Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem July 16, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you all! Last week I read about the introduction of a new “horse racing league” that was being talked about to debut in 2027. The creator is someone who was instrumental in making F1 car racing more popular and the initial press release talked about creating a series of team events to take place over the course of 10 events. 

It was just a couple years ago that another “league” was debuted, the National Thoroughbred League, with a similar concept and I believe it’s already gone dormant. I say “believe” because honestly I never heard anyone talk about it within racing or from fans. I don’t say that to be harsh, just saying it to be honest. 

So many people in and around our game talk about the need to get "new" fans into racing and how we do that. I’ve spoken many times about having friends come out to the races for the first time. They say they have a great time, then they rarely come back. It’s certainly frustrating because we all share the common goal of having our game grow and become stronger from where it’s at now. Just like any game wants to do. 

When new things like these leagues I try to be somewhat open-minded because initially when I read about them, it brings me no excitement. But I try and remember that I’m not the target audience for something like this. One of the things racing has been somewhat successful at in recent years is making the big events grow. The Kentucky Derby (G1) is truly one of the biggest events in all of sports and the ratings and attention blow away many “major” sports events. The other Triple Crown races also see big crowds and national attention. Many smaller tracks have their big days with large crowds and festivities. So I think a lot of people in the game are trying to go more and more to that “event” model as opposed to creating day to day fans and bettors. 

For most current customers (horseplayers), I don’t think things like leagues move the needle at all. We consistently hear the same things from our customers about what they want. Better pricing on wagers, better field size, a level playing field for wagering, and get rid of people who are taking an edge in some sort of way or cheating. I think for many players, anything that doesn’t address all or some of those things is a dead on arrival idea for them. And I understand because even for me as someone who works in the business, it’s kind of the same. 

One of the latest crazes around the world involving horse racing has been Umamusume and it’s popularity amongst younger folks. If you don’t know what it is, it's a game that you can play on your phone that basically mimics horse races but with cartoon characters. Several tracks now have had days where they host Umamusume events, and they’ve been well attended. We did one at Tampa Bay Downs and there were hundreds of folks who showed up in costume to attend the races. Many told my bosses they didn’t even know we had a track here. Which of course, is a bit of a backhanded compliment to our marketing team, but also, they showed up again throughout the rest of the season. It cost us almost nothing to put on and generate some new customers. Small wins!  

I bring that up because there are many ways for people to find their way into horse racing, and when I first saw the Umamusume phenomenon, I didn’t get it AT ALL. I’m an old dude at this point and it’s just not my thing. But we should be making it as accepting as possible. Many people in the game are terrible about gatekeeping and wanting people to enter it who are just like them. 

Am I being a gatekeeper by not being excited at all about “leagues”? Maybe? I want to be open minded about it, but it’s just not moving the needle for me at all. If in two years it’s a smashing success and people are using this column for their “cold takes” then that’s great, it means something worked. I just can’t foresee it happening. 

Have a great weekend everyone!