"Jockey"

[dean smith]

Why does everyone think that showing horses wiping out in the promo is such a terrible thing? I think it's hilarious every time I hear someone on the show moan that breakdowns and Eight Belle-type situations are what's turning fans off to the game. I think they're way off. I know this sounds insensitive, but I truly believe the average sports fan out there couldn't care less about the health of horses. From my experience as a racing enthusiast surrounded by rabid sports fans who care nothing about horse racing, I find what keeps my friends from getting into racing is 1) the sport suffers from image problems relating to it's seedy gambling/fixing reputation, 2) it is only heard from during Triple Crown season (and only then until the Derby winner loses) and sometimes the Breeder's Cup, allowing it to gain zero momentum with sports fans. Most people understand that breakdowns are a rare occurance and that sometimes euthanasia is necessary. They understand and they just don't care. The only people who seem to care are that tiny vocal minority of ill-informed idiots like PETA and Moon Beam and the Granola Kids -- people who's opinion are taken far to seriously and kow-towed to far too often in this country anyway. Sane people don't give a damn what these groups say.

At any rate, I think showing horses wiping out, and thus, showing how perilous and exciting the life of a jockey can be will only assure more people tuning in to see the show. And whether people are interested or disgusted by what they see, their thoughts will be on it, and at least the game will be promoted. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Besides, people want to see that sort of thing anyway. NASCAR has done an amazing job over the years getting people to watch and become fans with the promise that there will be crashes.

This is a whole other topic, but I think horse racing could do a lot for itself by taking a good look at what NASCAR has done. It's taken a sport suffering from major stigmas (it was too "red neck" and "Southern" for many, much like betting on animals is considered degenerate in many circles) and made it bigger than Jesus. Ah, I'm not going to get into it. I've rambled on long enough. They're going to kick me out of here.