Beyer on Maryland Racing

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

What factor in scenario 2 would make the horses race more often? I like the idea, but wouldn't the horses just run somewhere else? This only works if a lot of tracks cut back on days I would think.

You're rigth, and bring-up a good point. Right now there is little incentive for tracks to work together, which is another item on a long list of issues.

If there was a way to model a revenue-sharing option around horse racing, it could work. If tracks had fair financial incentives to cut back on dates, I'm sure many would do it. The NFL utilizes this concept, and incentivizes clubs to better their team by allowing them to keep portions of luxury suite sales as one example.

It is of course way more complex than just sharing each other's checking account. But if racing reached a point where races and horses were optimized both for the horsemen, the bettors and the tracks, then racing would be on the right track. Right now the fragmented model is counter-productive. Racing is not optimizing its assets.