As another horse racing season wound down this month with the Breeders Cup, and as the sport of kings inches closer to extinction, here’s the question: Can this sport be sustained by people who say “there’s just something about horse racing.”
This is a sport — of royalty or not — unlikely to survive the often-meagre earnings and investments of its “horse people.” It has always needed fans, like every sport. Fans who go to the track because it’s fun, because it’s a nice day, because there’s a one-of-a-kind horse or because there’s a big race. Fans who regard racing as a good return on the entertainment dollar, not a quick payday.
Fans like me.
My first encounter with horses that won (or lost) by a nose was at Winnipeg’s Assiniboia Downs. The paper’s racing writer was my friend, and while I was a poor student on handicapping, it was enough for me to visit “the track” occasionally. I never deluded myself into thinking I’d get rich, but he did convince me it’s possible to win enough to pay for an annual vacation — an annual vacation that cost about $500 in those days. It was pretty much a guarantee that I believe to this day, but you did need two things to do it: a lot of seed money, and discipline.
I had neither.
Therefore, I went on enjoying horse racing as a casual fan, and to some extent I fell in love with the horses. When I dreamed of five sports events I wanted to cover in my sportswriting career, the Kentucky Derby was one of them. A book by legendary sportswriter Jim Coleman — “A Hoofprint On My Heart” — made me laugh and made me cry, and it remains one of my favourite books of all time.
Besides Canadian tracks, I’ve been to Churchill Downs and Santa Anita, yet I never spent time on “shed row” at any of them. Nor did I hang out with jockeys…although I did once spend a half-hour talking with Angel Cordero, who rode Cannonade, Bold Forbes and Spend A Buck to victories in the Kentucky Derby. Nor did I ever really understand how to handicap a race — preferring to bet on names of horses and jockeys, or just picking numbers, was always logical enough.
Not that many years ago, horse racing was the only legal form of gambling. The lure was usurped first by lotteries and ultimately by casinos. Racing industry people feared the competition would ultimately destroy the sport, and they were right. Wagering decreased and attendance fell. Rich purses lost their financial support. Then, as purses and attendance fell, there was less incentive for the breeders so there were fewer horses, and races with no “show betting” are now common.
Eventually, racing and casinos became partners, and even the money from “the evil casinos” isn’t enough to prop up horse racing. It seems the tracks that survive now make big money from attached casinos or grants from the government, or both.
Yes, it’s a different time, one unlikely to change. In this era of instant gratification, who will wait 20 minutes to bet and 30 minutes to win?
Maybe they do need more than people like me.
