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I wonder, how the hell can anyone possibly think closing tracks is a good idea for racing?
Look at Suffolk Downs' apparent closing. All those owners, trainers, jockeys, and breeders in Massachusetts are now out of a job. And it's not exactly easy to just pack up all your stuff and move to another state. A lot of these people are likely out of the game for good.
And, of course, there's the bigger issue: there is no racing left in New England. None. That means that the entire Boston area, not to mention everyone in New England, has no access or exposure to horse racing. How is that possibly a good thing for anyone? There's a much lower chance of people over there becoming interested in racing anymore- I mean, if someone becomes interested in racing on the 2015 Triple Crown trail, and there's no track around there to go to, how long will they stay a fan? Guys like Andy Beyer and Steve Crist got big on racing through going to tracks like Suffolk Downs. If they didn't have a track nearby, racing might be radically different.
Not to mention, people still bet other tracks at Suffolk. Do you think a lot of them are going to open up ADW accounts? Some might, but a lot of them won't. As such, handle at other tracks goes down, and other tracks suffer because of it.
Now, I'm an advocate for smaller meets for tracks- that, I think, is very important for racing. But closing tracks, and cutting off racing to a lot of people, is incredibly misguided.
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I'm on twitter: @theyreoff
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