Racing is suffering everywhere... it gets harder and harder to put together "quality" cards. Foal crops are down, quality is diminishing etc.

This thread is depressing. So I'm wasting my time playing a "dead" game? how the hell am I supposed to get my buddies to go to the track if you guys are writing the epitaph on the game? :(

Show them videos of Zenyatta dancing and of her fans chanting like rabid cult members.

That's what I'd do.

She's gotten millions of new people into the sport.

Yeah, no kidding. Opening week there is just awesome even if the races were terrible. Can't wait till I move out there and can do it every year.

I'm doing some handicapping on my lunch break and it's a really interesting card. Obviously I won't be going crazy on it because of the polytrack but I like the 1st race, the baby race, and the Oceanside in particular.

Is this the CHRB's fault for the decline of California racing?

I would say the decline started around 2000ish, though small fields have been plaguing socal for about 25 years.

Foal crop has nothing to do with it yet. Owner crop is down significantly. That is the single biggest problem in the sport right now yet no one wants to admit it or talk about it. People in the sport worry all the time about attracting new customers (which obviously is important) yet the people who are footing the bill for the show with a 95% loss rate are increasingly disappearing. The sad truth is that it is a lot harder to find a guy with enough money willing to buy into ownership than it is to find people who may be interested in the game in general or in becoming a player. The vast majority of the people who follow this board play the races to some degree. What % do you think have the wherewithal to claim a $15000 claimer and pay the bills on a B circuit? 10%? Less? Can you name 1 person in the media or from one of the organizations that have addressed this problem or even acknowledged that it exists? Is there any movement to make the game more attractive for owners?

Whoever decided it would be a better idea to fight the Indians as opposed to joining them should take the majority of the blame.

but unfortunately a good deal of those people arent gamblers and probably go to the track like Catholics go to church.

Would that have ever been passed by the legislature?

I assume your post means you believe this to be a purse issue?

Seems like anything the Indians want, they get.

Well had the purses been as high as they could have been, there probably would not have been a owner exodus and surely the 2% takeout increase would have never been implemented.

Is it a purse issue? Of course. Last year there were races at Penn National that were running for the same money or more money as the same class at Hollywood Park. I know a lot of KY breeders who send their horses where the money is highest. They have good horses and a steady supply of them. They now run in NY, Monmouth and Woodbine as opposed to CA. There are several traditionally CA based owners that fill the barns of guys like Phil Aristone and others at Parx.

Between low purses, polytrack, Stronach's issues, the CHRB's ineptness and general malaise the racing product has slipped quite a bit and handle has followed. Had they played nice with the Indians and came up with some sort of agreement years ago not only would have the monetary situation been better the atmosphere of desperation that now exists probably wouldn't have reached the levels that it is now at. Sure the general economic downturn would have still hurt somewhat but the timing in which it hit seems to simply accelerated the downward trend CA racing was already in.

Couldn't agree more, Chuck - couldn't agree more.

Racing needs to find a way to attract more owners, and then keep them in the game. And I'm not talking about the suit and ties that are only into ownership because they want to go to a party and win the KY Derby, I'm talking about the ones that will gut it out day to day. And when they get their throat stepped on a couple times, they'll still figure out a way to stay in the game. Not many of those kind left anymore...... and we certainly don't get much encouragement from the tracks or the bettors to stick around.

4 weeks ago, I had three horses running. Since then, one was claimed and the other two have had to be retired due to injury. The claim left me with enough to go buy two more, but the restrictive claiming policies at the track I want to claim at denies me the chance to claim. So, instead of being able to spend my money and get back to racing, I'll sit it out for quite a few months until MD opens again and things shake out a little. Does that help my business? No. Does that help the track's business? No. Does that help the bettors? No. Does the track or the bettors care about my business operations? No. But they'll both feel better if my horses don't run on lasix anymore.......

I absolutely agree. My foal crop statement was more forward speaking...

For example, in LA there were 1,678 registered foals in 2010 versus 2,316 in 2009. Yet racetracks are still required to run 84 days within 21 weeks... so the same amount of races, with less and less horses to race in those races :zz:

And that is in a state where the purse structure is great for owners, especially statebreds

The only segment this can be argued is the low level claiming races from 10k to 25k. The horses at this level have been raided by the Indian casino sponsered tracks. No doubt they could not keep the horses given the purse competition.

But losing those, did that really matter. Is that the market California is after to fill their races? They used to run 2 of those a day.

Nope, not buying that argument.

When Mdn specials are going for 60k and you are getting 5 horses I think you got other issues that are a bigger problem.

Its two fold, regulation by the State has made it very expensive to race horses, to the point that 60k maidens still make it hard. Tax codes have also made it harder to make it.

The other issue is the guy who had a small to medium sized business and maybe had 5-10 decent bred horses has all but vanished because his business has been squeezed out by over regulation and taxation by the state. I really think purses have had nothing to do with this, 100k maidens, maybe?

While some of what you say is true about the over regulation and taxation is true how in the world can you say that it isnt about purses or that only cheap claimer were effected? Your argument contradicts itself. Did you miss the entire takeout raising issue and its causes?

If they run for 65k mdn at saratoga, and they run a 60k mdn at del mar, how is it a purse issue?

If the track was built on 8k to 25k claimers then your right, its a purse issues.

Largely though the mdn, alw, high level claiming, and stake purses are competitive or better then 90% of the track, why would they struggle to fill more than say Turf Paradise?

No I did not, as expected they raised purses even more with nothing to show, how has that helped field sizes...again if its a purse issue shouldn't the raise have seen a significant bump in field sizes?

There is just about no raise in purses that can overcome Ca economic issues. They are the next Michigan.

You are making an after the fact argument. First off any track isnt built on any particular type of horses. There are a lot more cheap races during the weekday cards at all tracks even Del Mar than not. I guess you missed the meets where the purses for maidens were far shy of 60k. Don't forget too that the current 60k purse comes with fewer racing days/opportunities and with the increased takeout. When you take into consideration that the expenses for owners and trainers are far greater on average in CA than everywhere else it just makes it that much harder.

The other factor is that they are on an island where it costs a lot of money just to get there. With the rise of higher purses at places like Woodbine Monmouth, Delaware and even Parx and Penn owners sent their horses east with most places offering similar or better money and cheaper expenses to go along with more opportunity.

And then there was polytrack...

The bump in purses basically helped them keep pace when they need to greatly exceed. There are a lot of disadvantages to being in CA. When the money is equal but pretty much everything else favors the Eastern tracks it isnt a big surprise that there wasnt owners/trainer flocking to CA. When you consider that nationwide there is fall off in ownership the fact is that the ones left have settled into where they want to be and CA may never get them back

This.

While the bumbling stumbling CHRB has not made great decisions they hardly are any worse than the rest of the country, its forces outside of racing to me that have ruined California racing............ IMO California is ruined, they just happen to be located there.

If they need to greatly exceed Saratoga and say Keeneland in purse structure, so say they need 80k mdns and 125k alw's well they are dead.