Reply to Why is horse racing legal?

Forum Index » Entertainment and Pop Culture

Reply to "Why is horse racing legal?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]horse racing is an ancient sport and I don’t think it will disappear and fade the way greyhound racing is fading. It’s mostly because there is a lot of money in horse racing. A great deal of the money in us thoroughbred racing has an inexhaustible reserve - it comes from the Middle East. Many American horses are owned by Saudi oil barons. The richest race in the world is the Saudi cup, but the real money is in collecting stud fees of successful stallions. Financially, the racing industry feeds the breeding business, not the other way around.

Horse racing in Europe and Asia have fewer fatalities because of two main reasons - they don’t use all the drugs that American trainers use, and they race mostly on turf, which is softer than dirt, thus causing fewer injuries. Why don’t American horses race more on turf? It’s slower than dirt, and the races unfold in a different way. On turf, the ride builds gradually and usually comes down to a tight sprint at the end. On dirt, the pace is faster and there is usually more separation among horses at the end, as they tire and slow down.

Sadly, I don’t think concern for animal welfare is enough to shut down horse racing. There have been truly horrific incidents aside from the more well known events like Eight Belles and the recent spate of deaths. Google Maria Borell, Ferdinand, Alydar, Rick Dutrow, Medina Spirit and Bob Baffert, Jason Servis, Santa Anita deaths. The list goes on forever.

There have been some efforts to address the problems. Lasix has been banned from some tracks. Lasix is a diuretic (Lasix = lasts 6 hours) and is, I believe, where the phrase “pees like a racehorse” originated. But every crackdown reveals more and more rot. The crazy amounts of money being poured into American racing makes it difficult, if not impossible to truly reform. [/quote]

Horse racing is fading. It used to be a major sport and we’re down to one race that anyone cares about. The Maryland tracks all have to be subsidized by gambling other than betting on races to survive. It’s a niche sports that is all but dead, but with supporters powerful enough to get the government to step in[/quote]

This is what many people think because they don’t pay attention to a sport they don’t care for. It’s like when people are shocked to find out nascar is so popular. But horse racing is not fading in the us.

https://www.americasbestracing.net/the-sport/2022-us-horse-racing-betting-industry-handle-surges-highest-years

“The U.S. horse racing industry just recorded its largest annual wagering handle numbers since 2009. It’s important to note that this occurred across over 30% fewer races overall.”

“U.S. purses exceeded $1.1 billion, a 35.77% increase over the previous year
U.S. race days and total races jumped by more than 20% over last year”

[/quote]

Breeders Cup is the biggest racing event of the year, not the Derby. A lot of ignorance showing on this thread. [/quote]

In the us, yes. But not abroad. Ascot, Dubai, Saudi cup, prix de l’arc de triomphe, Epsom, Melbourne are all big races/race meets. And every day, Hong Kong, which has a tiny population compared to the us, has a betting turnover 5 times greater per race than the us, and most people can’t name a race there. [/quote]

Yes, agree. PP was referring to the US, I believe. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics