Saving horse racing from itself

[upthecreek]

Interesting article from the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/04/how-kentucky-will-save-horse-racing-from-itself.html

[Robert Goren]

Small steps even if enacted.

[rastajenk]

The headline is misleading, as the piece never mentions what "Kentucky" will do to facilitate change.

[dilanesp]

Small steps even if enacted.

Putting the US Anti-Doping Agency in charge of horse racing doping rules would be a fundamental change to the sport. Those guys are hard core.

[Stillriledup]

Drugs are important and we gotta get rid of the cheats, but if takeout levels remain astronomically high, its a big uphill climb to get this game back to a point where its growing.

[VeryOldMan]

The headline is misleading, as the piece never mentions what "Kentucky" will do to facilitate change.

This. Other than the author being from Kentucky, the article had absolutely nothing to do with Kentucky itself.

Can horse racing be saved? The article hits on some of the big problems and SRU has pointed out the takeout issue versus other gambling. I have loved this sport for a very long time, but with so many other forms of legalized gambling versus the 1960s-70s and the competition from much more immediate gaming experiences ("Back in the day, we used to wait 30 minutes between races and wagering. Thirty minutes, I tell you.") - how is this sport going to survive as something other than a steadily declining niche?

[Stillriledup]

This. Other than the author being from Kentucky, the article had absolutely nothing to do with Kentucky itself.

Can horse racing be saved? The article hits on some of the big problems and SRU has pointed out the takeout issue versus other gambling. I have loved this sport for a very long time, but with so many other forms of legalized gambling versus the 1960s-70s and the competition from much more immediate gaming experiences ("Back in the day, we used to wait 30 minutes between races and wagering. Thirty minutes, I tell you.") - how is this sport going to survive as something other than a steadily declining niche?

"Racing" hasn't changed with the times. They're still operating in the pre-simulcasting, pre-internet era where they were the "only game in town". They're wondering "where have all the customers gone" but they're not realizing that the customers they had "back in the day" would have been gone back in the day had modern technology been available as well as so many more entertainment options. Now, people can stay home and watch cable tv or surf the net, back in the day, you either watched a local channel or be bored, it was easy to be bored at home, so people would go out and look for something to do....now, those same people don't have to leave the house to stay ocupado.

"Racing" needs to get with the times and stop blaming the economy for their pari mutuel downfall.

[thespaah]

The headline is misleading, as the piece never mentions what "Kentucky" will do to facilitate change.
I noticed the absence of "meat and potatoes" in the article as well.
Stories without a reference to the idea in the body of said story are a waste of keystrokes and bandwidth.
The writer needs remedial journalism courses. The editor a kick to the shins for allowing this story to be posted without being revised.

[rastajenk]

Then they toss in this lie:
While most horse-drugging violates the sport’s rules—from overusing painkillers to mask injury, to trainer experiments with prospective performance-boosters—lax regulations, insufficient penalties, and ineffective testing regimes have done little to deter these practices which pose serious risks to equine health.
and you know it's just another poorly researched attempt at a hit piece that does nobody inside or outside of the game any good. Waste of time, overall.

[Stillriledup]

Then they toss in this lie:

and you know it's just another poorly researched attempt at a hit piece that does nobody inside or outside of the game any good. Waste of time, overall.

I agree, that's reckless and uninformed reporting. That's just rubbish, it belongs at the bottom of a birdcage.