Breeders' Cup- Vegas or Atlantic City
 

Has anyone ever been to Vegas or AC for the Breeders' Cup? Got my ticket rejection letter in the mail over the weekend and was trying to make alternate plans for the BC... It looks like ticket brokers are already well over $1000 for anything in the grandstand or with a decent view of the track.

Appreciate any insight... Thanks.

I was at Vegas for the BC and it was pretty crazy. College football and that going down. Lots of clueless people.

I actually think Vegas is hard on a horse player. I am a fan of automatic tellers, in Vegas, they have zero of those, and have to contend with sports players and this and that....Drives me nuts when I am out there

Don't give up on tickets just yet. I paid $150/ticket for section 118 last year at churchill on Ebay. Sat right next to the winners circle. It was incredible and definitely worth the $150. Obviously Monmuth is much smaller than CD but check ebay around Sept/Oct for cheaper tickets than brokers.

I was in Vegas for one, but forwarn you, most of the TV's are taken up with college football games, as there's more $$ bet on them.

AC is a dump. I would say look for tickets on ebay some tickets are already up on ebay, and if you cant get tickets just stay home and watch it on TV.

The service is probably better at home,too!;)

get ebay, or stay home. my vote as well. and that's coming from someone who can't bet from home. but, there is no place like home!

I bought some Saratoga tix from Ticketsattheraces.com, which has a button on the At the Races radio show site. The prices were a little better than what I found on the other sites and I noticed that they have a bunch of Breeders' Cup tickets. If I get a rejection notice from the BC, I'm going to purchase some there.

Brokers will of course be high as the rejection letters filter into homes... give it some time, you'll get a seat.

Did a couple years at Mohegan Sun, A++ facility and they roll out the red carpet. Did AC once at the Borgata (for Lone Star's) and it was really crowded in there but with the new racebook it should be better.

I'm with Scav- Vegas for horseplayers is tough, especially on a college football Saturday.

Although I haven't seen it for myself, I've been told that the Wynn Las Vegas) has part of their book dedicated to horseplayers and has "auto-tellers". I don't think the Wynn's book is anywhere close to the size of Mandalay, LV Hilton, or Caesar's Palace (my fav) though... so it might become a moot point on BC day(s).

I have seen it, it is nothing special. Bellagio's book is 3 times the size

The Monte Carlo is a great book if you don't like crowds. It's small, but usually there are plenty of seats.

The Orleans isn't the nicest place around, but their book is very horseplayer friendly. There are plenty of seats there that face only in the direction of the horse racing monitors. The sports seats face an opposite direction. Not a bad alternative, usually with cheap rooms.

NT

The Mandalay Bay Sports book has gone way downhill. I would definitely not advise going there during the NCAA tourney. First of all, they only have 2 tellers most of the time & the line backs up into the casino. Second, if they do have 3, one of them is supposedly dedicated to horseplayers (AKA, you can walk right up....problem is, they take tourney bets when there are no horseplayers in line. If you walk up to make a horse bet, the line (which is like 100 deep, gets pissed off at you because they think you're cutting in line). It was a mess last March.

The 2 problems with Vegas are #1 the BC is definatley taking a back seat to College Football. #2. The casinos with the really nice horse books are going to take care of thier primary customers that day. Their main guys that are there all the time and also whatever big shooters are at the casino during that weekend. So if you are a big shot and frequent one of these casinos often then you might have a chance at a really nice day, maybe even with a party and so on. I would think that this would be a big time chance for them to sell their hotel to some potential big time clientele too. You would think that alot big Cali guys will just go to Vegas for the weekend instead of coming to Jersey. So I think the normal guy will end up getting the short end of the stick in Vegas. As far as AC goes, I was at the Trump Marinia Monday night. Went looking for the Horse room and the entrence was located in a hall that you use when you go to the restroom. As far as the room goes, it was like being in the room that they were shooting dice in during A Bronx Tale. Execpt with slightly better light and a couple more TV's. The main problem with the horse rooms in AC are that they are not big enough. The Borgota's are nice with the individual tv's but you better get there early. Harrah's does not even have a Horse room. AC is more interested in cashing in on the poker craze and other gaming then it is in horse racing. They are probably right, they only have this problem 2-3 times a year. My personal opinion, go to your local track nice and early. Get a good spot in the tele-theater or the restaurant and enjoy the day there where you are familiar with the surroundings and maybe even some of the people. At least you won't bet fighting people looking for the $2 dollar buffet, or lose a seat to a guy that is there 5 hours early to bet Yonkers!

I liked Mandalay Bay was barely anyone there and it was huge. I spent most of my sportsbook time at the Bellagio and Wynn. Caesars was huge but there was really no place to sit, plus the smoke there was just unbearable especially the cigar smoke. If there was only one thing I hated was the smoke inside Caesar's Palace

I refuse to go to Caesar's now, I haven't won a blackjack hand or a horse wager there YET....

There are very few places on this planet that would win in a battle of Vegas or (insert city here). Obviously, Vegas is the choice.

I wouldn't give up on tickets either. You could have very easily had tickets for less than face at last year's Breeders Cup on the day of the race.

Borgata in AC - They will give you two coupons in the sportsbook for free drinks. If you get there before the first race you will have plenty of counters to choose from to stand/lean and watch the races. The picture quality on some of the big screens wasn't that good, but you can always look at another one.

Mandalay is my favorite too, but for the BC it wouldn't be a good choice. Football days there are an absolute mob scene and getting a bet in means you have to get in line with 10 MTP.

I was in Las Vegas for last year's BC on a BC-event invite from the Hilton. I'm pretty sure they were devoting one of their big conference hall rooms to the BC, like they do for the Kentucky Derby. You wouldn't have to compete with football bettors. As it turned out, I wanted access to various odds that I could get better online than on the big screens, so I spent the entire BC in my hotel room. But I doubt anyone yelled louder for Ouija Board in the F&M Turf or Invasor in the Classic than me alone in my Vegas hotel room! (no money on Invasor, but I hated the idea of them retiring Bernardini and I wanted him beaten!)

I don't know if you need an invite to get into the Hilton's BC broadcast room. You do for the Derby. They had a pretty nice buffet spread out for this year's Derby.

--Dunbar

The only horse room in AC is @ Wild Wild West Casino..(ballys)... but if you dont get there by 9am .. you can FORGET about a seat with a tv. Other casinos have a shoebox for a horse room... But I will say.. the ""eye candy"" can make it worth to hang out in the casino..between the BC races ! :p

another option would be off the strip the Suncoast is about half an hour away and its a nice hotel/resort with a fairly large race book. The Orleans is also another nice option away from the strip during those busy weeeknds.

gold coast should be decent. all the coast casino advertise to horse players.

Borgata has a pretty nice race book. It is right by the poker room. I am planning on heading there this year for the Breeders Cup instead of the south Philly Turf Club. Wild West is not bad also. I am just worried about getting a daily racing form on Breeders cup day.

Planet Hollywood (previously the Aladdin) has a very horseplayer-friendly book. Free forms and very generous with comps. The mgr. is a horseplayer and ponies don't take a backseat to the NFL in there. Might be the best kept secret in town.

if there are seats there for the bc they'll close the book the following sunday.

i liked the comment about getting to bally's by 9am for a seat. I'm there (or a surrogate depending on how golf went friday) by 6am. the seats are gone by 7.

No where near true. They farm the book out to Leroys and it is stuck in a broom closet. Nice hotel with a very good buffet, but not even on my list to make a sports bet.

And that is not what you would call huge. One of the better ones.

the only thing I dont like about the Bellagio sports book is its lack of lighting, its like the only source of light comes from the poker room. The Wynn gave me that Bellagio feel with alot more light, I spent most of my time at the Bellagio due to the poker