For the third week in a row, Seabiscuit has been popular enough to finish in the top five highest grossing movies. Moviegoers and critics alike have heaped praise upon the movie, based upon the best selling book by Laura Hillenbrand.

Universal Studios stands to gain quite a bit of financial reward from this movie. But elsewhere lies an industry that prays that the success of Seabiscuit has a ripple effect.

Seabiscuit thundered across many finish lines during the Great Depression...an age so long ago, most of us had yet to be conceived. And all that time ago, horse racing was considered the Sport of Kings, a glorious bastion of equine and human performance. And lest we forget, a sport to put a wager or two upon.

Today, track grandstands rarely fill to even half capacity. Some are sorely in need of repairs and fresh paint, others simply feel dark and empty. A sense of hollowness has fallen over the sport.

The players, by and large, are wealthy. They've made their money elsewhere, and the joke of "how do you make a million at horse racing? Start with three million" tends to apply well.

The Bloodhorse, one of the most reputable publications in the thoroughbred racing industry, has had a hand in www.thegreatestgame.com, billed as a place for the novice to make his or her initial foray into the world of horse racing. Unfortunately, the application materials make it clear that participating will be a hefty investment.

Tobey Maguire's character in the movie, Red Pollard, states that they were "running for the people with a quarter in their pocket." But if there is any great casualty that racing has suffered over the last half a century, it is precisely those people. The owners sit in the Turf Clubs, trainers look on from near the paddock, grooms glance hopefully from the backside, handicappers sit glazed in front of a plethora of simulcast screens, but the folks "with the quarter in their pocket", who come for the enjoyment of a live race, are few and far between.

Will a movie bring them in?

From coast to coast, Seabiscuit has been an on-track marketing explosion. Bobbleheads, coffee mugs, posters, you name it: it's been handed out at the gate sometime over the past couple of months. From Emerald Downs to Churchill Downs, from fair meets to Santa Anita, every track wants to celebrate this movie.

It's not just the subject matter...it's a wish, a dream. A silent prayer wrapped up in promotional giveaways.