JC / Railbird

The Sport Archive

A Cynical Take

On the relations between fans and racing executives: “Go to any racetrack in America and you will hear the same weary complaints. The programs are too expensive, the food is lousy, the service is worse, the tellers are surly, the fields are too short, the horses aren’t any good … and why in God’s name do they persist in charging people to get in?
“When you raise your voice, the people who run the joint dismiss you as a loser, the thinking being that if you cashed a ticket every now and then you wouldn’t be so bitter, the implication being that you must not be very bright and that you’ll be back anyway because you’re hopelessly hooked on the game.
“This is all in the manual, the racing executive’s guide on how to make friends and influence people. They’re very smart people, these racing executives, which would explain why horse racing is flourishing the way it is.” (Ashbury Park Press)

Posted in The Sport on September 26, 2004

A Genuine Horseplayer

“Gerry Ahnstrom is a horseplayer. Eighty-one years young, she has attended the racetrack with ferocious regularity for more than 70 years.” And don’t interrupt her when she’s handicapping, writes Larry Lee Palmer. “Years ago, I made the mistake of bugging her as she was perusing an upcoming race…. Without taking her eye off the Form, she said tersely, ‘Can’t you see I’m trying to play the races?’ I slunk away feeling like a mouse knee-deep in Cheez Whiz.” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Posted in The Sport on September 18, 2004

Attendance Obsession “Silly”

As usual, Steven Crist is right. “The obsession with attendance is more than a silly deception. It encourages tracks to concoct … schemes to pump up their gate numbers, distracting focus and resources from meaningful improvements that might someday have a legitimate effect on true interest and participation.” (Daily Racing Form)

Posted in The Sport on September 10, 2004

Looking Into the Future

Imagine where Thoroughbred racing might be in 20 years. (Blood-Horse)

Posted in The Sport on August 24, 2004