Ruffian is not the reason horse-racing declined.
It was natural. By the ‘70s (and a lot of changes happened in the ‘60s which led to further downfall) people no longer had much connection to horses. And it got worse. When horses were the basic mode of transport, it was huge, both gallop and harness. The retention of interest was most likely because people still remembered the horses on the street and perhaps their own parents or grandparents’ horse.
But eventually horses became at best a 3rd-generation removed and no experience with them.
That is the downfall of horse-racing. Not needing them anymore.
At the rate things are going, horses might make a comeback.
what kind of drugs are you on??...that was flat out weird...
The gaming monopoly and inability to adjust to competition is the reason for the decline.
Prior to that US racing handle tracked inflation for a couple of decades or was neither growing nor dying. As many new tracks opened as were closed and it was still the most attended sport in the nation.
Racing is not only ideally suited for the HD era, folks are generally in awe at the proceedings on their initial visits.
In the end it is abt gambling, they currently charge 20% which is prohibitive and folks that would be betting on it are playing poker, betting on sports, trading crypto etc.....now the sport which was the largest tax payer in the history of some states-MD, PA etc....is now a titanic sized welfare queen living off casino subsidies. It should be abolished in most states.