Del Mar crowd Saturday

[philcski]

http://www.drf.com/news/article/97225.html

Big crowd, big appetite
Del Mar had its second-largest crowd of the season on Saturday, when 39,679 fans came through the turnstiles. The ontrack handle was just $2,963,506.80, though, an average of $74.69 per capita, reflecting that many of the fans were here merely to take in a post-race concert by Ziggy Marley in the infield.

But the track's bottom line held up well, since many of the patrons apparently had a case of the munchies. The unmistakable aroma wafting through the air left them high on more than just life.

"We sold $303,000 worth of junk food in the infield," Joe Harper, Del Mar's chief executive officer, said Monday morning. "Our food and beverage department did $1 million worth of business. I was backstage before the show, and I'll tell you, I was getting a terrible headache. And when I got home, I wanted to eat everything in the house."

None of that food and beverage money goes toward purses, but Harper said it would be used to help fund construction of new barns.

LOL... da Jamaicans flew in from Aqueduct I guess

[AeWingnut]

None of that food and beverage money goes toward purses, but Harper said it would be used to help fund construction of new barns.

sounds like the tracks aren't interested in racing promotions that go towards improving the product.

ok, it was funny but I am aggravated with our somewhat local OTB. They want to re-open the OTB in a Family resturant with kids games like a Chuck - e Chez. One side OTBers screaming at horses /other side screaming brats



They're always putting the focus away from the horse player.

[asudevil]

I have been here all week. This is my 10th season visiting the track and the area. It is remarkably quieter, not only at the track, but in the town as a whole. There was always huge lines at all of the restaurants and in the morning at Starbucks. You can walk in anywhere now with no wait. There is no traffic when we drive into the track. We took our kids to the infield on Sunday and there was only a handful of folks. Today was the most disturbing. There was always an open window available in the turf club. Even with a minute before the races. The employees that count on tips are noticeably dejected. This doesn't even take into account the quality of races, especially on week days. Sucks all the way around.

[geeker2]

"Through Monday, the end of the first three weeks of the seven-week meeting, on-track attendance was down 2 percent and on-track handle was off 10.4 percent compared with last year. All-sources handle was down 3.5 percent."

I've been up several times ( and have beening going since '81)...can't say I've notices the crowds being much less. I went Thursday and thought the crowd would be quite thin - but it was fairly full. All the eating establishments including Downtown are suffering from a slowing economy and a surplus of resturants.

Two things I noticed - many more auto-bet machines and less tellers and a perceived younger crowd (or I am I just getting older).


I don't think the sky is falling - just several ceiling tiles.