Racing Gaining Appeal As Breeding Game Loses Its Allure

Frank from California brings up an excellent point in his comments under the Commish post from earlier this week.

The whole problem revolves around the good horses being retired to soon. In other sports you have the same headliners year after year. Fans can't wait to see the favorite in action,
Racing, it has to re-invent itself every yesr. You remember John Henry, had a big following, was a household name. Why, how long did he race, and win. You seen the following Curlin was attracting -- then gone!
The high powers of racing are to stupid to realize, or, understand what the fan wants. Their only thought is money in their own pocket. There has been blame put in every area but the right one. Synthetic tracks, medications, standardization, they all miss the mark. Actually they have been created to take the focus off the real problem, early retirement. The people at the top are the one's killing racing through their own greed, and stupidity. You start out with a wrong premise -- synthetic tracks, medications, standardization --- you wind up with wrong answers and conclusions.
Frank Lancelotti
California

Frank is unquestionably on the money when he says that fast tracking stakes to the breeding shed have diminished the appeal of horse racing. Smarty Jones was an absolute powerhouse for the game but his time was too short to make a lasting impact. Where some people divert from reality is blaming selfish owners or thinking that some mighty commissioner type could do something about this. A commissioner would be impotent in the realm of dictating horse retirement in an economic climate of a highly lucrative breeding game.

This is not a micro-control issue, it is a macro-economic self interest issue. There is no commissioner or league office that could dictate terms to an owner. What kind of society would allow a commissioner or tyrannical government to force owners to act against their own self interest for the collective good of the game? Hopefully not the United States. While the major ball sport leagues are dealing with a few dozen owners racing is made up of thousands if not tens of thousands of owners. These owners have a right to their self interest and are free to do what is best for their personal self interest. It is a testament to the game that it has survived two decades of owners self interest being in direct opposition to what is in the games collective best interest. Colt after colt retired early, robbing the game of stars and story lines. You may not realize it yet but the era of the breeding tail wagging the racing tail is over.

Now that the economic bubble has burst and the dollar is actively being debased the breeding game has lost much of its economic appeal. Marginal stakes winners that could have had a successful niche at stud will no longer find success. Stud fees are dropping and foal totals are down. A change that would taken a racing commissioner decades to accomplish has now quickly become reality on the winds of changing times. It is time for racing to carpe diem. A strengthened position will yield dividends.


Everyone should be bullish on the racing game as it is now more attractive to keep that top colt racing through the four year old season than in any other time in the last twenty years. Stakes racing on TV is trouncing ball sport playoff games. The market for stud horses is saturated and is in retreat. Racing is one brilliant colt or filly away from capturing the imagination of the masses. If that colt, filly or gelding remains in training for more than one season we could find the game on the S.I. cover frequently and discussed at the water cooler. Ball sports have peaked. There is a growing backlash against high ticket prices. Racing is an attractive economic option is these times. With relatively inexpensive admission cost and potential for gambling fun racing can look forward to growth in the next few years while ball sports and their tired formulas fail. A perfect storm of favorable economic conditions combined with a little bit of luck is all racing needs to cycle back to the mainstream.