state of racing 2009

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

with many positive storys ie rachal alexandra and a good saratoga meet what is your take on the state of racing as we enter 2010. i have no sales figures infront of me, but as a player this year seemed to be a good one.what is your take on how the industry will look in 2010?

Green, plastic, and dirty...kinda like a strip club.

[TropicalStorm]

Originally Posted by hoovesupsideyourhead

with many positive storys ie rachal alexandra and a good saratoga meet what is your take on the state of racing as we enter 2010. i have no sales figures infront of me, but as a player this year seemed to be a good one.what is your take on how the industry will look in 2010?

I think it is way too early to start looking at 2010. The biggest racing of the year is here. This weekend at Belmont and the Breeders Cup are much better than anything we have seen so far

Rachel is done racing so I don't think she is such a positive story. Can we really call a horse a positive story when she never took on the top 3 horses in her division and stopped racing during the summer? Especially when all 3 might be the best 3 horses in the country? Rachel took on the older horses probably because they would be easier to beat than Icon Project in the Beldame. Fans want to see the best against the best and the sport has not been able to make it happen for years. I do not buy the polytrack argument either because Rachel could be running this weekend at Belmont.

I also think the Saratoga and Del Mar meets were decent but definitely below the usual product we see at those meets. The older horse division was just so subpar that very good grade 1 races were won by very mediocre horses.

The sport has too many stakes races throughout the country with decent purses and that has made the Saratoga and Del Mar competition very watered down. I believe Crist or Haskin mentioned this recently when referring to Canada as a place where grade 1's are actually grade 1's.

I think the sport suffered a big blow when I Want Revenge and Quality Road got hurt at the wrong time. That could have been a rivalry the sport could have benefitted from.

It is hard to say what 2010 will be too. It has a lot to do with which horses stay healthy and whether or not the economy rebounds.

[gales0678]

Originally Posted by hoovesupsideyourhead

with many positive storys ie rachal alexandra and a good saratoga meet what is your take on the state of racing as we enter 2010. i have no sales figures infront of me, but as a player this year seemed to be a good one.what is your take on how the industry will look in 2010?

slots slots and more slots ........the big a can hardly wait

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

thanks for your input..but all rachal bashing aside she has got some people intersted ..my mother whom is 79+ has followed her with great interest sence
the oaks.the first time she has showed any type of hr interest.. steve may have some input as to weather the toga meet was good or bad ..hayward said they did well if im not mistaken. delmar needs to install dirt again.

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by CrossfireHurricane

Rachel is done racing so I don't think she is such a positive story. Can we really call a horse a positive story when she never took on the top 3 horses in her division and stopped racing during the summer? Especially when all 3 might be the best 3 horses in the country? Rachel took on the older horses probably because they would be easier to beat than Icon Project in the Beldame. Fans want to see the best against the best and the sport has not been able to make it happen for years. I do not buy the polytrack argument either because Rachel could be running this weekend at Belmont.

.

Is your name Ghostyapper on Pace Disadvantage site?? Its good that people like you contribute to the betting pools though, because your opinions are just horrible.

[Bobby Fischer]

it's a niche gambling game that can be played in real-time by anyone with a credit card from anywhere via internet and phone

the wagering menu is free to be manipulated into contest or tournament format, or any more efficient way of taking advantage of horse racing's identity and strengths that I just listed above.

Horse Racing is extremely boring to the common potential player, yet Racing is sold in the mass media a few times a year as a historical spectator sport. There is little to nothing done to manipulate the wagering menu and recruit player population. We even have other inferior niche gambling games such as poker having already blazed the basic trails. Horse Racing can GROW on that same plan, but tenfold because while this gambling game is being sold to them on TV, players can PLAY ALONG IN REAL TIME with the pros/leaders via their internet and phone.

There is huge potential for growth of the player population(which is what the current players need more than lowering takeout etc...), however the powers that be are ignorant, myopic, and disorganized.

The current state, and outlook is continued ineptitude.

[2MinsToPost]

One area for improvement, and has been for a while is televisin coverage during big days. The opportunity is there to reel in some new money at the windows and gate, but I doubt Hammerin Hank is the guy Geesh, they have a tendency to replay the same bits over and over. If I saw that Kenny Mayne and Wooley piece where they were in the truck one more time

[clambeau]

Would you rather have Roger Goodell, Bud Selig, David Stern or Bill France (have you seen the dwindling NASCAR "crowds" lately?) in charge of horseracing ? I'd rather horseracing's PTB be myopic, ignorant and inept than those guys....It COULD be worse than it is. Be careful what you wish for.

Horseracing's BIG PLUS...you still never know who is going to win....and if you do your homework anyone can win. In fact a person sitting home in the bathroom can win more money on a horse than the connections take home...in fact you can win more than the horse was bought/sold for....sittin right there on the john. That's not true anymore in any other "sport". (see the Yankees, Cowboys, Rick Hendrick and who cares about the NBA.

[Travis Stone]

Horse racing needs to look at its core fan base before trying to find new ones.

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

Horse racing needs to look at its core fan base before trying to find new ones.

[Oaklawnfan]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

Horse racing needs to look at its core fan base before trying to find new ones.

Amen Nurture the current player. It's usually easier to get more water out of the well than it is to dig a new one.

[clambeau]

There's no need to separate NEW fans from OLD fans...YOUNG fans from OLD fans...MEN fans from WOMEN fans...If all the states/regions/tracks started following NYRA's recent changes and just continued to clean the game up a little, clean/repair the facilities up a little ( absolutely NO need for palaces like Jerry Jones Stadium or Dubai)...you could keep your long-time fans happy AND bring new fans in..

NYRA, Santa Anita, Remington, Arlington,TVG,HRTV,Haskin & Byk
Matt Carrouthers,Jon White,Tim Ice, that cowboy guy from New Mexico,the Mig are HUGE positives for the sport. The other HUGE advantage is of course Internet wagering. I'm not talking give-aways and promotions either. Just the AVAILABILITY of LEGAL race wagering on the internet is such a huge advantage over anything else right now..I know from experience. I stumbled upon internet racing just 2 years ago and just fell in love with it. Well that AND listening to Steve Byk. They were the door that let me in to see and learn about the rest of the sport that is really so much more than betting. I even took a vacation and went down to Arlington and was just so impressed. I am a Packer stockholder and Lambeau has nothing over Arlington.

I'm 60 yr old and not a naive kid so I know there's bad people in racing, like there's bad people in business, or bad schoolteachers or bad priests, but when you talk or listen to horsemen, horseplayers etc, you hear real people. Listen to any other sport's post or pre-game interviews and you or I could stand in for any coach or player and say the same thing they do.....and it's the same canned crap every week.

Other sports have all become dull and uninteresting with the same cast of characters year after year saying the same things..A lot of posts on this board and others are crying cuz we only get to see great horses for one or two years and they're gone. Believe me (see my avatar above) when I say I actually got tired of Brett Favre BEFORE he went to the Jets and Vikings...Big Time Sports got boring for me cuz it never really changed in 40 years.

Horseracing changes every month and if you're a bettor, you'd better ( no pun) change...If you're a fan and don't bet, you don't need Direct TV or Season Passes or Seat Licenses to watch your favorite horse run..just grab your laptop or Dick Tracy wristwatch and sign up to Xpressbet, Youbet, Twinspires...any of em. They don't charge you more if you don't like betting.
....but who doesn't like betting? I mean, really?

It's none of our jobs to worry about the future of anything. Just enjoy the advances in technology in the last 10 years. Encourage honesty and sportsmanship whenever you can, and enjoy the most down-to-earth sport there is, cuz it's beginning to catch on...just in my little town in the U.P. of Michigan, hundreds of miles from any track...you got a bunch of us "new fans" up here now without even trying. (Well we DO get Steve Byk on Sirius 126, even up here so I wouldn't say it was accidental.)

Horseracing's future is brighter than most of you think, probably cuz you're too close to it. It's a great passtime and I'll give you 3/5 the glory days are coming back. In the meantime just enjoy what we have now.