[10 pnt move up]

Racings biggest challenges to figure out, and frankly I don't think there is an answer, racing IMO will not make it long term other than a niche sport and gambling endeavor.

1. The takeout has to be lowered, you can't attract new gambling dollars when 25% of the pool is taken out on average, all people who gamble have become more sophisticated. The problem is the cost of doing business is such how can they lower them, it might take years to attract new fans to generate enough handle that say lowering them to 10% would do.

2. The full fields at tracks no one cares about is killing the premier tracks in the country...so it comes down to if you can get slot machines or not? Soon these tracks will just do away with the racing if they can, they are only going to shoot themselves in the long run while destroying the great tracks in the short term.

3. Racing cannot even get the best horses in each division to race against each other...half the tracks run on one type of surface and half on another.

4. Not everyone in every state can bet on horse racing, some can only do it at the track or OTB...its hard to believe that the lobby efforts in the sport can't figure out a way to make the computer the ATM of the race track.

5. Racing cannot even find a way to keep their male stars on the track longer than their 3 year old seasons, and if they do they run maybe 5 times a year. There should be a rule horses cannot be stallions until they turn 5, even if they are injured.

6. The medication problems are out of control and even the novice to a once a while player realizes that handicapping is more about figuring out past performance but which trainer is going to have the move up. Lax rules, testing and penalties only go to show how weak the racing bodies really are.