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On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:06:59 -0700 (PDT), "tya...@gmail.com" <...@gmail.com
On Oct 19, 2:21 pm, byrdman <...@yahoo.com
Remember the old angular steeplechase course at Delaware?. All the
great one that came in for the Delaware Hdcp? Nice guys there too as
they made up a bunch of old cardboard totes with my name as the
identification code as a souvenir.
Simulcasting has allowed MORE people to be involved as you can wager
at the last minute or when you HAVE to be somewhere else.
Read the good book "Headless Horsemen" to find out really what is
wrong in racing. I knock my head against the wall all the time in
trying to get new fans to the track but with ADHD a disorder of the 30
somethings, the apprenticeship required to become a proficient
handicapper/better is more than their "instant gratification
personalities' can bear. This crowd only wants $$$$$ and could give a
damn how they get it
The product is suffering because for too long it was the only LEGAL
game in town. The 'suits' became complacent and have not done a thing
for the patron still treating them the way they did when they had a
monopoly.
Another thing: European horses represent the only stamina left in the
thoroughbred and on all of these synthocrap courses that is becoming
more obvious all the time. If you NEVER set up graded stamina tests
for you horses, HOW IN THE HELL are you ever going to know where that
comes from? If you DRUG all the animals, how in the HELL do you know
what is natural.
I vote that drugs are a major scourge, along with the closing of many
of the tax loopholes that allow smaller investors investors to get
together and write off a large part of an investment along with the
loss of the grand old families who supported racing win or lose, i.e
the Whitneys, the Phipps, Melons, Vanderbilts etc
In the next 10 years I suspect there will be a wholesale shrinkage in
race tracks as the total horse population is decreasing, the best
sires are exported and they are breeding speed to speed for a quick
buck at the sales.
Too bad
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On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:04:36 +0100, "Lescor" <...@btinternet.com
<...@o36g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
Good points, and a great pity that the game should be declining in a country
which
imported and bred such fine bloodlines in the past.
Is there an answer, or is it all too late? I am too far away to have any
ideas worth a toss,
but I do know that the product has to be attractive if you want to add new
punters to the gate.
Variety is important. Unfortunately there is little variety in the way US
tracks are set up,
which makes it even more important that here is variety in the races.
Customers like to win, but it is easy to overstate just how important
winning is. For the less
frequent visitor - and these are the ones racing needs to attract - it is
just as important that
they enjoy the experience, the day out at the track., the fun, win or lose.
Colour and variety are needed. Maybe those who organise the race cards
should understand
that it doesn't take great horses to make good races. Lack of horses with
proven stamina
is no reason for not including races of 12 to 16 furlongs on every card. At
least they would add
something to the endless diet, and they do tend to prolong a bettors
interest in these events
LC.
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On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:57:58 -0700 (PDT), wolfagain <...@provide.net
On Oct 20, 7:04 am, "Lescor" <...@btinternet.com
Horse racing 'capping involves a lot of basic math skills that younger
under 30 types just can't do anymore because of reliance on computers.
Most of them would've be able to read the PP's or even understand the
tote board. Just reading bus schedules is a challenge for many....I
used to ride the city buses often in Michigan and often had to
"translate" schedules for them. Lottery is a game the more
"intelligent" ones can handle....especially the scratch off tickets.
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On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:48:45 +0100, "Lescor" <...@btinternet.com
"wolfagain" <...@d34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
True, but this is only relevant if you see all your future racegoers as
those who want
to gamble and to win whilst doing it. The past weakness in US racing is that
this assumption
has created the product you now have. A pretty uniform gambling medium
which, in most cases,
is as colourful as animated roulette.
If a successful future for the US game depends on keeping or increasing
that pool of hard core
gamblers then it is probably doomed to failure, possibly for the reasons you
named. There are
now easier ways to throw your money away than going to the track. But this
should be obvious
by now. The product, as it is now marketed, is increasingly being rejected,
but it seems that
the perceived .way to change is simply to add more of the same with
simulcasts and slots.
I am pretty sure that any shrewd manufacturer when told that his once
popular brand had lost
sales and public interest would see the solution in adding more brands of
similar quality?
And of course, there is a pool of public interest when the event is
attractive enough. The
prestigious US races still pull in massive crowds, far greater than simply
from regular racing
gamblers. Obviously this cannot be repeated daily at grassroots level, but
the reason for
their interest can, which is that the outing must be interesting, enjoyable
and entertaining.
I have no idea if interest can be boosted by attracting enough new blood,
people who see
a day at the races in the same way they would look at going out for a decent
meal
occasionally.............. far cheaper to eat at home, but who cares, it was
enjoyable..... but surely
this is the way to go?
Decent tote facilities, parking, catering, seating are all important, but
even greater is what is
provided out there, on the track. More long distance races. Handicap
races with extreme
weight differences down the field which produce those very open markets.
ANYTHING , rather
than the same old rejected fare, race after race after ace.
LC
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Anonymous Wrote:
On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:48:45 +0100, "Lescor" <...@btinternet.comwrote:
Well for one thing, the old days produced far too many tracks that
kept the breed localized and inhibited the money from pooling up to
put on big races to attract the racing stars. The Breeders Cup races
still are the world's richest races and that is what the public has
come to expect to see when it ventures out to a country mile.
If you look at how huge the NFL is, and wonder what it would look like
today with a team in every city, you would have to question the talent
pool, and racing seems to have fallen victim to being this oversized,
spoiled brat, that saw lotteries and scratch and wins invade its turf,
along with neighbourhood bingo rampages and sports pool betting, and
then the good old fashioned days of yore, couldn't attract the
consumer-driven public's demand for the best right now.
Isn't it odd that the first casino in the country, never had a track
around it for 10,000 miles? Now you can't find a track surviving
without a casino nearby. People's entertainment has changed locally
but anything on a national level still attracts 10's of millions
instantly, right now.
So let the old leaky roofed circuits die peacefully along with the old
history that gets bulldozed with 'em. The economy stalls and there's
alot of empty ones that won't be filled up again. I guess you'll have
to plan a vacation to have your day at the races in the future, so why
not try the exquisite French racecourses? They look beautiful and
luxurious - on line that is..
I ain't seein 'em shootin' craps in the alleys anymore either - times
change and things get old and outdone - like wimpering fondly about
old plodders still running in circles in Tom Sawyer Handicaps brought
to you by Yum Yums Bourbon.
Tell Aunt Polly about how heritage gets lost and riverboat gamblin
ain't what it used to be.
Its not that bad anyways. The horses maybe won't run on dirt anymore,
but they'll never have to eat rubber hay, even if they find a way to
grow it.
You know the old saying....that'll never change.
So what came first? The horse or the album? Did Sting name his album
after Zenyatta? Did the Ozark Mountain Daredevils buy Rachel
Alexandra? Running her in New York against old crocks, did nothing to
show that her owners had any idea of class. They're supposed to be
challenging Jerry- to the A and M- Moss to a match race, and the
winner can give Sting a real name.
But the talkin' guy looks like a Wall Street shit from what I've seen
of him on the tube. So what do Wall Street guys know of class and that
of avarice? Its the horse's ass to them, not its heart, that counts.
Geez, even the mob owners have more respect for the animal.
But then again there's the Dick Dutrows...
The Fed Ex man hath cometh... brand new synth 'roids, untestable
because they've just been invented by a rogue PHD chemist. The man
says it'll be ten years before they can even classify it, guaranteed!
Wow, what a deal, so the NTRA will test tomorrow, what's being used
on the horses today. Speaking of Big Brown, there's no way they're
going to give yearlings the juice to buff 'em up for the sale because
they have made it illegal to give these precious little baby equines
steroids for at least forty five days before the sale date. Thank
Christ for the sale hierarchy saving the breeders from themselves,
huh?
I guess its okay to give it to the kids. They might be giants. We
shall have nothing but the best and thats good enough for us.
We are heading into the new racing of tomorrow...sit back and chill
wid a pill, and watch the finest horses being made, modeled and sold,
then raced for your own pleasure, on demand, on-line. What other way
could there be to be watch such magnificent digitally-enhanced and
drug enhanced racing? I know, I used to do lines but now I'm on-line.
Its cheaper to lose my money on-line, than it is to go to the bullring
in the living flesh. If they can only hook-up a speaker at the track
that represents the absent punter swearing at the hardboot on the
losing favorite, as he walks by the speaker... I can cuss that little
bastard via blue-tooth and still spit on the monitor. That might get
alot of oldtimers to come in out of the cold, looking for days that
have long been blown away by the tekk wizzarrds new light wand.
Why just the other day I downloaded my first French sale catalogue.
Popped moi cherie.
When's the ponygirl going to get a headcam for the mornings? Mine That
Birds's stall-cam wasn't workin'. Just as well, he didn't work out
either.
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