A great day for the sport.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

Every other track on this continent is up against it when creating an experience, but many tracks do it well for a day or three, and that's it. That's the hurdle.

You need thing like Exchange betting, in-race betting, and low takeouts and you won't have any hurdles.

The true hurdle is that the public views horse racing as a "sucker" game -- and they view fans and bettors as old men with disposable time and disposable income -- a mix of degenerate gamblers and uncool well-off snobs.

The general public doesn't believe they could make any money betting horses -- and they probably don't know anyone who makes a living betting horses either.

The festive atmospheres on big racing days will always attract people who want to hang out, socialize, and drink. Serious bettors will always bet a lot more money on big racing days because overlays are easier to find.

Unstoppable U was 11/1. No horse in the entire Belmont field went off at odds higher than 27/1 -- and five horses in that field were clearly over 100/1 true odds. The people who showed up and threw money away on hopeless longshots aren't the people to go for. It's the people who don't ever show up -- but who would become very useful fans and bettors who follow the sport 7 days a week if the climate was right for them.

I did a fantasy football draft last year with 13 other guys...all in their 20's or 30's. It was just $100 to get in -- and the prize money was stinking $1,400. Everyone had laptops with them, everyone came with strategies, people bought books and made sheets for this stupid thing. I was BY FAR the least informed person in that basement. After about 12 rounds -- I didn't even know the names of any players left.

These are 13 guys that all live within about five minutes of me -- that could be serious and USEFUL horse racing fans and bettors. They're not the ones just showing up and betting $20 on Guyana Star Dweej at 23/1 odds and having a few drinks. Who cares about those people? You're simply not going to get them to follow the sport and keep coming back to the racetrack.