newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Thoroughbred I’ll Have Another was just a mile and a half away from giving horse racing its first Triple Crown winner in 34 years.

The winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness was that close to returning horse racing to the mainstream on Saturday in New York before his late scratch on Friday. But has racing's best opportunity for a revival ended?

Too many times the game has been shooting itself in the hoof. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo replaced management of the New York Racing Association last month, after a scandal about takeout rates involving $8.5 million in winnings that hadn’t been paid to bettors over a 15-month period.

Also, according to the Associated Press,10 of 11 trainers with horses in the Belmont Stakes had at least one violation of medication regulations of state racing boards, including Doug O’Neill, trainer of I’ll Have Another, before the late scratch of the thoroughbred from the Belmont Stakes on Friday.

O’Neill said during an appearance on the “Dan Patrick Show” that I'll Have Another had a “little problem” in his left hind leg, and indicated that the horse may never run again. O'Neill's brother Dennis said the horse galloped Friday morning and after a veterinary scan, the tendon appeared "kind of tender." "The horse is sound and happy, but it's not worth it," he said, according to an Associated Press report on Fox News.

Editor's Note: I'll Have Another's formal diagnosis, confirmed by the New York Times, is horse tendinitis in the left front leg. Both his owner, J. Paul Reddam, and trainer, Doug O'Neill, confirm that the horse will not race again.

These are the stories the general public hears. But for a five week period, that general public and the majority of the country is focused on horse racing, beginning on Kentucky Derby weekend. Maybe the public will look at the scratch as saying O'Neill had the best interests of the horse at heart.

The industry has been showing signs of life. The Long Island Business News reported that a series of races telecast on NBC Sports before the 2012 Kentucky Derby helped increase viewership on that day by 6 percent over 2011.

The game hopes to bring in a younger audience with online video games and social networking, along with blogs by top people in the business. And online site “America’s Best Racing,” will be used to show the sport’s top races and personalities. And there are plans for reality television, including owning a horse to competing in a race.

The Jockey Club has offered its own recommendations for improvements, and they support the banning of Lasix, used to prevent bleeding in horses, in New York. They said that horse racing is losing fans by 4 percent a year. Jockey Club figures show that 78 percent of current racing fans said they would stop betting if they knew horses were not treated well; 38 percent said they would bet more if horses were not drugged; and 36 percent said medication is one of the top three issues in the sport.

And Johnny Avello of beyondthebets.com says racing could increase its popularity by making it easier to bet. He believes that odds and payouts are confusing to the casual observer.

The Belmont Stakes still promises to be a good race, but a crowd that may have threatened the record of 120,000 may now be cut in half. Those in the horse racing industry are hoping that those casual fans give the sport a chance despite the loss of I'll Have Another on Saturday.