On March 5, The Guelph Mercury published a story about what star harness racing driver John Campbell
would do, hypothetically, if he were to assume the position of industry czar. Today, the publication has published Part 2.
The first part of The Guelph Mercury piece mainly outlined some of Campbell's key ideas to rectifying overt problems in the North American industry. The second part focuses more on where Campbell believes the once monolithic horse racing industry went so wrong.
Campbell explains that the industry missed the boat in terms of incorporating the advent of general public lotteries into horse racing. "We should have been there and said, 'Listen, can we tie in numbers with the daily lottery or the big lottery' for payoffs. . . . The problem with getting into the lotteries now is the door is closed," Campbell was quoted as saying.
He also stated that 'the boat has been long missed' in terms of the implementation of universal rules for all North American regions; public education of the behind-the-scenes aspects of preparing racehorses; quick, transparent conveyance of information from judges, and the effective ushering-in of distance racing.
"I hate to stop trying and I hate to be negative and I hate to be down on it, but we're just trending the wrong way so severely," The Guelph Mercury story quoted Campbell as saying. "We just can't seem to get radical ideas out there to try and reverse the trend. That's what it's going to take. This business model does not need tweaking, it needs to be revamped."
(With files from The Guelph Mercury)
John King.
John King. Goderich............ I agree with john totally. i say we missed the boat.This industry is paying for past mistakes
I totally agree with John
I totally agree with John Campbell. The current business model as we know it does not need to be constantly tweaked and adjusted. It needs to be completely blown up. Continuing to do the same old, same old simply means we will keep getting the same old, same old.
Brian Hancox