OMG, GP really screwed up putting its Derby on Sunday!
 

http://www.drf.com/news/florida-derby-business-soars

Florida Derby business soars
By Mike Welsch

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The gamble of moving Gulfstream Park’s marquee event, the $1 million Florida Derby, to a Sunday for the first time this season proved an unequivocal success.

Sunday’s attendance of 14,251 was the largest crowd on any day at Gulfstream Park since the new building opened in 2006. The $19.7 million bet on the Florida Derby day card also helped propel the track to a new combined weekend handle record of $33.6 million, shattering the old mark of $26.1 million set in 2010. Saturday’s program featuring the Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks produced an all-sources handle of more than $13.9 million. Total ontrack handle for the weekend was more than $3.4 million, up from $2.8 million a year ago.

“We’re very pleased Derby Weekend proved to be such a huge success,” said the track’s president and general manager, Steve Calabro. “We were a little apprehensive moving the Derby to Sunday, but the response was overwhelming to our weekend of activities that included the inaugural Florida Derby Golf Tournament, Ladies Day, and of course the Florida Derby itself.”

Tim Ritvo, Gulfstream’s vice president of racing, echoed Calabro’s sentiments.

“We were lucky to have beautiful weather, and we really appreciate the support we received from both our fans and the horsemen who helped us put on such a great show both days,” said Ritvo.

Ritvo also said the success of the weekend could lead to the Florida Derby being carded on a Sunday again in 2012.

“We learned a lot from this process that I think will help us make the Florida Derby weekend even better next year,” said Ritvo. “The horsemen are obviously comfortable with the five-week window prior to the Kentucky Derby, and if it were up to me right now, I’d run the Florida Derby on Sunday next year as well.”

OMG!

Maybe he won't declare bankruptcy again!!

The handle yesterday was great, no doubt about it.

However, they're stacking the Sat-Sun cards against last year's on FL Derby weekend. The Sunday card on Fla Derby weekend in 2010 had two cancelled races because of a quarantine at Calder.

If GP had done the smart thing and run the Fla Derby on Saturday they would have not only broken the record for the weekend but the individual card as well. That would have been more newsworthy.

It's all window-dressing for the mockery of a racetrack Frank Stronach made that into.

From some context... last year while I was there the Sunday card handled $4.9 million despite the loss of two races and only 55 horses on the entire card due to scratches. No field had double digits.

I was skeptical of the Sunday move... it worked-out well, but I wonder what they would have done on a quiet Saturday with that card/race.

How do 3 nothing races on a Sunday last year add up to more than $7.5m difference?

Really, I am amazed how people here have no idea at all how racing works down here. Saturday was a big day because, primarily, it was a big stakes Saturday. Sunday was a big day that GP manufactured by manipulating its stakes calendar by one day. They got a Haskell-like Sunday out of this move. The combined handle more than demonstrates the wisdom of this move, but expecting people here to acknowledge that their Chicken Little act was baseless is just too much, I guess. I guess the old adage that even a stopped clock is right twice a day cannot be allowed to apply to anyone employed by Frank Stronach.

Next I expect to read how Hialeah will do better when they start running the Flamingo again.

Does South Florida exist in some kind of vacuum that keeps conventional things at other tracks from happening there? It has nothing to do with South Florida.

The focus of the GP Operations team this year was to have a bigger weekend than FL Derby weekend in 2010. Their focus was never to have a bigger Fla Derby DAY because the 2010 number was huge. Now, little did they know that the GP signal was going to be more popular this year than it has in years because of new wagers, some low takeouts, good weather, etc.

The point that I made in this thread, and before, was that they shifted the focus from an individual day to a weekend. Judging by how well they did on Sunday, they would have beaten the 2010 mark handily if the FL Derby had been on Saturday. The "Ladies Day" card would have done roughly 70% of what it did and they would have gotten a FL Derby day record and a FL Derby weekend record.

Based upon what again? Your original post mention three canceled races that could not have possibly equated to $7.5m (or more than, based upon your "projection"), so now you have dropped that. You are fabricating imaginary totals for race days that did not happen because, apparently acknowledging that what was achieved this year was a clear success is apparently unacceptable.

NT--candidly, I expect better out of you. We have idiots here, and you are not one of them. Is it that hard to give the devil his due and move on?

I acknowledged that they had a phenomenal weekend, which they did. Doing over 30 million there is tremendous. All I'm saying is that they probably could have set two records instead of one with having the race on Saturday. It's really a moot point because the year is going to be considered successful for eternity, as well it should.

They've done a great job at this meet from start to finish. People may hate it but the Rainbow Six has increased their Pick 6 pool exponentially. The Pick 5 has been gold (430k yesterday) and the additional Pick 4 generates quite a bit more handle on each weekend.

thats hilarious...they are bragging about 14, 251.....thats a monday here.........

The Sunday move was a good one from a PR standpoint. Going against the Final Four on Saturday was a lost cause, though this is still a tough weekend to get attention from the national media.

This is a good example of what I mean by people having no clue....

14K is stuffed to the gills at that place. That is why it will never have a BC.

No one bitched more than I about losing the old GP--but it is gone. The replacement building is a nice, neat and perfectly stupid facility (for horse racing at least) as far as I am concerned, but it is what it is and if it ever gets knocked down, I can assure you it won't be to replace it with another race track. So I take the improvements to the courses, hold my nose as to the facility itself and deal with the world as it is. What happens at Saratoga bears no relationship whatsoever to GP 2011.

My only compliant about that place is a lack of actual nice betting machines, slowness of the tote system (You would have thought they would have used fiber lines in that place considering it is the new thing), and the dumb ass tellers. The 3rd one is consistent with all tracks for the most part.

I absolutely loved the new Gulfstream, actually liked it better then the old one.

I certainly dont mind it as long as no more than 5000 people are there. I went once on FL derby day and stayed for maybe 15 minutes.

But the old Gulfstream was a million times better for horse racing. New place is better for slots and drinking.

Some photos of the Old Gulfstream in Barbara Livington's photo blog:

http://www.drf.com/blogs/it-was-twen...-wood-memorial

Barbara's the greatest. I love her stuff.

Cahill Road was a serious horse. Too bad that was his last race.

Yeah. I thought he might have been better than Unbridled.

Zito's an attractive man