Op/Ed

A deepening crisis. Two years ago, I wrote that our American breeding industry's chief service providers (stallion owners, sale companies, and veterinarians) needed to be proactive and reduce their fees 50% to address an emerging crisis in breeder profitability. I pointed out that as breeders disappear, there will be fewer and fewer horsemen and horses to “service,” and revenues for all groups will decline, even after the general economy regained strength. In other words, I argued that it is actually in the best interest of service providers to work with...

Have you ever wondered why Humpty Dumpty had his great fall, and why he could never be put back together again, even by all the Kings' horses and all the Kings' men? What happened? Humpty Dumpty started using drugs; in fact, drugs permeated his entire realm, the Sport of Kings. Humpty Dumpty also began a long and cozy association with shady characters and thugs...all types, like rogue gamblers, race fixers, and trainers who used Cobra venom or who had multiple drug convictions and yet still continued to ply their trade.

Just imagine a National Football League where every state had slightly different rules, perhaps nine-yard first downs when you play in Illinois and 11-yard first downs for games in Ohio. Imagine the NCAA basketball tournament if each of the eight "sweet 16" games were played on randomly different dates because the four host arenas could not agree on a coordinated schedule. And what if we could not watch all of those games on nationwide TV, because each arena had negotiated its own unique TV contract?

It has been another week of gloom (Turfway scraps Kentucky Cup) and doom (wagering off $519 million through first half of 2010) and more gloom (Hollywood cancels another card) and more doom (Mace Siegel throws racing leaders under bus). It gets a little tiresome, especially when the solution should be obvious to anyone who understands the most elementary economics, and yet the industry doesn't do what needs to be done.

As Tim Capps wrote in his recent Op/Ed, "people who love racing in America … are more concerned about its health, well-being and, above all future, than at any time in the writer's increasingly lengthy memory." Concern, however, is not enough. We need active love.

For regular readers of Thoroughbred Daily News, it has become customary to read opinion pieces written by racing industry participants of all stripes on what they see as the state of things in the sport, most of them laced with elements of frustration, fear, anger, wishing and hoping: "please, please, please: someone take charge and get us out of this mess."

There were several news items that appeared recently in this publication that I found thought-provoking. The first was the article on John Fulton and the opportunities he is taking advantage of in Argentina. The second was the news that the NTRA had launched a virtual reality game based on different aspects associated with our sport and industry. The third was the continued excellent coverage of the current Monmouth Park meet.

The present. A friend called me recently to tell me that he will soon be joining the list of industry casualties. A bank is taking control of his farm and horses. I am deeply sad for my friend and for the many others in every segment of racing and breeding who can no longer "make it" doing what they know and what they love. And I am sad for myself to realize that I became so preoccupied with my own efforts to survive that I did not recognize the seriousness...

My good friend and mentor Chick Lang passed away last week. Chick is best known as “Mr. Preakness.” During his tenure at Pimlico, he was the driving force behind taking the Preakness from a weak sister to the Kentucky Derby and Belmont S. to making it the “Middle Jewel” of the Triple Crown.

Horse racing's response to its myriad problems has too often been no response at all. There is too much racing, particularly too much bad racing, and not nearly enough betting dollars around to maintain the status quo, yet bold initiatives have been sorely lacking and the industry is led by individuals who have no true power and/or no good ideas. The situation has become so severe and so troubling that it was reasonable to fear that unless something dramatic happened, the very future of the sport was in jeopardy.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard, "Horse racing is a dying sport. Its customers are doing just that--dying off--and there is no one to replace them. Young people don't like horse racing." And those statements were made by people within the industry!

I own a restaurant, and business is not good. From what I hear, my food is too expensive and that seems to be my problem. There are 10 other restaurants within a mile of mine and all charge less for food that is every bit as good. My entrees are in the $30 range. The competition sells virtually the same entrees for $25 or less. I have to do something--my revenue goes down every month and I am going broke.