Lone Star

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by philcski

Well post more then, dang it!

I checked out the Emerald City band schedule, nothing this weekend. But REO Speedwagon is playing at Billy Bob's!

Billy Bob's is the coolest place... if you ride the bull, I want pics! LMFAO

[unassailable08]

Im a local in the area.

[philcski]

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Had a great time down there, Texas rocks and Lone Star is an A+ facility. Seems awfully small for a Breeders Cup but we were shocked by the popularity and diversity of the crowd.

Racing in other states could learn a lot from them, seems to me running in the evening works a lot better than during the day when people have things like their job to attend to...

[Swap Fliparoo]

Originally Posted by philcski

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Had a great time down there, Texas rocks and Lone Star is an A+ facility. Seems awfully small for a Breeders Cup but we were shocked by the popularity and diversity of the crowd.

Racing in other states could learn a lot from them, seems to me running in the evening works a lot better than during the day when people have things like their job to attend to...

Agree... this was the first time outside of Keeneland i have seen so many women and children at a track! Everyone has a blast and stays till the last race. No endless carrols of aging degenerates making up the majority of track-goers at Lone Star, that is for sure.

Too bad we didn't have time for Billy Bob's!

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by Swap Fliparoo

Agree... this was the first time outside of Keeneland i have seen so many women and children at a track! Everyone has a blast and stays till the last race. No endless carrols of aging degenerates making up the majority of track-goers at Lone Star, that is for sure.

Too bad we didn't have time for Billy Bob's!

If you guys are there in September, I'll be there. I'm going to see Emerson Drive (Canadian country band) in concert at Billy Bob's. Yeehaw!

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by philcski

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Had a great time down there, Texas rocks and Lone Star is an A+ facility. Seems awfully small for a Breeders Cup but we were shocked by the popularity and diversity of the crowd.

Racing in other states could learn a lot from them, seems to me running in the evening works a lot better than during the day when people have things like their job to attend to...

Phil,

Glad to hear you had a good time and I agree that Lone Star is a terrific facility. They usually prosper this time of year when the entertainment dollar isn't split many different ways. When the Mavericks are still alive and the Rangers are still relevant (which is about until mid-May) and there's a race at Texas Motor Speedway Lone Star suffers. Now that none of those three apply, their attendance is usually respectable.

The Breeders' Cup was a temporary seat bonanza as you may have guessed from the relatively small size of the main "glass box" grandstand. Hopefully as the years go by Lone Star will keep getting days added to their spring meet, because too many months are wasted at Sam Houston.

NT

[unassailable08]

Lone Star needs more dates but also needs a purse increase b/c they are losing business to New Mexico, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

The Texas Legislature needs to get off there butts and accept that Texas will have VLT's Casinos and Slot Machines.

[jpops757]

Originally Posted by unassailable08

Lone Star needs more dates but also needs a purse increase b/c they are losing business to New Mexico, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

The Texas Legislature needs to get off there butts and accept that Texas will have VLT's Casinos and Slot Machines.

To think that video and or slots are the answer is folish thinkinbg and just what Magna wants you to think. LS is driven by its simocast pavilion. To increase the number live races just dilutes the quality. Making the meet shorter and increasing the quality is the way to go. There is a nice minor league facility just west of FT worth that could be the base for the lesser quality races. Its not a nice facility but one that fits the bill for most of the minor league races that LS cards. Assmusen tried to purchase the old Trinity meadows property a few years ago as s training facility but he wanted a quarante of some racing dates but no coperation from the state and the other already established tracks. Too many look for the slots as a cure all, Its time for the horsemen and tracks to be a little more creative. Lets promote horseracing and not casinos with horseracing.

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by jpops757

To think that video and or slots are the answer is folish thinkinbg and just what Magna wants you to think. LS is driven by its simocast pavilion. To increase the number live races just dilutes the quality. Making the meet shorter and increasing the quality is the way to go. There is a nice minor league facility just west of FT worth that could be the base for the lesser quality races. Its not a nice facility but one that fits the bill for most of the minor league races that LS cards. Assmusen tried to purchase the old Trinity meadows property a few years ago as s training facility but he wanted a quarante of some racing dates but no coperation from the state and the other already established tracks. Too many look for the slots as a cure all, Its time for the horsemen and tracks to be a little more creative. Lets promote horseracing and not casinos with horseracing.

Trinity Meadows is finished as a racing facility. The building has been sitting there rotting for over ten years now and the Texas Racing Commission has denied racing dates to that track multiple times. The "minor league" races that you refer to are always going to be a staple in Texas because of the caliber of racing. We're always going to have 5k claimers, 10k maiden claimers, a slew of Texas-bred races, and many minor stakes races.

Lone Star was very well run at its inception. A great deal of money was accumulated while having the Simulcast Pavilion open prior to the track's grand opening. When the track finally did open the purses were three times larger than that of Retama or Sam Houston. In 1997 Lone Star's maiden special weight average purse was just a tick lower than Oaklawn. In the ten years since the purses at Louisiana Downs have risen and a large amount of horses have been lost to that meet since it was expanded.

The racetracks in Texas either need to drastically slash all of their dates and try to run better mini-meets or continue toiling in mediocrity and red numbers. Take a jaunt up to WinStar or out to Shreveport and take a look at the license plates of all the cars in the parking lot. Billions of dollars from Texans are lost yearly to Oklahoma and Louisiana. Take a look next time, then try to tell me if Lone Star had slot machines the place wouldn't thrive.

NT