Monmouth Crowd Larger than Belmont Crowd

[Handicappy]

Originally Posted by philcski

And admission and parking was FREE yesterday at Belmont...

but few people knew that.

[Handicappy]

Originally Posted by sumitas

I'd like to see one more turf effort. Curlin was in position to win at the top of the stretch, no doubt. But the customary kick was not as sharp.

Haskins has good insight into his lack of a closing kick. It is on his blog in the Bloodhorse.

[Linny]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

I disagree. OTB has just made it easier to bet away from the track. It doesn't mean that NY fans don't care because they didn't go out to see Curlin.
Belmont is located at the tip of Long Island and is a journey for anyone not from the area. The road that goes out there (Belt Parkway) is a borderline suicide mission. I know that there is a train, but I am assuming most people have to switch several times.

The tip of LI is Montauk. Belmont abuts NYC and NY'ers are very much used to taking public transit and "changing trains" is common practice. Belmont is on the Cross Island and when I lived out in Suffolk Cty, I never had a problem getting there unless some jackass flipped his car on the LIE.

I think you are overstating the difficulty of getting there. I wait in far more traffic getting into Saratoga than I did on the Cross Island on Sat.

Blackthroat...to my mind, the boxes looked empty. I'm sure that there were many more there than most Saturdays but compared to the last 2 years JCGC days, it was deserted. I was expecting that it "might" look like at least Gold Cup day. Wishful thinking...

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Linny

Blackthroat...to my mind, the boxes looked empty. I'm sure that there were many more there than most Saturdays but compared to the last 2 years JCGC days, it was deserted. I was expecting that it "might" look like at least Gold Cup day. Wishful thinking...

I hear you. I guess it's just a case of " everything is relative " and considering I am one of the few that sits there pretty much every day it at least felt like it was crowded Saturday.

I think one of the biggest problems, so to speak, is that July, especially after the holiday weekend, is even more quiet at Belmont than normal, as it's almost a dead zone before Saratoga, and Curlin's appearance sort of caught the general populace by surprise. Also, unlike a lot of people, I don't particularly believe that a supposed " superstar " racing can save the game ( whatever that means ). Sadly, it's just not that big a deal, especially in NYC where nothing is that big a deal.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Handicappy

but few people knew that.

True... I didn't know till I got there.



Personally, I thought it was pretty decent attendance. My friend who only comes with me a couple times a year remarked that he thought the parking lot was very full relative to normal... We only stayed for a few races because we went to the Mets game (which I'm sure hurt attendance some as well, being a 4 pm start and there's definitely some crossover in fans)

[herkhorse]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I think one of the biggest problems, so to speak, is that July, especially after the holiday weekend, is even more quiet at Belmont than normal, as it's almost a dead zone before Saratoga, and Curlin's appearance sort of caught the general populace by surprise. Also, unlike a lot of people, I don't particularly believe that a supposed " superstar " racing can save the game ( whatever that means ). Sadly, it's just not that big a deal, especially in NYC where nothing is that big a deal.

I think your dead on here. Why would I drive 3.5 hours to see if a "superstar" can beat himself on turf or not. Give me a race with 3 or 4 really good four year olds and I'm there in a heartbeat.

[jpops757]

Originally Posted by Strategic Mission

Belmont Attendance 8,428
Monmouth Attendance 8,751

On a day when a returning HOY raced at Belmont against two BCT winners, Monmouth Park had a larger attendance than Belmont? Does NY really think that slots at Belmont aren't necessary or that a new person should head the marketing operation?

Horse Racing is easily the most poorly marketed sport in america. ESPN News? Pathetic.

LS with its so called minor league racing had just short of 13k in attendance. With attendance such a minor factor. Iwonder how the track has a chance in hell to florish with the severly restricted simo outlets.Im sure the State needs to do its part by legalizing account waggering, Nodoubt that SOcal ,NY, Fla,and La tracks get a lot of action from the LS simocast pavilion, Wondering how much action the various tracks get at LS.

[Strategic Mission]

Originally Posted by herkhorse

I think your dead on here. Why would I drive 3.5 hours to see if a "superstar" can beat himself on turf or not. Give me a race with 3 or 4 really good four year olds and I'm there in a heartbeat.

Problem is there aren't 3 or 4 really good 4 year olds. Not sure if there are even 2 of them.