The Need For More Tracks

  Today it came to my mind that it just might not be the lack of people in this sport. When you think about it, there aren't a lot of racetracks. Well at least in my opinion. I guess I don't exactly mean there aren't a lot, but I mean there aren't enough. There is an incredible amount of racing fans in this world, but they can't go to the track, perhaps the racetracks are too far from where they live. I live 2 hours from Saratoga and 3.5 from Belmont Park and Aqueduct, so its too bad for me that I don't live closer, but this goes for everyone. I know a lot of people that don't live anywhere near a racetrack so they can only make one trip a year, or not even once a year.  

   I truly wish there was a racetrack under an hour from me. All the racetracks around are over a 2 hour radius. Penn National, Parx, Monmouth, its just my luck. For the last few years I've gone to the track once a year, but this year was different. I got to to the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes. I'm trying to fit in a third trip this year but its a tight schedule for me. I'm dying to go to this years Breeders Cup, but the plane tickets are just so expensive. It would be great to shoot at Santa Anita, because I love taking track pictures, and of course, I've never been there before. It's not always whats on my schedule though, it's whats on my dads. He's the one that I'm always asking to take me to the track, but 95% of the time he's too busy. For the past month I've been asking him to take me to the Breeders Cup, but it's obviously not going to happen [lol]. So maybe by the end of the year I'll be able to go to Aqueduct, possibly for Cigar Mile Day. 

   I think the youth in this sport is slowly growing, but there aren't many opportunities for young kids. I don't have many ideas, but just do something simple. Like a tour of the track. I think kids would love it. Going back to the barns and seeing the horses and what their daily schedules are. I don't know, its just a crazy idea. To bring up the "lack" of tracks again, I know a lot of people who don't live near any tracks, and they are just dying to go to the races. Die hard racing fans can't be so die-hard without a trip to the track. Maybe some tracks so have a special event day where General Admission is 30% off. Ideas are anonymous. I'm just trying to spit some out there that could possibly convince a parent to take their child to the track, I mean, ha ha. 

  If I could build a racetrack, I would definitely build it around where I live, but I can't, so I hope that one day in the future there will be a racetrack built some where around the border of northern Pennsylvania and Upstate (southern) New York. And I hope this article will give some ideas in helping the youth in this sport, and I hope that it could maybe throw some more tracks out there in the U.S.

~Written by Daniella Ricci