Quote:
Originally Posted by Dahoss
My loss of interest has nothing to do with horses retiring early. And don’t think horses running longer will intrigue new people.
As much as I love the sport of racing, the gambling part is what has always drawn me in. Frankly, the gambling product for the most part sucks. Small fields, races that aren’t competitive, move up trainers that perform miracles and betting a horse at 4-1 in the gate and seeing his odds change to 2-1 out of the gate are a few of the things that has me taking an extended break.
The Breeders Cup, that ridiculous track they souped up for no reason and performances like Knicks Go was the push I needed.
I’m not crazy about horses running so infrequently and retiring prematurely, but I think the only way to bring in new blood is make the gambling part as attractive as possible. It’s not very attractive right now, IMO. If it wasn’t for contests I would’ve been gone years ago. But racing should take a long look in the mirror because if someone like me is fed up, how many others are there that are as well? I eat, sleep and drink this sport.
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Reduced takeout would be a good start (and consistent takeout across tracks would be nice). More cross country parlays would probably help (I assume reducing the time frame for a pick 5 from 2+ hours to 30-45 minutes would draw in some interest.) It's hard for a network to broadcast 5+ hours of horse racing in a day from a single track but is it an easier product to sell if that network only has to use up an hour to broadcast 5 races from 2-3 tracks?
I definitely don't have all the answers but I'm sure someone out there has looked into this in much greater detail than I have...and for whatever reason, it seems like the people in the industry are content to let the sport slowly fade away.