Congrats! YOU are now the...

[my miss storm cat]

... czar of racing, the gravity king or queen (or Sheikh for those of you who miss the fights).

You control what gets upgraded and which races are downgraded.

What's your first order of business? What needs to be changed immediately?

[Indian Charlie]

I'd lock Jerry Moss and his vaginitis afflicted trainer into a room with TFM, Smooth Operator and CSC.

After that, I'd abolish synthetic surfaces.

Then abolish Frank Stronach.

Then deport the executive board of Churchill Downs.

Then make Greg Ravioli into a groom at PID.

Make RHT a TVG analyst.

And finally, make a rule saying that jockeys must score at least 65 on an IQ test before being able to ride in races.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

A lot of graded stakes races would be downgraded sharply with the hopes of forcing the very best from each division into showing up in the same spot more often.

An effort to turn the public perception that this is a 'total suckers game that can't be beaten' into 'you actually can make money and poker is gay anyway'

Takeout would have to be reduced sharply or big rebate programs put in place to do this. A single national Betting exchange would be put in place to maximize liquidity.

TVG will do a late night reality TV show on a few gamblers. Instead of 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' it will be 'Keeping up with the Andy Serling' .. instead of 'Shot at Love with Tila' it will be 'Shot of love with Joey Silverio' or 'Fast times with FreddyMo' or maybe just 'Fast Times with the Fat Charts' TheFatMan will have to be showcased.

I will place Cannon Shell as my top advisor for dealing with horsemen related and drug testing issues.

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

... czar of racing, the gravity king or queen (or Sheikh for those of you who miss the fights).

You control what gets upgraded and which races are downgraded.

What's your first order of business? What needs to be changed immediately?

The major tracks would only be permitted to hold live racing on Friday through Monday, with no more than 10 races per day. Each of those tracks would be equipped with lights so they can race at night on occasion. The remaining tracks would only be permitted to race on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with no limit on the number of races they can card on those days.

No stakes race worth more than $200,000 would be scheduled to take place within one week of a stakes race with the same conditions held at another track located within 2,000 miles. Same conditions defined as for the same age and sex, and over the same surface at a distance within 2 furlongs.

The graded stakes system would be revamped, with stakes graded no earlier than 12 months after they are run. The graded stakes committee would be co-chaired by Jerry Brown and DrugS.

[Clip-Clop]

Even though I live here and would miss ski season, tear down the Rockies to make it a nice level playing field for all.

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

Even though I live here and would miss ski season, tear down the Rockies to make it a nice level playing field for all.

this is gold!

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by DaTruth

The major tracks would only be permitted to hold live racing on Friday through Monday, with no more than 10 races per day. Each of those tracks would be equipped with lights so they can race at night on occasion. The remaining tracks would only be permitted to race on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with no limit on the number of races they can card on those days.

This is interesting, and I know what you're saying. I don't think it's quite that simple, as you need a good product more than 3 days a week to keep interest. That said, I've always wondered what would happen if racetracks were forced to bid for their dates...

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

Even though I live here and would miss ski season, tear down the Rockies to make it a nice level playing field for all.

(just realized ski season is less than 90 days away)

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by philcski

(just realized ski season is less than 90 days away)

60 if you are thinking Loveland and A-Basin like me.

I'd do two chicks at the same time

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

This is interesting, and I know what you're saying. I don't think it's quite that simple, as you need a good product more than 3 days a week to keep interest. That said, I've always wondered what would happen if racetracks were forced to bid for their dates...

I respectfully disagree.

Hong Kong... Wednesday at Happy Valley, Sunday at Sha Tin.

Great horses, jockeys, big fields, huge payouts... maybe it wouldn't work here but it sure does there.

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

I'd do two chicks at the same time

just rented that movie last week.. never gets old for me.

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

I respectfully disagree.

Hong Kong... Wednesday at Happy Valley, Sunday at Sha Tin.

Great horses, jockeys, big fields, huge payouts... maybe it wouldn't work here but it sure does there.

Our version of the industry would crumble with racing two days per week at just two tracks.

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

Our version of the industry would crumble with racing two days per week at just two tracks.

In order to crumble there would need to be a foundation.

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

In order to crumble there would need to be a foundation.

Very true.

I get the need for the contraction. One or two days a week would probably be powerful, but for a game that still generates $30 million in gross handle on a Wednesday and Thurs, $40 mil on a Fri, $50-60 mil on an average Saturday... I think the week-long model can work... but right now, we're over-doing it. 15 tracks on a Saturday is insane.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Nothing will ever improve - and the decline will only continue - until the sport can shed its label as a bigtime suckers game.

Meaningful takeout reductions and big rebates just haven't been attempted by any tracks - and betting exchanges are the last great hope for turning the tide... but you know this industry will screw that up. How can anyone have even a morsel of faith?

ESPN and all the Fox Sports stations gets absolutely spammed with poker shows .. because more people care about watching a replay of the 2006 Golden Palace.Com tournament of Tards - or the 2008 Celebrity Showdown - than they do about the Haskell or Whitney.

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Nothing will ever improve - and the decline will only continue - until the sport can shed its label as a bigtime suckers game.

Meaningful takeout reductions and big rebates just haven't been attempted by any tracks - and betting exchanges are the last great hope for turning the tide... but you know this industry will screw that up. How can anyone have even a morsel of faith?

(emphasis added)

I don't think even reduced takeout can make a difference. When Ellis reduced takeout on it's Pick-4's to 4% for an entire meet 2 years ago, it hardly made a difference. People preferred the 20%+ takeouts at the "big" tracks. How much did Pimlico's recent experiment with lowered takeout raise handle? Not much.

--Dunbar

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

... ESPN and all the Fox Sports stations gets absolutely spammed with poker shows .. because more people care about watching a replay of the 2006 Golden Palace.Com tournament of Tards - or the 2008 Celebrity Showdown - than they do about the Haskell or Whitney.

I agree with the implication that more TV exposure would help horseracing. One of the main reasons poker is so popular is the familiarity of the big players. We recognize Brunson, Negraneau, Helmuth, Ivey, et al. Horseracing retires almost all of its budding stars almost as soon as they become slightly recognizable names. That's why if I were Racing Czar I'd change the breeding rules so that no horse could breed until it was 5 years old, regardless of whether its injured or "injured".

MMSC didn't explicitly say how far my Czardom extended, but even if it was just North America, I'd put the 5-yr-old minimum into effect here. Horses bred from a younger sire or mare would be ineligible to race in the US or Canada.

--Dunbar

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

(emphasis added)

I don't think even reduced takeout can make a difference. When Ellis reduced takeout on it's Pick-4's to 4% for an entire meet 2 years ago, it hardly made a difference. People preferred the 20%+ takeouts at the "big" tracks. How much did Pimlico's recent experiment with lowered takeout raise handle? Not much.

--Dunbar

I don't think that these two experiments really are what drgs was refering to when he talked of meaningful reductions in handle. It is really hard to get people to bet a C level signal that they dont follow with any real money simply because one bet has a reduced handle for a few weeks.

Giving people more money back when they win can only help. The question is can the handle rise enough to allow the parties that give up their share of the takeout to at least break even? Over the long term it probably could but this is a business where longterm thinking is non-existent and most of the execs at the corporate owned tracks are just trying to stay employed.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

I agree with the implication that more TV exposure would help horseracing. One of the main reasons poker is so popular is the familiarity of the big players. We recognize Brunson, Negraneau, Helmuth, Ivey, et al. Horseracing retires almost all of its budding stars almost as soon as they become slightly recognizable names. That's why if I were Racing Czar I'd change the breeding rules so that no horse could breed until it was 5 years old, regardless of whether its injured or "injured".

MMSC didn't explicitly say how far my Czardom extended, but even if it was just North America, I'd put the 5-yr-old minimum into effect here. Horses bred from a younger sire or mare would be ineligible to race in the US or Canada.

--Dunbar

Your rule wouldn't help much. The stars of the sport need to be people, not horses. The only thing your rule would do would lead to more campaigns like we are seeing out of our "stars" this year. Or lead horses to start later in life which causes owners to lose more money and horses to be less prepared to run more often.