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Thursday, December 4, 2008

They Do Read - Part II

In an earlier post we were discussing the fact that we have seen evidence that people in racing have changed. Listening to the customer is starting to take hold. In a couple of comments on the blog, and when people sign up we do see the malaise - "they won't listen." In a comment or two Mr. Waldrop was mentioned by name.

A recent comment on the Why I left Racing series, written by Hajck Hillstrom:

Thank you for taking the time to bring these issues to light. The industry as a whole and the NTRA in particular are waking up to the fact that we need to listen and respond to passionate horseplayers like yourself. Please go to ntra.com and read about the new NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance - where horseplayers already have an influential seat at the table - and if you like what you read then pledge your support for the effort. While you are on the site, join the Horseplayers Coalition and help us eliminate federal tax witholding on winning wagers. Nothing will change this industry faster than horseplayers supporting reform-minded tracks and horsemen with your wagering dollars.

Best regards,

Alex Waldrop


Mr. Waldrop is being part of the solution, not part of the problem. Their work on the ridiculous witholding tax, involving spirited horseplayers like Mike Maloney is doing some good. In fact, when working on a platform, HANA noted that since Maloney was involved with the NTRA panel, we believed it could be left out of ours, as we were confident it would be on the front-burner from that capable bunch.

Just like HANA has an uphill battle in getting many of the planks of our platform noticed and changed via the massive dysfunction of racing, Mr. Waldrop and others have the same fight and the same issues. This is one mess of a business to change. We are dealing with a business set-up for 1958, in 2008.

Change won't come overnight, but people do listen, and some out there are trying. HANA supports many of the issues that the Players Coalition does, and are very much behind them and their work.

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