This week promises to be an exciting one for me. I volunteered to read a book about farming to five second-grade classes. I'm looking forward to the energy that these young kids possess, even at 9 o'clock in the morning. Of course, the trick will be to keep their attention, but I think once I start talking about horses, everything will fall into place. Don't worry, I will put in a plug for horse racing. Over the years, I've found that you do not have to persuade a child, especially a young one, to like or love a horse. It's a magnetic attraction. Place a large, gentle animal in front of a child, and they are immediately captivated and mesmerized by its size and warmth.
At the end of the reading session, I taught them how to plant seedlings and brought seedling mix mixture cups and bean seeds. The teacher who’s out of the picture to the left, put their names on each cup, and the individual mini- gardens are sitting in their classroom in the sun, getting ready to sprout. It was really cool. The kids really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed their energy, insight and imagination!
To be honest, I've been saying this for years. I can't tell you how many times I brought this to the attention of the higher-ups in our industry. They seem to think that interest in racing starts with affluent older people. Over the years, they've run various campaigns to attract established individuals, such as stockbrokers, business owners, millionaires, and billionaires. The issue here is that these people made their money because they saved it. They reinvested it and were essentially risk-averse. But with other industries, for instance, hospitality, McDonald's knew that attracting the world's youth was the key to building their business. Generations ago, they started with Ronald McDonald and Happy Meals. Once kids started with McDonald's, it didn't matter what they were putting into those chicken McNuggets or hamburgers. People developed an attraction and a comfort level, and if they were hungry or in a rush, they'd zip into the drive-through. You could say this about any fast food chain. It starts with the kids.
I just got back from the OBS March 2-year-old sale. Over the years, you see the same friends and colleagues at these sales year after year. These auctions are essentially our conventions. Going to dinner or lunch, or just sitting around shooting the breeze, the one common denominator I found with all of us is that we started with an attraction to horses as kids. Whether it was slipping off to the race track with my uncle or grandfather when we were supposed to be going to the grocery store so he could place some bets, or showing up at the riding stable because that's where all the cute girls were to help them brush their horses, do the stalls, or tack them up and get them going. If you took a survey, I guarantee you would find that 95% of the people in the horse business entered it because of their love and attraction to horses as young children. So why, as an industry, aren't we making it easier for young children to get exposed to and attracted to horses? NYRA does a pretty good job at Saratoga with the morning tours. When I show people around every morning, whether it be the backstretch at Saratoga or the backstretch at Belmont, I encourage them to bring their families and their children. But this needs to be done on a much larger scale. We need to grow an educational program that begins with field trips—like the ones I used to take from local schools to the backstretch of all major racetracks. When a young child sees a horse up close and personal, it sticks with them for the rest of their lives, and mark my words, they will be back. I will continue to forge ahead with this initiative. I hope that with the new, beautiful Belmont Park, NYRA will institute some new programs to expose young kids to horses and involve them more in the Racing industry. Whether it be as fans or directly involved with the industry, it's something that has to start now!
We are not getting any younger, and every industry needs new blood to keep the dream going and hope alive! Let's hear from anyone out there about your first memory with horses! I'd love you to share some interesting stories to get the conversation going!