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DOES HORSE RACING NEED PEGASUS TO COMPLETE TRIPLE CROWN?

          Should Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus go on to
     win horse racing's Triple Crown, he "might do for horse
     racing what" Michael Jordan did for the NBA, according to
     USA TODAY's Tom Pedulla in a Sports Cover Story.  Pedulla
     writes that it "appears recent Triple Crown threats,
     combined with the efforts" of the NTRA, have "energized an
     industry in need of a spark."  NTRA Commissioner Tim Smith
     "knows more needs to be done to develop a younger audience
     and to catch and keep the interest of the general public,"
     as "marketing and advertising alone don't cut it."  Smith,
     on Fusaichi Pegasus: "Nothing would turbocharge the things
     we're doing more than a superstar athlete who can capture
     the imagination of the general sports fan" (USA TODAY,
     5/19).  The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Ray Kerrison writes that
     the "dramatic crowd swings" at Pimlico, the site of
     tomorrow's Preakness Stakes, which is "jammed for the big
     event one day, all but empty the next," exemplify the "sad
     pattern prevailing at nearly all" U.S. racetracks.  But
     Kerrison adds that the sport won't "tap out. ... The irony
     is that while there may be few warm bodies along the rail
     and in the clubhouse, the game is almost awash in betting
     dollars."  Churchill Downs President Thomas Meeker: "The
     racing industry has never looked more positive.  Home
     betting is a  huge stimulant.  If you go international
     there's a $100 billion wagering market out there in horse
     racing."  Kerrison adds that Churchill Downs and Magna Int'l
     have "grandiose plans to turn their racetracks into
     entertainment centers and shopping plazas" (WSJ, 5/19).
          HORSE PLAYERS: Magna Int'l Chair Frank Stronach told
     shareholders in Toronto yesterday that the company's Magna
     Entertainment spinoff "could eventually become more valuable
     than shares" in the parent auto parts company.  Stronach: "I
     believe what we're doing here is we will establish a
     stronger brand name than Coca-Cola" (TORONTO STAR, 5/19).
     ...In N.Y., Drape & French profile Fusaichi Pegasus Owner
     and Japanese entrepreneur Fusao Sekiguchi.  Sekiguchi "has
     lived his life" and built his business "with extravagance,
     daring and creativity.  In Japan, he is a member of a loose
     class of men who are referred to as bubble gentlemen, a
     label attached to those who built dizzying individual
     fortunes in the booming 1980's.  It also implies that the
     source of one's wealth is never quite clear, though signs of
     it are everywhere" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/19).         

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