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Originally Posted by GARY Z
While the scratch of IAH is devastating , the ownership
and trainer have negated a deja vu of a Big Brown/Chsrismatic
event which would fuel another PETA /NY TIMES campaign against
racing.
Perhaps the Board running ther NY Tracks will learn to adress important
issues(ie union/labor demands) to avoid future last moment threats of a
strike.
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Of the problems facing racing, union demands are probably last on the list. There just aren't that many union employees at the race track. You could bust every race track union and pay their members minimum wage and the tracks would still be in trouble. The number problem racing has is lack of customers. Until horse racing addresses the size of it customer base, it will be continue to be in trouble. I doubt having to deal with a union employee has ever stop someone from betting a horse race.
While the scratch of IHA was the right thing to do, it hurt horse racing immensely. If he had run, it would have introduced new customers to the game and maybe brought back some old ones. There has to be a first time for every bettor and a triple crown chance would have been that first time for some bettors. Horse racing needs more events to get new customers. It is marketing 101. Of course the way tracks treat their customers once they are there does exactly entice them to return.
There was an interesting article in the local paper today about the scratch of IHA was going to effect them. They think will cut their crowd by a third. I imagine the same thing will happen at race tracks across the country. Plus they have 4 dozen IHA t-shirts they don't know what they are going to do with. We sometime forget how much big days not only effect the track where the event is held, but also the smaller local tracks who are heavily subsidised by simulcasting.
