The following is Henning's complete column on Folha Metropolitana newspaper:
My friends, owners and breeders of purebred English horses, activity that survives due to turf, live moments of anxiety. The movement in Brazil's hippodromes had its splendor in the fifties and, since then, has been falling to the point that only four tracks remain: São Paulo, Rio, Curitiba and Porto Alegre.
The busiest is the Gávea Jockey in Rio. The Sao Paulo Jockey comes next with just one show a week on Saturday afternoons. Cidade Jardim stables used to house no fewer than four hundred animals. Today is eighty.
There were times when São Vicente gathered thousands of people in the parades on Friday. Right next door, at Trote de Vila Guilherme, we had memorable days.
The game
The turf lives on gambling. And they got rarer.
Many say the crisis began with the sports lottery. That also had its heyday. Now it's the Mega Sena. The Caixa Econômica Federal is the largest banker of the gaming sector in the country. The state took the place of the Jockey Club.
The bet on horses still resists more in Rio than in São Paulo. Bars and pubs scattered there tend to accept them, although in smaller numbers than in the past. Already here among us it is difficult to find a point where you can make a little flour in the horses.
Too bad, because turf has already played a major role in the country's economy, starting with the number of jobs.
Even today horse breeding employs thousands of professionals. They are keepers, trainers, veterinarians, jockeys, the feed industry, medicines, farm workers in hay and alfalfa. Apart from the staff of the clubs themselves.
It is good to remember that Argentina, where the turf lives glorious moments - Buenos Aires has two hippodromes with daily races and millionaire betting movement - lived our same situation. In Argentina, the activity has almost disappeared. It was saved by a congressional initiative: casino gambling was released on the Jockeys.
If you go to Buenos Aires, a visit to the Palermo Hippodrome is almost a must. In addition to betting on horses, there is a bustling casino offering incredible attractions for the tourist.
The same thing happens in San Isidro, where every year we have the biggest grand prize in Latin America: the Pelegrini.
Now that the release of gaming has become a subject of debate between us, it is worth remembering that in addition to combating unemployment with the chance of increasing from five to twenty million tourists annually in the country, its release could also save an important segment of the economy.
Source: GMB
