Horseracing, the sport of kings, needs more punters and fewer drugs

“IT’S A WIN-WIN,” says Zach Noren, who is visiting Belmont Park, a racetrack on the border of Long Island and New York City, with his three-year-old son Jack. “He likes the horses and I like to bet.” Mr Noren normally pays attention to the “ponies” only for Triple Crown events, like the Kentucky Derby. This is not unusual. There were few punters at Belmont on a recent Sunday afternoon. The virus may have made people wary of placing a flutter in person, but interest in racing has been dwindling for years.

The public perception that the horses are mistreated or over-medicated has contributed to that. Part of the problem, says Bennett Liebman of Albany Law School, is that there is no regular mainstream sports coverage of racing. “Any time somebody covers horse racing, outside of the Triple Crown, the news tends to be bad.” There has been no shortage of bad news lately. Medina Spirit, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, tested positive for an excessive amount of betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug permitted only in limited amounts. On June 2nd Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, suspended Bob Baffert, Medina Spirit’s trainer, for two years. Last month the New York Racing Authority banned him from its tracks, including the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, taking place on June 5th.

Mr Baffert and...