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Originally Posted by classhandicapper

First, NY and CA politics are not the same on all issues.

Second, if you are going to tell me the local politics don't matter to racing, that's nonsensical.

NY state has traditionally been fairly kind to the racing industry in general. A loan with attractive terms to rebuild Belmont, casino money being part of the overall business model of racing, and a very strong breeding program are all part of that. None of that "had" to happen, but it did because racing has a strong lobby, friends in Albany, there wasn't strong resistance from the public and the state sees some benefit.

CA is in an entirely different area of the political spectrum. If the state was really interested in saving CA racing, the jobs, etc... they'd do something about it that would at least hold off the demise for awhile. IMO, it won't because the politics won't allow for it. It's a smaller part of a bigger pie and the overall population has a different set of priorities. So, IMO CA racing is on a slow path to doom. And like other industries in the state that face similar challenges, there will be a flight out of owners, trainers, breeders etc.. or they'll simply leave the business. Friendlier places like Oaklawn stand to benefit from the flight out.

In all fairness 1st racing hasn’t put pressure on anyone in state politics in California to help racing. In MD1st Racing didn’t want anything to do with it until the breeders got the purse enhancements. At the same time they realized their financial model wasn’t working. They actively worked against the casino money mixing with racing. Their plan was to decrease racing dates and make purses larger to compete with New York and Kentucky. Maryland was never on that level financially. Maryland was about supporting their farms and racing in general. The farms and politicians educated voters about what was needed to help racing. None of that ever took place in California. Horse racing is very popular in California and I’d venture to say maybe voters would support racing if given the chance. Racing is local issue and it doesn’t register with the national back and forth circus in national politics today. I’d agree with Pace and little guy’s posts on that.