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Originally Posted by hoovesupsideyourhead
with many positive storys ie rachal alexandra and a good saratoga meet what is your take on the state of racing as we enter 2010. i have no sales figures infront of me, but as a player this year seemed to be a good one.what is your take on how the industry will look in 2010?
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I think it is way too early to start looking at 2010. The biggest racing of the year is here. This weekend at Belmont and the Breeders Cup are much better than anything we have seen so far
Rachel is done racing so I don't think she is such a positive story. Can we really call a horse a positive story when she never took on the top 3 horses in her division and stopped racing during the summer? Especially when all 3 might be the best 3 horses in the country? Rachel took on the older horses probably because they would be easier to beat than Icon Project in the Beldame. Fans want to see the best against the best and the sport has not been able to make it happen for years. I do not buy the polytrack argument either because Rachel could be running this weekend at Belmont.
I also think the Saratoga and Del Mar meets were decent but definitely below the usual product we see at those meets. The older horse division was just so subpar that very good grade 1 races were won by very mediocre horses.
The sport has too many stakes races throughout the country with decent purses and that has made the Saratoga and Del Mar competition very watered down. I believe Crist or Haskin mentioned this recently when referring to Canada as a place where grade 1's are actually grade 1's.
I think the sport suffered a big blow when I Want Revenge and Quality Road got hurt at the wrong time. That could have been a rivalry the sport could have benefitted from.
It is hard to say what 2010 will be too. It has a lot to do with which horses stay healthy and whether or not the economy rebounds.