Opening Day at Gulfstream
 

A bit of news on the improvements, changes & expected horses to be running:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/81586.html

Still not accepting entries from horses coming from Payson Park

Will New York get a signal?

http://www.drf.com/news/article/81589.html

Opening Day Card:

http://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbR...2007&STYLE=EQB

Enjoy the meet everyone! :)

"All we are asking is for a little extra for our horsemen so we can pay decent purses down here."

Um, don't they have a freakin casino????

The signal dispute is with OTB and not NYRA. NYRA will be taking their races.

I've spent a lot of time on the card. Nothing major but it looks interesting. Have to figure out how to play the 3rd as Barcola is a major bet against. Maybe I will structure Pick-3s around it. The two turf races late in the day might be interesting as well.

I'm looking forward to getting very involved in this year's meet.

It's a silly line, I agree, but the idea that NY OTB pays under 2.5% for the premier prime time winter race meet is mind boggling. These racetracks have to stop giving away their signal.

I would love to know what percentage of NY OTB's Gulfstream handle is done at shops and what is done over the phone....as they would lose very little of the account wagering because those people rate to have other accounts or are at least amenable to opening one if OTB is shut out.

Would it affect the on-line betting they are now allowing toward the end of the month?

If OTB can't take the signal then it won't be available on-line through OTB. I am, however, quite certain this will be worked out. OTB may have less leverage now that Gulfstream has slots and may be in a financial position to tell them to take a hike.

I'm obviously not a complete sample but the vast amount of my Gulfstream handle is in-shop (which sucks for the obvious takeout reasons) for NYCOTB because of the fact that it isn't on channel 71 when Aqu is still running and I can't stand the choppy video on Xpressbet. Gotta think I'm the norm rather than the exception on this one.

2.5% is an absurdly low figure, especially considering they tax an additional 5% on all wagers. What a racket. Put up a dingy box with nothing in it except 10 half-broken tv's, a couple self bet machines, and 3 disgruntled ticket takers and you've got yourself a legal goldmine.

Wait a sec, Phil, do you mean to tell me you are paying the surcharge? That's insane. Please tell me you aren't doing that.

I try at all costs not to! I HATE the phone system, hopefully the online wagering will make life easier.

What is wrong with betting over the phone? The NYRA-One operators are good. Open an account there. Paying the surcharge is beyond crazy at this point. You should be getting a rebate...not paying one.

I was thinking the same thing. I only go to Capitol OTB where it is a no brainer as to whether or not you want to pay the $1 to go to the much nicer atmosphere and get track odds or go over to the scary part and have them take a portion of your winnings.

It's crazy. The OTB surcharge is dispicable.

Agreed, I have a NYRA One account and much prefer the operators on there to the NYCOTB surlies...

NYCOTB isn't set up quite the same as Capital OTB, unfortunately- only the "teletheaters" have the pay-$5-to-avoid-surcharge, and there's only a smattering of them. The telephone account is fine but the automated system is REALLY slow, and the phone tellers are really azzholes. NYRA phone people are much better but the deposit/withdrawal can be an issue if you can't make it to the track that day, the credit card companies including my bank card often will deny the charges which means you have to go the loophole method and they stick you with a $29.95 charge for each deposit. Otherwise I'd use NYRA all the time.

NYRA needs to find a way that allows people in NY State to use a bank to make a deposit. It should be managable. I keep meaning to bring that up.

That sucks dude. Sounds like it is time to move up to Albany.

I believe you can, but I had my bank account information breached and a lot of money stolen out of my account from what I believe was bill-pay activity online. So handing my checking account information to a teller freaks me out a bit.

Side note: I just checked the NYRA Rewards website and Magna tracks now qualify for rebates, as of yesterday. Good stuff. Whomever takes over the franchise should keep the rebating program intact.

That house on 5th Ave next to the Oklahoma track calls my name like every day.

bris bet...or reb shop pinnacle..dont know about 5 dimes..

That house on 5th Ave next to the Oklahoma track calls my name like every day.

Which one?

Can I start picking out decorations for the Sightseek & Sniper eh...guest room? :D

There was one for sale over the summer that backed up to the track. About halfway down the street, don't know the specific house number...

I'm pretty sure I know which house you are thinking of and in fact I know who recently bought it. Cant divulge that kind of info on here though. People are funny when it comes what they paid for a house (not sure exactly why).

Can you PM me the amount? I'm curious. I couldn't find the listing when I went searching for it.

You can get sale prices on the entire street online:

http://www.uspdr.com/consumer/ProplistSale8.asp

anyone know if ian wilkes is running at gs..he tore them up last year..

Yes he is. Good trainer and a good guy too.

Is tomorrow a dark day? No entries yet.

I assume tomorrow is dark. Its a trend and I cant inderstand why?

The day following opening day at some tracks is dark? Why would they do this? People flying in from out of town for opening day have nowhere to go the next day? Doesnt make any sense to me. They did the same thing last week at Santa Anita.

Can someone explain why they do this and why (thank goodness) they dont do this at NYRA tracks?

Thursday is dark this week.

They were dark at Gulf last year the day after opening day to "tweak" the new facility, whatever that means. Also, Calder runs non-stop the last 20 days of their meet except for XMas day, so it gives those workers a day off.

Thanks all!

Thanks Stud. But I dont understand why they wouldnt just wait a few days and start opening Day maybe Thursday or Friday, and run the day after.
Starting a track and then closing the next day seems like a stupid idea to me.

I can understand last year at Gulf because so many renovations. But they did this same thing at SA last week.

It's all part of Frank's new paradigm.

Certainly on your "A" game today. Don't let anyone tell you different.