Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem for Oct. 16, 2025

Jason discusses new ideas involving racing and "throwing stuff against the wall."

A good Thursday morning to you all. I wanted to talk this week about ideas. It seemed they were flying around social media this week between discussions about race times, race schedules, and the new ratings system for races out in Southern California. 

New ideas are almost always met with resistance in racing and, frankly, in most industries. People get used to the status quo, they get used to what they know, and any divergence from that is often a non-starter for a lot of people. 

I’m a big “throw all ideas out there” kind of person. I’d rather hear 50 terrible ideas that might lead to one or two good ones than just continue to do what’s comfortable, especially if there’s room for things to improve. 

I think most people operate from a place of being resistant to change. I’ve learned about myself that my initial emotional reaction to almost everything is wrong. And that’s usually become someone is suggesting an idea that is foreign to me or the way I think things should be. But generally after some thought and explanation, I can fully digest the idea. 

The conversation about more tracks running in the evening hours comes up a fair bit, and I often hear horsemen immediately want to veto the idea. They don’t want to be up late at the track and have to get up early, and I can’t blame them. That sounds kind of awful! But if the idea would lead to increased attendance and handle for said track, I think you have to give it real consideration. 

Whenever there are or will be changes, almost everyone will have to make some concessions. As a racecaller, I struggle quite a bit seeing at night during racing. I’m getting older, and my vision just isn’t what it was 20 years ago. But if racing at night were to make a track I work at more viable, then I’m up for it. 

There are things that work in racing and things that don’t. The Triple Crown is something that still works right. It still draws huge crowds and betting handle and all that. But there’s constant talk about changing it and tweaking the schedule, solely to ensure that more of the top horses actually participate in all three events. I think this is a result of training and breeding methods rather than it is the schedule being too condensed. But I suppose we have to be open to changing the schedule if indeed people continue to bypass the Preakness (G1) with such regularity. 

We all have ideas. Most of us think our ideas are the ones that would work. But I think everyone thinks that, including the people who actually have power to make the ideas. So the ones in those positions are the people whose ideas really get to see the light of day. Most of us just kind of speak out into the ether and probably think we’d be right and be revolutionary if anyone just listened. 

That said, I think everyone should keep throwing their ideas out there. There are great ones that will come out, and hopefully they will find their way to a decision makers table. Until then, have a great weekend, everyone.