[pointman]

I was there Saturday and can totally understand where Steve is coming from. Despite everyone expecting to witness history just 24 hours prior, the mood was very positive. The place was packed and people were really enjoying themselves. It felt like the racing days when I was a kid. Don't get me started on all the gorgeous women dressed to the nines.

Was it the best product of racing? Absolutely not. But I did not get the sense that anyone really cared that they had witnessed a slow Belmont with an average field that IHA would have likely destroyed. Overall, NYRA did a very good job in putting on the product they had to work with. Could they have done better? I agree with Matt that they could have done more promotion and tried to promote other events. They could have done more to teach people to wager or even worked something out to promote Night School.

Having gone straight to AC afterwards gave me an interesting perspective with regard to drawing in the neophytes who had attended that day. The problem with drawing in new fans is that we live in a society today where people want instant gratification and don't want to put much effort into it. Horse racing is a game that takes time to learn and requires time and effort to succeed. In AC I watched people gambling staggering amounts on games where they put almost no effort and either won or lost very quickly. But many people love puzzles and there are no greater puzzles on a daily basis than those in the DRF.

Maybe horse racing should take a cue and try to get into the casino crowd. It would take some thought as to how to actually structure some new wagers and the pools, but the industry could try to make some wagers similar to those that are offered by casinos and consider lowering the takeouts to those similar to casinos. Why not try things such as triples or pick three's where you can get fixed odds on all odd or all even numbered horses or a straight to fill the slots or something like that? Over/under of the total of the numbers of the first 3 horses in the trifecta or pick three? Have a wager where certain odds are paid on the same number winning 3 races in a row like a slot machine?

I know there are different field sizes and scratches, but I am sure things can be innovative and the industry can try these things on big days to draw in people to an easy level which will ultimately get a percentage of them to want to learn more and learn how to play the wagers we have now.

Having said that, I had a terrific day with my father, brother, brother in law and some friends that everyone, not all horse players, thoroughly enjoyed. I also got to hang out a bit with some great handicapping DT posters and enjoyed every second of the day and found it much more enjoyable than AC. In fact, Sunday morning I could not wait to pass on playing on the tables and start hightailing myself back to NYC to play Hollywood.