Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem May 28, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you all! Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. I was thrilled to have the extra day to lounge inside as the heat wave here in Florida continues. A good weekend of racing is coming up and we covered a lot of the big races from Churchill on my podcast for Thursday if you want to check that out.

Legendary television host Todd Schrupp joined us on Wednesday’s show and one of the things we talked about was how much the outside of the raceday racing community has changed in horse racing. Todd was talking about his days at Calder Race Course back in the 1990s and the post race poker games, softball leagues, and things like that. And how much so much of those things seem to be gone now. 

When I first started working in racing in 2006, it seemed like every track had it’s go to spot after the races. At River Downs, we had AJ’s Roadhouse. At Portland Meadows, we had Mars Meadows and BJ’s Pizza. Emerald Downs has Las Margaritas. I feel like every track had their spot. It just seemed that most nights and at least once a week there was something going on for people at the track to go out and do something. And it just seems like all of that has kind of stopped. 

Most tracks still have a golf tournament and certainly places like Saratoga kind of buck the decline of what I’m talking about. I’m sure there are other exceptions, but it does seem as though the community of the racetrack just isn’t the same. I was thinking after the interview about why that is and I’m sure phones are probably the biggest factor in it. We all have our “communities” in our hand at all times. People are more accessible than ever and so is stimulation and information. Maybe people as a whole just don’t socialize like before the proliferation of cell phones. I’m sure that the pandemic from 2020 also played a little bit of a role as I think ever since then people just stay in more. 

Before I go any further, I want to raise my hand and take part of the blame. I’ve always been a bit of a loner and usually after the races the thing I want to do most is just go home and relax alone. I think to re-establish communities at the races like we had in the past, it’s going to take people like myself getting out of our comfort zone and going and spending more time with people around the track. I’ve been at Colonial Downs for seven years now and I’m sure there are a lot of trainers and jockeys who couldn’t pick me out of a lineup. And that’s my doing. 

So I’m making one of my goals for this summer and going forward to try and be more social around the track. And with people in the racing community, both horseplayers and racing employees and connections. I think it’s important that we all get to know each other better and forge more bonds as we are a part of this great game that we all put so much time and attention to. Everything changes and how we find community does as well. When you’re in school it’s so easy because you’re kind of forced into making friends and doing activities. When you get older I think it’s incumbent upon us to try and create those spaces and experiences for ourselves as well as for the members of our racing community. 

Have a great weekend everyone!