A Simple Solution?
In Europe and Asia, including Dubai, no race-day medication of any kind is permitted. Is it a coincidence that in all of those regions, horse racing is a financially healthy industry with ardent fans who consider it a major sport alongside soccer and cricket?
- Joe Drape from his article "Derby Nears, but Safety Rules Don't"
Ah, yes, it is so easy. Banning raceday medications will solve all of racing's ills. People will flock to the track. Major newspapers will hire multiple beat writers and publish entries and results charts for the local circuit. Sports Center will open their broadcasts with the weekend feature from the Big A.
The key in the above statement is horse racing is considered "a major sport alongside soccer and cricket." If our major sports were as unwatchable as soccer and cricket, horse racing would be the national past time.
An aside - Isn't it interesting that collectivist Europe is all about individual sports - track and field, cycling, horse racing, tennis - while the independent, individualistic U.S. favors teams sports.
- Joe Drape from his article "Derby Nears, but Safety Rules Don't"
Ah, yes, it is so easy. Banning raceday medications will solve all of racing's ills. People will flock to the track. Major newspapers will hire multiple beat writers and publish entries and results charts for the local circuit. Sports Center will open their broadcasts with the weekend feature from the Big A.
The key in the above statement is horse racing is considered "a major sport alongside soccer and cricket." If our major sports were as unwatchable as soccer and cricket, horse racing would be the national past time.
An aside - Isn't it interesting that collectivist Europe is all about individual sports - track and field, cycling, horse racing, tennis - while the independent, individualistic U.S. favors teams sports.
I am not much for soccer--though I am starting to learn--and I don't understand cricket. But your response to Mr. Drape's article screams out "narrow-minded, provincial American." What's more, you contradict yourself--soccer, Europe's most popular sport, is nothing if not a team game.
I submit that this mentality of "we have it right, everyone else is wrong" has everything to do with the way horse racing has been managed and marketed over the years.
I further submit that the English, for one, have long viewed racing as a suitable family outing. And they don't see something inherently sinful in gambling. In fact, to their credit, they see no difference between betting on horses and playing the markets.
Here we see gambling as at best a necessary evil and use it as a deeply regressive tax, a la lotteries and slots, to pay bills we refuse to finance through more appropriate sources.
Horse racing is failing because the sport didn't try to attract new customers when it had the chance.
There is hope--the game is beautifully suited to the information age--but we're not going to get there by mocking the Europeans.
You are a smart guy, Mr. Gramm. You can do a lot better than this, and you will have to if you want to help save the sport you love.
Reply to this
Reread what I wrote. I did not criticize or mock Europeans with the exception of saying soccer and cricket are dull sports. Nor did I say that we have it right and they have it wrong.
I made two points
1. Banning medication will not solve racing's problems. Drape implied that horse racing's success abroad was somehow a result the ban.
Drape asks
Is it a coincidence that in all of those regions, horse racing is a financially healthy industry with ardent fans who consider it a major sport alongside soccer and cricket?
I say YES.
2. The fact that the English like soccer and cricket indicates that they have different tastes than Americans. (I broadened this to say that Europeans have more of an affinity for individual competition than Americans do)
You reiterate this with respect to the different cultural views of racing/gambling.
I completely agree with you about the perceptions of racing/gambling in the U.S. vs Europe - their attitudes are much more progressive (hell, they don't even tax gambling winnings) ... and this major factor is inhibiting the growth of the sport domestically. Unfortunately, industry leaders seemed more focus on public relations (slaughter ban for example).
Reply to this