‘I feel we’re on the verge of a new dawn for our sport’
In a four-part series in conjunction with the Racing Post, we look at how the racing world has coped with the prevailing impacts of the Covid-19. In today’s edition, Racing Post bloodstock editor Andrew Scutts delves into how the US racing roadshow has stayed the trip despite the pandemic.
It was a very good Good Friday for Santa Anita this year, as spectators returned to the track for the first time in more than 12 months.
While crowds will be capped at 9,000 for the time being, under Los Angeles County’s guidelines for outdoor sports, it is a huge step forward for US racing as it continues down the road towards a town called Normality.
Santa Anita was the big cancellation story last March, when Covid-19 took root, for unlike some other tracks around the country, it was closed on local authority say-so, leaving horses and participants high and dry.
Racing was able to resume behind closed doors in mid-May, with owners returning in late September but allowed back in the winner’s circle only in March.
It has been a slow but steady emergence from the dark shadows of the pandemic, with racing’s participants and fans having to bide their time and play ball.
The green light given in May has, thankfully, not reverted to red, and while the amber may have flashed once or twice, the prognosis for 2021 is encouraging, with long-absent racegoers set to play their part in the sport’s healing process.
The Kentucky Derby welcomed more than 51,000 fans to Churchill Downs in Louisville on Saturday. It was the largest crowd to gather at a US sporting event since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The Triple Crown was turned on its head by Covid-19 last year, with the Belmont Stakes run first, followed by the Kentucky Derby, then the Preakness.
As New York Racing Association president Dave O’Rourke observed: “This will be the year everything goes out the window. If there’s ever a time to do something different, it’s this year.”
New York state is home to Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct, which has been used as a vaccination hub, and the racetracks are awaiting clearance from local health authorities to readmit fans, who have been absent since last March.
Belmont has welcomed a limited number of racegoers back to the track since last week, and Saratoga resumes in July, but Aqueduct has missed the boat and fans will have to wait until November, the NYRA’s Pat McKenna saying: “Considering the size and scope of the Covid-19 vaccination site on the first floor of Aqueduct, where more than 4,000 doses per day are being distributed, NYRA hopes to reopen Aqueduct to spectators in the fall of 2021.”
Fans have, however, for a good few months now been trickling back to some venues in the US – the approach to Covid-19 varies from state to state, and even within states – including Florida, where Tampa Bay Downs’ biggest meeting of the year in April saw a crowd of 2,500, with spectators having been allowed since November.
“I hadn’t been around as many people since March!” exclaims Jane Buchanan, assistant trainer to Graham Motion, who adds that while the loss of fixtures was problematic, as the only sport to carry on throughout the pandemic, racing’s participants have been better off than those in other major sports, like basketball, baseball and hockey.
“Last spring was difficult,” admits Buchanan. “Keeneland cancelled its meet, and we had horses to run but nowhere to run them, so we were in limbo for a little while. But we were lucky to have racing, as no other sport was taking place.
“Tracks like Will Rogers Downs had all these people watching and betting on their races, while normally it gets no attention at all.”
Such obscure venues helped the sport to not just tick over but gain new fans and, importantly, punters.
Prize-money and the health of racing generally is even more indelibly linked to gambling in the US than elsewhere, with off-course wagering and revenue from slot machines dwarfing on-course turnover, so that while betting and other revenue from racegoers is important, the fact racing had the sporting field to itself for months in 2020, and a captive TV and internet audience, was a huge advantage – and something to defend in 2021 and beyond.
As Najja Thompson, boss of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders body, says: “Horseracing’s mainstream visibility in North America was able to increase tremendously during the height of quarantine.
“The beneficial upshot of all racing’s hard work was that it was the only live sports entertainment option for viewers nationwide for the majority of the pandemic peak-time. Record online handle and wagering numbers was the result, as the added exposure led to more new viewers of our sport than ever before.
“Where we have to continue the work as an industry is making sure we can cultivate those new casual viewers into long-term knowledgeable fans now that most other mainstream sports have returned.”
Average raceday wagering was up an eyecatching 33 per cent last year on 2019, at $3,308,669, while figures released last week, comparing the first quarter of 2021 with 2020, reveal a 14 per cent increase. It is impossible to predict to what extent US racing will be able to retain its new viewers and punters as 2021 rolls on, but its popularity has undoubtedly risen relative to other sports worse hit by Covid-19.
The outlook for prize-money is, inevitably, much rosier this spring than last. Stateside, the maths is pretty simple. The more fixtures, the more races, the more betting, the more prize-money. As crowds gradually return, and on-track casinos reopen, that will shore things up further.
Covid-bighted 2020 led to a reduction of just over 25 per cent in total purses against 2019, in line with the drop in meetings (down 25 per cent) and races (down 24 per cent). Last month’s overall prize-money was up 47 per cent on March 2020, but that was the month the pandemic took hold and led to cancellations at Santa Anita, Keeneland and elsewhere.
The stabilising of race programmes and schedules gives cause for optimism that 2021 will be much closer to the norm than 2020, and looking ahead, Oxford-born trainer Dan Blacker, now based in California, says: “We are fortunate that racing has carried on, and it means that more people have been interested in watching it, and betting.
“With Santa Anita and other tracks readmitting spectators, hopefully people who have become interested will be open to going to the races. There has been real change within racing over the last ten to 15 years, especially in California, and I feel we’re on the verge of a new dawn for our sport. I’m proud of what’s been achieved and feel very positive about the future.”