Spa box sales?
 

My NYRA insider just informed me that they have taken away 100 clubhouse boxes from regular patrons for the upcoming Saratoga meet. Some of these boxes have been used by the same folks for years. The plan is to sell each box for $450 per day. Do they really believe someone will pay that for a weekday at Saratoga? Maybe Saturdays. Also, the prices will of course be increased for Travers weekend.
NYRA, loyal as always!!

Rabble Rabble!!!

We'll see just how accurate this is... I just called Jerry Davis, who runs Admissions, and will get the facts.

Turf Fan:

I hope that you didn't lose yours.

Stickers not in hand, but we have the cancelled check.

They cash every check and then issue refunds. They haven't sent out any tickets yet!

I have my tickets

It is accurate
 

My wife's family had a box there for 60 years!! They got it stripped away this past winter. It's a disgrace!!

I expected the ridiculous boxes they put in at Gulfstream. This isn't something though that I would think they would do at Saratoga. If they did this to my dad's Giants tickets he would burn down the stadium.

It is $45,000 a day. So it works out to over $1,000,000 a summer. That is an extra $1,000,000 for the NYRA board to spend on dinners and entertainment.

For great seats on a saturday $450 is cheap. NYRA has to wake up and earn. Finally a decision from them that makes sense. I know it isn't a popular one but its a sound one.

I just made ribs last night trust me folks Steve will be raising the prices on them this year, food costs are up 30% from last year this time.

Spoke to Jerry Davis who says VP Gavin Landry, as Cathy Marino before him, handles this arena. He isn't available today, but I was having him on ATR next week anyway and will get this addressed.

The boxholder list is reviewed annually for both Belmont and Saratoga, and there are reasons to move people around, etc. That isn't anything new. We'll see about the rest of what is suggested above as soon as I can get a response.

"Bubble Berry is still there!!!! She's trying to hold on. It's gunna be close. Here's comes a furious rally by Big Truckndyke on the outside!!!"

wow you married into the whitneys.... well done sir!!!

too bad....cause If Marylou didn't side with the competition she never woulda lost her box












j/k
j/k

will they rename the Whitney stakes now???

It's old news that NYRA was selling some box seats ( the price sounds right and it is higher on Saturdays ) as I received a mailing on this well over a month ago. I don't know what the number is, though 100 sounds high, but Freddy's point is absolutely correct that NYRA needs to control and sell their assets.

I'm not going to get into a large discussion about people's supposed " rights " to boxes, as I am sure there are valid points on both sides, but let me just ask a question.....do you think someone who has had a box handed down for generations, and goes occasionally, and contributes minimally to handle and/or has at most a minor interest in horse ownership, deserves a box over someone who bets $1000 a day through NYRA?

Actually the guy betting $1000 a day isn't going to go anywhere. The guy who owns the box and goes occasionally are the ones you need to keep.

Please do explain....

Let me try this one, ACE

Every year we have the World Series of Poker. In the field we have a whole bunch of ALL IN DOOFUSES and a handful of cash game pro's. The DOOFUSES are necessary for the WWofP, as it's because of them that POKER has become so popular (of course, another twist is that it's popular because of the pro's that the DOOFUSES are trying to emulate). Those in charge of the event figure that the pros will always be there. Why make special concessions for them?

Not saying this is the right way to do things but this is the reality of things.

ALL IN!!!!

Bad analogy....the doofuses in the WS of Poker are anteing up their 10 grand entrance fee just like everybody else.

I thought Saratoga has a policy that if the box isn't full every day they take it away. If the actual owner of the box isn't sitting in it then someone else is.

And the PROS in racing are getting their rebates.

But we're off point here; the pros aren't getting these seats. Someone with the money to afford them will.

Right, but if they're betting through NYRA-One they get a rebate from NYRA, albeit relatively small, but NYRA keeps the bulk of the takeout from their wagers.

Well, I know about it through a NYRA-One mailing ( which I got as long as two months ago ) so perhaps they are making them available to their best betting customers first.

Most people betting $1000 a day are not sitting in boxes. They are doing it online. They don't sit out in boxes at Saratoga except occasionally. The people that sit in boxes are the ones who come and spend some money on food, maybe a few dollars gambling, parking, etc. Their families come back every year. Maybe bring some friends and introduce them to the sport.

I really don't know anyone who is a serious gambler that watches races live. They watch on the tv, usually from home.

You can always get tickets for seating at Saratoga during the week anyway. Go early or just show up and pay someone selling them. I spend 3-4 weeks per year up there and every day I just go and buy 4 seats from somebody selling them right outside the track. Usually they aren't even asking for more than face value.

At Saratoga, I beg to differ, when i was there for four days, i was playing close to $250-$300 a race. I know of MANY serious gamblers that were at Toga for the whole meet.

I agree, Saratoga is unique. People who bet go there.

I see empty boxes every day. I also see alot of very big betttors there every day, though rarely in boxes. The boxes are populated with local and national rich people, political types, racehorses owners and breeders and socialites. Many of the local people who have had boxes at Saratoga for decades are well off people who liked racing and attended alot in the days when Saratoga attendance lagged behind Belmont and the box was their reward. Most are not big bettors.

Did my wife's family "deserve" a letter in March saying thanks very much for your 50 plus years of patronage, but we feel the need to relinquish your rights to the box?" No alternative seats offered either. And yes, they owned and bred horses in NY, supported thoroughbred causes, and employed people in that area. I understand that business is business. Isn't the handing down of boxes thru generations part of what makes Saratoga the most traditional, festive, and complete racing experience in the world? Just treat the people properly that have kept this thing special for so long.

You are giving your side of the story, which may well have merits, but there is certainly another side to the story.

On the highlighted part.....I don't particularly agree.

Are you saying you gave them $350-$500 in take-out each day?

Exactly my point. Time for NYRA to earn. Absolutely nothing wrong with making money on people in order to provide an excellent product. Saratoga is the golden goose. How is the Inner meet suppose to be offset and improvements to game suppose to be managed without money?

There are a couple hundred great seats.. Sell them for big money and take the funds and do the right thing with the money. What are there 17 elite racing days (Sat&Sun) not a lot of seats not a lot of premium dates. If there are 300 great seat for each day then there are 5100 pay days for NYRA at 500 a seat that is 2.5mil from people who can and will afford it. If NYRA can earn an extra to 5 to 7 mil by raising the price of the seats then they will have 5 mil to go after cheats.. Do the math it's better for everyone including the people who lost there seats.

Handing down the boxes does nothing for the racing experience.

I believe that the people that owned the seats should be given first opportunity to renew just at the MODERN day Market for the greatest horse meet in the world. Folks its the Super Bowl of racing..It's not nor should it's importance be cheapened. It's the All star game price it as such.

PS Save the statebred races lol

Easy to say when when it's not affecting you. Outside looking in, bro. You know what opinions are like.........

It is that bad Sun Devil karma...

You might want to be careful what you believe in the future from your NYRA insider. The number is not even close to 100.

Between 30 and 40.

Anyone got any leads on a contact or good way to try and snag some Clubhouse seats for this weekend? Craigslist has been a bust so far.

Go wait outside the gate where they sell seats. Usually on Friday morning there are people there trying to unload their friday and often saturday seats. Most people sell them at face value. Also you can just try Saturday morning.

are regular grandstand seats available during the week?