GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - (KRT) - Texas horse racing is approaching a crossroads. One path might lead toward the lasting realization of that vision many Texans embraced back in the 1980s, when they foresaw the nation's best racehorses competing here regularly, running in some of the sport's richest races at some of the nation's finest facilities. Down the other path, Texas racetracks can expect a future in the sport's minor leagues.
Texas horse racing - the racetracks, the industry leaders, the horsemen and the regulators - have about a year to wrestle with the tough choices that will send the sport down one path or the other. As Lone Star general manager Jeff Greco said, the next year will be "crucial."
The enthusiasm and the expectation of next year's Breeders' Cup, as well as the event itself, will carry Texas racing through 2004. On Oct. 30 of next year, Lone Star Park will be the host racetrack for The Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, often called the Super Bowl of horse racing. But what then?
Lone Star Park just concluded its seventh thoroughbred season. And while the 70 days of racing produced some memorable moments, they also underscored some disconcerting trends. Handle and attendance numbers fell to all-time lows - on an average day, 8,600 people attended Lone Star and bet $1.19 million, down from 9,025 and $1.29 million a year ago and down dramatically from the record averages of 9,808 (1998) and $1.36 million (1999).
In June, because of slow business and declining handle, Lone Star for the first time in its history cut average daily purses. The reduction of 9 percent put purses at about $218,000 a day.
Lone Star officials blame the declines on a slow economy. But that explanation, while valid, doesn't fully elucidate the downturn. Even in this slow economy, some racetracks have enjoyed record business. Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., for example, concluded a 52-day season on July 6 with a 17 percent increase in total handle. Attendance at Churchill increased 6 percent, on-track handle rose 2 percent and off-track handle soared, up 20 percent from a year ago.
A shift seems to be under way. In increasing numbers, serious horseplayers are focusing almost exclusively on the best racing while also insisting on betting value. They're looking, in other words, for quality racing and low takeouts. The takeout (money removed from the betting pools before payoffs) is the cost of betting.
And so this year, they looked less frequently at Lone Star's races. Even at Lone Star, the handle was greater on races run elsewhere, and that might be the most alarming trend to emerge in recent years.
Only 47.38 percent of Lone Star's handle this past season was on the racetrack's own races. More money was bet on imported simulcasts of races run at such racetracks as Churchill Downs, Belmont Park and Hollywood Park.
When Lone Star opened in 1997, races run in Grand Prairie accounted for 58.24 percent of the handle during the thoroughbred season. That has declined rather steadily, however, and for the last two years, more than half of the total on-track handle has gone to imported simulcasts.
When bettors prefer to invest in the tiny images that flicker on a television monitor rather than in the horses that prance onto a racetrack only a hundred yards away, the horseplayers are in effect rejecting the local product. And if Lone Star and the state's other racetracks are to follow the path that leads to the realization of a dearly held vision, then they quite simply and quite clearly must improve their racing product. A failure to do so will consign Texas to the sport's minor leagues.
"We have to figure out how to get to the next level," Greco said, pointing out that quality racing depends largely on lucrative purses. "We have to figure out how to get our purses up to that $300,000-a-day level."
But how? Purses depend on handle, and handle is declining. With no account wagering permitted in the state, Texas racetracks can't increase handle through improved distribution. In other words, they aren't able to increase sales by putting their product in more stores. And with no other gaming, the state's racetracks are left with nothing but declining handle to fund purses.
Meanwhile in neighboring states, purses are increasing significantly, fueled by revenue from slot machines and, to a lesser degree, account wagering. The large purses already are luring horses and stables away from Texas, a situation that will only exacerbate declining handle.
Next year, Lone Star will offer 82 days of racing, 21 fewer than this year. The 70-day thoroughbred season just concluded, and on Oct. 3, Lone Star will begin its 33-day quarter horse season. Next year, Lone Star will begin racing April 15, with a 63-day season, and then in October, it will present the 19-day Breeders' Cup meeting. Lone Star will transfer its usual quarter horse season, along with the purse money dedicated to that meeting, to Sam Houston. But what then?
Everyone agrees that the 2004 schedule is a unique arrangement to accommodate the Breeders' Cup. But with no legislative help, the only way Lone Star can increase or even maintain its daily purse levels could be to offer fewer days of racing.
That's an unattractive option, but it might be preferable to the minor leagues. Yes, it's going to be a "crucial" year indeed as Texas racing arrives at the crossroads of its future.
---
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/6310229.htm
Texas horse racing - the racetracks, the industry leaders, the horsemen and the regulators - have about a year to wrestle with the tough choices that will send the sport down one path or the other. As Lone Star general manager Jeff Greco said, the next year will be "crucial."
The enthusiasm and the expectation of next year's Breeders' Cup, as well as the event itself, will carry Texas racing through 2004. On Oct. 30 of next year, Lone Star Park will be the host racetrack for The Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, often called the Super Bowl of horse racing. But what then?
Lone Star Park just concluded its seventh thoroughbred season. And while the 70 days of racing produced some memorable moments, they also underscored some disconcerting trends. Handle and attendance numbers fell to all-time lows - on an average day, 8,600 people attended Lone Star and bet $1.19 million, down from 9,025 and $1.29 million a year ago and down dramatically from the record averages of 9,808 (1998) and $1.36 million (1999).
In June, because of slow business and declining handle, Lone Star for the first time in its history cut average daily purses. The reduction of 9 percent put purses at about $218,000 a day.
Lone Star officials blame the declines on a slow economy. But that explanation, while valid, doesn't fully elucidate the downturn. Even in this slow economy, some racetracks have enjoyed record business. Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., for example, concluded a 52-day season on July 6 with a 17 percent increase in total handle. Attendance at Churchill increased 6 percent, on-track handle rose 2 percent and off-track handle soared, up 20 percent from a year ago.
A shift seems to be under way. In increasing numbers, serious horseplayers are focusing almost exclusively on the best racing while also insisting on betting value. They're looking, in other words, for quality racing and low takeouts. The takeout (money removed from the betting pools before payoffs) is the cost of betting.
And so this year, they looked less frequently at Lone Star's races. Even at Lone Star, the handle was greater on races run elsewhere, and that might be the most alarming trend to emerge in recent years.
Only 47.38 percent of Lone Star's handle this past season was on the racetrack's own races. More money was bet on imported simulcasts of races run at such racetracks as Churchill Downs, Belmont Park and Hollywood Park.
When Lone Star opened in 1997, races run in Grand Prairie accounted for 58.24 percent of the handle during the thoroughbred season. That has declined rather steadily, however, and for the last two years, more than half of the total on-track handle has gone to imported simulcasts.
When bettors prefer to invest in the tiny images that flicker on a television monitor rather than in the horses that prance onto a racetrack only a hundred yards away, the horseplayers are in effect rejecting the local product. And if Lone Star and the state's other racetracks are to follow the path that leads to the realization of a dearly held vision, then they quite simply and quite clearly must improve their racing product. A failure to do so will consign Texas to the sport's minor leagues.
"We have to figure out how to get to the next level," Greco said, pointing out that quality racing depends largely on lucrative purses. "We have to figure out how to get our purses up to that $300,000-a-day level."
But how? Purses depend on handle, and handle is declining. With no account wagering permitted in the state, Texas racetracks can't increase handle through improved distribution. In other words, they aren't able to increase sales by putting their product in more stores. And with no other gaming, the state's racetracks are left with nothing but declining handle to fund purses.
Meanwhile in neighboring states, purses are increasing significantly, fueled by revenue from slot machines and, to a lesser degree, account wagering. The large purses already are luring horses and stables away from Texas, a situation that will only exacerbate declining handle.
Next year, Lone Star will offer 82 days of racing, 21 fewer than this year. The 70-day thoroughbred season just concluded, and on Oct. 3, Lone Star will begin its 33-day quarter horse season. Next year, Lone Star will begin racing April 15, with a 63-day season, and then in October, it will present the 19-day Breeders' Cup meeting. Lone Star will transfer its usual quarter horse season, along with the purse money dedicated to that meeting, to Sam Houston. But what then?
Everyone agrees that the 2004 schedule is a unique arrangement to accommodate the Breeders' Cup. But with no legislative help, the only way Lone Star can increase or even maintain its daily purse levels could be to offer fewer days of racing.
That's an unattractive option, but it might be preferable to the minor leagues. Yes, it's going to be a "crucial" year indeed as Texas racing arrives at the crossroads of its future.
---
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/6310229.htm
