What Baffert said

Of course the people who read this link are for increased revenue in the horse racing industry. Those who read these blogs partake of the fun, and some have a bigger interest.

 So when Bob Baffert says we need to save horse racing in Kentucky because over 100,000 jobs are at stake, we ask if we are being selfish to agree.

In a word, "No". 100,000 is a lot of jobs, and when people Number One, who want to outlaw gambling say that these people Number Two can be retrained, the People Number One are not willing to retrain them. People Number One will not give them a chance. People Number One will not offer help or a solution.

Horse Racing is Entertainment. And it certainly can't be compared to killer industries like Tobacco, Firearms, and Alcohol, or even Motor Vehicles.

The question in Kentucky, where Ellis Park is on a deathbed in Evansville (technically Henderson, but for practical purposes Evansville), and Turfway is in dire straits in Florence (where the entire Cincinnati racing program is in trouble), is "Will slots help the race tracks?"

Probably. If Rush is in concert, they will draw a crowd. If you add the Cranberries in the same ticket, you'll get a bigger crowd.

Horse Racing is just a fundamentally fun spectacle. During the 1960s and 1970s, a large group of people with interests in motor vehicles tried to claim that the car races of movies replaced the posses on horseback. They argued that it was the same thing, and people would love it.

A few naive souls bought into it, and car chase scenes became common. You didn't have to worry about a car kicking you, and it did what a director told it to.

But cars did not replace horses in spectacle. Most of us see cars every day. Engines and tires are ho hum. You really do have to have several beers to get into it.

Horses are magnificent and wondous to behold. They're also more photogenis than the sportiest car. Sorry, Indy. Just a fact. And the returns to Lonesome Dove and other new Westerns show that it is fact.

So the wonder of horse racing should always stay high. It may sag every now and then from naysayers with agendas, but it will always return. Evansville wants their horse races. The farm community of Indiana is dedicated to Ellis Park, and it will return some day. That is their baby. The Bluegrass area near Turfway will see that it returns, even if it falls for a while.

We may have to be patient, but we'll always have horses, as long as people have some say.