A day at the Racino with the kids?

I like horse racing. A lot. I enjoy a good day at the track and have visited my share of them. My wife, however, is borderline obsessed. A little background: she used to write full-time for one of the big industry publications, freelanced for many years more, and also was an advertising copywriter for a Thoroughbred ad agency for several years. We've bred a few horses and she’s been on the boards of two major industry organizations. The first time she’d ever visited Lexington, she called me after seeing Calumet and told me she wasn't returning home unless I agreed to move to Lexington. I moved (she's convincing; what can I say?). I tell you that because, as we now travel full-time around the country, one of the goals of our trip was to visit every racetrack in North America. We haven't met that goal and have, at times, gotten pretty discouraged along the way.

Several months ago we were in Delaware and one day while I was working she "tried" to visit Delaware Park with our three young kids. She set off in high spirits and it looked to be a fun family day, just like we were accustomed to at Keeneland or Churchill Downs, our 'home tracks,' so to speak. Unfortunately, neither of us had been to a casino-based track before and didn't realize the ramifications of going to one with children.

While I can’t speak for other racinos, my wife learned pretty quickly you can't see a race at Delaware Park if you have kids. There is no possible way (that any available employee or security guard knew about -- and she asked several) to get from the entrance to the apron without going through the casino. Kids aren’t allowed to set foot in the casino, not even to pass through it on the way to the grandstand. There was a playground they could have gone to on the first turn, but she wasn’t there for a playground. She simply loves racing and wanted to enjoy a few races from the historic grandstand. One of the track employees directed her to an "entrance" that she had to walk with the kids (in the rain!) all the way around the gargantuan casino/grandstand to get to, but they turned out to be locked doors. She just wanted to show the kids an historic track where a lot of people cut their teeth in racing, my boss included, and finally just left after two hours of frustration.

I’m not trying to bash Delaware Park, but from what I understand people used to rave about that track as being one of the most family-friendly around. It now seems anti-family. I suspect the problem Delaware exhibited here is not only confined to Delaware, but to racinos in general. It seems like some tracks just hold horse racing to have a casino. That's too bad.

Not for you horseplayers...
anh-usa.org, photo.

This was all brought back to mind by a note yesterday from a friend who is a long-time handicapper. In fact, I'm betting the only day he won't have a bet down on a race somewhere is the day after he dies, because he'll have been to drive-through betting at Keeneland the morning of. Anyhow, he mentioned another racino issue. He attended a handicapping contest last fall at Louisiana Downs where he'd paid a pretty significant entry fee to play. His complaint was that on the horse side, water and soft drinks were $2 a bottle and they made you pay for every little thing. In the next room over, in the same building on the casino side, they couldn't seem to give everything away fast enough, including that same bottled water and soft drinks. In fact, if a casino player tried to enter the horseplayers’ area, security made them throw their water or other drink in the trash. As he wrote, “If a new fan were to go through this, wouldn’t they choose the casino over the race track?”

Seems like a bit of disconnect to me. I'm not saying that horseplayers should be given drinks and food all day, but if the two are combined in the same building, at least make the two worlds a little more level.

I’m not sure there will ever be a right answer to the racino v. casino v. racetrack question, but I think it would be nice for management to let the people who want to go to the track, just go to the track, and for the people who want to play blackjack, just play blackjack. As for me, I just want to be able to take my kids to the races. How can we expect to build future support for this sport if we can't do that?

-- Robert Williams

Learning from Laguna Seca

As anyone who's on my Facebook friend list or follows our Twitter feed knows (maybe too well), I spent the last couple of weeks at Laguna Seca, one of motorsport's premier tracks, near Monterey, California.

Though technically it's called Mazda Raceway now, I'll never be able to call Laguna Seca anything other than the name my Dad taught me...and there was reverence in that education. With that background, I found it an amazing amount of fun to stay at the track's campground and to be able to hear and see the cars from Skip Barber Driving School or the local Ferrari, BMW, or Porsche racing club all day long. Perhaps the highlight was watching vintage cars from the same time as the historic beginnings of the track run around for the day and then to get to walk the garages and see those fantastic testaments to racing up close.

A few of the various vintage cars around turn 5. (c) Robert Williams

By far -- my favorite view in 'the paddock'.
 (My Dad owned both of these at one time in his life)
(c) Robert Williams

The straightaway
between turn 2 and 3.
(c) Robert Williams

Perhaps because the area around Laguna Seca is run by Monterey County as a park, there is a tremendous amount of access to the track. One can stand within feet of the raceway and watch the day's events unfold. One can view just about every corner and straightaway, at times walk through the garage area, and once a month, through a special arrangement, bicycle every inch of the track. Why aren't we in horse racing doing things like this? How much more fervently would fans' fever for horse racing rise if we allowed them a little more access? If people were given the opportunities at Thoroughbred tracks that I was given at Laguna Seca, then we - as an industry - would garner a lot more FANS. Fans tell their friends; fans revere the locations; fans respect, appreciate, and will pay money to attend - and bet on - the races.

For a fan - how cool is that?  Yeah,
that's me at the start/finish line.
 (c) Robert Williams

Last week, I rode my bicycle around Laguna Seca for a charity fundraiser; the raceway allows people to simply sign a consent form, pay $10, and enjoy two hours. Unfettered access to be on 'the corkscrew' (one of auto racing's most famous stretches of track), to be lined up on the starting grid, and to cross the start/finish line under my own power. Aside from actually driving it, this is the most amazing way to be one with the track. And that got me thinking...

In horse racing, we have Keeneland - and maybe a few others - which give pretty good access to various areas of the track, and that's great. Breakfast with the Works, the Track Kitchen, and the tailgate area are all really amazing things. But I'm not sure we do enough to promote them. We really should let people walk the Churchill Downs stretch (reenacting their favorite Derby moment) or do a 5K for charity around Del Mar. Fans would go crazy and tweet their entire friend list from Belmont..."I'm moving like a Tremendous Machine!" So many things could be pushed so much further out into the general public that it would be worth the minor inconveniences for the track and their personnel. It'd be downright amazing if tracks, on a dark day, hosted a public "see what horse racing is all about" day where people could have access to the track, learn about what it feels like to walk on it, etc. Maybe get the chance to wander through a couple of barns. Ask a trainer some questions. See what a hotwalker does. View the track from the perspective of the track announcer. See the press box. Teach people how to bet the exotics. Tell the general public about simulcasting and that they can play the ponies just about every day all over the country. Show them the places they can bring a picnic and have a great day with their family. Send them up to the reserved areas with table service and great views. Get the message out about how great, exciting, and enjoyable racing can be.

This was my campsite.  Overlooking turn 5.
Tough to beat for a motorsports fan. (zoom zoom)
(c) Robert Williams

If a Thoroughbred track gave a normal, everyday person the kind of access I was given at my revered Laguna Seca - they'd be hooked, plain and simple. They'd give us the handle we need so badly right now. With numbers that we can count, we'd get better TV contracts, more sponsorship dollars, more eyes to look at advertisements. Fans = eyes. Eyes sell advertising. Those sponsorship companies don't care if they are bettors, players, industry connections, or just fans that root for the horse with the longest tail.

Unfortunately, I believe, the people in our industry who can make these things happen have forgotten what it's like to be a regular, average, pay-at-the-gate fan. They have privileges and access to 'everywhere,' so they don't even realize the simple pleasures the fan longs to be a part of. If we don't embrace and build fans now, we will lose them to the sports that do.

My desire for auto racing was fueled, so to speak, these last couple of weeks. Imagine if an average Joe could camp in the infield at Santa Anita or could walk down the stretch at Gulfstream Park. Chances are all his or her friends would hear about it - and maybe, just maybe, some of those friends would become racing fans too.

--Robert Williams