Most likely the game’s biggest threat in North America. Very good article in recent edition of Trainer Magazine.
http://trainermagazine.com/articles/sid-fernando-widening-elitism-north-american-racing
In Britain, there is a different view on the elistist environment with a focus on educating the spectatator.
I’ve seen a lot of racing partnerships start reaching out to get new owners.
Smaller outfits are looking for creative ways to offer ownership at affordable prices (<$10k) and places like West Point TB’s are hosting social events.
What are other people seeing to get folks into the sport?
Well, it’s definitely an elitist article! 
The print’s so tiny I couldn’t read it, and when I clicked ZOOM, it zapped the left margin, so …
Horse racing is an elitist sport. You have to be mega-rich to indulge in it. Even the horses “from the wrong side of the tracks” we hear about, and the “down-home” groups of people who bought a horse cheap and brought it to the races, when you really read about them, they’re not your average middle-class American. And it’s getting worse the way the Triple Crown races focus on “famous” non-horsey celebs and the fashions.
The sport of kings is not for commoners. It’s for sheikhs and those of their ilk.
Depends on what you mean by elitist. Most Americans probably think horses in general are elitist and at the Olympic/WEG levels they’re right. But there all kinds of ways and price points for enjoying horses and the same is true of racing. It’s just that the kind of racing that more ordinary incomes indulge in is the kind of racing turf writers don’t like to talk about and some people seem to wish would disappear. But racing is not all about Saratoga in August nor are claimers at the B and C tracks all a bunch of cripples.
[QUOTE=Pronzini;8995892]
Depends on what you mean by elitist. Most Americans probably think horses in general are elitist and at the Olympic/WEG levels they’re right. But there all kinds of ways and price points for enjoying horses and the same is true of racing.[/QUOTE]
So true, my hubby and I go to Keeneland every year and buy a handful of yearlings under $1000 each, start them ourselves and train and race, off our farm. When we’re done, they go into the “show” program and find homes after that. We’ve had a decent amount of success doing this and it’s kept me from getting a real job.
I think the industry would like for the racing and showing sports to be more elitist, but it’s hard to fill races and run shows without the grass roots participants. At least in our area of the country there are LOTS of $5K claimers and low level hunter/dressage entries, not so many stakes horses and rated show participants.
Gary West suggests that horseracing needs a movement akin to Brexit or like the 2016 election. I know I agree, especially with his last paragraph that racing leadership for decades has been a failed experience.
https://issuu.com/floridahorse/docs/floridahorse_jan2017/66
Note you can read this better offline.
I’m hardly mega-rich and I race successfully.
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