Met Mile, other stakes moved to Belmont Day

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by ranger5830

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was saying that this year's Memorial Day handle would be under $15 mil, as that was what the discussion was about, whether taking the Met Mile off the Memorial Day card would significantly impact handle. Five of the last 10 years they've handled over $15 million, four times they've gone over 16 million. So I thought setting the over/under at $15 million seemed like a reasonable number.

I'm not exactly sure what the discussion was about, but I appreciate you researching the numbers. What the discussion REALLY should be about, at least from a handle perspective, is whether or not the impact of moving the Met Mile to Belmont Day will positively affect the overall handle between the two days. In other words, will the increase we get from the Met Mile versus whatever race we would have run on Belmont Day, overcome any possible losses of handle on Memorial Day. Given last year's Met Mile, a super race by any account, was $1.7 million, I cannot understand any argument that thinks this will not be the case. And, this isn't even taking into account the increased percent we get on our simulcast rates on Belmont Day.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that by bunching all of these big races on one day, and substantially increasing their purses, you greatly increase the possibility of getting shippers. Imagine the trainer that has one horse to ship to the Met Mile but opts not to, as shipping just one horse may not make sense to him. Now, with many additional Stakes over the two day period, that same trainer may find three or four horses in his ( or her ) barn to ship. This can increase the number of planes coming from California and thus increase overall participation.

There are a lot of factors to consider. Focusing in on the possible negative effects this change will have on the Memorial Day handle is, at best, a narrow minded approach. It's also grossly misunderstanding the bigger picture.