Speaking (and Listening) to the Future

re: Speaking (and Listening) to the Future

Alicia — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:13:47 GMT

Racing has always been an industry of passion, which is what will keep it going. I graduated from college almost a year ago determined to make it into the industry right away, regardless of the job market--this still hasn't happened. Of course not for lack of trying, but my passion has kept me diving back in and trying to keep the dream alive. The people who love this sport the most and have enough passion for it are the ones that will keep it going. Many see it as an opportunity to expand their business and not to jump ship. Now breeders are culling and cutting back on costs. Wiser business decisions are being made in all sectors. Everyone is hurting, but since horses aren't a "necessity" such as other livestock (cattle/pigs/etc), those who make their living with horses are hurting more than most. But our industry is more fun and exciting than others (and we pathologically ignore the fact that horses are more of an expensive hobby than a business) so we push on and make it work out when it would have been much easier to just quit.

It's tough right now, but I think overall, once everything settles a bit and starts coming back, we're going to come out of this much stronger than before. Which is a practically impossible idea to believe right now, but I think everyone in the industry is going to really see what was and wasn't working and learn from mistakes made.

re: Speaking (and Listening) to the Future

David — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:04:31 GMT

Recently my daughter asked if any contacts remained from my prior life within Thoroughbred Racing. It seemed a friend of hers wanted badly to break into the business and “would do anything to get started”, something we’ve all heard at one time or another. My reflex was to advise, “Tell your friend to do himself a favor and pick an industry going north, not south”. I didn’t but, one infected with all this industry’s ills and trend does have to be creative when responding to a young individual wanting to pursue a career.

The business isn’t going away anytime soon. In the aggregate sales levels still exceed 12b. Tracks still have race offices to staff with front office marketing and g&a to conduct. Related levels including stable operations, breeding, sales and such have attrition that must have a talent pool from which to draw. Market development efforts employing technology-driven in-home delivery systems have shown promise and improved margins.

Still, it’s fair to say less opportunity exists today than only few years ago. The question becomes is one willing to commit even a portion of their career to an industry that presents limited short-term growth potential?

The racing game is worthwhile from many standpoints but to depend upon it for a livelihood is something else again. Passion is a wonderful thing but long-term reward possibility (from racing) wouldn’t seem to justify the risk. If it were my son or daughter asking me the same question I could not be encouraging.

re: Speaking (and Listening) to the Future

fb0252@yahoo.com — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:18:24 GMT

I applaud the general message of Mr. Waldrop's post, and also hope that he and the NTRA will get aggressive, particularly with regard to the internet where the horse racing lag approaches the absurd. Why are we advertising on the net only to the choir?

There might be a post some time--what is the role of NTRA, what can NTRA realistically accomplish week to week. This would help those of us on the horse side in evaluating the NTRA and what we need to do to contribute or change.

re: Speaking (and Listening) to the Future

Maury E. — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:07:28 GMT

It isn't just big bettors who are saying takeout is too high. It is an economic fact that takeout is too high and it is the main reason why horse racing cannot and will not grow from here.

Big bettors who get decent rebates shouldn't care about takeout rates so much. But they do, for the same reason the racing industry should care, the same reason the small and medium bettors should care, and that is that if takeout rate is reduced, more new players will be attracted to play.

Lower takeouts result in existing players lasting longer, and when they last longer, they are more likely to involve friends and family.

Lower takeouts also will produce the odd long term winner. This is crucial in order to attract the younger generation.

This worked well with poker. It wouldn't have become popular unless there were visible winners.

Horse racing is gambling, and it is pretty much 100% dependent on gambling losses by its customers to exist.

What horse racing needs to do is give the public a reason to learn the game and gamble on it.

And the main way racing will attract new customers is because long term bettors who make a living betting exist. Right now, that is not the case, and can't be the case until racing either drops takeout or ceases their stance on making "rebate" a dirty word.

re: Speaking (and Listening) to the Future

Turnbackthealarm — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:37:02 GMT

Mr. Waldrop,

If you would like to see some interesting comments on how to market horse racing written with love from passionate fans of the game, jump on over to Dan Ilman's blog at DRF.com. The threads from the last week, 2/19 and 2/22, provide numerous interesting ideas. This blog has some of the most knowledgeable and passionate fans in racing. If you like what you see, perhaps Mr, Ilman can direct you to some write ups from last year that were even more in depth than these current suggestions.