It’s a great sport

It happens every May: An intern tells a mainstream media member that the big horse race in Kentucky is due, and soon it’s on the air. Horse racing, like boxing, is down for the count. And now, today’s strike and drug use news in the “major” sports.

Here are 57 reasons why horse racing remains one of the best sports going.

1. 1. The tattoos are on the inside (of a horse’s lip)
   2. Unlike NASCAR, wagering is permitted
   3. It’s exciting
   4. You have to be smart to win consistently
   5. Dummies still try
   6. It’s colorful
   7. Slot machines fuel the sport
   8. Slot machines are highly addictive
   9. Jockeys share a locker room
   10. Cash plays
   11. There are 80-some-odd tracks in this country
   12. A little can win you a lot
   13. Average dolts set the odds
   14. More newspapers than horse tracks are going under
   15. Experts can’t pick a lick
   16. Average suckers love cheap favorites
   17. Santa Anita is back to basics, dirt
   18. Small tracks frequently out-produce big tracks
   19. There are no strikes or lock-outs
   20. There is regional loyalty to three-year-olds
   21. Free parking
   22. Mud
   23. Announcers have good grammar
   24. HRTV (don’t forget mute button)
   25. Dime supers
   26. The Breeder’s Cup (prolongs careers)
   27. There’s only one house skim per exotic wager
   28. There’s no hurry
   29. It’s one of the last outposts for legal characters
   30. Luck is supposed to even out over the long haul
   31. There’s no advertising on the silks or horses
   32. Rolling doubles (surely you can find one horse a day)
   33. Tote giveaways
   34. Horse movies have happy endings
   35. Horse TV shows involve thugs
   36. Male and female horses compete against one another
   37. The Daily Racing Form has all the info
   38. Most “How-to-Pick” books are marked down
   39. All winners have “value”
   40. Hardly anybody drops dead at the track
   41. The IRS accepts losing tickets as proof of a loss
   42. Tip sheets hustled by people with nicknames
   43. Most turf exactas pay $50 minimum
   44. Dead heats, which figure to be impossible
   45. Female jockeys are under-bet
   46. Old people have manners
   47. Nobody uses the men’s restroom after a win
   48. The rail, where deadbeats gather
   49. The element nature of spa racing, and Santa Anita
   50. Horses that pay $100 to win
   51. Exit-level celebrities at the Triple Crown races
   52. The call to the post
   53. Horses names
   54. Handicapping experience pays off in the long run
   55. Reason to dust off the binoculars
   56. Big winners get to breed
   57. Horses seldom talk

Originally Posted on ESPN