The Best Investment

In e-mail correspondence with industry members over the past month, I have noticed that I am beginning to say the same thing over and over. What's all the repetition about? It seems like the people in power are not grasping the concept I am trying to get across. Ever heard the phrase "the best investment you can make is in yourself"? What this phrase usually refers to is whether or not someone should seek higher education. Why do individuals go to four years of undergrad, then go to graduate school for another four years, and spend a quarter million dollars in the process? Just so they get a title and can add a couple extra letters after their name? MD. PhD. DDS?

The reason why someone burns eight years and all that money is because, in the end, they come out ahead because of it. Sure, someone who finishes high school and immediately joins the work force ends up ahead at first. But a decade later, the fellow with the extra letters has paid off their student loans and is earning way more than their high school peer. Another way of saying it, horse one is a speed ball, horse two is an even paced closer, and the race of life is at ten furlongs. Unless the speed ball is able to get some insane lead the closer will eventually catch up and win the race.

What the racing industry seems to have forgotten and needs to restart is an investing plan in itself. Sure, Churchill spent a lot of money improving its physical plant a few years back. But when was the last time racing spent any significant amount (time or money) making an investment in their bettors, owners, and fans? Part of the reason why racing is demographically top heavy is because someone somewhere decided that it wasn't necessary to spend resources on an unseen tomorrow.

Marketing groups now plan for just today. You can see this in industry publications that write about how such and such increased handle and attendance for that particular day, yet they never write, "...will likely lead to a significant increase in future attendance." No one ever plans for that anymore.

When running the Ambassador Program at Del Mar a lot of people asked, "Why?"

"You're not paid for it?"

"'fraid not."

The first time race goer knitted their brow as the mental chalk ticked out on the slate: 2 + 2 = ... 0? Confusion began to set in.

Gently smiling the ambassador continued, "I enjoy teaching and love this sport. Nothing is better than making a new fan."

A farmer who plants seeds does not expect a harvest the next day. Neither should racing. One of the fastest growing vegetables, the summer radish, takes about three weeks until harvest. Breeders know that the thoroughbred foal needs eleven months gestation. What is the gestation time for a thoroughbred owner? For me it was forty months. How long is it for others?

In a time of famine do we give up the whole agricultural model? No. Instead we plant even more and work even harder to insure a better crop. In this racing famine we should be planting extra seeds and burning the midnight oil tilling the earth to ensure a bounty of horseplayers, horse owners, and horse fans. Yes those tracks and leaders that start investing today will feel like nothing is being accomplished, that the money is spent in vain. For them it will seem to be a loss of time and money. But down the road the sport as a whole will flourish because of their investment made now. Only then will they realize they made the right choice.

Is there anyone left willing to make that sacrifice?

Perseverance!