I understand what horse people are saying about PETA and Senator Feinstein. However, it is wrong to dump the problem of over-breeding, inhumane disposal, equine drugs, etc., on to others. The ISSUES belong to HORSE RACING and when that is thoroughly embraced and understood it can be dealt with properly.
Ignoring issues, generation after generation hasn’t cured anything. The root word of ignorance is ignore. It HAS taken a major sport and made it into a Mickey Mouse “game” that has virtually no fans or wagering pools at the average track on an average day.
Blaming people like PETA, senators, governors, and journalists is going to bring the game into final collapse. One can ignore cancer, but that won’t stop it from growing.
Back in the day of small purses, people made their money off of their owners and gambling. As the pool of owners and gaming dried up, more trainers began buying their own stock, going from 10 percent of the action to 100 percent, adding both greater expense and responsibility to the greater profits.
Part of the problem is that nobody ever wanted to disturb the status quo. But here’s a revelation: Nothing in life stays the same. All things get better or get worse.
Racing should take a message from a man who helped secure hundreds of million in purse subsidies. And, here it is:
1.) Address the ills. Get rid of the guys in that Aussie video laughing at the old, crippled horses who haven’t eaten, been watered or slept en route to death by clubbing or electrocution. Get rid of the Burton Sipp types. Why is filth like that permitted to resurface in another state?
2.) Stop blaming outsiders. We live in a whore’s world. Get off your knees if you don’t like giving head to politicians who have given billions annually to a game that has exactly no means of self-support.
3.) Stop eating dogs. In a dog-eat-dog environment, salute those who try to do things honestly, so that the flow of slot money will continue to gush. If you think things cannot be done with integrity, take yourself out of the game, and do something to align with Goodness while you still possess enough time to change course.
4.) Realize that options are running out for racing. First, it was tax abatements that kept racing alive in the 1970s. Then it was simulcasting in the 1980s and 90s. Next, it was purse enhancements from Casinos and VLTs in the 90s and 2000s.
5.) Formation of a National Horse Racing Commission and finding a strong-but-even-handed commissioner, who will fight the upcoming battles with state legislatures longing to reduce slot contributions and to confront Congress. Lobby more states to help racing. Force out the rubbish – you know exactly who they are.
5a.) Legalize all drugs that help horses continue to race. Outlaw (one and done) all performance enhancing drugs.
6.) Stop the pretense. It’s easy IF one stops counting money for one day, then walk out in front of the grandstand and look at the empty apron. More pretense is thinking you can get an education in a track kitchen from like-minded people.
7.) Understand the consequences and how they will eventually unfold. First, slot money will be vastly reduced. Then, breeding will be outlawed. Next, existing stocks of horses will be grandfathered in. When they are done, so are we.
Horse racing is left with two final options, polar opposites:
A.) Expendable. B.) Worth saving. Whether you are an owner, trainer, rider/driver, fan, farrior, vet, shipper, feed man, et al, which do you choose?
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