Horse Racing Triple Crown and the state of racing

Belmont and all the hype will come and go and the millions of interested people will wait till next may before they even think of horse racing again. Nothing will change with a triple crown winner.
Just like people came out of the woodwork for the mayweather fight, and now couldnt care less about boxing.
People love "events". A triple crown winner will be an "event". Thats all.
It wont give racing a shot in the arm. Sparsely filled tracks wont suddenly fill up. Tracks will stilll close over the next years.
tracks are decaying. There was a reported on a sports station who lives near Pimlico, and stated that every year that track "puts lipstick on a pig" as that track is decaying.

Golden Gate fields, where I go, is decaying over the years as attendance keeps dropping.

The meadowlands immense 2 story indoor state of the art facility(built in mid 70s), fell into disrepair, and a smaller facility was built in its place after the state gave up on it and sold it.

Hollywood track closed a couple years ago in southern ca, while bay meadows in northern ca closed around 8 years ago.

Technology allows people to bet from home legally in the USA on horse racing,.....making the tracks even more deserted....leading to more sections closed off

Its a dying proposition.....even with a triple crown winner.

 

larry, I hate every word you wrote about the game I love but you are 100% on the money.

 

In the80's and 90's I would go to the meadowlands twice a week for Harness races, and for thorougbred when they would periodically apear.

2 stories, to story totally non smoking, a food court wirh ice cream, pizza, nathans, a boston market type place, A soup and oyster bar,...amazing selection. Along with a trackside restaurant, and a super fancy jacket only restaurant called pegasusus that you needed reservations because it was always totally packed. The weekend had 10k people easy. During the week, a couple thousand.

People brought dates, children(there was a playground on the infield), family outings.

Then it ended pretty fast.

I left NJ in 1998, and came back to visit 5 years later, and I already noticed the difference. The food court was closed down. Just a few hot dog stands were open. Half the second floor was closed off. It was sparsely attended.

It used to have the best drivers and best trainers. Now other tracks have taken those trainers and horses.

The fields used to be full 10 race after race. Now that is the exception

As my generation dies off......I fear thats the end of racing.

There is too much other entertainment out there. Too much other gambling available that doesnt involve "analysis". No waiting 20-30 min between live betting opportunities. The younger generations are bored with baseball. They want constant entertainment, Constant action. And they can get it elsewhere if they want to gamble. And with big home entertainment centers, people stay home more.(movietheaters suffer as well)

I enjoy going to the track while I can. I dont go as much as I used to as I ended up getting better financial results betting other sports.. which is also part of the problem as well. More and more people are betting other sports.

As I point out the decline of the tracks, I do realize that I am contributing to the decline. But thats life. Things change.

I dont bet illegally online, but the accessabilty of reno to where i live now is the difference. If I was still in nj, I would be going to the meadowlands and occasionally monmouth weekly along with AC, just like I did in the 80s and 90s.