Shorter, higher quality race meets may be necessary to revive fan interest in racing

Frank Stronach has said he wants to extend the Gulfstream Park meeting beyond its current 2 1/2 months. Why he or anyone else would think that a longer Gulfstream meet is something Thoroughbred racing needs is not clear.

The racing industry has been searching for solutions to the problem of declining fan interest for many years now. That process has mostly ignored the obvious answer that can be deduced from current attendance and betting statistics.

As attendance and interest have declined at almost every other racetrack over the past decade, three have bucked that trend: Del Mar, Keeneland Race Course, and Saratoga Race Course. Why? Well, the similarities between those three meetings are overwhelmingly obvious. All three are relatively short, boutique meetings with high purses and high-quality racing.

Much attention has been paid to the high purses paid at these three meetings, all of which rank at or near the top of daily purse distribution charts. Little has been made of the connection between the high-quality horses those purses attract and the number of people interested in seeing them race against each other.

At Keeneland on April 11, nine races were staged. Two were for claimers, two for maidens, four were allowance races, and the card was completed by the Lafayette Stakes (G3). Eighty-five horses (an average of 9.44 per race) competed for $485,106, an average of $53,901. On-track attendance was 10,609 in the middle of the week on a beautiful, warm spring day.

At Aqueduct on the same Wednesday, 67 horses (7.44 per race) ran in nine races (three claimers, four maidens, and two allowances) for $367,000 in front of 3,840 fans in 50 degrees weather.

No one would argue that it is as pleasant to go to the races in 50 degrees weather in Queens as it is to go racing in 80 degrees sunshine in Kentucky in April. Contemporary Americans want to have fun with their discretionary entertainment dollars, and it is much more fun to go to Keeneland on a beautiful spring day than it is to go to Aqueduct on the same day for most people.

Weather is a factor but not necessarily a critical one. On the same day that Keeneland attracted 10,609 people, 5,302 people attended the races at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, in sunny, 70 degrees weather. Santa Anita draws from a local population of more than 10-million; Keeneland from a local population of perhaps 500,000. At Santa Anita, sixty-three horses (7.88 per race) ran in three claimers, two maidens, and three allowances for $330,480. Keeneland's motto is "racing as it was meant to be," and one of the key factors of the Keeneland equation is the length of its meetings. Running for three weeks in April and three weeks in October, Keeneland does not wear out its welcome with local racing fans.

Metropolitan New Yorkers get a respite from nonstop Thoroughbred racing during the six-week Saratoga meet, which annually records the highest average daily attendance of any track in the country. Similarly, racing moves south from metropolitan Los Angeles to the San Diego area for two months each summer. These tracks have unique drawing power, but they have one characteristic that other operations could and should consider. They have short race meets. In theory, at least, shorter race meets should result in more horses per race and higher quality racing-as long as purse values do not suffer. Higher quality racing attracts more fans to the track.

Racing seems to have lost sight of this simple fact-that quality matters-in its search for new fans. Americans looking to spend their entertainment dollars can tell the difference between high-quality sport and the imitation brand. Just look at the dismal performance of the much-hyped XFL professional football league. Football fans have shown little interest in paying big-league dollars for a bush-league product.

Reducing the length of race meetings is not an easy call, although full-card simulcasting fills some revenue gaps for state governments, racetracks, and purses.

Clearly, the steady diet of cheap claiming races that is the daily fare at most American racetracks is not the answer. If it is necessary to reduce the amount of racing to raise the overall quality, let's get to it before it is too late.