Horse racing should no longer be called a sport
Roar Rookie
By Guy Smiley, 20 Oct 2009 Guy Smiley is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- betting, gambling, Horse Racing
Horse Efficient and jockey Michael Rodd win the 2007 Melbourne Cup- AAP Image/Julian Smith
Strictly speaking this headline is dead wrong. We have a physical activity that is engaged in at a competitive level with a set of fairly clear rules and guidelines.
However it doesn’t take much digging and even less thinking to analyse what really makes this sport tick and how it manages to keep afloat and stay relevant.
Breeding horses for racing is a prohibitively expensive business.
Absolutely nothing about them is cheap: from vet bills, stabling, land, transport, training, and son on. How do the great majority of horses who continually fail to perform in the smaller meets continue to turn up throughout the year and effectively prop up the racing system?
Every sport needs its proletariat (or horse equivalent, if you will) of losers. But how do those involved afford to lose so consistently and expensively?
At the lower level of the industry, wins are shared around to ensure an even dip into the prize pool and to guarantee all involved can afford to remain involved and lend an air of legitimacy to those in the winners circle.
Higher up the wheat tends to get separated from the chaff and the better horses will take home the prize more often than not. Higher up also, the astronomical running costs are often deferred by group ownership.
But then we have to look at the influence of the betting agencies and the inextricable relationship they have with the sport.
I think it would be fair to say that horse racing is merely a facade for the gambling industry, their prime shop window. Any other sport which pledged such a complex and symbiotic relationship with the Paddy Powers of this world would be shut down and audited instantly.
But not racing.
Because it’s not a sport. It is a machine designed to facilitate socially acceptable gambling. Neither can live without the other.
As long as we’re all clear on that, then it’s okay, but please stop trying to sell it as a fully legitimate sport replete with equity, honour and athletic endeavour.
Yes, jockeys need to be superfit and disciplined, but that’s one component of a many-headed Hydra, the rest of which they have zero control over.
In a way, I feel like the guy who tells the kids Santa isn’t real. But then most kids already know when the news finally breaks anyway.
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- Explore:
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MyGeneration said | October 20th 2009 @ 6:29am | Report comment
No new insights in this article and could be applied to most sports these days. Most sports are now prohibitively expensive at the top level. Horse racing has always had a symbiotic relationship with gambling, but now a lot of sports are starting to challenge it in this respect. What is the point of this article? To showcase the analytic accuity of the author to see beneath the surface of a sport that has always advertised itself via form guides, bookmakers and odds? Fail.
Firestarter Bob said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:10am | Report comment
So Guy, I take it you won’t be joining in the Melbourne Cup office sweep then? Poop to you!
Guy Smiley said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:23am | Report comment
MyGeneration, the reason I penned the article was because none of this is ever discussed publicly. Just interested in stimulating a debate and seeing if there was anyone out there who could actually dispute these claims. I am not a horse racing fan, obviously, and am weary of its continued place at the table of great sports that dominate the backpage headlines. Those inside the sport know the deal, it’s the hangers-on and the majority of punters who can’t see the emperor has no clothes.
You could stretch the argument to boxing as well, a sport so entwined with gambling and organised crime its not funny.
sheek said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:30am | Report comment
And sports betting is everywhere now, preying on the weak & gullible. In rugby league, they must obviously be paid very well to advertise it every few minutes.
But then, is the stock market any different? We dress some things up as being respectable, but the stock market is gambling, also preying on the weak & gullible.
Anyway, just goes to show there’s little black or white in the world. Just a lots & lots of shades of grey!!!
Dave1 said | October 20th 2009 @ 8:41am | Report comment
First class cricket like Horse Racing was invented for gambling
Bulldog said | October 20th 2009 @ 9:55am | Report comment
Not sure what the point of this article is…
Horse racing has always been linked to gambling! What is new about that!
Like all other professional sports horse racing involves money and is basically entertainment. I am not sure what your definition of sport is then? Are you suggesting motor racing is not sport or other other horse related events like show jumping and dressage which are in the olympics are not sports. Chariot racing (including gambling) has been around since before the Romans – long before Aussie rules and rugby league etc were even dreamt of….
Stop being caught up in the “nanny state” effect and tread your own path. If you do not like horse racing just turn the page or change the channel and let the rest of us have our own fun. I heard on the radio that someone is trying to change the words of Humpty Dumpty because it is too distressing that they could not put him back together again… the World has gone mad.
MyGeneration said | October 20th 2009 @ 10:14am | Report comment
Guy, I’m honestly gobsmacked that you could say that none of this is ever discussed publicly. Either you came down in the last shower, or you don’t read much. Ever heard of Fine Cotton? Ever heard the term “Colourful Racing Identity”? The rorts and stings of the racing industry have been well documented for at least a century or two now. For better or worse it’s part of the fabric of the game, and part of what makes it fascinating for many. I’m sad for you that you don’t think racing deserves a place at the table with other “great sports” (whatever you mean by that), but just avert your eyes for a few weeks and it’s brief sharing of the backpage headlines will be over, replaced by all those avatars of drug-free purity and incorruptibility (I’d like to know which sports are sitting at your table). As I said above, I think you could stretch your argument to most sports these days, not just a select few, but horse racing is one of the few that has been transparent about what pays the bills from day one. Don’t imagine that many of the behemoth sports of the world today would have got where they are just by selling tickets and jerseys.
Anyway, you can probably tell I’m a fan of horse racing, not just for the betting, but I appreciate the athleticism of the horses as well as the skill of the jockeys and trainers. If you don’t appreciate any of that, and you don’t like a bet, then maybe you should take a holiday at this time of year (assuming you’re writing from Australia).
Dave1 said | October 20th 2009 @ 10:35am | Report comment
Patrick Smith doesnt think its only gambling that is the problem with Racing
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,26233535-32343,00.html#
“Horse racing’s Spring Carnival has got it all wrong, says Patrick Smith
By Patrick Smith
October 20, 2009 As clumsily as racing is run, it will never fall over. That’s because it is driven by three vices – greed and an addiction to alcohol and gambling. Some people cannot get enough of one, two or all of them.
That’s why 43,200 people turned up at Caulfield racecourse last Saturday and why 24 people were arrested and 30 others ejected.
A stroll around the course and it appeared more people were lying down than standing up. The environment was unpleasant and threatening. It says much about the deterioration of crowd behaviour that Victorian police thought it a mild day in terms of drunkenness and aggression…………….”
MyGeneration said | October 20th 2009 @ 10:46am | Report comment
Interestingly (and I’m not a fan of pompous Patrick), here’s Dr Smith’s prescription for racing:
“Racing should be promoting the beauty and grace of a horse in full flight. Present racing as a sport and not an industry. Because every spring racing sells itself on booze, breasts and punting it can only be a gimmick. It has got to sell the horse and not the banality that surrounds it.”
I might agree on the booze and the breasts, but good luck toning down the punting angle. At least he agrees it’s a sport.
MattRusty said | October 20th 2009 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
Guy Smiley – you had me at hello (even though you didn’t say it). Your article made my day, so thank you. It’s nice to know that other people out there share my opinion. I am another person who should take a holiday or not look at a newspaper at this time of year because so much to do with racing makes me sick. If the gambling was taken out of this event (whoa, almost said sport!) few people would turn up. But some would turn up MyGeneration and it is at this point I bow to you and say that most people aren’t like you. They are clueless and have little appreciation about the athleticism and skill involved.
I sit back and hate what impact the event has on our society, such as the drinking, gambling, money spent on trying to look good. My girlfriend defends the fashion side by saying that it’s an opportunity for some people to go out and get dressed up once a year, but after attending Caulfield on the weekend she took it all back. She said it was disgraceful and she was being preyed upon by blokes all day.
MyGeneration, you say that horse racing has always had a symbiotic relationship with gambling; it’s a dependent relationship in my mind. Without it, it would not be anything near what it is right now.
Whilst on the topic of horse racing, what happens to horses that don’t make the grade? Do they get sent to a pasture to graze away or shot because they’re too expensive to keep alive (and turned to glue)?
MyGeneration said | October 20th 2009 @ 2:19pm | Report comment
MattRusty, I respectfully agree to disagree with the pertinence of most of the points in your post, except for the last, which I think is valid.
In respect of drinking, gambling, and money spent on trying to look good, I don’t know why anyone would single out horse racing for promoting these ‘evils’, if that’s what they are. Once again I have to admit my bias – I actually enjoy all except the last, ‘responsibly’ of course. And I’ve seen plenty of ugly and boorish behaviour outside of a racecourse – go just about anywhere in the nightclub districts late enough on a Friday or Saturday night. On a tangent, do you indict car racing for promoting speeding, the body contact sports for promoting aggression and violence, golf for promoting a horrible dress sense?
I don’t disagree that horse racing has a dependent relationship with gambling. I just don’t have a problem with gambling (yes, there are people who shouldn’t gamble, but I think that’s more about addictive personalities than anything – if they weren’t gambling they’d be addicted to something else – but that’s another question)
On the last point, I think this is something the industry has to address and I don’t have an easy answer for it. These animals have been bred over centuries to do one thing well (horse racing is not the only area where humans have done this) and no-one has really thought about what happens when they aren’t very good at it. But then what about the footballers who get career-ending injuries and then find out there no good for anything else because they haven’t trained for it (of which there would be scores every year that we don’t hear about). I know they don’t end up at the glue factory (are there still glue factories?), but how well are they looked after by sports that are happy to profit by their endeavours? Does this invalidate the sports that they practice?
I think the whole article could have been replaced by the statement “I don’t understand horse racing”, and it would have made just as much sense, and saved me some typing. I don’t understand Chinese, but I think it’s still a language.
MattRusty said | October 20th 2009 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
Great reply. You’re right – it’s not fair to single out horse racing. I will have you know however that I do despise night clubs, car racing (speed and damage to the environment) but have no defense for your point that my beloved sports of rugby league and Aussie rules may promote aggression…nup, I’ve got nothing.
There are just unfortunately too many things that irritate me about horse racing, right down to those knobs who suddenly become an experts when they put on a suit, hat and have a program in their hand. MyGeneration, if you have time use this forum to educate us on the side of horse racing that you love; so that when we watch the coverage we can block out all the garbage and focus on what you see.
MyGeneration said | October 21st 2009 @ 6:55am | Report comment
Thanks for the wrap, Matt. I’m not sure that it’s possible to ‘educate’ people on how to love a sport, but I will say that I can see how some of the coverage and the way racing is presented at this time of year could turn people off it as a sport. I haven’t gone to the races at carnival time for many years because it appears to be about anything but the horses. Last time I went I barely saw a horse or a booky between all the corporate marquees and the special events, and left well before the main race. I imagine it would be a bit like watching an NRL or AFL grand final from a corporate box with a bunch of freeloaders who have no real interest in footy (but at least you could see the footy).
Although my initial interest in racing was based on the betting angle, I fell in love with the game after going to a few country race meetings and really getting a feel for the horses themselves and, gradually, what the trainers and jockeys do to get them to the finishing post. The animals are amazing, but very high-strung, athletes and the skill and strength of the jockeys in steering them at high speeds in big fields is no less amazing than what you might see in the Tour de France or last weekend at Phillip Island. Then there are tactical dimensions to races that it takes years to get a feel for. I often watch races now purely out of interest, without having a bet.
It sounds like you must have watched the free-to-air coverage, with its annoying concentration on fashions and boofheads in the field, so I don’t know if I can help you block out ‘all’ the garbage. I have cable, so I can often just watch the raceday recaps, which are racing only, plus the day-to-day coverage is much more concentrated on races, tactics, race personalities (i.e. trainers ,jockeys, and horses), and ,yes, the odds. In other words, less garbage to block out.
My real purpose here was to defend racing from having all the sins of the world heaped on its shoulders. If you can find a way to actually appreciate the sport as I and many others do, all the better. And, yes, Bart Cummings is a bloody genius! And no, I didn’t back Viewed in the Caulfield Cup
Dave1 said | October 21st 2009 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
maybe the point hes making is he doesnt want Caufield to be like nightclub districts late enough on a Friday or Saturday night
Dave1 said | November 3rd 2009 @ 5:51pm | Report comment
These horses have been bred for racing. Therefore if there was no racing they wouldn’t exist.