huge attendance.Now 50 years later, there are very few young people who “purchase” the horse racing product.

An analysis of the percentage of 25 year old males who can read a racing form at a moderately sophisticated level would be quite telling. Racing has lost the new generation and racing will now fade away, probably completely.

So how did this, the most grand of all sports, becoming fatally afflicted? As stated, the lazy atmosphere of a monopolistic industry hurt. It’s also true that slot machines are a far more efficient vehicle of the gambling product. Walk in to any Midwestern racino and you will see the blank faces of slot players staring deeply into the slot machine (perhaps multiple machines) and few of them are engaged in conversations as they game. It’s today’s equivalent of an opium den. Horse racing gambling was often a social event. Whatya think of the 5 horse? Slot machines are designed to capture your attention. All of your attention.

Racing is a sport. Gambling a vice. The marriage of the two was great for a while. But the papers are being drawn up for a divorce. Unlike Dubai, we don’t have the national wealth to support racing without the revenues from the gambling vice.

As a breeder and owner, I love the idea of slot machines subsidizing horse racing but it can’t last. Uncle Sam needs money and slot machines give him a chance to tax The Stupid. He used to be able to tax Stupid at the track, but track ownership dropped the ball and forgot how to get Stupid to fill the stands.

Gambling is great for Uncle Sam great because Stupid doesn’t even realize he is being taxed. He thinks he is taking a chance at hitting big! Uncle Sam is no fool. He knows that the non-Stupid are on to him so he puts the slot machines at race tracks. What’s the harm right? There was gambling there anyway.

Uncle Sam has a budget problem. It may not be a Greece size problem yet – but it will be. The inefficient gambling product/tax generator (horse racing) will go away and the efficient gambling product/opiate/tax generator will survive. Darwin was right.

Hopefully some small segment of the sport will survive. If we are lucky it will become like Indy Car racing. There will be an event (the Indy 500 of horse racing aka the Derby) which will have supporting smaller events. A single circuit of New York – Chicago – Kentucky – Florida is realistically all we can expect in 15 years. It’s not what I want, I Love racing, but I’ll be grateful if we get that.

[merse]

Sadly, you are probably right. You can't play slots with a group of people - everyone separates and agrees to meet at "such-and-such" a place in 2 hours. You can however, have a LOT of fun with a group of people at the horse races. Why our industry's marketing gurus haven't found a way to tap into that is crazy.

[griff]

Maybe this generation is smarter and less prone to the addiction

I did quit for a about 20 years but like an alcoholic all it took was one Ctyptoclearnce mare. And they seem to multiply like rabbits.

Someone asked me the other night what I would do if I won the $650 million lottery.. I told them I'd probably keep breeding and racing horses as long as the money lasted.

griff

[merse]

"Someone asked me the other night what I would do if I won the $650 million lottery.. I told them I'd probably keep breeding and racing horses as long as the money lasted. "

Griff, If you're like me, youll be reading from a lot lower Book numbers than usual.

[patrick]

"Someone asked me the other night what I would do if I won the $650 million lottery.. I told them I'd probably keep breeding and racing horses as long as the money lasted. "

Griff, If you're like me, youll be reading from a lot lower Book numbers than usual.

I am convinced DERBY FEVER is an actual illness that can be treated but never cured. The only treatment for the illness is to remove all financial assets from the sufferer.

[Shammy Davis]

Patrick: Your commentary is so sad, but most likely true.

I couldn't help but laugh when seeing the payoffs for the Louisiana Derby and exotics yesterday. A fifty cent pick six ended up being almost $300K. The odds on winning a pick six is always steep, but better than most lotteries and when you think about it between buying your race bet tickets at the track you can enjoy refreshments, a burger or hot dog, the company of friends, the exciting atmosphere, the beautiful racehorses, et al. All those people standing in lines for hours in the hot sun waiting to purchase the last mega millions ticket didn't look as if it was all that much fun.

[griff]

I suspect you bought some

I certainly did, with visions of sugar plums, nay TB breeding & training farms in PA, dancing in my head.

griff

[griff]

And Patrick, the industry has a pretty good record of administering your treatment.

griff

[Joltman]

Good observations Patrick. Wholesale changes are taking place and the marketing incompetence at the top, by the people who are paid well to do it, is abyssmal. (think 'Go Baby Go'). Ironically, there are two principles that may be able to renew the approach to this.

- return to racing as sport, not simply a way to gamble. The gambling interests have kept racing around only to placate certain local politicians. In another decade (or sooner) the tap to equine breeding/racing will be turned off. (Would actually help cure the addiction aforementioned)

- restoration of appreciation for the horse as an animal. The PETA types have won this battle for now - because people care about horses (from a distance) But if the racing industry cleaned up its act and actually got more people more involved to see the other side of the horse's beauty (full flight, responsiveness to the human, will to win) the PETA preservationists would be held at bay.

By the way, if you wanted to really change things, hit the lottery and buy a race track. Yavapai downs is up for auction today.

jm

[jellac]

Patrick -

From someone who's benefited from your shared wisdom and frank thoughts on some of my own breeding/racing addictions/crazy ideas > please say it ain't so....that you're not getting 'out of the game'......

This sport needs people like you who are: A) tech savvy, successful and young enough to understand what needs to be done to better market - and manage - this sport as a sport, and are, B) willing to share, offer help (and helpful criticism when needed/warranted) to neophytes like me trying to have fun and not lose our shirts in the process.

I'll always be in your and Michael Pappada's debt for your help with my 'enfant terrible', Bastante Grande....as it turns out the only TB we ever bred, raced AND saw WIN!!! (And aren't you glad my partner in a selfish turn around, wouldn't agree to sell him to you )

[Shammy Davis]

. . . Racing has brought me so many good things. I wish that everybody could be part of it. I hope that our game will prosper and grow. We could use some tax relief. We need to work together for this sport that we love. Could we use a commission as other sports do? I think we all want to see uniform medication rules. We have some good minds at work for us - let's work with them. I try to be optimistic about the sport. We've had up times and down . . . When good horses come on the track, the fans are there. We have to take care of those fans. We can always use more owners - they make the whole machine go and get too little credit. It takes a bit of cash and few heartaches, but believe me it is some kind of thrill to win a race. . .

McKenzie Miller 1993
From speech at TB Club of American Testimonal Dinner, Keenland Race Course.

[Lisann]

I think the proliferation of racing partnerships is one of the best things going for the sport. Many people can't afford to risk the entire amount needed to have a horse in training, but enjoy being in a a lesser level.

[casallc]

No doubt, horse racing of the past is dying but there will be horse racing that replaces it in a different form. I don't see the sport of kings’ death as a bad thing, the worst thing about the business is the snobs encountered in it. It needs to be a sport that anyone that chooses can play. There will always be a market for horse racing - how large that market will be is the question. Markets left alone by governments will always seek their own level and grow or shrink as demand dictates. Racing partnerships are one avenue but the artificial prices and inflated costs need to be addressed as well.

[tinners way]

I happen to disagree. I think slots were and are the worst thing that could have happened to racing. Patrick is right about the government needing money and it a great place to collect tax, but the horsemen and the tracks that have prostituted themselves so selfishly for slots are just as bad. The divorce is coming, and not only will the horsemen lose, but so will the tracks. Those "opium dens" do not have the amenities that those drones desire.

I do however think that racing and breeding has a good chance at survival. It has to be marketed, and this time around we better not be looking for drones to provide, as Patrick put it so perfectly, a subsidy.

Many people have been highly critical of people like Arthur Hancock for speaking his mind against slots, but in the long run it is the horse, the gambling experience (even if it requires both brains and luck), and the entertainment value that needs to be exploited-positively, for the industry to survive. ADW, iPhone Apps by the tracks to bring attention to the days races, and several other social media opportunities exist to attract the next generation.

I have always been in favor of slots, but have also never been naive to think that they would be the savior of the industry. They are but one tool, and they should not be the main purse driver. Where they exist, and where they potentially go in at tracks, the horsemen deserve a piece of the revenue as we are connected to the take, but you cannot build a business on a subsidy, only a bureaucracy.

[louis finochio]

Our tb are not developing a fan base in the present. Because they are not sound enough, & are retired early on. Our tbs of the past brought new fans into our game, by starting 50 or more times.