Is it possible

[BELMONT 6-6-09]

Let me have a minute or two to think out loud. Is is possible for the thoroughbred racing situation in this country to evolve into this:

A few choice tracks per day with full fields high purses and lower take outs. Yes, for example on a winters day Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita. Summer day with Saratoga and DelMar...no other tracks for the day. Another summer day with Arlington and Monmouth etc.

The point is a two or three, at best, tracks operating on any given day in the whole country. However, we will have the best of the best conditions. Racing as it was in the glory days with 16 entries, leading to huge parimutuel pools since these tracks are the only game in town.

I am sure all you savy horseplayers on this fine site could add a host of other points to this post, and I welcome this.

I only wish that the powers that be could only understand the proven principle that LESS IS BEST! Oh to dream of saving the game we love.

[elhelmete]

this article is a couple years old, but:

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/columns/story?columnist=plonk_jeremy&id=3696177

[sonnyp]

what you suggest makes a lot of sense. less would be more, in utopia however.

which states and farms go out of the breeding business ? don't need all those racehorses anymore with just a few tracks running ! jockeys, grooms, trainers, vets, farriers, shipping outfits...who volunteers to go out of business and find something else to do ? vendors, parimutuel clerks, politicians who appoint stewards to their livleyhoods ? won't need those guys !

believe it or not, there are alot of vested interests that depend on their positions in the world of horseracing and every one of them is much more concerned with their personal well being than the general state of horseracing. thats the rub.

[therussmeister]

How do trainers and jockeys learn their trade with no "minor-league" tracks to get experience?

What do you do with all the horses that, although they have royal bloodlines, can't cut the mustard at these few big tracks? Owners and breeders need some way to recoup some of their investment in these horses that don't quite live up to their breeding.

Many sports depend on a minor-league system to feed talent to the major-leagues.

[BELMONT 6-6-09]

How do trainers and jockeys learn their trade with no "minor-league" tracks to get experience?

What do you do with all the horses that, although they have royal bloodlines, can't cut the mustard at these few big tracks? Owners and breeders need some way to recoup some of their investment in these horses that don't quite live up to their breeding.

Many sports depend on a minor-league system to feed talent to the major-leagues.

Good point.

[Dan H]

As long as signals are distributed to states/countries that permit ADW's ... I like the idea of a limted number of high-grade national racing venues across the time zones. A national wagering menu should be available at the 7-11's, taverns, or full-fledged OTBs.

Individual states should still be able to run/regulate medium and lesser grade race tracks. under the current rules and regulations.

[sandpit]

I might have posted this somewhere else, so forgive me if this is a repeat. In a chance conversation that I had with Tom Meeker about a dozen years ago, he said he thought in the not too distant future, there would only be 10-15 tracks in existence. His timing may have been off, but I think the thought could easily come to pass...