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...down the stretch they come at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course on a bright Wednesday afternoon. Today the home of the Preakness Stakes and the famous Seabiscuit--War Admiral match race of 1938--perhaps the sport's greatest moment--is host to a $14,500 claiming race, and Robin des Tune, at 13 to 1, leads by three lengths. The chestnut filly gallops past 8,000 empty seats and withstands a late charge by Halo's Gem, the favorite, to seal the win. In the once exclusive box seats, Constantine Kimos, a retired butcher surrounded by a dozen desolate rows...
...entire industry to keep him company. Track closures, creaky grandstands, an aging fan base--the Thoroughbred industry has been losing since the 1960s, when the sport of kings missed the television boom, fearing that living-room exposure would keep the faithful from the track. With more recent competition from casinos, riverboats and state lotteries, annual on-track wagering, or handle, has slipped 28% since 1996, to $2.1 billion. The sport still has its grand days--the Triple Crown, the Breeders' Cup, summer in Saratoga, N.Y. But day-to-day, racing is like the 69-year-old Kimos, just hanging around...
Horse-racing fans had great hopes that a sentimental film about the sport, Seabiscuit, would reignite interest. The movie, which opened in July, did a respectable $118 million at the box office. But it didn't have legs. The overall handle was up 5.5% in August, and many tracks got a bump--Saratoga set attendance records, and the crowd at Arlington Park, near Chicago, jumped 16%. But others actually fared worse. Summer attendance at Evangeline Downs in Lafayette, La., declined 3%, and Bay Meadows, near San Francisco, has seen a 2% drop this fall. Arlington Park's on-track handle...
There is at least one outfit trying to reverse the sport's direction. Magna Entertainment Corp. (MEC), a spin-off of Canadian auto-parts maker Magna International, has spent about $1 billion to buy 12 U.S. tracks over the past five years, including Pimlico and Bay Meadows. The company may also bid for the scandal-plagued New York Racing Association's tracks, which include Saratoga and Belmont Park. "I love horses, but I just got bored going to the racetrack," says Frank Stronach, Magna's chairman, who became one of the world's top breeders while he was making billions...
...Railbirds in Retreat Why the hit film Seabiscuit won't be enough to save the sport of kings...