Racing Can Be Sustainable

Horseracing in the Touchet Valley and Walla Walla was dealt a blow last week when the Washington State Horseracing Commission announced it would give only six racing days to the entire Class C circuit of four eastern Washington tracks and that it will give all of them to Sun Downs in Kennewick.

However, this setback, which doesn't come as a complete surprise, need not spell the end of a fine tradition here. In fact, we feel it can be a turning point for the sport.

The Waitsburg Days of Real Sport board has already decided that their annual event isn't worth holding without the horse races and have made the wise decision to skip it a year while exploring ways to resume the sport in 2012.

The Dayton Days board is scheduled to meet on Thursday to decide whether to hold that yearly racing event without pari-mutuel racing and betting.

Unfortunate as it is for the health of a proud community tradition, we believe that under the circumstances it is best for Waitsburg and Dayton to "go dark" for a year.

First, it is simply too challenging to reinvent the Days of Real Sport and Dayton Days for a year while hoping any alternative sporting event will attract enough of a crowd to cover its costs. With only three months remaining until the third week of May, when the Days of Real Sport are always held, there isn't enough time to come up with something else.

Second, the time and energy it would take to bring an alternative attraction to the fairgrounds needs to go into a coordinated, concerted effort to get and keep horseracing on a sustainable, long-term track.

It is true that horse racing is going through a tough time across the country.

The betting handle at Emerald Downs, located in Auburn amidst a sea of prospective bettors, was down last year. With the growing popularity of other forms of gambling, horse racing now represents only 1 percent of all betting in the state.

However, the handles at three of the four Class C tracks - ironically the ones that didn't get any racing days this year - were all up last year with the exception of Walla Walla's races in the fall.

While Sun Downs' take fell 1.5 percent in 2010, handles in Waitsburg, Dayton and Walla Walla spring races rose 12 percent, 12.7 percent and 12.1 percent respectively from 2009, according to the commission's data. Walla Walla's fall handle fell by 3.1 percent.

This would indicate that at least in this part of the state, the popularity of horse racing isn't in decline. To us, that means its continuation should be encouraged by the state and that there's a business justification for the tracks to go after private-sector contributions to make up any shortfall in state subsidies.

But a lot needs to change.

The first is a state law requiring five years of consecutive racing before state subsidies can be distributed to any of the tracks. A one-year interruption like this year's would disqualify our tracks, so State Senator Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla) has introduced a bill to change that language. During a committee meeting on the matter on Monday, there was no opposition to his proposal.

The second is a change in a state law mandating the Washington State Horse Racing Commission to spend exactly $15,800 per racing day for purse money and state regulators. Currently, even if local tracks wanted to bring in private money, the state would still have to spend that amount and simply can't afford it. If cost sharing is more feasible, it will make racing more sustainable.

But for that to be effective, horse racing communities need to do more than pay lip service to the importance of the sport and lament the possible loss of its tradition here. They need to put their money where the horse's mouth is.

Finally, the state needs to recognize that horse racing is a sport and tradition smaller communities like Waitsburg and Dayton depend on much more than larger towns like Kennewick or Seattle. The state should seriously consider making a larger portion of betting at Emerald Downs available for subsidies to tracks whose local economies and cultural pride depend on it. Currently, the portion is one tenth of one percent. One percent could adequately help sustain the tracks and perhaps even allow for much-needed improvements.

Meanwhile, we encourage racing communities to prepare for changes in the law by making fundraising and sustainability plans of their own, taking a real ownership in the tradition, and approaching the state from a position of strength rather than weakness.

"Going dark" will then be a wakeup call to see just how important almost a century of racing is.