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The Decline of Horse Racing
Posted at: Jun/12/2012 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Sports,
Did you follow the news this last weekend? June 9th, 2012 was the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York. This is the historic third jewel of the American horse racing’s Triple Crown. This year’s race had more buzz than normal because “I’ll Have Another” was looking to become the first Triple Crown winner since “Affirmed” in 1978 having won at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Unfortunately, he developed a tendon injury and was scratched from the race on Friday. Union Rages, who was one of favorites, stepped up and won the Belmont Stakes in a photo finish decided by a neck. Even if “I’ll Have Another” had been both healthy enough to run and come in first, it is doubtful this would have been enough to revive the sport. Public interest in horse racing has been fading and it would likely take more than just a Triple Crown Winner to resurrect appeal for the general public. It is true that stars are good for sports. When Jimmie Johnson is on a winning streak in NASCAR, the stands are full. When Barry Bonds began his run at the baseball home run record in 2001, he could fill the stands at nearly any ballpark he went to in the latter half of the season. Golf’s Tiger Woods is one of the best examples. When he plays and makes the weekend cut, the gallery following his group is always one of the largest on the course. We love our stars and love to come out and watch them hit, run, race, or just play their respective games. There is no doubt that a Triple Crown winner would have been a star in horse racing circles, but star power is very fleeting in any sport. Horse racing shifted direction about 50 years ago. In the 1930’s, great horse’s like Seabiscuit and Man O’ War raced until they were 7-8 year olds. They made their owners money by winning and the best of the best raced for many years bringing wealth to their owners and developing a loyal fan base. Other great horses with sustained racing careers that I should mention are War Admiral, Whirlaway along with Citation. Unfortunately, by the 1970’s this had changed. The great Triple Crown winner of 1973, Secretariat did not race beyond his three year old season; his breeding rights were sold before even running in the Belmont Stakes. The real money in horse racing is now in breeding, not the racing purses. For the extreme insiders, tracking who is the Sire and who is the Dam may be exciting, but it does not endear a general fan base. The 3 year old racing season has merely become the showcase for determining breeding value of the top American Thoroughbreds. Effectively, the sport at its top tier has transitioned from creating horses with great racing careers, to horses that race well as three year olds and retire to breeding. The side effect of this is a breeding program that does not focused on long term health and robustness. Modern thoroughbreds tend towards having thinner and lighter bones. This means less weight to carry down the track, but it also means these horses are more prone toward the catastrophic injuries of being fragile. They are definitely no longer breed for a sustaining multi-year career of racing. Even a Triple Crown winner that races multiple seasons won’t solves horse racing biggest problem; that problem is the enduring shadow surrounding illegal drug use by trainers. As long as this stain persists, horse racing will likely continue to slide in prominence and credibility. The first step in making this better will likely require the help of the federal government. Currently, the laws regarding drugging or doping horses and the related penalties vary widely from state to state. These laws need to be tough, but uniform across the country. It would seem like this should fall on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), but there are two fundamental flaws here. The first is enforcement authority; if the laws for doping horses vary from state to state, enforcing a uniform standard across the country by a non-governmental body would be nearly impossible. The second issue for the NTRA is lack of muscle. I know the NTRA is the governing body for their sport, but unlike the National Football League, they have shown little desire or effort at attempting to police their ranks. Instead, the NTRA appears to limit itself almost exclusively to the marketing of thoroughbred racing in America. If a forceful national organization is implemented, one of the first things that need to be looked at is track surfaces. Across the country the various racing venues are using a wide variety of types of dirt and artificial materials. There has got to be substantial data at this point worthy of analysis. Once analyzed, a recommendation or policy letter could be issued for moving all these tracks to the safest surface possible for reducing injury. Even in baseball, there is a standard dirt and preparation method used across the country for infield preparation. The regulators of this policy should give each racetrack a limited time to switch to this tested and proven better surface. For all those who argue that racing is abusive to horses, standardizing the surfaces to the safest known through research would be a strong argument against those complainers. One of the issues I have previously mentioned is the takeover of racing by the horse breeding industry. This industry encourages early retirement of racing stars just when they might be on the verge of accomplishing great things and developing a fan base. I personally find no interest in keeping track of the accumulated stud fees a particular stallion has begun accumulating verses races won over career starts. Again, this would require a national organization with some muscle. Imagine a regulated stud fee system that rewards racetrack longevity over short term excellence. Baseball, football, basketball and hockey all have salary caps or revenues sharing so the precedent for regulating fees within a sports league already exists. One of the most important things horse racing needs to do is put more people in the stand. This should be just advertising, and it shouldn’t be all that difficult. Despite what you might think upon reading this, I am not a big fan of horse racing. Nevertheless, horses are very integrated into our American history and I love history. America’s westward expansion, our cowboy heritage, these are all part of who we were and who we are. It is true that very few of us have a daily interaction with horses anymore, but when we see them grazing in a pasture, most of us slow down and turn to look at least for a moment. Nearly everyone who has been to the movies knows of the mythical relationship between the American cowboy on the open plain and his horse. Speaking of the movies, the recent movie “War Horse” was a box office hit; it would seem we have not lost our appreciation for these animals at some level. Knowing this I would think that it would not be that difficult a marketing campaign to get people back to the tracks. Speaking of marketing, there are other lessons horse racing could borrow from other sports like NASCAR. When women compete head to head with men, it always draws attention. Look at the success of Danica Patrick in auto racing. While she has not racked up a lot of wins, she has been carefully marketed and her presence always brings spectators. If you have not seen them, look up the images of jockey Chantal Sutherland who did a set of “Lady Godiva” style poses for the magazine Vanity Fair. If those images can’t be marketed to promote horse racing, the sport is already dead. Additionally, the media follows the careers of the coaches as much as the players. In this same spirit, outside of horse racing’s inner circle, I would like to know more about some of the most successful trainers and jockeys. Horse racing is fading from the interest of main street America; it’s really too bad. Nearly all of us have some affinity for horses. If the sport took the time and energy to clean up its drug and doping issues, police it ranks of abuse, implement a leadership with teeth, race their great horses beyond 3 years old and promote itself in the methods proven by other sports it might see a resurgence. Without change, horse racing will decline to be the spectacle where wealthy owners show for a few minutes each year their competitive breeding stock before retiring to the confines of their breeding barns.
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