Pletcher going to California

One more thing Round Pen. I'll tell you right now that the purses at "lowly" Aqueduct's inner dirt track this winter for MSW's and allowance races in all comparable categories will be much higher than Gulfstreams.
Do you take issue with this and do you think Gulf's will indeed be higher? If so I have a bridge I wanna sell you.

[Gander]

Philly Park is eventually going to have huge purses and be completely revived as a racetrack

LOL! And we are all going to stop gambling and become great citizens! LOL!
What a pit that place is. Makes a cemetery look inviting.

Originally Posted by Gander

Philly Park is eventually going to have huge purses and be completely revived as a racetrack

LOL! And we are all going to stop gambling and become great citizens! LOL!
What a pit that place is. Makes a cemetery look inviting.

Tim they already have slots legislation and indeed will be kicking butt sometime soon.
I know thats hard to believe but its gonna happen with the slots money.
Its easier for me to believe that then it is that Gulf is suddenly gonna boost purses and start running races that horseman wanna run in.
It was an absolute joke the last two years there, and even longer than that.
They have a HUGE pool of very expensive an classy horses to draw from down there and refused to utilize it.
Some gamblers may not mind claiming races but guys who drop hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions on horses who don't have spots to run in do mind, they mind a great deal.
For anyone who wants to question the quality of the product down there recently all you have to do is pull the results from last year and check out the nauseating cards on all weekdays and most Sundays.
They packaged a bunch of stakes races on a few days(many at graded stakes level committe minimum purse money for that grade, ahem cough cough) in an attempt to try and fool people into thinkiing it was still a great product. Its not. You need to give horsemen a chance to run allowance runners and maidens in proper spots.
As one guy told me, the racing secretary is not a horse trainer, yet due to the lack of spots available for them to run higher class horses in, hes acting as one by basically giving you no options on where to run your horse.
Oaklawn flourished last year and will flourish again this year. Even though there is no grass course, they card decent races with good purses.
Same with Aqueduct's inner. Big purse money and places to run your horses.
Fair Grounds should have a good base as well.

[Gander]

I know Mike, its just hard to believe Philly Park will ever look nice. Its an absolute eyesoar. Gulfstream was an utter mess last year, save for the a few big Saturdays here and there, mostly in teh beginning of the meet. When does Saratoga start again, LOL!

Originally Posted by Gander

I know Mike, its just hard to believe Philly Park will ever look nice. Its an absolute eyesoar. Gulfstream was an utter mess last year, save for the a few big Saturdays here and there, mostly in teh beginning of the meet. When does Saratoga start again, LOL!

not soon enough!!!

Originally Posted by Gander

I know Mike, its just hard to believe Philly Park will ever look nice. Its an absolute eyesoar. Gulfstream was an utter mess last year, save for the a few big Saturdays here and there, mostly in teh beginning of the meet. When does Saratoga start again, LOL!

Tim the saddest part is that the opening of Gulfstream used to be a real joy and something that was awaited by everyone. Those cards last year were just tragic.
Santa Anita has far away by light years become the place with the highest quality races to watch and bet on in the winter time.
East coast horseman and bettors deserve better quality racing.

[Gander]

I agree. The day after Christmas is now what I look forward to the most in winter racing, not when Gulfstream opens. What use to be one of my favorite meets is now something I could care less about (except for a few Saturdays in the course of 4 months). It started going downhill that year all those horses were breaking down towards the very end of the meet. When they actually had a hole in the track. I think its way too long of a meet. They ought to cut it down to 5 days a week and 3 months max.

Originally Posted by Gander

I agree. The day after Christmas is now what I look forward to the most in winter racing, not when Gulfstream opens. What use to be one of my favorite meets is now something I could care less about (except for a few Saturdays in the course of 4 months). It started going downhill that year all those horses were breaking down towards the very end of the meet. When they actually had a hole in the track. I think its way too long of a meet. They ought to cut it down to 5 days a week and 3 months max.

Santa Anita has become by far the premier winter meet in the USA. They run nice races with nice purses and have some nice stakes races that arent all at the graded stakes commitee's minimum purse requirements, imagine that?
Gulf used to rule the winter months but I now find myself eagerly awaiting Oaklawn's opening day far more than Gulf's.