Having a major race day on a Saturday has no direct correlation to handle performance on Sunday.

Here are the Sunday handles for Sunday's in May on a national level...

5/2/10 - 45,330,842
5/9/10 - 42,532,055
5/16/10 - 44,348,464
5/23/10 - 44,039,399
5/30/10 - 48,772,526

Sunday's typically handle less than Friday's believe it or not. Handle on Sunday is less than the corresponding Thursday more than you might think as well.

The point is Sunday is a quiet day reserved for hardcore players, die hards and the regulars.

The only Sunday after a big race day where I've seen a busier than usual on-track crowd is the day after Derby. In that case, the Derby serves as a good marketing vehicle the day before and creates added interest.

Belmont closing is no where close to the wrong move. They're not passing-up any unusual chance for a big day. And when you factor in employee morale after a big day and long week, it makes more sense.

Besides, who has any money left after Champagne d'Oro, Winchester and Drosselmeyer all win?

That is simply not true. You will get far more casual players money having a 4 day lead in. That is a lot of time to promote the carryover, for people to handicap the races and for syndicates to form. The fact is that they had no idea if they were going have a carryover. There is just no demand for the day after the Belmont. Based on the numbers there wasnt a huge demand for Belmont day, let alone the next day. And comparing Saratoga and Belmont is folly. They get 15k on the Sunday before the meet even starts. Complaining about something like this is petty.

Yeah and there are still 5 times more people there than there would be at Belmont on Sunday. LOL!

Of course this is all just a matter of opinion but Travers day and its undercard usually matchup pretty well to Belmont day's card. The difference is that Saratoga averages upwards of 25k people on Sundays and Belmont averages about 5k.

no doubt it's a nice card, but is it 13 races? at any rate, i can understand taking off the day after an undertaking like that. and between spring and fall, belmont won't miss a sunday card, whereas i'd think saratoga would.

They usually have at least 12.

There was no question. Reread the first post. It is a criticism that most here have proven is unfounded.

You aren't a newbie based on your other posts so surely you realize your contrarian attitude based on your dislike of "the way it has always been done thinking" is not valid since not running on the Sunday following the Belmont is a relatively new idea.

Come on Marty, How many casual fans do you think are playing the pick 6? While those people might have enjoyed a nice day at Belmont on Sunday, they aren't the ones putting a ton of money into the pools. If you are a player/fan, Saturday was your day. And after watching and betting that card all day Saturday, I'm sure the last thing people wanted to do was pick up a form and have to cap for a monsterous carryover the next day.
Not to mention all the work that had to been done around the faculity after their biggest day of the year.
Just wait till Wednesday, the carryover will still be their and so will the people who intend to bet it.

In the past, NYRA has run on the day after the Belmont but this year they chose not to. I am not sure of the reasons but my guess would be, in no particular order:
Many huge crowd days when a TC was on the line (they had no idea when presenting the state with their calendar if a TC would be on the line) Cleanup after 100k patron day is a nightmare.

The fact they Memorial Day was the prior Monday AND they added Wed to the week. Usually Wed after a Monday holiday is dark.

The fact that MON has been a horse drain for them and filling good races has been tough.

Comparing Saratoga to Belmont is pointless. Fans would show up at Saratoga if they ran 9 New Jersey bred mule races.


The carryover is irrelevant. There was no way to know that there would be a carryover. In fact, I'd guess just by my recent play on big NYRA days (Belmont, JCGC etc) that more often it's a chalky P6. It's not like, at 7pm on Sat that they could suddenly get a card slated for Sunday because of the C/O. Having the few extra days should have been helpful to bettors and the casual fans that might have added to the ranks on Sunday were probably not playing the P6 anyhow.

NYRA had (realistically speaking) run too many races over the last two weeks between the holiday weekend cards and the 10 and 13 race days on Fr and Sat. They needed the break.

yes its 12 - 13 races of equal or better quality

but I dont think people can compare Saratoga's attendance to anywhere else.. simply a different (and better) breed!

Do you think that the people who run NYRA didn't take these things into consideration? That someone just flippantly said "hey i'm having a big post Belmont party so we shouln't run on Sunday"?

Or are you just playing the contrarian card in an attempt to make yourself look smarter than everyone else?

There were several reasons given.
1. Cleanup after the big event
2. NYRA having run 10 cards in 11 days.
3. Employees worked unusually long hours on Saturday
4. Hangover effect after big days that other venues have chosen to skip
5. Travis showed that there was no handle bump after the derby or preakness showing that they weren't missing out on an unusually good day of racing.

other potential reasons
6. union wages are cheaper on weekdays
7. potential of a carryover is greater due to the nature of the belmont card and only Gales will argue that leadup time isn't better in these situations

Perhaps these reasons arent good enough for you guys but i find it hard to believe that anyone thinks that taking Sunday off wasn't a good idea.

I just don't think that anyone is giving consideration to the people that work at the track either. This is their biggest day of the year. Gates opened at (I believe 8:30) for a 11:35 first post. The last race went off at 7:50. It's not like they shut the lights off and go home at 8 o'clock after the last race goes official. I'm thinking that many people were there very late that night, cleaning up after such a big day. Most likely after working there for the entire day. All this coming in a span where they raced 10 times in 11 days.

But then again if they did put together a card for Sunday for the sake of just racing for a 11th time in 12 days and it came up below par, people would have chastised NYRA for not anticipating a carryover. Then they would have bitched and moaned about the crappy card that they would be looking at for such a big carryover.

It just seems like some people like to bitch and moan reguardless of what goes on there.

It's the racing fan way.

Besides the employee situation, I just don't know if they could have the venue ready for racing a card on Sunday. Sunset for Saturday was 8:23, the last race went off at 7:50. I have no idea what time everyone got out of Belmont on Saturday, so the staff could start preparing if there was racing the next day. But I'm guessing they wouldn't be able to start to about 9pm at the minimum. I'm not just talking about the grandstand, but the backyard at Belmont which is huge (and I don't believe it's a lighted area either). It's a giant venue, that probably takes some time to clean, plain and simple.

As far as the bitching and moaning goes, I really believe that if they did race on Sunday and the card wasn't up to some people's speed then there would be posted threads about that around here. I just don't understand what the big deal is about one dark Sunday.

Ummm sarcasm. But I apologize. I hate being unproductive.

2008 was the first year that NYRA did not run the Sunday after the Belmont. For two years prior, divisions of the NY Stallion Series were the "feature" races that day, so MaTH716 is probably correct that, if NYRA were running on Sunday with a big carryover and those races as the "featured" attractions, many on here likely would have been complaining about the quality of the card.

For many of the reasons stated elsewhere in here (the 13-race cards on Belmont Day are only a recent phenomenom), I totally understand why they did not run on Sunday. If I had to criticize the recent racing schedule, in the face of what NYRA officials have acknowledged as a dwindling horse population, it was a mistake to run the Wednesday between Memorial Day and Belmont Stakes Day.

Spare us the self pity. I am not particularly concerned for NYRA employees welfare but NYRA management is, which is why this was brought up as a potential reason why they were closed on Sunday. Not because we felt badly for them.

The idea that business on Sunday post-Belmont day is so much better than business on Thursday that all other considerations should be tabled is mistaken. And the irony of people like you always prefacing NYRA with terms like 'cash strapped' ignore the reality that the reason they are cash strapped is that they aren't getting a significant portion of their share of the handle, not that they are making poor management decisions.

I would think that you would be focusing on the final days of Monmouth since you are the Prophet of Doom there as well.

This was not the first year there was no racing the day after the Belmont.

It's also important to consider that pretty much 3 to 4 years out of 10 it will be a Triple Crown attempt, and thus a much larger crowd, which makes running the next day even more problematic.

As I think I mentioned, we had originally planned on being closed Wednesday ( see the Calendar ), but due to the Belmont Draw and general activities it was decided we needed to run that day. It was basically a somewhat problematic situation that we made the best of.

Obviously the original point of this thread is misguided....but you know that.

Suggesting we should have closed on Thursday and run on Sunday suggests a complete disconnect. It is, quite frankly, nonsensical.

In the context of your explanation about Belmont Stakes festivities, I can understand why NYRA chose to run on that Wednesday.

That being said, this was the third time this year that NYRA strayed from the past "policy," if one can call it that, of having two dark days after a six-day holiday week (see January 20 [after MLK holiday] and February 20 [after Presidents' Day]) and ran on a Wednesday, creating the situation of having eleven racing days in a 12-day period. It's also scheduled to run on July 7, under the same circumstances. This puts an awful lot of pressure on the horse population if you are going to run 10-race cards on weekends and holidays.

I had forgotten if they were dark last year. It is a pretty recent change, no?
Assuming that any year could produce a TC try, it is a smart decision. A day off is a refresher for all involved coming off a busy time, holiday, Belmont etc.

We did that in order to have a four day break at the end of January ( since we are legislated to run a certain number of days during the winter period ).

Yeah, I thought we started doing it in 2005 ( a year after the huge crowd for Smarty Jones ) but another poster said it has been less. I will have to check.

It is pretty clear why Sunday was chosen. It became even more obvious because of the once-every-14-years situation of Memorial Day being five days before the Belmont this year...however that was obviously not why we chose to close after the Belmont.

Honestly, considering how many people seem to think there is too much racing, it is amazing that anyone would have any problem with this. But, I guess when the name NYRA is attached there have to be people knocking us. That's fine....at least they are paying attention.

Thanks for that explanation. Makes sense.

BTW makes a good point. NYRA cannot just add or sublract racing dates. Any changes made to the calendar approved by the NYS Racing and Wagering Board must be approved by the board. Each of the 3 tracks is expected to race a certain # of dates as per the R & W Board, with weather or other unexpected conditions being the only typical exception. Applying for and getting changes is a process.
As far as the Sunday after the Belmont, I have attended about 25 or so Belmonts. I live about 3 hours away, so it's a hike. I used to stay over and then hit a beach the next day, or shop in the city or see friends. I am pretty hardcore, I watch racing every day. I bet almost every day. In all those years, I think I went to the track the next day 1 or 2 times. Even for me, after a long day the day before starting with the 3 hr drive, I was usually willing to give it a rest for a day and I imagine I am not alone. God rested on the 7th day, can't NYRA rest on the 14th?

Thanks for the lecture.

I have already responded to six different customer e-mails today...and this is one of my days off. If you don't think people at NYRA are interested in our customers' thoughts you are badly mistaken.

That, however, does not preclude me from finding it puzzling that people have a major issue with Sunday being dark. Certainly everyone won't be 100% happy, and that is understandable, but every decision will never work for everybody. But, this one sure feels like a greatest good.