Horse racing's slow death

[GREENHEAD]

Wild Bill if you got paid for this article you should return all money.You did not research this subject,but instead threw in some terrible comparisons.
You compare boxing with horse racing.I dont know very many boxers or horses running 36 times a year.But you say they do.Retiring horses young is nothing new, its been done for years and years.The last time I looked last years Ky Derby,Preakness winner was still running.
Then you compare Baskets with Horse racing.And Lebron James winning 2 championships.
And thats where I stopped.All these hypothetical comparisons just had my head spinning.
All I have to say is racing is not dying.Dollars bet is at an all time high.Go to Del Mar July 21st or any day after that and I guarentee you wont say that.
I can go on and on.
Finally,is there a few tracks that need to close.Yes.But just like all businesses theres a few out there that need to close.(books,baseball teams,grocery stores etc,etc)

 

[PalePurple]

Wild Bill,

You have not thought this out very well. I have to believe you're just writing an article because that's what you do. And not a "news article" either, the death of Horse Racing to parphrase Twain, has been "greatly exagerated" No need to chime in.

 

[aawied]

Kidlick That figure is a little high with rebates and offshore now is the best time in history to bet horses.I believe it is now under 95%

 

[planetwarrior]

As an owner and breeder of horses, i'm biased but i love the game. I think its unfair to compare horse racing to other sports, like baseball football etc.

Horse racing gets in your blood, if you own a horse that wins its a great feeling.

Most of us will never own a baseball franchise or whatever but anyone can own a horse or a few hairs at least.

Horse racing will never die for that reason, there'll always be owners.

 

[Trackchampion]

Is horse racing a terribly run business?

Absolutely.

Track ownership should have their collective head examined.

Is it dying?

Not even close.

In no other sport could you get away with what horse racing has gotten away with and still pull in the kind of money it does.

 

[MariaSharapova]

Can't i ask what is so action-oriented about
sports betting?? the games take hours to play>
for one.it's not unusual to hear bettors--especially during baseball season--remark
that they find the games rather boring to
watch.
Too much down time?? what about the nfl??
14 minutes of action spread out over 3 hours.
In the U.K,there was a show that ran all the
nfl games without pauses.since it took about
15 minutes to show one game,they could show
the whole nfl week in about 3.5 hours or so.
are nfl games really high scoring?? isn't
an nfl game score of 14-7,an inflated way
of essentially saying 2-1?
Yet nfl football remains the most popular
sport to wager on in the usa.I believe part
of its intrinsic appeal is that the nfl
football season does have so much down time
in comparison to other sports.the weekly
games allow enough time for anticipation to
build,and anticipation is an integral part
of gambling's emotional appeal.ditto for
the long time between plays.
is racing corrupt??are we talking about
the results being scripted or the participants
seeking an unfair competitive advantage.
I think scripted races are few and far between,but could happen every once in awhile
at a bush league track.As for horses with
illegal performance enhancing drugs in their
bodies,that could be pretty high.I would
venture the number would be pretty high
for the human athletes in professional sports
as well.
Smarty Jones going to stud is symptomatic
of nothing.Sure it would be nice for the
sport on a temporary basis,but won't cure
the systemic problems.Plus its a
no brainer decision. If shaquille O'neal
could make $60 Million a year shooting his
Jizz into 60 different women a year,or make
$10 million a year playing basketball,which
one would he take??

 

[aawied]

The thrill is there ,but the cost has gotten out of hand .The fans are still betting 2 dollars and the cost has gone up 5 fold.I think in the next 5yrs there will be maybe 6 thoroughbred tracks, maybe 3 harness. have you gone to a track lately ,expect for Del Mar Saratoga Belmont and a few more you could shoot a gun through the place on weekdays and not hit anyone.

 

[Trackchampion]

Oaklawn did everything right this year except cut-off offshore money.

They had the crowd, they had the food, and they certainly had the horse.

 

[GREENHEAD]

aawied,did i read you right. You think there will be 6 thoroughbred and 3 harness tracks.What are you talking about?New York or the U.S.,in 5 years.You cant be that ignorant.There will be at least 4 tracks just in CA.,in 5 years.

 

[MariaSharapova]

Purses will go up about 200% when slots are
installed.Or at least this is the historical
record.

One thing that does bother me about american
tracks is that they pretty much look as if
they are all built from the same cookie-cutter design.the main dirt track oblong circle with the turf course tucked inside almost as an
afterthought.And the meets go on forever.
Better atmosphere if it moved around from
place to place as in england.Racing is still
well attended in u.k.. But can't say the same
about france.which may be one of the very
few trends the french and usa have in common
Ciao

 

[MariaSharapova]

john henry ran for years because he was a gelding.Not his choice,the running or the
castration.
otoh,secretariat was retired at age 3.

All the tracks with slots would fold if slot
revenue was taken away.
I wouldn't count on the state legislatures
"waking up" and abolishing slots at
tracks.at least no more chance than legislatures "waking up" and allowing competition to run against Indian casinos.
run against

[This message was edited by Maria Sharapova on July 13, 2004 at 08:51 PM.]

 

[aawied]

have looked at Arlington 6 horse fields Hollywood 6 horses fields.

 

[aawied]

When its all said and done. I will go a little further and say 5 to 10 years.You think I,m ignorant.wait and see

 

[appolo]

It sure would of been nice if there were some numbers to back up your thoughts. But then again if you used all the numbers, such as amount of money wagered, attendance, Total handle even you may not have been able to write such fiction. Of course horse racing has issues, some very large issues, but to say that it is dying is not knowing what is happening in the industry. BTW if Lebron did go over to europe to play hoops, You dont think the NBA would carry on at the same level they are at today. lol. If they can lose Jordan,Bird and Magic In the last 10 years and continue to grow then I fail to see how Lebron James as an example is relative.

 

[appolo]

Maria, Secretariat was 4 when he retired

 

[MariaSharapova]

the conditions that allowed the buildup of
excitement were partly due to the lack of
legalised wagering in other states.In horse
racing's heyday there weren't even lotteries.

secretariat was 3 when retired.do a google

as for field size i believe it's been around
8 horses per race these last few years.
what has gone down slowly is the avg# of
races run by each horse, which is down to
around seven.Horses use to run much more often
in days of yore. I believe citation tuned up
for the belmont stakes by running in a prep
between the preakness and the belmont.

 

[aawied]

My numbers is age of average fan and bettor is over fifty.There are no younger fans the younger fans like to go boating much easier to pull a handle. Like my kids .Horseracing to them is slow and boring ,when we were growing there was nothing else , where are the fans coming from? I go to the race books in Las Vegas almost everyday average age sixty.When they die where are they coming from.

 

[MariaSharapova]

i agree, most of the old racing fans at the
track/otb are weaving in deep stretch with
the finish line all too near.

i believe the growth in handle will come
from at home account wagering(phone/internet).
It would be nice if the tracks would be
allowed to take wagers directly over the internet, thereby cutting out the middlemen.
various political interests will never allow
it to happen.

 

[WildBill]

Amazing, I guess I touched a nerve here. People think a huge taxpayer subsidy to tracks in a bunch of states is worth a "growth" rate of a 1-2%.

Tell me this, if the tracks are healthy why are all the track owners claiming poverty? I know there is some political grandstanding here, but still doesn't it sound stupid when all the PA and NJ tracks said they would go out of business without slots or subsidies? So now PA tracks will get a nice tax subsidy from slots and the NJ tracks will get tax dollars from AC casinos to supplement their purses for an activity that obviously isn't that popular to watch. And Churchill Downs is crying about needing slots everywhere, Santa Anita and the flagship track included. Remember the track owners are the key here. They don't make much money right now, precisely why CHDN tried their little skit withholding the signal. They can't make money off of the continued trend towards simulcasting revenue comprising all the growth. And contrary to what the cynics think, I DO follow the racing industry from a macro sense. I know these people are crying left and right. I sense some profit motive, but I also sense true desperation. And for all those that don't believe me, go out to Del Mar this Labor Day weekend. I have been going there that weekend most of the last 20 years and will be out there again this year. Look around the track and the infield, if you had been there 10 years ago and went now you would think Saturday was a weekday. The people there are college kids and families, not horseplayers. They think they are stepping up their bets by putting $5 on a race. These are the people that while they are good to have around for incremental revenue, never replace the big money that used to be there. The finances work so that the track makes three times as much off of a bet placed at the track versus a simulcast location and almost five times as much if placed on one of the phone/internet wagering places or in a casino. That math sucks for them. Token increases in handle won't keep these places going, I can assure you this won't go on forever.

Face it people, racing is on a slow death path in most places. Slots are just temporary fixes. The states for now use the tracks as mere excuses, the whole "there is already gambling going on there" argument. When these politicians wake up and realize all they are doing is wasting taxpayer dollars to subsidize this industry they will say keep the slots, dump the racing. The math is quite simple, almost 10% of the slot win is going to racing purses with very little return for the state. The state could just as easily say to the owners you don't need to race anymore, if you don't fork over the 10% to the state. And I assure you a whole lot of tracks would jump at the chance to get rid of the cost of hosting racing to do it. Just to appease everyone, they will keep a small simulcast area. Considering how few people really seem to care about the live racing going on, they won't lose any business doing this and save a ton on the costs. If enough places do it then the industry will get healthy because only the strongest markets with the strongest racing product will survive and most of their revenues will come from people betting away from the track. Until then the industry will lament the bad competitive conditions, the losses of jobs, the losses of good horses, etc. The problems are their responses to them are just plain wrong and work against them as a whole.

 

[aawied]

The growth in racing has not keep up with inflation for the last 20 yrs.The cost of hay used to be two dollars a bale now 18 dollars. The back side atthe saaller tracks are like poverty zones.