Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem for Oct. 23, 2025

A good Thursday morning to you all! Cool to see the Breeders’ Cup pre-entries come out as we get ready for the big weekend coming up in just eight days. Make sure to get your accounts set up and funded with TwinSpires before things start getting crazy, because I feel like on BC days, it really seems as though they go very fast once they get going. 

I wanted to write this week about an interesting tweet I saw from the great Emily Gullikson this past week about racing and its desire for a savior. I kind of hate that I just used the catch all term of “racing” because it’s much more complex than that, but after Emily mentioned the "savior complex" I got thinking about it and how true it is. 

The move “The American President” had this great line about leadership and people’s desire for it. Michael J. Fox was the actor who said it to President Michael Douglas in the film. 

“People want leadership Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water they’ll drink the sand.” 

First off, an amazing quote from an awesome movie. Secondly though, I think it’s very true, including in horse racing. I started working in racing in 2004 and over those 20+ years there have been different leaders or wannabe leaders who have come and gone in the sport at big macro levels, as well as smaller levels like management at individual tracks. And I’ve noticed with each of them showing up, various amounts of people will lend their support behind the person as someone to listen to in an effort to grow or better the game. 

Racing famously does not have central leadership, like a commissioner in a sports league. Well, I should say an actual appointed or elected one. So if you were to ask 100 people directly involved with racing or super fans, you’d probably get 50 different answers of “who runs racing?” Instead we’re made up of a bunch of ships, of varying size and power, all generally meandering in a similar direction. And while most tracks work together for the greater good, there’s also plenty of in-fighting and separation. It’s a unique game for sure. 

Back to the "savior complex" discussion. I get how it happens. I really do believe that most people with any stake in racing want it to be successful. They want full fields, bigger handle, better safety - all the good things. It’s the "how do we get there" part where we all start dividing into our various camps. So when someone steps forward with a big platform (and the people who are cast as saviors are always wealthy and powerful), many people immediately look to them as the one who just might make things better. It goes back to that line from the movie above. People do want leadership. I know in my career, when I’ve had good superiors who I know really care about the racing product and their employees, it really does inspire you to really want to do the best you can. So I get how this savior thing becomes a thing. 

However, I don’t think it works. Leadership is one thing, savior is relying on one person to shift the direction of something that includes tens of thousands of people. I just don’t think it works. Racing’s improvements will have to come from a huge range of people who ultimately come together to make this the best wagering game on the planet. Handle goes up, many other issues will be helped along by that influx of customers, interest, and money. 

Have a great weekend everyone!