At the national level, horse racing has been victimized by poor marketing and the vast spread of other methods of legal gambling. You don't have to go to the track to gamble anymore. Heck, you don't have to go to the track to gamble on horse racing anymore. The view from Churchill Officials at Churchill Downs don't dispute that the travails of the horse-racing industry as a whole have hurt the Derby. But they say it is a testament to the unique appeal of the Kentucky Derby that it remains a significant national happening even as the industry of which it is a part has struggled.
Theories abound on how to do that.
One popular one is to come up with a way to produce more Triple Crown winners, the idea being that that would create interest that would build over time. USA Today's Martzke says. There has not been a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. There have been only 13 in history. Plan One .