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Originally Posted by HalvOnHorseracing
There were three states I was sure wouldn't have a racing commission: Hawaii, Alaska and Utah. Amazingly, Utah and Alaska do have racing commissions. I'm still not sure Hawaii does. Hawaii's big issue seemed to be worrying about foreign horses - a lot of horses would have to be shipped in - bringing in some exotic disease. But, your point is generally well taken - there are horse racing commissions in places where there isn't horseracing, at least the kind we think of as horseracing.
I've been one of the consistent voices for tracks recognizing that the base of the horseracing pyramid are the people betting the money. And no, Churchill and Hollywood would be more than happy to not have to subsidize horseracing.
I think for me, for a federal racing commission to have the sort of powers that would improve the sport would be an extremely heavy lift, especially anything that would control racing days. And in the end, it is really just an imposed form of contraction that may not get at some of the real issues - old plants that have ridiculous fixed operating costs, for example. Tracks have to cut expenditures to accomplish the number one goal of racing fans - lowering the take. And that may include cutting out some of the purse competition. As much as I understand why horsemen need good purses to keep a racing operation going, tracks trying to attract horses by cannibalizing them from other venues through purse competition cannot be good for the sport. But that puts the commission in a pretty difficult position - somebody is going to be really unhappy with decisions and sue...and you get the idea.
I wouldn't inherently be against the idea - I'd serve on the commission if asked in a heartbeat - but I'd have to see the full breadth of how a commission (ostensibly in D.C.) would be fair to tracks in Idaho or Colorado, or not favor CD or NYRA. Like everything else in D.C., the big money carries a lot of weight. But I get your point. We're not exactly kicking the problems in the ass under the current organization.
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Believe it or not, there was a push to get horse racing in Hawaii a few years ago. See the attached article.
http://westhawaiitoday.com/sports/lo...-racing-hawaii
In any event, ARCI has been around for years and has had a positive impact on the industry. They have no authority, but their model rules have been adopted by a lot of states. You might not need a federal commission, the federal legislation could theoretically give ARCI the authority (which is comprised of state racing commission members). Believe it or not, ARCI's outgoing chair is a horseplayer. She won the 2001 National Horseplayers Championship. ARCI model rules are an interesting read if anyone has the time and the will:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2H...0yU3pmT3M/view
