[QUOTE=Cartier;8393695]
Things change. Imagine if you will the conversation in 1066 between two breeders of those mamouth horses that had the body mass to carry a knight in heavy armor into battle, âGilbert, the future looks bleak for us, the numbers are down across the board, and we just canât seem to get the kids interested in jousting like we were at their age. People can get drunk at home these days, and the women folk canât stand the smell. Itâs the end of life as we know it.â
Things change. To succeed and thrive, you have to change too, and adapt. I would not be playing catch up, or desperately trying to package the sport in a way to appeal to a crowd that has no genuine intertest and will not sustain the sport anyway. Donât dumb the whole thing down. Educate the public about how unique and amazing it truly is.
I think the focus on betting is too much, I donât watch the races to bet. Heck, I could probably bet on anything. And I would avoid describing a win or a winning career as random luck. I watch the races because they are uniquely a context for supreme skill, superb preparation, excellent conditioning, raw natural talent and sublime ability. As a fan, when I have even a small bit of the back story on a particular horse, I am drawn in and will follow that horse.
I think the appeal of American Pharoah was the horse himself, his raw talent and ability, and not the bells and whistles surrounding him. His entire team kept the focus where it belonged, on the horse⊠a race horse, and not a media clown.
Market racing intelligently, by using informed experienced industry insiders, whoâs opinions are grounded in an accurate understanding of the sport, itâs history, what it takes to breed a champion, and what it takes to nurture phenomenal genetic potential to a winning career. Let the public understand that to preserve racing, they have to preserve more than just a track. Itâs about zoning laws, and affordable space for training centers, and breeding farms, and supporting professionals in the sport at every level. Let people accurately see that racing is not just about getting drunk in your fancy hat on the first Saturday in May.
Iâd stay away from outside PR people marketing the sport to neophytes, creating a mob frenzy of lunacy like we saw with C Chrome. There are far too many non-racing / non-horse folks involved in marketing the sport. They start with a premise that you need to dumb things down for the average guy, making horseâs like Chromeâs name synonimous with a profound ignorance of the sport. The average guy is not and will never be your target audience. The focus should be on attracting the next generation of informed fans and participants.
People love baseball. The sport is thriving. Itâs a complicated game, with an endless list of statistics, requiring expensive venues and community support. You would never see some silicone injected blonde bimbo announcing a game, or doing the color commentary. Baseball is treated with respect for what it is, and respect for the knowledge it takes to know and play the game well. Fans are expected to step up and âmaster Baseball.â And they do. Racing should be packaged the same way, with respect for what it is, and how unique and valuable it is, both on race day and in our communities the other 364 days a year.[/QUOTE]
Everyone loves a winner though.
I saw with the advent of OTB stores in NY, spectators dropped like rain.
Then The NJ casino(s) openedâŠ
Vegas started showing those big screen races.
Its like trying to compete against big box stores. Maybe we can have our
horses made in China to keep costs low and have give aways for actual people coming to the parks.
but to be real, If I were a spectator, I would pick and choose a day at the races, not many days at the races.
The recession/ depression really took its toll this time.
I worry about the continued research and if that will also be put the wayside.
Iâd bet money on that already.
I miss the days we all pored over the newspapers racing information and stories about sires,dams,owners,racing stats. We all knew every jockies name and personal lives, every horses name and kept percentages and place in our minds like baseball
stats.
I love racing, my pop loved racing but we were sad to see the decline in vitality of health .
Actually I stopped by this thread to see if there was any line breeding going on the
increase canon size and foot size/healthy tissue issues.
Penn State?
Hokey dokey, sorry to butt in.
