[jballscalls]

casual racing fans tuning into the ABC broadcast probably didn't give a whoop about missing the Manhattan, cause they don't even know it exists.

The triple crown races far outweigh everything else when it comes to casual fans. Perfect example was last year, Curlin shows up at Churchill Downs and Belmont, and maybe 10 or 12k show up to see him. Big Brown goes to Monmouth twice and pulls in 60 or 70k, even though Curlin was most likely the better horse.

even at our local radio station, i was on for a bunch of interviews, and they didnt once ask nor care about anything other than the belmont. One guy even said "i'd love to follow these athletes after the triple crown, but i know thats probably not going to happen"

I'm a big believer that new fans will not be created by watching racing at OTB's or on TV. New fans will only be created by seeing LIVE racing at their local track. If you take a roll call of people on this site, i'd be willing to bet a great majority were taken to the track by their dads, grampas, mom's, grandmas and had the seed planted by live racing.

I'd be pretty surprised if many people said "i fell in love with horse racing after going to the Lava Bowling Lanes OTB"

All that being said, wouldn't have hurt ABC at all to show the Manhattan if they had the rights too.