Quote:
Originally Posted by cmorioles
I've said this all along. Because of how slot money is dealt out, I hate it for the game. A better approach and I have no problem with it. What is being done now does nothing to help the sport. I'm glad to see you've come around.
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My argument all along is that it is better to be involved than not simply because the gaming surge was coming regardless of what we did or did not do. But sadly the money is being squandered by not being aggressive and bold and trying to put on a better product. What has gone on in LA is that statebreds have overrun the circuits and there is very little incentive for owners/trainers to have anything but. Which is helping keep owners in the game but hasn't made the product very attractive especially considering it wouldnt take much to improve on what they had. In PA you have management at one track that is already outright hostile towards the racing and another that is disinterested. (Pres Isle's meet is basically a farce). You have a horsemans group at Philly that is dominated by trainers like Phil Aristone who want to keep competition out hence despite 300k a day purses, year round racing and fairly soft competition virtually no one from out of town has relocated there and stayed. Penn National has more new outfits. Doesn't it strike you as odd considering tracks in the area Delaware, Monmouth, NYRA etc have a steady influx of new trainers? Supposedly there is going to be an announcement this week in PA that the state is going to dip into the horsemans fund once again and the truth is that they really dont have much of an argument against it. Most days the cheaper horses running there would be running there regardless of the purses and the thing is outside of a dozen or so outfits most of the others have no where to go anyway.
NYRA is in a different situation but with the influx of slot money available they can seperate themselves from Monmouth, Delaware, Parx pursewise by being able to give away a lot more for similar races and in doing so clearly makes them the top destination for good horses. What they need to do is make sure that those good horses actually run at NYRA tracks and dont continue to train there and run elsewhere. They needed to add conditioned claimers, turf sprints, etc to compete in the marketplace for lower level horses to fill their cards in the past but heading into this summer especially with the meet in flux at Monmouth, probable purse reduction in PA, and potentially some issues in Delaware they can re-establish themselves as the clear leader and in doing so can seize back control of their racing program. But I doubt that they will be able to see the forest for the trees.