A Bad Call at a Bad Time
Some people will tell you this game is alive and well. They’ll post pictures on big days, point to purses, to flashy new promotions, to one more “fan experience” cooked up far from the backstretch. But if you’ve been around the sport long enough, if you’ve sweated a photo at the eighth pole or watched the pools move like a stock ticker on steroids in the final minute, then yeah you know better. You know what the real story is.
And that story took another bad turn when the Breeders’ Cup decided not to lock out the CAWs, our friendly computer-assisted wagering whales with two minutes to post. They followed Keeneland’s lead on this, and in doing so, showed the everyday player exactly where they stand in the pecking order. Spoiler alert: it isn’t anywhere near the top.
Keeneland essentially set the tone a few weeks back, and the Breeders’ Cup, instead of being the sport’s gold standard, took the same path. The optics are brutal. The timing is worse. Keeneland leads directly into the Breeders’ Cup, so what message are we sending? That the retail player, the guy who studies replays, charts, and Thorograph numbers, who keeps this game breathing every day of the year doesn’t matter? That’s exactly how it looks.
While retail handle continues to slide, the CAW handle grows like an unchecked weed. It’s an unsustainable ecosystem, plain and simple. The whales feed off the smaller fish until there’s nothing left in the pond. And when that happens when the “regular” horseplayer throws up his hands and walks away what then?
We already saw one high-profile player throw in the towel. Reportedly Mattress Mac, James McIngvale walked away, frustrated by what he called the sport’s lack of integrity. And love him or hate him, the man bet millions, lost plenty, and still brought eyeballs and attention to the game. He was as known for his seven-figure bets on Kentucky Derby favorites (albeit losing ones) as he was for his furniture empire and for Runhappy, the horse that ran his heart out. When someone like that walks, you’d think it might wake a few people up.
I agree with a lot of what the Breeders’ Cup does. They’ve built a world-class event that brings the best horses from around the globe to compete on our biggest stage. But this? This was a bad call at a bad time. And while we’re on the subject of questionable calls, who thought it was a good idea to move the Breeders’ Cup Classic out of its rightful spot as the anchor race of the series?
The Classic used to be the grand finale, the main event, the moment everything built toward. Now the races are scattered across a patchwork of networks and time slots, splitting the audience and watering down the impact. Maybe it’s better for television execs, but it’s not better for the game. It’s not better for the fans who care. It stinks for the bettors.
At some point, the sport has to remember who built it, who carried it, and who still supports it even when it feels like the deck is stacked. If you don’t take care of your people, your customers, your horseplayers dare I say gamblers, then someone else will.
The Breeders’ Cup got this one wrong. And no algorithm, no CAW batch bet, and no “multi-network strategy” can hide that.
