[i]jbelfior wrote:

Handicapping thoroughbreds with some level of success requires intelligence, discipline, and work-- traits rarely found in today's youth.[/i]

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I think this is a broad, sweeping generalization but there is some merit in that combining these three traits is seen far less often in today's youth then even 10-15 years ago. The intelligent kids want to find or know the answers FASTTT. The kids willing to work today are often not the most intelligent kids. And the disciplined youth....well they are all waiting to age to learn this trait. Handicapping requires all three of these to be successful. So, maybe with age today's youth will go the track......but

I recall hearing young people don't gamble on horses anymore when I was 21 and learning the game in earnest with every free moment possible. I thought "oh nonsense" young people still are learning this game. But I'm in my late 30's now and there is no one younger than me and my best friend (my age) younger than us at the track except on the "big days" of racing whether local or national. I've seen some in the contest media coverage but otherwise it is rare.

I think Sports betting at the track with table games could make a lethal business plan if they didn't have competition for that trifecta. I don't bet on sports but I love sports as much as anyone except I'll watch horse racing primarily 99 times out of 100 where as most wouldn't prioritize that way. I've played poker but it contains none of the excitement of solving horse racing for me. But I could see plenty of young people at the track playing a race on those "Big days," losing or winning on a race, then sitting down for a few rounds of poker or other table games, while sneaking a peak at the Pats-Steelers game to see if their wager is alive on the over/under.

What percentage of money do the whales contribute to the pools anyway? Would they all gravitate to poker or sports betting as opposed to their horse racing wagers? I don't know the answer but I doubt it.

Racing is still a billion dollar business. It is not a dying sport but it is contracting and shrinking and it needs to in order to create interest. Churchill, I hate to say, is ahead of the curve on this.....the big days are all that matter to the bottom line when the rest of the product is abysmal. And creating a big day experience that involves sports betting and table games including poker could be where successful tracks head in the next few decades (don't look to Illinois for that model though as they will continue to lag far, far, far back).