Revamping the Thoroughbred Industry for Young Fans

SportsGrid
3 followers
Jul 26, 2026
AI Generated·May contain errors
So Joe, do you believe that you guys have to do a better job
in the industry at marketing the younger fan base,
like the younger crowd?
You know, because again, like you just said,
it's so competitive right now.
Plus you have betting now,
you can do it from all types of apps.
How is that being kind of like, you know,
brought into the thoroughbred industry?
There's so many ways that you can gamble now
with these apps.
You don't really have to go anywhere any longer.
Is that played a factor as well?
Well, I think, you know,
with the off-track business being what it is, I mean, great.
We're making a lot of money from it,
but I'm, you know, I'm a people person.
I think that, I mean, I came out of showbiz years ago.
I was born into it, even was in a couple of movies,
but I think that the fact that, you know,
you can put on a show here beyond just the racing,
but make it attractive, have great food,
have things going on.
You know, we did the concert series for a while.
That brought a lot of people in,
although it was a lot expensive,
but, you know, you've got to create an atmosphere
that just doesn't say racing, it says fun.
And, you know, we got a lot of pretty people
walking around here in the crowd.
And it's, you know, it's a great place to be,
even if you don't, you know,
if you don't ride a regular racetracker.
No, you know, and I actually went to that,
that series where you were bringing Axe in there.
I saw Ice Cube there at Del Mar,
and we saw a couple other events there at Del Mar there.
That was really wild there.
So you're using the facility,
kind of like the NFL guys are, not just for football,
you're using the facility for other ways
on being able to bring some more income
into Del Mar racing, right?
So you're adding more events.
I know that you had the fair out there.
You do a lot of other things there too,
but kind of like what the NFL does with their stadiums,
adding more events, right?
Well, I think, you know, I think the days of just,
everybody go there, you know, there's no TV.
You go there and sit on a wooden chair.
I remember going to all those Hollywood star
baseball games back in the day.
But yeah, I think it's, you have to tell yourself
you're in the entertainment business,
not just the racing business or the baseball business.
I think that's absolutely necessary
in this particular market
that we're seeing across the country.
People want to be entertained.
They want to have fun.
They want good food.
They want, you know, to see pretty people
and all that kind of stuff.
If you can get a few stars going.
So it may, you gotta think broader than just your product.
