East vs. West Coast Horse Racing: Breeders' Cup Impact
Exploring West Coast horse racing stigma and Del Mar's Breeders' Cup charm and financial appeal. Joe Harper talks about the modern horse racing business.
Video Transcript
Do you agree, Joe?
'Cause I think we had a conversation about this before.
East Coast versus West Coast horse racing.
Do you think there was a stigma that you had to overcome on getting, the Breeders' Cup out there?
Because everybody always looks at the East Coast, and that's where all the major events are there.
Was that one of the selling points that you had to make, was West Coast horse racing is a thing, too?
'Cause I remember that used to be something that you used to have to sell people on, and here we are with the Breeders' Cup here at Del Mar.
Yeah, that It's always been kinda that way.
You know, the, the NY are the, the three tracks, in New York.
You know, the, the Kentucky tracks, you know, that's what people go to for the, the big races.
And, so I think Del Mar, Del Mar has the charm of the place.
And, I kept pushing that and the fact that where we are and who we are and, you know, there's a gazillion restaurants, as you know, all around and great places to be.
And they finally f- finally got that, I got that through to them, and they came out and they said, "Wow, we never knew this was all here."
So, they're very interested and they love the Breeders' Cup when it's out here.
I've been told that, the, this track they make the most money at, the most profit, so, that's certainly a, you know, big straw in our, feather in our hat.
But, you know, I, I, I think it's just, it's coming.
They wanna come back here and, and, and they'll be back I think.
But, you know, there's always a little bit of politics in this game, so, it'll make the rounds for a while.
Tell me what you think of the industry right now, the thoroughbred industry, where it is right now.
Do you think it's in a good place?
No.
I don't.
Uh- Why?
I think there's, you know, we've see- Well, we've seen a lot of tracks go away.
I think, you know, it's always, you know, the competition is different.
I think, you know, we've got some k- some bad press on horse, you know, injuries, things like that.
And you got a younger fan base coming in and, an older fan base going out.
I think I've always said that Del Mar, we're in the, the best position we could be of, 'cause where we are in a resort town.
Believe me, you know, you've been here on opening day.
It's, it's, it's a party.
And, I guarantee you that, probably 50% of those people that come out on opening day have never been to any other racetrack.
But they'll come here because of the, of where it is and not just, you know, who we are but where we are.
And, we've tried to market in that, that respect that, hey, this is a party, this is a lot of fun.
We got great restaurants.
And when the races are over, you got, you know, three or four miles in any direction are, are super places to go and eat and have fun.
So not to mention that big blue thing that I'm looking at right now, called the Pacific Ocean is another pretty good, reason to be here.
Yeah.
Absolutely there.
