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  #1  
Old 02-19-2007, 11:11 PM
bogeydaman bogeydaman is offline
Sunshine Park
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 79
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Not smoking anything. Lived in So Fla for 25 years. Been going to the tracks (including Hialeah when it was open) for 20. Here is my short list:

* Surrounding area is, lets just say, unappealing (I work about 6 miles from Hialeah in a "higher end" community). Many of my cuban friends would not go no near the joint.
*Road access getting in / out of the track is horrible (though there was never anyone there which made it easier).
* Have to be bilingual to communicate with any teller, order a hot dog, etc.
* The quality of racing was horrible (all the northern horses would already have moved north and the local 2 year old season was not in full swing yet). Thus how many 5K claiming races can you run in a day? It is pretty sad when the early Calder meet is an upgrade to Hialeah.
* No Air Conditioning - Worst body odor per capita than any place I have ever attended outside of a September Dolphins Sellout
*Restroom / Cleanliness of facility - UGHHHH.
*30% takeout (yes this is true before it closed).
*1/2 the races were 5-6 horse fields with 8 races on a typical weekday.
*Biggest crowd of the meet - KC and the Sunshine Band live in concert.
*$2 parking, $5 entry fee to gate - This may mean little to many who pay to enter other tracks, but you are competing with Gulfstream and Calder who had a better quality product and would allow you in for less, free, or give you free stuff for entry.
*Management came 1st, customer last > see many comments above.

Need I go further????

My comments relate to the late early 90's and beyond. You want to go back to the 70's I am sure you can find many of these negative's go away. To me the old Gulfstream had the Hialeah positives without many of the negatives I have listed above.

Just one humble opinion.
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  #2  
Old 02-19-2007, 11:15 PM
Cajungator26's Avatar
Cajungator26 Cajungator26 is offline
Keeneland
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hossy's Mom's basement.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bogeydaman
Not smoking anything. Lived in So Fla for 25 years. Been going to the tracks (including Hialeah when it was open) for 20. Here is my short list:

* Surrounding area is, lets just say, unappealing (I work about 6 miles from Hialeah in a "higher end" community). Many of my cuban friends would not go no near the joint.
*Road access getting in / out of the track is horrible (though there was never anyone there which made it easier).
* Have to be bilingual to communicate with any teller, order a hot dog, etc.
* The quality of racing was horrible (all the northern horses would already have moved north and the local 2 year old season was not in full swing yet). Thus how many 5K claiming races can you run in a day? It is pretty sad when the early Calder meet is an upgrade to Hialeah.
* No Air Conditioning - Worst body odor per capita than any place I have ever attended outside of a September Dolphins Sellout
*Restroom / Cleanliness of facility - UGHHHH.
*30% takeout (yes this is true before it closed).
*1/2 the races were 5-6 horse fields with 8 races on a typical weekday.
*Biggest crowd of the meet - KC and the Sunshine Band live in concert.
*$2 parking, $5 entry fee to gate - This may mean little to many who pay to enter other tracks, but you are competing with Gulfstream and Calder who had a better quality product and would allow you in for less, free, or give you free stuff for entry.
*Management came 1st, customer last > see many comments above.

Need I go further????

My comments relate to the late early 90's and beyond. You want to go back to the 70's I am sure you can find many of these negative's go away. To me the old Gulfstream had the Hialeah positives without many of the negatives I have listed above.

Just one humble opinion.
And thank you for stating it. I was referring to how the facility LOOKED. I went there only a handful of times in the 90's, but to me, it was a beautiful facility. And no offense, but you have to be bilingual pretty much anywhere in South FL. LOL
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  #3  
Old 02-20-2007, 09:16 AM
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Buffymommy Buffymommy is offline
Santa Anita
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: In a little world all my own...
Posts: 3,145
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I always thought it was a beautiful place to watch racing. I love the Flamingos. I was there in the mid to late 90s too. But I really enjoyed it when I went there.
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  #4  
Old 02-20-2007, 09:55 AM
NJ Doug
 
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I got to Hialeah a few times...no doubt about the neighborhood now being a negative...the track itself was nice...you could get there by train...imho it was a better place to bet on and watch the races than Gulfstream is now.
not saying that the quality of the races were better than Gulfstream, but imho the facility itself was better.
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  #5  
Old 02-20-2007, 10:46 AM
Rudeboyelvis Rudeboyelvis is offline
Belmont Park
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 7,440
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I don't know one track that's in a *great* part of a city. Aqueduct, Pimlico, Churchill, etc. If it's in a city, it's probably not the best part of the city.


The Wild card has always been and will continue to be Brunetti. His 30% take closed the doors of the place. How can you figured a guy like that out? How much has he made from his 0% take the last 4 years? Then he was purportedly offered 220 million for the place and turned it down because he wanted to keep the integrity of the property (not turn it into condos, etc.)

Last edited by Rudeboyelvis : 02-20-2007 at 01:01 PM.
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  #6  
Old 02-20-2007, 11:16 AM
NJ Doug
 
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There are big cities and then there are smaller cities like Saratoga Springs NY...Nothing wrong with the neighborhood that the track in Saratoga is in...
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  #7  
Old 02-20-2007, 01:10 PM
Rudeboyelvis Rudeboyelvis is offline
Belmont Park
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 7,440
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Payson Dave
There are big cities and then there are smaller cities like Saratoga Springs NY...Nothing wrong with the neighborhood that the track in Saratoga is in...
Yeah...My point was that Hialeah Park is in Miami, a big city...so the logic would follow that the neighborhood it resides in most likely would be suspect. And not likely to change. And while there are a lot of factors that affect the on track attendance at places like AQU, Pim, Churchill - tracks that reside in big cities...the neighborhood they are in is not usually near the top of the list.

Basically saying the Hialeah section of Miami has little, if any, bearing on whether Steve's Idea could fly. Waaay too many other factors involved than location.
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