Vic's last HP call

[Dave in TJ Mex]

I told Vic yesterday that I thought he should end the program by saying ...

"Liebau sucks ..  peace out! And then drop the microphone to the ground so you could hear the thud.

He said he was gonna do it ... thankfully for his career, he didn't.

But I'd have loved it ... and I'll bet many other would have ... especially HollyPark workers!   

Look, HP has long been a slowing failing business and --- Sunday accepted --- attendance has averaged under 4,000 this meet.  Handle is mediocre.

If the owners can make more money developing the property, so be it.

Its sad for horse racing fans, but the owners are not necessarily bad guys for wanting to make some money after buying the track years ago for $250 million.

Blame the politicians and voters of California for not approving slots for race tracks.

[Senator L]

I enjoyed his last call, seemed liked he put a lot of thought into it

[Man o Taz]

He covered it all. I don't think anyone could have done a better job.

[The Tin Man]

Source reporting for attendance of the last day is way off. It was based on paid attendance. From 2PM on admission was free. Lots of people showed up after that.

True attendance was between 20,000 and 25,000, in my opinion. I've seen some who were there push it to 30,000.

The paddock grill line was 100 people deep at times.

I wish DRF and others would have posted the TRUE attendance. It was a substancial crowd. That was fun and made this venerable old track feel electric. It was fantastic!

[Bookman]

Look, HP has long been a slowing failing business and --- Sunday accepted --- attendance has averaged under 4,000 this meet.  Handle is mediocre.

If the owners can make more money developing the property, so be it.

Its sad for horse racing fans, but the owners are not necessarily bad guys for wanting to make some money after buying the track years ago for $250 million.

Blame the politicians and voters of California for not approving slots for race tracks.

Well said, Dave.

Many blame the Bay Meadows LAND COMPANY but leave CDI alone. If they hadn't sold HOL, it would still be a racetrack.
The same thinking that "blamed" Walmart for the demise of Hamburg Place. The "blame" if there is any, should be directed at the Maddens.

If not for the business slump, HOL would have been gone for years. Liebau was just the president of the track, who kept it going despite low attendance.

If most the fans lamenting the loss of the track had shown up more over the last few years, bet more at the track, the eventual demise may have been postponed a bit, but it was inevitable.

[The Tin Man]

Its not attendance that was the issue. There is more than enough money being bet on the races.

It's the infinitesimal cut HP was getting from the online gaming. Less than 1% track connections have told me.


You would think the actual product would get a decent cut. That was not the case. That deal was a sick sick joke.

[Vic in Chicago]

Look, HP has long been a slowing failing business and --- Sunday accepted --- attendance has averaged under 4,000 this meet.  Handle is mediocre.

If the owners can make more money developing the property, so be it.

Its sad for horse racing fans, but the owners are not necessarily bad guys for wanting to make some money after buying the track years ago for $250 million.

Blame the politicians and voters of California for not approving slots for race tracks.

Dave is exactly right.

[Vic in Chicago]

Vic's Stauffer's last call was brilliant, and obviously well prepared.  He worked in a marvelous tribute to the track, and the greats that raced there, yet never failed to accurately call the race at hand, and truly imparted the drama of HP's final stretch run (that almost resulted in a dead heat!)

Great job Vic! 

[Dusty]

Its not attendance that was the issue. There is more than enough money being bet on the races.

It's the infinitesimal cut HP was getting from the online gaming. Less than 1% track connections have told me.


You would think the actual product would get a decent cut. That was not the case. That deal was a sick sick joke.

AMEN and BetFair did them no favors

[Dave in TJ Mex]

AMEN and BetFair did them no favors

Writers like Andy Beyer have reported that there are huge amounts of money being bet on horse racing through the offshore casino/web sites.  Those sites have NO overhead associated with putting on the actual horse races, paying employees, paying taxes on their property, and keeping their physical plant in working order, and thus can offer big bettors a rebate of up to 10%.

Thus, the "take" on horse racing bets at those offshore casino web sites is something like 10%, while the take while betting at the track or at a betting site on line in the US is around 20%.

Big time betting syndicates (supposedly using mathematically-based formulas calculated with computers) are supposedly capable of predicting racing results such that they lose only 5-10% of their money bet.  Thus, with the rebates they receive from offshore web sites, they actually make a small profit of 5% or so.  They bet so much money that they make enough profit to justify their effort. These are the most serious horse race handicappers and gamblers in the world.  Their gambling money is badly needed in race tracks' betting pools.

However, NONE of the offshore money makes it into the track's pool.  Thus, if Beyer and other writers (Chad Millman, editor in chief of ESPN the magazine, author of several books on gambling, and host of a weekly ESPN podcast on gambling, for example) are correct, as long as the take from horse race bets is 20% at the track and on line through US betting platforms (TVG, etc) and the big time gamblers can get a 10% rebate betting off-shore, betting handle is likely to remain flat in the US.  Its all going offshore to the offshore casinos.

And as expenses for race tracks (and horsemen) go up, the flat handle will be insufficient to support all the race tracks we currently have.

Sadly, many US race tracks are dead men walking, and don't know it or do know it and are just stalling for an extra year or two to live.

[serenassong]

Vic's Stauffer's last call was brilliant, and obviously well prepared.  He worked in a marvelous tribute to the track, and the greats that raced there, yet never failed to accurately call the race at hand, and truly imparted the drama of HP's final stretch run (that almost resulted in a dead heat!)

Great job Vic!

^This.