What If...

I have no background in marketing or finance. I am not familiar with the inner workings of the industry nor do I have a clue regarding the mechanism of ADW's and federal v. state gambling regulations. I am ignorant of social networking protocols and the voodoo that is this mythical beast known as the internet. The fact that I can turn on my computer and make it to this page on a daily basis is a victory for me but I am learning.

If you have ever seen a dog look at a clock you have a general idea of my frame of reference.

So I throw this out there fully expecting that it will, at best be ignored(if viewed at all) and at worst mocked in the dark dimension of the blogosphere. On the bright side, I am pathologically antisocial so I am fine with all that?

As is no secret, racing needs to do three things immediately:

1. Appoint a commissioner with supreme executive power.
2. Ban all racing medication and drugs. Zero tolerance. Progressively punitive fines and suspensions with a lifetime ban on the third offense. Not 13 or 72.
   
3. One racing jurisdiction. One set of rules.

Anything less than this, run for the exits.

Now, if this can be done and that is a big if, then the industry leaders can turn their attention towards other matters...but first get the thing going in the right direction. Forget about marketing the sport and increasing its fan base. Focus on fixing the problem. The industry is flawed and no amount of PR is going to get it whole. Too much is being thrown around as the panacea...there isn't any one. You can't build a lasting tower if the foundation is defective.

Once the hemorrhaging has stopped then all those ideas that are floating about out there can be gradually brought into the fold. This will not be fixed in a few years. The short attention span generation might not tolerate this but it has to be done. This industry hinges on the principles of evolution and natural selection NOT nanotechnology, the blidget and speed dating (all good things in their own way).

What if, and this is by no means the list topper, racing created two conferences. East v. West. In this country racing has pretty much split itself up that way anyway so a formal division of the product would not be that much of a stretch and Californians are already their own breed.

Follow....

Create a racing circuit, a tour if you will. Cooperation is needed and that is probably where this thing goes off the rails but if American Idol can be a hit then anything can happen.

1. Shorten the racing season. Arlington does not need a 120+ day meet and neither does anyone else. Reduce the number of races and you get larger fields. Like I said, I have no background in marketing or finance but I imagine that simple math still applies.
2. Create a series of races agreed upon by all tracks/or whoever, so that nobody cannibalizes anybody else's product. Set up the races so that each division, i.e. sprint, turf mile, etc... gets an even spacing of their premier events among all the member tracks; this could tie in with point 1, where each track has a 2-3(or whatever) week meet and the venue changes so the horses travel the circuit. Something similar to what Formula 1 has. The series would be sponsored by someone-not Hooters.
   
3. Make the Breeder's Cup the goal. Apply the rankings that the TBA has set up or something along those lines. Again, I am not the marketing guy.
4. Create an inter-conference showcase, like the Sunshine Millions but for all horses. East v. West. Keep that as the January goal. Some races would need to move their date but that's the price of progress, i.e. The Clark might not run in November or whatever.
5. Tie the Claiming Crown into this somehow and make it a national tour along with the graded stakes series.
6. Smaller tracks would either card very short meets that would follow the "Pro Tour" and cater to the claiming types or they would shut down or become concert venues or state parks. There are too many tracks for the number of sound horses.
7. Streamline the wagering process. Reduce take-out. Make it a standard percentage nationwide and maybe incorporate a revenue sharing agreement a la NFL to split all proceeds among the racing circuit. The commissioners office could be in charge of this pool and would then allocate whatever percentage to some federal fund that the respective states could dip into based on percentage of handle generated or whatever metric you want to use. The remaining funds go to purses, track employee benefits, drug testing, horse care issues and whatever else.
8. Market the BLOODY crap out of this thing. Get sponsors and some legitimate broadcast agreement; if anybody suggests televising human interest stories instead of the GI Manhattan, shove a hot poker up their ass. Again, though I am not the marketing guy that last one might boost ratings.

And finally....Preserve the nobility of the sport. Incorporate whatever else into whatever else but maintain the purity and the pursuit of that ideal, that embodiment of excellence that through the years has been called: Man O' War, Whirlaway, Citation, Native Dancer, Ruffian, Dr. Fager, Personal Ensign, Buckpasser, Forego, Kelso, Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, Ouija Board, Cigar, Evening Attire...

Devil take the hindmost

I am not handicapping today but I thought I would take a moment for some insightfully brilliant social commentary. I don't think I will make a habit of this but then again it's my blog and I am not forcing you to read this.

"There is something about the outside of the horse that is good for the inside of a man."
-Winston Churchill

Ever since Edward Smith-Stanley, the 12th Earl of Derby, won that fateful coin toss in 1779 against Sir Charles Bunbury, affording himself the luxury to name a race in his own honor, the goal of every horseman worth his salt has been to win the Derby; those that say otherwise are lying. The Derby Stakes in England and its American counterpart are the two most prestigious races in the world and while the American equivalent has a better marketing team behind it, the Epsom Derby (that's Dar-bee for us continentals) has retained the essence of that initial wager; horses covering a route of ground over the turf.

The rest of the world, treats horse racing for what it is, the purest expression of speed and class in the equine athlete; not the cheap speed we breed here on the continent but the most honest and willing manifestation of heart and desire. The horses overseas are not drugged or medicated as they are here. They don't hold year round racing meets because they hope to squeeze just that much more from the bettor and hope that just one more race will fill. Their meets are the quaint and idyllic racing events that they were meant to be. A few weeks at the most and then the crowds melt away like an early snow, leaving behind the rolling hills of the natural turf courses.

I am sure that it is not entirely a Norman Rockwell painting over there. They do gamble and they do have infrastructure that must support the betting crowd but it is not the cut-throat, mad dash to the bottom line at the expense of the horse that drives it. Horses are bred with the route of ground in mind, those that can't compete are quickly found other jobs. The races at a mile and over are the norm and not the exception. Here, the Kentucky Derby, at a mile and a quarter, is the farthest and only time that most of the horses that compete in it will ever run. In the rest of the world it is run as a matter of course. Races here, at a mile, are laughably considered route races while the rest of the world cards those as one of their shortest distances.

The inbreeding that we have seen in the U.S., designed to build more speed into the horse at the expense of stamina and strength, is a sickness of our own doing. We are all to blame. Tracks card the races they do based on the horses they have stabled on the grounds. It does no good to have races at a mile and a quarter if nobody is going to run in them. Trainers won't enter their horses because they know that the horse can't handle it or if it does run, it will stagger across the finish line if it doesn't break itself trying, which it will heart-wrenchingly do.
Nobody wants to go see slow horses "plod" around just trying to outlast each other so nobody will bet on those races. If nobody bets on those races then no money comes into the track and no money is put up for purses so nobody runs. It's a vicious circle, it just goes round and round-which is what makes it vicious...and a circle.

The Breeder's Cup, envisioned as the championship of racing, a day where the world's best horses come together was supposed to focus the industry into showcasing the quality of the breed. Why is it only held in the U.S.? Is it because overseas, the U.S. based horses would have to run without medication? If there are multi-million dollar purses to be had on the international stage, why do we not send more of our so-called best to challenge for them?

A glimmer of hope remains, as it usually does given the nobility of the horse, that we can see this turn around. This weekend at Arlington, the racing secretary Kevin Greely, is carding the first running of the American 1000 Guineas. This mile event for fillies and mares on the turf, is steeped in history overseas and it is a most welcome sight to see it finally make its way to our little neck of the woods. The industry as a whole needs to change and we need to help it. More races such as this one are a step in the right direction but we have to be willing to support that effort. How we go about doing that I have no idea but if we don't do something to change our approach and catch up with the rest of the world we will be left far behind.