Monday, August 15th - A Brave New World for Racing?
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In the middle of August, industry leaders from around the globe journey to Saratoga Springs, New York, to attend the annual Jockey Club Round Table Conference.
Usually, the conference consists of presentations regarding complex issues confronting racing. The 59th annual Jockey Club Round Table Sunday morning was markedly different. This year, The Jockey Club is taking action, and, in doing so, Sunday’s Round Table may have marked a watershed in Thoroughbred racing.
Reacting to a no-nonsense study of Thoroughbred racing by the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, The Jockey Club announced funding for five years to implement the recommendations of that study, the first one conducted about Thoroughbred racing since 1975.
The presentation by Dan Singer and Michael Lamb of McKinsey was stunning. They disclosed that in the last ten years, handle has dropped 37 percent; attendance 30 percent, starts per horse 14 percent and number of racing days also 14 percent.
They said racing is losing four percent of its fan base annually, due in part to other forms of gambling; a weak perception of racing; overlapping race schedules, poor fan experience and a fragmented distribution, due to decreased television coverage. “No other sport has lost more control of its distribution than racing,” Singer said.
Singer then showed a video of a casual racing fan who was trying to make an on-line wager on a single race. It took that gentleman 41 minutes and nine seconds to finally make his wager.
But Singer and Lamb offered a solution, a new strategy for racing composed of several elements. Among them: fewer, but better races, a-la Monmouth Park’s successful 2010 experiment; innovating wagering platforms; an integrated reward system for players; improved TV coverage; a free on-line game to address the complexity of wagering on horse racing to a new fan base, and a social game powered by Facebook.
“We now have a comprehensive and clearly defined strategy for growth,” Jockey Club President and Chief Operating Officer Jim Gagliano said. “We have already begun discussion with television networks and production companies concerning a televised racing series and creation of a free-play website and social game. When the initiatives you heard about today have progressed from `recommendation’ to `reality,’ you will see sustainable growth to Thoroughbred racing and breeding.”
Part of Singer and Lamb’s presentation focused on changing racing’s perception. Part of that poor perception is tied into race-day medication, and, specifically, the growing momentum to eliminate Lasix on race-day.
While Lasix continues to be a white-hot topic, it is imperative to remember that what is being proposed is eliminating Lasix on race-day only, not eliminating Lasix, which has shown to be very effective on horses who suffer epistaxis, actual bleeding through the nostrils, which is very rare. Stuart S. Janney III, the Chairman of The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee, said that if race-day Lasix was eliminated, it might affect .2 percent of North American Thoroughbreds, those who experience epistaxis. “We need to change the public percentage of our industry,” Janney said. “We must have horses compete free of medication. That day cannot come soon enough.”
Better days may lie ahead. For once, industry leaders aren’t discussing how to deal with racing’s problems. They are taking action.
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