Racing is now competing with so many other forms of gambling, it will have to change to survive. We also need less racing and larger fields. There is something about getting to do some flag-waving that draws a crowd. But what we really need is more great horses and ones that are allowed to race into thier fourth and fifth years at least, like Cigar. The horses are the stars and people who never go racing will turn out for a Secretariat or a Cigar.
Patriotism is ok in limited doses.
I go to the track itself as often as I can, and I travel quite a bit, so I get to go racing in New York and Florida, too. My idea of a great city is one that has bot a racetrack and an opera house. Young people today seem to have such a short attention span. A young friend of mine, who's a big sports fan, complains that racing is 'boring' because there's so much time between races. The trouble is not just with the young.