Quote:
Originally Posted by cutchemist42
The same arguments to get rid of the dogs applied to the horses. I dont think racing has a long future in Florida. With the greyhounds gone, there is no cover now for horse racing to stand behind and avoid critisicm.
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I disagree.
The lives ot track greyhounds are really bleak. They are crated 24hrs sometime. When you adopt one you have to be very patient, because some are terrified of the world beyond their crates. And dog racing is a tiny part of the economy.
Horse racing is a much larger industry here than dog racing, Ocala is the yearling boot camp of America, plus our breeding programs and one of the major tracks in the nation.
Most people, tbh, don't even know what a high place in the history of horse racing FL holds. Some dont even know there is horseracing here. I live in Ft. Lauderdale, most people have no clue you can drive 20 minutes south to watch one of the premier races for Derby bound 3yos.
As long as they believe the horses are well cared for, people will support it. People love horses, but unlike greyhounds they can't adopt one, so racing fills a gap, esp if you make them proud of FL racing.
If I had the money, or some way to contact Stronach, I would like to build a carousel, where the horses are all of FL's storied statebreds--Fager, Ta Wee, Carry Back, Affirmed, Skip Away, Holy Bull, Foolish Pleasure, Afleet Alex, Needles etc, non-statebreds that won the FL Derby--Nashua, Northern Dancer, the Bid, Alydar, Swale, Unbridled etc., with one horse changed each year for the current winner (I guess the Pegasus too).
We even produced Onion: ride the horse that took down Secretariat.
You could sell tickets that go to a racehorse retirement fund that look like wager slips. Put it at Gulfstream, Stronach's already got the gigantic Pegasus fighting a Dragon statue there, a carousel can't be any worse. Instead of music, it play the race calls of their famous races.
To save racing in FL we need to get ahead of the anti-initiatives--get pro-initiatives that protect the horses. As long as people feel the horses are happy and healthy, racing will not die at the hands of the voters, from no money maybe, but not Floridians.
Anywho, I'm happy for the hounds. If I wasn't surrounded by muskovies, peacocks, egyptian geese, herons, and cats, I'd adopt one or three, but it's really hard to get ones that don't sight on small creatures. I just watched a dog rip a muskovie to shreds today, it was horrible.
