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Originally Posted by golfer
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I won't even try to dissect this piece - other than to say, once again, when he has an opinion, he tends to leaves out glaringly pertinent facts to enhance his argument.
The field sizes are roughly the same as last year, Jamie Ness was here last year, winning at an alarming rate - again, and that was a banner year for handle and gross.
What is obviously missing this year is the coverage and cross-promotion on TVG, and while he makes no distinction between on track handle and intra/interstate handle - only that it's "down" and half mill a day - it would be interesting to get the real facts. The on track attendance does seems to be a bit off from recent years, but that seems to be endemic across the state, as the warmer winter has kept more people from venturing south for the season. Regardless, it is nowhere close to .5 mil. a day. The lack of a TVG audience I would guess accounts for at least 75% of the shortfall.
With regard to Ness - I'll be the first to admit that my biased opinion is that he's a scourge and should be dealt with, the same way card counters are dealt with at casinos - unfortunately, the fact remains though that he apparently operates within the confines of the rules and thus is afforded the courtesy of playing within those confines until proven guilty. Catch him, and ban him - they raided his barn last year and apparently found nothing in everything they took.... so Beyer can accuse him all he likes, but there is no crime in winning, and if he can't be caught doing something untoward, then he deserves the right to be considered innocent until proven otherwise.
Consider him as a part of the handicapping landscape - there are a number of angles where he is, actually, remarkably weak - perhaps Beyer needs to spend a little more time with Formulator, and a little less time blaming him for the downturn in handle.