Fast-paced sport of horse racing has started to draw younger crowds; some credit to’Seabiscuit.’
By Lindsey Besecker
Assistant Sports Editor
The sound of pounding hooves rings in the ears of hundreds of spectators as chills of excitement crawl down their skin.
As the horses stride quickly toward the finish line, the spectators yell out numbers of their favorite entrants. The horses come down the home stretch, pushed on by their jockeys, as the announcer’s voice rises.
The distance to the finish line gets smaller. The few minutes of excitement rest on the finish line, where the winner surges ahead, causing the crowd to jump, hug or cry — all depending on the outcome of the race.
The excitement generated from the sport of horse racing has drawn people to the track for years. Recently, race track officials have taken steps to get a younger crowd involved, and, as far as a few Southern California tracks are concerned, their plans have been successful.
“It seems that each year we get more and more young people out here,” said Chris Bahr, promotions manager for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. “It’s a great entertainment sport and it’s very inexpensive.”
Del Mar and other race tracks around the area have started to have concerts after the races, drawing in thousands of young people. Bahr said Del Mar’s free concerts — featuring acts such as Hoobastank, Pete Yorn and Ziggy Marley — every Friday after the races have drawn 3,000 to 5,000 people between the ages of 18 and 35 each week.
“A lot of this age group would not come here if it were not for the concerts,” Bahr said.
He said that after people come to a few concerts, officials at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club hope the concertgoers come back for the races.
“Next thing you know, they’re kind of picking up on betting,” Bahr said. “I think that’s the best way to get young people back: when they come first and they’re winners.”
Other race tracks around Southern California have drawn the younger crowds as well. Dorothy Hawthorne, a representative for Hollywood Park, said the track has put on concerts monthly and sent out newsletters to college campuses. She said younger crowds have been coming to Hollywood Park, especially in the past few years.
Los Alamitos representative Oscar Gutierrez said car shows and microbrew festivals have drawn in a younger crowd.
This summer, the success of the movie “Seabiscuit” fueled a public interest in the horse-racing business, and Bahr said the movie has promoted horse racing across the country.
Pepperdine junior Rachel Howard has a very close connection to “Seabiscuit” — her great-great grandfather, Charles Howard, owned the legendary race horse.
“Of course we have the Seabiscuit memorabilia all around our house,” Howard said. “A lot of why we have so much information (about Seabiscuit) now is because my dad saved everything.”
Howard said that much of that information helped Laura Hillenbrand write her book, “Seabiscuit: An American Legend,” the basis for the movie. Howard said she did not have time to read the book at first, but after she did, she found it fascinating.
Howard was also able to get involved with the movie. She went to the set at the Santa Anita race track for four days and sat in as an extra in scenes that never made it into the final film.
“We got such great feedback (from the movie),” Howard said. “That just meant a lot … that it had a really big following.”
Howard said the movie has helped to show what horse racing is all about.
“I think it has definitely given light on a whole new sport,” she said.
She said that the first day on the set, Jeff Bridges, who played Charles Howard in the movie, approached her and was excited to meet her.
“He was just as intrigued by the story as anyone else,” Howard said. “He really wanted to be authentic in portraying his character.”
Even with all the horse racing background in her family, Howard said the tradition ended with her grandfather, Lindsay Howard Jr. However, she said that when she was younger, she went with her family to the race track a few times. She said her grandfather taught her to read the odds so she could beat her older sister in races.
Howard said she still has interest in horse racing. She said having concerts and other events definitely helps to bring out the younger crowd.
“Horse racing, just as a spectator sport, is really interesting, even if you don’t know anything about horses,” Howard said. “(The concerts are) definitely a way to get kids involved.”
Once they are involved, racing officials hope they will keep coming back.
“It’s a quick thrill,” Bahr said. “I think students would have a great time if they knew what they were doing.”
To get people new to the sport accustomed to the race track, Del Mar officials offer newcomer seminars to acquaint new racing fans, young and old, to the ins and outs of a race track. Bahr said the betting process can be intimidating to a newcomer, so these classes are offered in hopes that first-timers, possibly at the track for a concert, will come back for more.
September 25, 2003