Let’s Wipe The Dirt From The Saddle
Horse racing is a declining sport when now is the time it should be inclining. When the gates open, horses jump out to quite an empty fan stand. The only time the general public views the sport is during important races or unfortunate PETA updates. In the US, the thoroughbred sport hit its peak in the twentieth century. The culture is different than it was back then, thank goodness. However, this sport is now seen in a dimmer light than it should be. With concerns over animal welfare, gambling and fan experience, horse racing has a lot of layers of dirt on the saddle. Let’s wipe them off.
PRECAUTIONS
The best way to shed light on the subject is to address the negative perceptions with how the industry takes care of these animals. Horses must pass a series of tests before being able to run.
The morning of the race, a groom takes the competitor out of the stall so the veterinarian can see if anything looks out of the ordinary. If the competitor passes the eye test, the vet flexes, massages, and examines each of the four legs. If the competitor passes the leg test, the groom will go on a jog away from the vet and come back. This is to check the horse’s gait (the flow of their stride). If the competitor looks “sound” in both directions, they pass the morning exam.
About an hour before their race, the groom and trainer will walk their competitor to the receiving barn to get another checkup before being saddled in the paddock. In the receiving barn, the veterinarian will again be watching each horse. If the vet finds something out of the ordinary, they may ask for the horse to be jogged again. The vet has the option to scratch (take the horse out of the race) or let them run.
The final test the competitor must pass is on the track during their warm up about ten minutes before post time where the veterinarian is once again present at the starting gate. The jockey can come up to the gate before a race and express concern to the state vet, or official starter. If this happens, the vet will ask the jockey to jog their horse to view its gait. If the vet agrees with the jockey, in the sense that the horse looks “off” or “unsound”, they can call the stewards of the racetrack and scratch the horse from the race.
“And away they go! All appear to come out smoothly,” are the first words out of the gate from race caller Trevor Denman.
A NEW EXECUTION
This process is still implemented to this day. However, there have been improvements to prevent catastrophic events from happening since the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) became the new sheriff in town. Their racetrack safety regulations were appointed in July 2022 across the nation. Furthermore, HISA launched their Anti-Doping and Medication Control program which took effect in May 2023.
Multiple graded stakes winning trainer, Bob Hess Jr., explains why HISA is good for the sport.
“The country had to tighten their belts with HISA coming onboard,” Hess says. “Under HISA rules, the horses are running medication-free, other than Lasix: a diuretic to prevent internal bleeding. HISA will randomly show up and inspect a horse physically and/or pull a blood test to make sure [trainers] aren’t giving sh– that we shouldn’t be giving.”
WHIPS
Horses used to return to their stables with welts and cuts on their hips from being whipped 20-30 times by the jockey trying to make them run faster. In 2020, the California Horse Racing Board amended the six-time limit meaning riders cannot hit their horse more than six times in a race. Additionally, the rider can only whip the horse twice and give the horse a chance to respond before using the whip again.
“The sound of the whip is pretty loud. In today’s world, it doesn’t look good,” says Hess. “The truth is with the whips nowadays, I could wallop you and you’d barely flinch. They’re almost like being shot by a little nerf gun.”
The purpose of the whip is not to cause harm to the horse and use it as a form of discipline. It is rather to get the horse’s attention, and get it to quicken a touch.
If a jockey whips their horse more than six times, they don’t disqualify the horse, but they fine the jockey the first time. If it happens again, the stewards of the track will end up suspending them. Jockeys are now forced to be more cognizant of how many times they hit their horse.
TRACK SURFACES
Dirt racing tends to have the fastest pace, whereas synthetic racing is slower. Synthetic dirt is a concoction of sand, fiber, wax, and rubber making it difficult for horses to get a hold of. Imagine running on your high school’s track with Nike’s on versus running barefoot on the beach. Your 100-yard dash is going to be significantly faster on the track than on the beach. That’s the difference between the two. But there’s also a positive outcome to the synthetic dirt.
“HISA really hasn’t gotten involved with track maintenance and track safety,” Hess says. “My opinion is, and I hate to say it, but I really think we should eliminate dirt racing and change it all over to synthetic, and then have turf and synthetic racing only.”
The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database proves his theory to be correct. Here are the statistics regarding fatalities on each surface from 2009-2022:
Dirt: 6,035 fatalities out of 3,242,505 starts/1.86 per 1,000 starts
Turf: 1,032 fatalities out of 728,445 starts/1.41 per 1,000 starts
Synthetic: 534 fatalities out of 482,169 starts/1.11 per 1,000 starts
Comparatively, there are far less fatalities on synthetic than on dirt. Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California is one of the few racetracks in North America to make this surface change on their training track in the upcoming year.
“California always seems to be five years ahead of the rest of the country,” says Hess.
GAMBLING
Horse racing should already have a younger audience based on the fact that the legal betting age at racetracks in the nation is 18 years old. There are two problems with this. The first problem is relevance. Horse racing isn’t televised like football, basketball, or baseball in the states. The second problem is people don’t know how to wager on horses.
The Daily Racing Form is filled with statistics that make sense to the people in the business. Unlike the general public, their forms are covered in ink with their own side notes on why one horse is better than the rest of the field. When you pay the attendance fee, everyone is given a race program. In a program, the only statistics are the horses’ names, their owner, trainer, jockey, and morning line odds for each race going to run at the specific track you are at on that day. The statistics of these animals might as well be like learning a foreign language.
Bob Hess has his own two cents on how people who have no idea how to scope the field should gamble. “What’s your favorite sport?” he asks. “Well, if it’s baseball, go find a horse that looks like Griffey or Ohtani. Basketball? Go find Jordan. Soccer? Find Messi. And then bet it no matter if it’s 20-1 or even money.”
Former horse trainer, Mike Pender, explains why gambling on horse racing is much more interesting than any other sport.
“You can lose 9 times out of 10 times,” Pender says, “and yet on that tenth bet, if you hit, you typically win big! You don’t just make back your original losses. You supersede those losses by a lot more and go home with full pockets.”
Gambling is an expensive hobby in most sports. In order to make a lot of money, you have to gamble a lot of money. In horse racing, wagers can cost as little as 50 cents and still pay out to over triple figure numbers. Everyone has their own way of betting. Some pick by the pedigree, and others pick by clever names. No matter what you know or don’t, it typically feels better to be lucky than good.
FAN ENGAGEMENT
A full card of racing has about ten races that last about two minutes each. There’s about a thirty minute gap between races. Human attention spans are dwindling, especially in young people. This makes the thirty minutes in between even more crucial as people want to be constantly entertained.
26-year-old horse racing fan, Sam Kelley, comes up with his three possible solutions to keep up this constant entertainment.
“Slots, a gambling arena to place other bets, or well-executed fan activities” are Kelley’s bright ideas to get younger fans interested and more involved.
The quickest fix would be well-executed fan activities, while the other two would be prolonged architectural projects.
Del Mar Racetrack does a perfect job of engaging the fans. For example, they hold a day camp program for kids between the ages five through twelve. In the camp, kids can participate in the Hippity Hop Derby. A hippity hop is an exercise ball with handles. The top twelve kids that make the qualifying rounds that day in the camp go and bounce about 100 yards on the main track. The kids are dressed in horse silks, and fans love to make small wagers between their friends and families on which kid will cross the finish line first.
Del Mar also holds almost like a seventh inning stretch type of event where a fan gets to sing their theme song, “Where The Turf Meets The Surf”, in front of the entire crowd. Whether the singer butchers it or sings like Bing Crosby, a majority of the mass belt out along.
SEE YOU AT THE FINISH LINE
Yes, this sport has been shunned by those who don’t agree with the former logistics. It has now been updated, upgraded, and reinstated. There is more work to be done, of course, but each of these magnificent creatures are being taken care of like royalty. If you haven’t been to the racetrack in a few years, then you haven’t been at all. I’ll see you at the finish line.
