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Old 11-08-2019, 09:11 PM
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King Glorious King Glorious is offline
Atlantic City Race Course
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Beaumont, CA
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Default Do Fans Deserve Any Consideration?

I was watching the Clippers game the other night and it was a nationally televised game in which their best player, Kawhi Leonard, arguably the best player in the game, didn’t play. A national debate has raged over whether or not the Clippers and Leonard owe it to the fans to have him play? Some say no and their only obligation is to do what they think is best for him and the team. Others say that the fans should be considered. The NBA makes tons of money from their television contracts. Fans pay big money to see the players play. These things lead to the huge contracts these players get. Is there any consideration that should be given to what fans want when it comes to sports? Or should owners who put their money up be solely left to determine what they want to do?

I ask this question because of what we saw in the Breeders’ Cup. As a fan, I was really hoping to see Bricks and Mortar and Midnight Bisou in the Classic. I knew it wouldn’t happen and I don’t blame the owners for not choosing to do so. But I don’t think it makes me wrong to want to see what might happen. When the day finished, what I learned about Bricks is that he is the best turf horse in the country. I kinda knew that going into the day. Had they taken on the challenge of the Classic and lost, I’d still know he was the best grass horse in America. Had he won, there would be no debate over whether or not he’s the best horse period. Of course, anyone with a brain has to understand that there are financial considerations involved in the decision making. It’s hard to turn down a chance to be 3/5 in a $4 million race for the chance to be 5/1 in $6 million race. In the end, you can understand and respect the choice they made but I don’t think it’s a crazy question to wonder if people should ever consider what might be best for the sport and not just for the individual? The NTRA put out a weekly poll showing the top ten horses in the country. We try to build up our year end marquee event and all the top horses are in different races. As racing fans, we understand why that is. Casual fans won’t understand it. The reason why Alabama vs LSU is a big deal tomorrow isn’t because people know the teams a expect a good game. It’s because they look at the rankings and that tells them it’s a good matchup. People like to see the best face the best and I think far too often, racing doesn’t provide that. Whether it’s no coordination in the national racing schedule so you have multiple top races in the same division on the same weekend or it’s adding extra races to the BC (fillies did quite well in the Sprint, Mile, and Turf so didn’t need their own races), racing seems to go out of its way to not promote top matchups and then when anyone suggests it’s something they would like to see, you get criticized for the mere thought. Why is it horsemen from other countries are so willing to step out of comfort zones and run their horses like Swain, Giants Causeway, Sakhee, Galileo, etc in the Classic when they could have opted to take the safer and probably easier path in the Turf?
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