PDA

View Full Version : Zast: Racing Issues on Election Eve


Indulto
11-03-2008, 02:23 PM
http://www.horseraceinsider.com/blog.php/Zasts-TrackWords/comments/11-03-2008three-horse-racing-issues-on-election-eve/#comments (http://www.horseraceinsider.com/blog.php/Zasts-TrackWords/comments/11-03-2008three-horse-racing-issues-on-election-eve/#comments)
Three Horse Racing Issues on Election Eve
By Vic Zast November 02, 2008 … Hope is a powerful agent. In fact, it’s the virtue behind horse racing’s existence. Nothing happens in the sport without someone believing he can do something and then putting his money where his mind is. That’s why it’s crucial for horse racing’s leaders to provide the sport’s myriad electorate with evidence that they realize the issues, the severe nature of their bearing on the future and that they’re up to the challenges facing them. I believe that they are. They have only to focus on the issues.

… racetracks have begun keeping attendance figures to themselves, claiming, with some nonsensical logic, that handle is a more appropriate measure of the sport’s health.

The argument, of course, is that the convenience of newly-developed technology, namely simulcast wagering and Internet betting has rendered a trip to the racetrack an inconvenience. But this argument approaches an admission that the sport isn’t worth watching – that it is, in fact, merely a gambling device. At this point, of course, horse racing loses more than a following; it loses a personality.

Admittedly, … boutique meets produce interest beyond the core audience. But the Breeders’ Cup doesn’t, for the most part, and a weekend almost anywhere is without fans. Without fans, the sport isn’t worth covering in the media or supporting with tax dollars. A sport with a fan base will be viewed as a hobby of the rich and the vice of the Proletariat. As either of these choices, it just isn’t in the public’s interest.

On the periphery of … big issues are smaller matters ... that cause constant irritation to current fans. … Stop giving people a reason to criticize the sport and to start liking it – those are the first steps to take.

Unlike tomorrow’s election, in which voters decide who gets to frame our reality, horse racing provides no direct referendum for fans to acknowledge their acceptance or rejection of the abilities, policies and philosophies of the industry’s leaders other than through the turnstile or betting window. The recent feigned respect paid by the establishment to fan-based organizations, while new, is superficial. This is still, and will ever be, the “Sport of Kings,” which by definition excludes subjects. …