Live horse racing in the northeast in December - February has long  been a bad idea, IMO.

What's more depressing than being in a frozen grandstand at Aqueduct in December (been there, done that).

You really have to be desperate to want to see live racing in those circumstances.

Quote from: Dusty on December 15, 2013, 11:12:18 PM
HOPE IT IS TRUE and the folks actually show up! AND I hope they get the SPEAKERS ON THE TRACK turned ON so folks can hear the race calls...

Yeah, I noticed that too when I was at HP Saturday.  Standing near the finish line, I couldn't hear anything said over the PA system all day.  It was frustrating while they were showing old Hollywood Futurity races, trying to figure out which year it was and which horse we should be watching.

Quote from: Zenyatta on December 15, 2013, 04:32:21 PM
Hooves down, Shared Belief.

3 for 3
Winner of 2 graded stakes, 1 a G 1, 1 sprint and 1 2-turn
Defeated 2 G1 winners in the Hollywood Futurity
Ran a 106 Beyer, well above any other in his crop
Each win by 5+ lengths

One trainer who HRTV said "will remain nameless" opined "he won't be the same horse on conventional dirt." Meaning,  of course, that he won't run a lick.

Who do we know who is high-profile, has a dog in the fight, and is unprofessional enough to say this? 3 guesses and the first 2 don't count. 

It WILL be an interesting vote, won't it!

And I love how you --- a long time Beyer "hater" who thinks his numbers are bogus ---- embrace his numbers when it adds support to your argument!!

Quote from: The Tin Man on December 15, 2013, 05:38:16 PM
The track workers are saying all of the box seats for closing weekend are sold out ... so at least it should be a nice crowd to send her off.

Thanks for the heads-up and the link, Vic.

Horse racing and its 20%+ "take" on all bets could survive and even flourish when it was the only legal gambling venue around, decades ago.

Now, slot machines (taking just 1-2% per "pull" of the machine, i.e., per play) and sports wagering (with a 10% vigorish per bet, meaning that you lose 5% per bet if you pick 50% winners, which anyone can do by flipping a coin) are much more attractive wagers than horse racing.

The sport has always survived and flourished based not on the passion of its fans for the horses and the racing, but instead on the total handle, the amount bet per year.   And that handle has not been increasing fast enough, if at all, in recent years to cover the increased costs of doing business.

There is a direct but inverse correlation between the increase in availability of gambling outlets with significantly lower "takes" (slot machines and sports wagering, through casinos, and off-shore "casinos) and the decline of horse racing.  Attempting to attract "new fans" (in the younger age group) to increase racing's chances of survival has always been a brain-head idea.  Casual fans who bet insignificant amounts of money will not help racing's bottom line. 

That's been proven by programs such as Churchill Down's "Downs After Dark" series, which attracted big time crowds of 30,000 or so young hipsters on Friday nights, only to see the handle for such nights actually fall below Friday afternoon crowds of 10,000.  Young hipsters drink and socialize, but don't bet.  To watch race tracks try such tactics shocks me; it shows that have little knowledge of who really bets big money, and why handle is flat. 

They would be wiser to try and figure out a way to cut the "take" from 20% to 12-13% in hopes that money from "sharp" big time bettors would return to racing, given how the better odds would give them a serious chance of winning.  As it stands now, with a 20% take, only big time math and computer-based syndicates wagering at off-shore syndicates, where they receive 10% or so in rebates on losing bets, have a chance to win any money on a consistent basis.

There is no way to reverse the trend of horse racing's decline, other than to try to expand world-wide wagering on American horse racing via the internet on web sites owned by the individual race tracks.  I suspect, however, that as long as off-shore "casinos" continue to offer rebates on amounts wagered, there is no viable way for the American race tracks to tap into that market successfully.

Quote from: Zenyatta on December 15, 2013, 04:02:28 PM
Glad Native Diver is going to Del Mar. He's in that pantheon of wildly popular California horses, right up there with Seabiscuit and Zenyatta, and deserves to have his monument remain where fans can visit him.

When I was a little girl,  I read all the Bob Farley books and Native Diver was my "black stallion."

Of course,  at that age I didn't know the difference between a stallion and a gelding. 

What about now?   

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/07/sports/how-a-spindly-yearling-became-a-legend.html?src=recg

Quote from: Zenyatta on December 07, 2013, 09:10:06 AM
I think the TBRF folks descending on the track for the futurity next weekend should come with shovels in hand to exhume the body of this wonderful racehorse. He doesn't deserve to be plowed under like the rest of the track.

Does anyone have an idea of what will happen to him? One would hope for relocation to SA, but I don't know if there are any plans to do this.

Have room in your living room for a memorial statute or two?

Quote from: Zenyatta on December 07, 2013, 03:26:13 PM
Stud plans TBA. He's earned his retirement. And retired sound.

Jockey Club Gold Cup, twice
Suburban, twice
Cigar Mile
Westchester Hcp

Placed in the Whitney, Woodward, Forego, Met Mile and BC Classic. Earner of over $3.5 M.
Remarkably, most of that purse money was earned after returning from an 18 month layoff.
Have a long and happy retirement, fella.

King of New York, and crushed Goldencents!

Quote from: Zenyatta on December 04, 2013, 08:25:45 PM
I don't lose any sleep over it, if that's what you're intimating. 

This board will go under if there is no horse racing!

Quote from: Zenyatta on December 05, 2013, 12:23:33 PM
We need a You Tube video.

Your loyal fan base DEMANDS a you tube video!

Quote from: Zenyatta on December 04, 2013, 07:10:55 PM
It's nice to know other sports do it too, but there probably wasn't any gambling involved either. Their hearts were (sorta) in the right place.

You could not be more misguided with your sympathy toward jockeys throwing a race.

Just because you are "pretty pony girl" who does not bet, you should not ignore the fact that without betting, there is NO horse racing.  And without the perception that all races are fairly contested, there will be no betting.

You must not be interested in the long term viability of horse racing.

. . . to let a 70 year old jock become the oldest jockey to win a race.

Very long, but interesting, read.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10073863/cowboy-jones-fixed-horse-race

The HP goodbye tribute to Zenyatta was heartwarming as well.  I watched on TV.

When they led her off the track one final time on her way to the Kentucky breeding shed and played, "Thanks for the Memories," I teared up.

She certainly did leave us with lots of good memories!

Quote from: Vic in Chicago on December 03, 2013, 06:40:46 AM
One of the most heartwarming episodes in HP history occurred after Zenyatta's last race.  Of course she had been stabled there her entire career.  And after she came "home" for the final time from Churchill Downs, and was awaiting her trip to her second career, her connections opened up the barn area to visitors so her many fans could come - get up close and personal with the great mare - and say goodbye.  And come they did!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0jQmGJ4hG8

Seeking and standing next to Zenyatta at one of the HP "meet and greets" was one of my top horse racing experiences.

Right up there with Giant Oak's Donn Handicap victory, the Oakster's appearance on the cover of Bloodhorse, and his ranking as the world's top race horse (for one week), of course!

. . . and WTC's owner wants to work out a breeding deal that allows WTC to race next year.

http://www.drf.com/news/churchill-downs-owner-hoping-race-will-take-charge-2014

Oddly slow Clark Handicap for no apparent reason, with WTC earning only a Beyer number of 101.