I certainly never intended to lead you guys to believe that I thought, or was promoting the idea, that breakdowns were a good thing to watch and/or that people loved seeing horses euthanized. All I was trying to say is that I think these breakdowns are not what's turning anyone away from the game. Yes, the crashes are sometimes spectacular looking. If seeing that in a five second preview gets anyone to tune in and be exposed to the game that we are all on board with and love, then how is that a bad thing? I haven't seen the show yet, but I'm sure it's not a Fox "When Good Times Go Bad"-type hack job.
As for fantasy sports players being nerds obsessed with stats and more likely to gamble on poker than horse racing, that's the most asinine statement I think I've ever read anywhere. What do you think handicapping a horse race involves? Past performances, or flowery terminology for "statistics," and attempting to forecast what a horse will do based on them. It's exactly like fantasy sports except you don't have to wait until the end of the week to see if your team wins. You have to wait about two minutes.
And the reason poker is so popular is because someone had the good sense to think outside the box and educate potential fans/players during televised events and market its biggest stars. How is Phil Hellmouth more interesting than Bob Baffert?
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