Scavs/Go to Arlington Park

[GPK]

and let Catalano know that I am on my way to knock some sense into him.

WTF is he doing taking Dreaming of Anna off the turf and putting her in the Washington Lassie on dirt on Sunday??? HOW GD stupid can one person be???? This little girl screams to be left on the grass and now they are gonna F her up.....unreal....just unreal.

[Scav]

Originally Posted by GPK

and let Catalano know that I am on my way to knock some sense into him.

WTF is he doing taking Dreaming of Anna off the turf and putting her in the Washington Lassie on dirt on Sunday??? HOW GD stupid can one person be???? This little girl screams to be left on the grass and now they are gonna F her up.....unreal....just unreal.

She is fine on either yo....Graded placed will mean alot to her for breeding purposes, plus I am guessing she has a huge shot in that race, Catalano spots his stakes horses really good, I wonder what his stakes win% is, I bet you it is REAL high. They let Leving(stable Manager) mess aroudn with Lewis Michael and it cost them so I doubt that will happen with her. I would expect her in the BC Juv Filly actually

[GPK]

Originally Posted by Scav

She is fine on either yo....Graded placed will mean alot to her for breeding purposes, plus I am guessing she has a huge shot in that race, Catalano spots his stakes horses really good, I wonder what his stakes win% is, I bet you it is REAL high. They let Leving(stable Manager) mess aroudn with Lewis Michael and it cost them so I doubt that will happen with her. I would expect her in the BC Juv Filly actually

Don't even tell me that....if they F this filly up, my butt is coming to Chitown and heads are gonna roll.

[JJP]

She's either a half or full to Lewis Michael so she should be able to handle grass or dirt. LM did finish 2nd in the Peter Pan on dirt. Besides, there's not much in the way of stakes races for 2YO fillies. The A-W Lassie is at her home track......why not?

[Scav]

Full to Lewis Michael. Calabrese since has sold the dam (doh)

[JJP]

Scav-

Have you heard anything on Arlington getting their signal re-instated on TVG?

[Scav]

Been looking closely on it. Article on DRF about it also. It is related to TVG jacking Youbet (biggest ADW provider) on that exclusivity agreement. Youbet basically tells TVG to GFY. ITHA is doing some dirty work for Youbet essentially. Youbet just throws them by the wayside but the ITHA knows how much Youbet means to Illinois racing.

I guess Schrup was all crazy about it yesterday on TVG according to a friend of mine, I guess he sounded like a REAL idiot regarding the situation and wasn't talking intelligently about it.

Fact is that any track that signs those agreements has some moron as a manager, hire one person to sell your signals to all these ADW and make your own money and stop being lazy

Honestly, with the way Illinois racing is, I wouldn't be surprised to see it ALL go to Fairmount's level. All of the Arlington mainstays have been running at Prairie Meadows all meet because of the purses, hell, if I owned a horse i would run there or Mountaineer in a heartbeat.

[JJP]

I'm sure the surface problems have contributed to some of the barns running elsewhere.

Shrupp acting like an idiot.......we've seen that before.

[Scav]

I applaud the Illinois horseman for doing this to TVG. They basically are telling TVG, who already has a lack of tracks, that "Hey, either you play fair or you get jack from us"

Illinois horsemen are taking food off their plate by this 'line in the sand' they are drawing. I actually think it will work because Hawthorne is a heavy product for TVG because they have don't have alot going on, and they are SLOW when Santa Anita/Gulfstream are running

I actually think there is one too many ADW out their right now and one of them is going to go by the wayside, if I had to guess, it would be Xpressbet and HorseracingTV. I wouldn't be surprised to see Frankie align with TVG in the future, and eliminate overhead like Xpressbet and HRTV

[JJP]

I hope that isn't the case because HRTV is a far better product than TVG.

[Scav]

While I haven't seen HRTV, I have heard from multiple people that the on-air talent is even worse then TVG. I actually like TVG alot, I learn ALOT from the horse people. The one weakness is when the horse people TRY to be handicappers.

Bray is the worst, it is like he never placed a exotic bet when he was training.

The other thing that drives me nuts is that these guys are suppose to have horse racing knowledge, and MOST of them can not rattle off how much a 2x5x2 pick three ticket cost, a 1 horse over 5 horse tri key cost or a 1x3x5x4 pick four ticket cost. This is all stuff that I can shout at you in a matter of seconds.

[JJP]

The problem with TVG is the constant touting and P4/P6 tickets. Nobody cares who they like. HRTV is much more low key. No in your face bragging after selecting a winner because they don't feel compelled to make a selection every race.

[Scav]

via bloodhorse

Account-Bet Licensing Fees Fuel Illinois Dispute
Date Posted: 9/7/2006 7:56:57 AM
Last Updated: 9/7/2006 10:59:18 AM

by Leslie Deckard and Tom LaMarra
A simmering dispute over licensing fees tied to account wagering has flared up in Illinois, where horsemen have pulled the Arlington Park signal from TVG in an attempt to get the signal from the upcoming meet at Hawthorne Race Course available through Youbet.com.

The Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association suspended the Arlington signal to TVG prior to the first race Sept. 6. The Arlington meet ends Sept. 12, and the Illinois racing circuit shifts to Hawthorne beginning Sept. 15.

Illinois THA president Joe Kasperski said horsemen denied the Arlington signal in an effort to force negotiations between TVG and Youbet.com over the licensing fee TVG plans to charge Youbet.com to offer bets on Hawthorne races. Earlier this year, Hawthorne signed an exclusivity contract with TVG, which means Youbet.com must pay TVG a licensing fee to carry the signal.

Youbet.com carried the National Jockey Club meet at Hawthorne this spring, but doesn't intend to carry Hawthorne's fall meet.

"This is happening because of a dispute TVG is having with Youbet," Kasperski said. "This will impact our Thoroughbred purse account at Hawthorne. There is litigation ongoing concerning Hawthorne signing the exclusivity contract with TVG without our consent. We allowed the signal to go to TVG during the spring meet, but we haven't given any simulcast contracts for the fall meet, and based on what we know, we would not give them exclusivity for the signal."

Kasperski said the Illinois THA is working with TVG in an attempt to facilitate a settlement and return the signal as soon as possible.

The decision to pull the Arlington signal from TVG came as a surprise to some Arlington-based trainers. "I would have thought the board of directors would have notified the rest of the members about what they were doing it before they did it," trainer Christine Janks said.

After the Illinois THA suspended the signal, TVG placed a scroll on the bottom of the screen urging viewers to call the horsemen's group to demand the return of Arlington to the network.

"Needless to say, I don't think it was very classy on TVG's part to try to inundate our office with phone calls without trying to explain their role in this event," Kasperski said. "It's not a one-way street. They are playing a significant role in this happening."

Spokesmen for TVG and Youbet.com couldn't be immediately reached for comment. But during a second-quarter earnings teleconference in August, Youbet.com chief executive officer Charles Champion discussed the situation regarding licensing fees. Youbet.com and TVG are in arbitration to settle a claim by TVG that Youbet.com owes it money.

Champion said Youbet.com has paid TVG about $100 million in licensing fees over the past five years. Other horsemen's groups in the United States have begun questioning such fees; they aren't a party to related contract negotiations.

Champion on the conference call with analysts referred to Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino and Hawthorne, both of which signed exclusive contracts with TVG this year.

"TVG approached the tracks and convinced them that exclusives are better for them," Champion said. "Why these tracks thought that, you have to ask them. We elected after looking at the economics not to carry these tracks, and if other tracks elect to go in that direction, we'd make our decision (on whether to pay the licensing fee) based on economics."

[JJP]

Scav-

Thanks for the link.

Unreal. TVG has charged YouBet $100 million in fees over the past 5 years