Don't Jurisdictions Ever Talk?

A whack of years ago the continent was surely not as connected. If a business in New York tried something new, and it worked, California businesses might learn about it in a magazine article or through some sort of word of mouth at a meeting (a meeting you drive to, at a physical location, with muffins). If an innovation is worthwhile, its diffusion happens, but it takes awhile.

Today things are much different. The World is connected, and innovations and improvements - or any experiment really - moves through a business or community like wildfire.

A business that isn't horse racing, I guess.

I am perplexed watching the California debate about their whip changes. The criticisms and arguments against are the exact same arguments Ontario went through in 2008, the UK went through, Hong Kong went through, and probably a few more jurisdictions I am forgetting. It's like this debate is brand new, and California is doing something ground breaking. I've got an idea: Call Ontario and ask how it went, get the FAQ beforehand, and stop asking the same questions. The questions have been answered a thousand times.

For the record, the whip rules in Ontario work just fine and have for years. Handle is even up over 25% since they've been put in, so you can put a sock in the handle debate questions at least.

Similar happened with exchange wagering discussions in the Golden State a couple of years ago. The same questions, already answered.

In New York, when slots came in, even on this silly blog we spoke about what happens when 10 claimers start going for $30,000 purses - hundreds of claims, horses jamming, bad racing, unsound horses thrown in for the big money, and on and on. It happened in Ontario when slots were brought in and the commission had to address it. Did New York racing not get the memo? It shares a border with Ontario for crying out loud.

Racing reminds me of a Bill Murray movie. We wake up and the same debates happen, like no one speaks to each other.

It's 2014. It's completely unacceptable.