You’ve heard the expression, “if you build it, they will come.” Friday at Keeneland, they didn’t have to build anything – the college scholarships offered throughout the day drew a record crowd.
Let me be the first to admit that I am not a fan of college scholarship day. Nevermind the 22,052 people who poured through the gates, I could deal with the congestion as an insider who longs to see the sport regain popularity among the masses. I could let slide the exclamations of “ohmygodohmygodohmygod, look at the jockeys!” and “Dude, let’s get a beer!” in exchange for the boost to the handle. But the honest truth, the thing that makes me slightly leery, is the fact that most of the kids who make college scholarship day a social event are only interested in that aspect, have not developed a diehard love for the sport.
They don’t come back to the track again and again. They don’t stick it out when it’s raining cats and dogs. They don’t hang around when the 10th race is about to go off, nor do they travel to Turfway to watch $15,000 claimers. They are good for PR, good for their dollars and their purchases of concessions, good because it feels good to see so many people crowding in. But they are not the future of the racing industry.
The future of this industry lies in the hands of people like Russell Wiggins, Joe Nevills, Brooke Breighthaupt, and Jon Forbes.
Wiggins, 22, landed an assistant foreman’s position straight out of college, is working his way up to ownership. He jetted off the farm yesterday to catch the 10th at Keeneland, battled the outgoing crowd because it was his only chance to see racing this weekend. Took him more than 45 minutes to get here, 10 minutes later the winner was walking back to the circle and he was on his way out the door. But he saw a live race at Keeneland, walked through the paddock, tried to pick a winner. “Someday, I’ll be in that winner’s circle with my own horse,” he said. Now that’s devotion.
Nevills, also 22, is a former intern for the Thoroughbred Times, headed back to when the school season started to wrap up his final year. He’s here on his own dime, his own time, networking and knowing he’ll end up doing something in this industry full-time sometime soon. As soon as school is out, he’s moving to , fingers crossed. Back home, he goes to Mount Pleasant Meadows, where about 59 people show up to wager on any given day, and they keep the steward’s phone in a mailbox, and a jockey who went to answer an inquiry was recently surprised by a chipmunk jumping out of said mailbox, and the average show pool is $200 or so. Now that’s dedication.
Breighthaupt, 19, gallops for Juddmonte, used to work for Kenny McPeek, has been on the backs of countless yearlings and layups and 2-year-olds and runners since she moved to last season. She works horses every morning, goes to school in the afternoons, comes to Keeneland to wager and watch and root on the horses she’s helped get here. There are two in the second race. Today, she brought her buddy Robert, who had never been to a horse race in his life. He got to tour the paddock, visit the press box. He thinks this racing thing is pretty cool. Now that’s delightful.
Forbes, 22, interned for The Blood-Horse. Then he headed back to the University of Arizona’s racetrack management program. He went down with the ship during Bay Meadows’ final season, wrote about it with grace and composure, interviewed the $2 bettors, the degenerate gamblers, who had been coming there since forever and a day. Now that’s deep.
I have nothing to say against the concept of college scholarship day – I commend Keeneland for their innovation and for contributing to the lives of students across the Blue Grass. If tracks like or Churchill Downs would adopt the model, I’m sure they would see a boost in attendance and interest in racing. And who knows? Maybe one or two percent of the kids who come out will actually fall in love, make it back to the races as fans for the next 50 years.
But let’s not forget the youngsters who are already investing their entire lives in horse racing, and for whom the sport holds a magical appeal. Someday, they’ll be taking over the reins – and the only way to ensure the survival of this industry is to embrace their enthusiasm with support that is real.
You can’t buy love. But you can foster it.
And that’s what the officials and managers of tracks across the country need to do.