One horse race
I was going to write about the FA Cup semi final today as it looks a really tantalising prospect. But the thing that really caught my eye this morning is racing’s continued struggles to adapt to modern commercial realities. The result of which is a race that includes just one runner at the 17:10 at Leicester this afternoon.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/14/one-horse-race-leicester-protest
It’s unfortunate that prize money is under pressure, but in any other commercial regime you would simply incur less cost to try and balance the books. If prize money is too low, then cut out some of the lower quality racing and that will give you capacity to increase the prize money elsewhere. There is plenty of chaff each week and I can’t imagine many people either attending or betting on some of the low quality stuff you see on a Monday on Tuesday afternoon in the summer. So why not cut those out and put that resource elsewhere?
OK there are more complex arguments in play underneath this simple approach, but at least racing is in control of its biggest cost, prize money and hosting meetings. If it wants to develop the sport and raise it’s profile, it is better off tailoring the end product and allocating resources more effectively in my opinion. That’s what any other sport / business would do.
Category: Horse Racing
