Letter To The Editor: Unity In Horse Racing Seems Like A Pipe Dream
I'm an avid consumer of your publication and most others in your troubled industry who fill a needed demand for daily news. With alarming regularity I am watching reports about the need for any number of racing coalitions in varied jurisdictions to "come together" to address the many issues of the dying sport of Thoroughbred racing.
On the heels of absurd opposition to HISA in places like Texas, Nebraska and Louisiana an unending spats elsewhere about every imaginable topic, the question must be asked -- is this possible?
It especially must be asked because as problems mount details continually beg the question "Who is the adult in the room?"
With the possible exception of the recently proposed Pimlico redevelopment and state land-swap with 1/ST Racing, it is hard to point to much in the sport suggesting it is anyone.
Consider:
+ Santa Anita leadership attempts to "strongman" California racing oversight a mere 48 hours before it meets on industry-critical decisions in that state. In return, members of CHRB fume about those objectionable tactics and the fact that racing meet controversies are something they must decide--among the most important reasons why it is empowered in the first place! Their decision is made with little explanation how it is "best" for its jurisdiction.
+ Tampa suffers a tote meltdown on its signature day and weeks later has yet to reveal how a "double-system" failure could occur and propel this incident. Nor is any discussion about culpability yet offered.
+ The Arizona Racing Board regularly meets so that Turf Paradise owners (who operate the lone track still racing there) can fume about its ownership status and threaten to stop operation on any whim. Let me say that again. They guy who owns the place -- a facility in which reinvestment has been negligible -- is complaining that he is the owner and simply doesn't like that all the time. He may wish to stop operations and finds the oversight Board as the place to air such grievance. Dutifully, Board members ask few questions or do little to benefit racing in its state.
+ Emerald Downs becomes the second jurisdiction to eliminate breakage -- once again revealing this curious, outdated practice as something most are loathe to copy. At a time when the sport is saddled with possibly fatal problems and the calendar says 2024, eliminating this unfair tax on the horse player remains easy and yet is beyond the courage of most. Instead a preference for the "slush fund" money this practice creates is held tighter. After all, one never knows when one has got to "deal" with someone at the racing authority.
Against the backdrop of these boondoggles, just who in racing is supposed to come together to do what? When that happens who, if anyone, has the administrative skill, guts and moral authority to lead change for the betterment of the entire industry? My careful look reveals the answer is no one.
--John Durante
Racing fan
Phoenix, Ariz.
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