A Response to David Ingordo in TDN
I rarely read racing articles anymore. I prefer to keep the noise out of my head. I rarely watch racing telecasts for much the same reason. There are only a handful of people in this sport whose opinions I genuinely want to hear. Even fewer whose work I make a point to read.
When I do read something, I usually come away disappointed. Not because I enjoy disagreeing, but because I love this sport and keep hoping someone with a meaningful platform will finally say the difficult things that need to be said. This was one of those occasions.
The Thoroughbred Daily News has launched a new series asking industry participants to identify racing’s biggest problem and propose solutions. It is, in theory, an excellent idea. Given the depth of the challenges facing this sport, it should produce thoughtful, uncomfortable conversations and perhaps even inspire meaningful change.
The first installment, featuring bloodstock agent David Ingordo, does something else entirely. It illustrates why racing continues to struggle. Not because David Ingordo is wrong about everything he says. He is not. It is because he mistakes one of racing’s consequences for racing’s biggest problem. His article was not titled One Of Racing’s Many Problems. It was titled Racing’s Biggest Problem. Those are very different conversations.
Ingordo argues that racing faces a workforce development crisis. Where will the next trainers, veterinarians, farriers and racing executives come from? His proposed solutions include clearer career pathways, apprenticeships, scholarships, mentorship programs and industry resource centers. He points to the career of his wife, trainer Cherie DeVaux, as an example of the patience and structure required to build a successful career. He correctly notes that racetrack veterinarians face demanding lifestyles and that the industry needs to do a better job attracting the next generation.
There is very little in any of that that is unreasonable. It simply is not racing’s biggest problem. In fact, I would argue it is not even the beginning of the conversation. Racing does not have a recruiting problem. Racing has a reason to stay problem. Fix that, and much of the pipeline begins to repair itself. Before we ask who will replace Todd Pletcher or the next generation of Hall of Fame trainers, perhaps we should ask a more immediate question. Why would a talented young person choose horse racing today? What do they see?
They see an industry wrestling with declining participation. They see constant public disputes over integrity, regulation and animal welfare. They see governance structures that many participants believe lack transparency. They see a wagering product increasingly questioned by its own customers. They see technology moving faster outside racing than inside it. They see people who have devoted decades to the sport deciding it is time to leave. They see former racehorses in kill pens with millionaires, billionaires suffering from short arm syndrome.
Those realities cannot simply be ignored because we are discussing career development.
David Ingordo occupies one of the most respected positions in Thoroughbred racing. He has enjoyed tremendous success as a bloodstock agent. He serves in advisory role to HISA that places him close to many of the sport’s important conversations. That experience naturally gives him a perspective that deserves to be heard. It also illustrates something important. The challenges experienced at the highest levels of racing are not always the same challenges confronting the sport itself.
Elite sales continue to produce extraordinary prices. Elite owners continue to invest. Elite barns continue to flourish. The broader sport is confronting a different set of questions.
The retail bettor remains under enormous pressure in an increasingly sophisticated wagering environment. Aftercare and the slaughter pipeline continue to affect the sport’s moral credibility. Governance remains a persistent source of frustration for many participants who believe important decisions are made by relatively few people with relatively little accountability. HISA continues to evolve while many horsemen remain frustrated by inconsistent enforcement and unresolved questions surrounding implementation. Whether readers agree with each of those assessments is almost beside the point. The point is this. None of those subjects appeared anywhere in an article identifying racing’s biggest problem.
Perhaps the most remarkable omission of all was the customer. Horse racing is fundamentally a wagering sport. Without horseplayers there are no purses. Without purses there are fewer owners. Without owners there are fewer horses. Without horses there are fewer trainers, veterinarians, farriers and racing executives. The workforce exists because the customer exists. Ignoring that relationship turns the problem upside down. Healthy industries rarely struggle to attract talented people. Growing industries attract ambitious people because opportunity attracts talent. Declining industries struggle because people question whether the future justifies the investment. That is why I believe the pipeline problem is largely downstream of the issues that continue to confront racing. People are not simply failing to discover racing. Many people who already know racing are deciding to leave it. That is not a recruiting problem. It is a structural problem.
This is what made Ingordo’s answer feel like a missed opportunity. Here was someone with credibility, experience and institutional access being asked one simple question. What is racing’s biggest problem?
There was an opportunity to discuss wagering integrity. Or governance. Or transparency. Or aftercare. Or the long term sustainability of the business model. Even if readers disagreed with those conclusions, they would have been forced to engage with difficult questions. Instead, the discussion centered on job fairs, mentorship programs and scholarships. Those ideas have value. They simply do not address the foundation upon which every career in racing ultimately depends.
Before we build a larger pipeline, we have to build a stronger destination.
If horse racing becomes a sport that protects its customers, embraces transparency, confronts difficult issues honestly and creates confidence in its future, talented young people will not need to be persuaded to enter. They will want to. Until then, expanding the pipeline without repairing the foundation risks asking the next generation to commit their lives to problems the current generation has not yet been willing to solve.
That, to me, is racing’s biggest problem. TDN there is no need to ask me, you have my answer, feel free to share it.
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