I've written a bout a dozen or so posts on the subject of how the "general public" or "casual fan" have the power to influence the future of horse racing, so it was encouraging to see these quotes in TDN's Prescription for Racing, Summer 2009
Alex Waldrop : With any business, to come out of a malaise like the one we are in, you have to look at[intlink id="1603" type="post"]how you market your business[/intlink] in order for it to grow. We came to the conclusion at the NTRA a long time ago that there are certain fundamentals that have to be addressed as part of a marketing plan.Those fundamentals were safety and integrity, and that’s why we formed the alliance. We saw people, certainly in the wake of [intlink id="1743" type="post"]Eight Belles,[/intlink] raising huge questions about the safety of our thoroughbreds.The realization that our athletes [intlink id="6730" type="post"]die in competition [/intlink]was a major trauma for a lot of our casual fans. They didn’t know it. They didn’t understand it or had never witnessed it first-hand.That’s why Eight Belles created such an outcry on the part of our casual fans who said they want us to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our equine and human athletes.And, right or wrong, people are most concerned about[intlink id="5674" type="post"]the equine athletes.[/intlink]
