Horse racing can't capture Public's attention

[karlskorner]

Good article. Really lays it out

www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/7062152.htm

[so.cal.fan]

"Like the Cubs and the Red Sox, sometimes you think horse racing is just cursed". That sort of says it all.

Many of us sort of have the same feeling the Cubs and Sox fans must be sharing.......it is just sort of a disappointment at best.

I'll watch of course, but it's just not as exciting as I had wished it would have been............

[Valuist]

I don't agree w/anyone ripping on the Classic. The field already has the 1st, 2nd and 4th place finishers from last year's Classic and toss in Ten Most Wanted, Perfect Drift, Congaree and Funny Cide. True there's no Candy Ride, Mineshaft or Empire Maker, but if it had all 3, it would've arguably been the strongest Classic field yet assembled.

[BillW]

Originally posted by Valuist
I don't agree w/anyone ripping on the Classic. The field already has the 1st, 2nd and 4th place finishers from last year's Classic and toss in Ten Most Wanted, Perfect Drift, Congaree and Funny Cide. True there's no Candy Ride, Mineshaft or Empire Maker, but if it had all 3, it would've arguably been the strongest Classic field yet assembled.

The problem is the casual fan ("the public") has been exposed to the hype of Empire Maker, Mineshaft and Candy Ride all year and now is being told "never mind". They aren't analyzing the field strength as deeply as you are. Thoroughbred racing has a real problem when following the classic professional sports model of marketing its stars. Thoroughbred stars are too volatile. In order to be successful, the NTRA must find another angle.

Bill

[alysheba88]

I disagree with the premise of the article. If you ask the average racing fan I can assure you they never heard of Candy Ride and probably not Mineshaft either.

The casual fan follows the Triple Crown races and will wonder about Empire Maker. Funny Cide making the race is HUGE for the casual racing fan audience. Because they know the horse and story. Throw in Julie Krone and that alone gets the casual fan very into the race.

Add in Ten Most Wanted and Peace Rules (two other TC horses) and I think the casual fan will be fine.

The BC is for racing people. Not the casual fan anyway.

Just like the BC prep races are for the real racing fan. I saw one of Mineshaft's win at Belmont and believe me there werent that many people there or greatly interested.

[Valuist]

Good points about the public; they really only follow the Triple Crown races. Publicity wise, Funny Cide being in the race (as of this point) is huge. Some may remember Ten Most Wanted, and those with good memories may recall Perfect Drift was 3rd in last year's Derby and Congaree was photo'd out of 2nd in 2001.

I can't imagine too much "water cooler talk" at work about the exploits of Mineshaft or Candy Ride. Imagine walking into work and an administrative assistant asks you, "well, was Beyer crazy for giving Candy Ride the 123??

[BillW]

Yep, I'll betcha there was a lot of behind the scenes action by the BC people on Funny Cide. It wasn't all Tagg's and the owners doing. ;)

Bill

[Valuist]

Don't be surprised if they scratch the horse Saturday morning, from what I've heard. They can milk the PR for the rest of the week.

[alysheba88]

Valuist,

:) about the water cooler talk and the 123. So true. Only us degenerates can appreciate that.

[andicap]

You can't rely on great horses to promote the sport -- they're way too fragile.

You have to push the history, the pagentry, the beauty of the animal. The skill of the jockeys, the fun behind picking winners (simplifying it, rather than making it so complicated the way we do here), emphasizing that for a little
money and a little skill you can win a lot of money.
You have to emphasize how family-friendly many tracks are, and the excitement of watching your horse versus a casino.
You have to promote the game heavily using celebrities (not Lori Petty or Rip Torn) who resonant with the public. You have to do heavy cross-promotion to reach the 35-40 million fans who watch 1 race a year on TV or go to the track 1x a year and get them to go 2x a year at first.

You can still promote a big horse if you have one of course, but don't let your whole marketing plan depend on Empire Maker meeting Funny Cide.

You need a little P.T. Barnum, a little Bill Veeck, a little David Stern.
racetrack promotions are a joke: mugs, t-shirts, etc. How is that going to attract new fans?
Let fans (especially children) meet some horses and learn about how they take care of them. I don't mean early morning backstretch programs no one is going to go to, but during the day or on an outreach basis maybe bringing in the schools.
Have races with very fast humans against a horse (with staggered starts of course) between races, and other entertainment to keep people interested.

Teach people how to pick contenders in a simple fashion and how to find viable longshots, not with fancy classes that few people attend, but with aggressive outreach programs at churches, community centers, etc.
And so on

[karlskorner]

I have watched groups at CRC, they bring them in by the bus load, 2/3/4 times a week, for $20 they get a bus ride, admission, lunch, a program and a reserved seat and there they sit staring at the program, with out the foggiest as what to do next.

I have told the Hostess, get them involved. Tell them how to wager, what to look for, get them off their butts and take them down to the paddock, let them see the horses, take them to the Jocks room, belly them up to the rail so they can watch the stretch run, get then involved. For most groups it's an annual thing, but you won't see any of them fpr the other 364 days.

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally posted by Valuist
Don't be surprised if they scratch the horse Saturday morning, from what I've heard. They can milk the PR for the rest of the week.

I'll be surprised...but that's just me....

If what you say is true, this means they are going to ship Funny Cide all the way to California knowing FULL WELL they have every intention of scratching him??? Not Tagg.....no way he does something like that.

[Tom]

Originally posted by PaceAdvantage
I'll be surprised...but that's just me....

If what you say is true, this means they are going to ship Funny Cide all the way to California knowing FULL WELL they have every intention of scratching him??? Not Tagg.....no way he does something like that.

...they found a spot at Bay Meadows for him to run in Sunday!?!?:rolleyes:

[azibuck]

Would any of the suggestions any of you propose have gotten YOU into the game, if you weren't?

My answer is no.

I agreed with Jay Cronley when talking about the disappointment and how bad it was for horse racing when 100,000 showed up to Belmont last year and War Emblem didn't win the TC. Cronley said they should have been concentrating on the fact that for a $2 ticket, you could have won $70 if you had Sarava.

The beauty and grace of the animal? Please. You're pointing at a pretty small segment there.

How many people really watch commercials? I told a buddy about the Breeders Cup a couple years ago. He said he'd seen the commercials and didn't know what they were talking about. They should be promoting more at the local level. And right, not mugs or t-shirts or whatever.

At it's core, what is the appeal of this sport? The payoffs. I don't have a plan to get more interest in horse racing, but most of the ideas I hear just nibble around the fringes.

[depalma13]

A Breeder's Cup modified supplemental system should be offered. In the first week of January every year, you can nominate your horse to the Breeder's Cup for $20,000 to $50,000 if it hasn't been previously nominated. It has to be a price to make sure that people don't just wait to see if their horse is good enough when the time rolls around. Half way through the year, a second modified nomination period could open. Where depending on the race, the fee goes from $75,000 to $200,000.

The owner would have to declare a race for the nomination fee, and if they elected to run him in another race, they must pay up the nomination fee difference at the time of pre-entries, retro back to the time they nominated the horse.

For example: Lets say the Craig's thought Candy Ride might be a great turf miler so back in June, they nominate him to the turf for $100,000, during the second supplemental period. Over the next few months, they find out he has a real shot in the Classic. The pre-enter him in the Classic. doing so means they must pay another $100,000 at the time of pre-entries to cover the difference. Instead of the $800,000 it would have cost them if they waited till the end of the year, they get him into the race for $200,000.

If you wait till the pre-entries, then you pay the current penalty. This will give the owners an opportunity to get their horses nominated, if the breeders didn't do it.

I think this is a reasonable way to get the better horses nominated without forcing the owners hand, and without causing chaos in the current nominating system.

[MikeDee]

Netcapperazibuck

You nailed it.

Run a full race card with no wagering and see how many people show up with their kids for pony rides and to look at the horses.
A race track is not a rock concert or a family picnic site. It is a gambling site.

The only reason the sport was so popular in the 30's was because it was the only legal gambling availble, not because people were in love with horse racing. They even had to pass the Federal wire act to try and stop illegal gambling on horse racing.

The reason people come to the track is to gamble. Make the wagering easier and less expensive for the exotic wagers and maybe the seniors who come once a year in a bus might come back more often.

How many people do you think would watch and bet $5 or $10 bucks in the BC pick 6 if the combinations only cost 10 cents instead of $2? You would have the biggest TV audience and the largest pick 6 pools in history, thats all.

[Tuffmug]

The wagering choices in horse racing are too intimidating, unsatisfying, and complicated for the casual fan. To appeal to him, the wagering has to be simplified and modelled on casino gambling.

Picking one horse to win in a ten horse field is intimidating to him. He wants to hold a winning ticket, even if his ROI is negative at the end of the day.

Horse racing needs to create simple betting pools with odds approaching a 50/50 coin toss. The BC is on the right track with its Head2Head bets. Perhaps we need an odd # horse/even # horse pool (play Odd # bet and if odd # horse wins then you win and vice versa)

[BillW]

Originally posted by Tuffmug
The wagering choices in horse racing are too intimidating, unsatisfying, and complicated for the casual fan. To appeal to him, the wagering has to be simplified and modelled on casino gambling.

Picking one horse to win in a ten horse field is intimidating to him. He wants to hold a winning ticket, even if his ROI is negative at the end of the day.

Horse racing needs to create simple betting pools with odds approaching a 50/50 coin toss. The BC is on the right track with its Head2Head bets. Perhaps we need an odd # horse/even # horse pool (play Odd # bet and if odd # horse wins then you win and vice versa)

I was thinking along these lines awhile ago. Even pick-6 quick picks sold in convenience stores etc. But how do you explain/handle scratches? or cancelled races due to weather? All very confusing and overly complicated to the normal lottery player.

Bill

[Tuffmug]

Scratches would affect the payout off-odds line. In a race wih an odd number of starters there will always be one more odd horse than even horse. The odds line would reflect this and also reflect the probabilities that the favorite (who must also be either odd or even) will win the race.
Still, if the race is run, either an even or odd numbered horse must win. There are only two outcomes.

Cancelled races would result in a refund of all bets.

You could also create a simplified exacta pool which has only four outcomes- odd/odd, odd/even, even/odd, or even/even.

How many times have you been certain that the favorite was false but you bet the wrong horse to be the winner. You were right but had no sure way to bet against the false favorite. Why not set up a two way pool with favorite to win or lose? Standard probability is favorite wins 33% and loses 67% of all races run. I'd really like to have a bet against pool like this!

[Amazin]

I think you guys are jumping ahead of yourselves. Before you can make fan friendly wagering you need fan friendly management. If you want to go into the the Turf club around here,shell out about $20,for admission,form,program,parking etc. And don't get hungry or it'll eat away your profits. What gambling fan needs that. Plus you have to "think" at horseracing to make money.

On the other hand Casino's will not charge you admission,will give you complimentory forms,programs ,foods.They'll pay your way to their casino's and give give complimentory rooms.Plus their gambling style doesn't require work(i.e. thinking). For the average gambling fan it's no contest.The horserace industry/management can't take a hint. They reap what they sow.

[Tuffmug]

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? The consequences of a dwindling fan base is a management mentality designed to exploit the fans who are left. They have to cover their costs and make a profit after all. Casino's, with an ever expanding fan base and high betting dollar turnover , can afford to treat their fans better because they make more money.

Horse racing for those who want to "think" (your words, not mine) will still be available but the churn of profits from the large number of "non-thinkers" willing to wager on a simplified betting pool will get you that fan freindly management you want with the free parking and the cheap food!

Millions are wagered on football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. All these bets are simple for or against bets and the house vig is also much smaller than the takeout in racing. I think their success is in their simplicity. Who do you like? A or B? Not A or B or C or D or E or F or H or J etc.

Bottom line, winning is fun! Sure winning big on a longshot is great but simply winning anything is a high unto itself and that's the feeling most people want. They want to be right about something and until horseracing makes that feeling of being a winner easier it will be a dying game.


If racing refuses to think outside it's traditional box then the only box they will have left is a coffin.