The future of horse racing??
 

Only in AZ.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...rack-abrk.html

Pertinent to note:

Authorities suspect violations of various state gambling statutes, including conducting a criminal enterprise, promoting gambling, benefiting from gambling, and possession of gambling devices.

(Without giving a cut to the state, which will not do much toward the welfare of the betting public.)

There was no apparent abuse of the horses, which were returned to their owners, authorities said.

Only in Arizona? Like this has never happened in, say, Louisiana?

They draw a larger crowd than some legal thorobred tracks :lol:

There are loads of these match race "meets" every weekend in Tx, Ok, all across the south and southwest, pretty much anywhere there is strong Mexican immigrant population.
There are tons of videos of youtube.[YT="Here's one in Cleveland Texas"]FfCGfqkWnMc[/YT]

Yep, here in Kansas there is a place about 5 miles from me that holds match races. It's PACKED. People set up little shops and sell tacos, tamales, drinks etc. I even saw a stand selling woven rugs. They hire off-duty policemen to provide security. I'm shocked that the sheriff hasn't set up a DUI check-point down the road after the races.

There was a track busted in Texas 8 or 10 years ago that was drawing crowds of in the 1000's.

Blue Ribbon Downs in Oklahoma ran a very successful (and illicit) racing venue for 25 years before Remington came along.

Is BRD not open anymore?

He largest stronghold of bush tracks today are in the Carolinas, with a few in Georgia.

Indiana Downs Hoosier Park, and Hialeah get most of their quarter horses from these bush track guys. The leading quarter horse jock in Indiana, Harold Collins got his start there and still rides a few in the winter at the Carolina tracks. And Ron Raper, the leading quarter horse trainer is stabled in N.C. during the winter and trains lots of horses for people who run their horses at bush tracks.

1/4 of the jocks, trainers and owners that make up the quarter horse crowd in Indiana are from N.C.

Jocks: Harold Collins, Aron Hunt, Rodney Locklear, Smitty Oxendine

Trainers: Ron Raper, Houston Dial, James Dean Lockear (runs mostly Tb's at Charles Town), Victor Gonzalez, Adam Oxendine (won last week at Charles Town) and lots of other 1 or 2 horse guys.

Owners: too many to name, most all train their own at home and then send them off to race under someone else if good enough

Nothing wrong with bush track racing. It was ok for the Cajuns to do it, and is now romanticized. Now all of the sudden it's horse abuse? This is how racing started and for the most part, most quarter horse racing is done this way.