Saratoga Kick-Off: Wider Supers; Multi rule changes
 

From the Annual NYRA-Saratoga Kick Off press conference...

NYS RWB Chairman Sabini announced that Superfecta minimums have been lowered to 7 entrants.

President Charlie Hayward adds that RWB considering requests to ammend Multi-race wagering rules, which will address scratch unpleasantries, as well as wider uncoupling of entries.

I know this is a little off topic, but have we heard anything about the return of the Sixty Minute Six this summer?

I'll check with Sal Sinatra at PHA. He's the lynchpin on the 60/6.

Just heard back from Sal... NO SIXTY MINUTE SIX this year... That's too bad too because a Magna 5 return would seem highly doubtful for next winter.

Steve have they considered improving the the simulcast feeds at toga?

It seems they get it right at Belmont and the Big A , but , when i'm upstate i have to run from tv to tv to get different tracks

Can't they make a simulcast room somewhere in the grandstand to accomadate players who want to play multiple tracks.

I know the idea at Saratoga is to be outside , near the paddock , walking around , but, sometimes it's frustrating not being able to see "all races" in 1 spot

That's an interesting question. I think it's simply a matter of where you position yourself for the day.

The Carousel 'Tele-Theater' has the multiple TV's with the simo broadcasts all day long because it's the post-race day site for wagering until 7pm. It is the best venue on track for simo players. After thats, most of the jumbotron TV boards have 3 TV's on either side that feature out of town broadcasts.

The 'umbrella' stand TV units, (known as the TV trees by admin), all have one TV designated as a simo, and by my Barbecue I switch it to whatever the best action is that afternoon (MTH or AP typically, DMR later) or whatever people specifically are looking to watch. (The PGA Championship is historically shown on that TV every year as well).

So, the point is that while the facility isn't exactly ideally built for simo, there are pockets where it's pretty well handled...

i gotta remember that when i'm at belmont i'm only dealing with my 300 / 400 people , saratoga has what 20k a day steve?

Thats no reason why they cant build an enclosed room designated just for simulcast. A room where there can be 10-15 TVs with nothing on but simulcast, save for 1 TV with the odds of the current Saratoga race. Charge everybody $10 to get in to keep the number of people down.

Gales, you are right. The simulcast feeds at Toga stink. The TVs that do show other tracks are situated too high and the size of the TVs are too small to follow comfortably. The worst part is the Delmar simulcast being only in that 1 spot, lower level. Its like walking into skid row down there. They give you at most 4 races a day and very few tellers.

Makes you only want to play Saratoga, which may be the undelying idea.

Thanks for the update.
Hope that the NTRA promotes some national pick 4s this summer/fall, as it seems those have fallen by the wayside as well.

That's a shame... that bet was great and hats off to Sal for trying to get it off the ground.

I am surprised Churchill hasn't grabbed onto the idea, they have Churchill/Arlington/Calder all at the same time

tellers would require an extra year of training for that button

The key to tellers is finding like three in the same location that know what they are doing and sticking with one of them. Sunday when we were out there, I went to this chick and I said "$5 Exacta P/W" and she was like "Box" and I said "P/W" and got into a 30 second discussion of what a P/W was..Damn unions control everything, including training :)

I like the special doubles that extend over 2 day's time, a la the Oaks/Derby and the Brooklyn/Belmont. I dont think enough of these are made available. This weekend belmont could have the Suburban into the Tom Fool on Saturday. Travers weekend, they could have the Personal Ensign/Travers.

The PE is the day AFTER the Travers this year.

I agree that Saratoga could improve it's simulcast of other venues but remember that unlike other tracks, at SAR "most" of the patrons are there for the live, local product only. A huge percentage don't know where Arlington is and think Del Mar is a suburb south of Albany.
I would appreciate it if they would at least allow for some volume on the simo of major out of town races like the Haskell and the Pacific Classic. Would it kill them to announce that it was 10 minutes to post for the Arlington Million?
A small simo center with volume control for the TV's would be great. On days when there are alot of out of town stakes, I try to catch them if I can but always miss a few.

:mad:

Well the tellers at Saratoga, Belmont, Aqueduct & Keeneland all should be pretty awesome because I trained them!!! (or I trained about 20 of them at each track :o )

I know a few other things you've trained :p

You just described Keeneland to a "T". Except at Keeneland,the locals are there only for the liquor.They really don't care about the racing,it's just a place to be "seen" and get loaded.This could explain why the slots vote got shot down by the Lexington senator,other than the fact that she is an idiot.
Keeneland packs up all the private desks and carrols,drops the signals from most tracks during their meet(I was really PISSED when I couldn't bet Tampa)and jacks up the prices for everything.It's amazing that HANA voted this track #1,because it really sucks to even try to bet at this track.And the live product,in my opinion,has gone down the toilet.(There should not be claiming races at all.)

I thought thats what Saratoga Harness simo place was for:tro:

Does the harness track have a good simulcast facility?