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#1
05-06-2013, 09:40 AM
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I also enjoyed the NBC coverage (sans Costas). My mom, wife and son didn't even bitch about it being on every TV in the house :-) and were invested in the races all afternoon. I noticed several Facebook friends that I never thought would be interested that also enjoyed/commented about the race. Some even said my posts and also the wife's posts peaked their interest. One actually opened a Twinspires account and hit the exacta. Not to jinx it, but if Orb can make a Triple Crown run, it will really peak the interest. Hell I sit on an isle at work with a lot of traffic and I get people who stop by that I don't know who want to talk horses. The interest is there in a lot of folks, we just have to mine it.
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“Once there was only dark. If you ask me, light’s winning.”–Rust Cohle – True Detective 
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#2
05-06-2013, 10:48 AM
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I thought Bailey was better this time around.
I do not remember seeing much of Randy Moss until the actual Derby telecast, which was surprising. It seems to me NBC is moving further and further away from the handicapping/gambling aspect of the game and focusing on the pageantry of the event. Even in Fridays telecast they spent much less time covering the races than in the past, it would be all Derby stuff, then two minutes before post they would go to the upcoming stakes race.
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"To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize"...Voltaire
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#3
05-06-2013, 11:10 AM
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We have an Irish pub in town that became an OTB about three weeks ago. Owner told me that it had been very quiet until Saturday. People were outside waiting at 10am and stayed/wagered all day. Tellers were having to explain how to bet to a lot of people but he said they did about 24K over 6 hours. Not too bad for a city where almost no one knows we have a track!
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don't run out of ammo.
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#4
05-06-2013, 11:20 AM
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It was a huge plus that they actually showed the Woodford reserve Turf Classic this year.
The big minus was not playing up the fact that the current horse of the year was participating. That was a real missed opportunity to show casual fans that racing exists at a high level beyond just the Derby. Paul
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#5
05-06-2013, 12:27 PM
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I think that on marquee days the everyday issues that plague the sport just aren't apparent. We have big crowds, big pools and big, competitive quality fields. Most days we have small crowds, small pools and small, non competitive lacking in quality fields.
Some of the underlying issues in the sport that aren't being addressed are we have track ownership in many area's that is looking to marginalize their racing operations to the point where you have to question how long they until they try to separate themselves from it. Ironically CDI is one of those companies. Greenwood and Penn Nat'l gaming or Delaware or MNR have no love for pari-mutual gambling or racing. Hollywood is already doomed. Who knows what the plan for the Stronach tracks are post-Frank. This is a core issue that the average viewer watching the Derby telecast would find hard to believe. The day to day fields in most locations are just not that good. There are a number of reasons for this and foal crop seems to be the favorite excuse but of course that is a weak argument being that this trend started long before a huge drop off in the numbers. Takeout/pricing is still out of whack compared to competing forms of gambling. I think that racing made huge mistakes in the late 80's/early 90's when simulcasting took off. What full card simulcasting did was take racing from a regional sport to a national sport and the truth is that the game never really learned how to adjust.
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#6
05-06-2013, 12:34 PM
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#7
05-06-2013, 12:50 PM
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That is the obvious flaw. What is less obvious is that at the point when it became inevitable that simulcasting was going to change the game, the tracks and horsemen and regulators failed to adopt similar rules and regulations so that the same $ increments were used universally, that stewards were using the same rules in making DQ's, that wagering rules regarding scratches, late scratches, shoeing changes, etc. were basically the same. It would have been easier to do it then than now and a lot of these things still aren't fixed. In 1985 it didn't matter for the most part what happened in other jurisdictions. Now 90% of the handle coming from places other than the actual racetrack.
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#8
05-06-2013, 12:37 PM
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#9
05-06-2013, 01:11 PM
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Less racing doesn't work on its own. Racing Secretaries have painted themselves in a proverbial corner by writing far too many conditioned claimers. They know it too but all say the same thing (at least in the mid-atlantic) hat they would change it if the other tracks would too. This allows claimers to be campaigned like allowance horses which is not how it is supposed to be. Rather than race the horse and move them up and down in class based on results, everyone wants to wait for their condition. When you have 5000 nw2, 5000 nw3, 5000 nw4, 5000 nw1 in 6 months, 5000 nw2 in 6 months, 5000 nw1 year going short and long for colts and fillies divides up a huge class of horses that used to be known as 5000 claimers. In effect you have created 24 classes of 5000 claimers. The same thing exists for higher priced claimers as well. Is it any wonder why they don't get full fields? Owners and trainers will wait for the exact condition they are eligible for. It might come in a week or it might come in 5 weeks depending on what fills. When your cheapest horses are waiting 5/6 weeks to run, you will have issues. The claiming ladder is gone because the higher claimers mostly have conditions attached as well. So if you claim a 5000 nw3 horse that gets beat a nose you are either going to wait out jail (30 days) or try a 7500 nw3 whenever that race may go. By dividing up claimers into so many different classes it dilutes the pool as a whole which really makes their jobs harder. As for the big tracks the disparity between haves and have nots grows wider every day. Until that is addressed I can't imagine how the cards could possible improve.
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#10
05-07-2013, 08:38 AM
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[QUOTE
I think that racing made huge mistakes in the late 80's/early 90's when simulcasting took off. What full card simulcasting did was take racing from a regional sport to a national sport and the truth is that the game never really learned how to adjust.[/quote] keen insight. it was rude awakening for those of us who dominated the local scene, and then started betting the big tracks, The competition is much tougher. when you're betting the local product mook money is all over the place. when you start competing against the likes of Mr. Byk and some of you guys, you get beat up. You become the mook money. It's a tough pill to swallow. Betting the local product is still profitable, but you have to be there, and it's tough to go everyday when you're the youngest guy in the track. I always want to be the oldest guy wherever I am. I miss going. Thank God for Saratoga.
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#11
05-07-2013, 09:18 AM
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#12
05-07-2013, 09:46 AM
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keen insight. it was rude awakening for those of us who dominated the local scene, and then started betting the big tracks, The competition is much tougher. when you're betting the local product mook money is all over the place. when you start competing against the likes of Mr. Byk and some of you guys, you get beat up. You become the mook money. It's a tough pill to swallow. Betting the local product is still profitable, but you have to be there, and it's tough to go everyday when you're the youngest guy in the track. I always want to be the oldest guy wherever I am. I miss going. Thank God for Saratoga.[/quote] Started long before that. Off Track Betting was one of the key starting points, especially in New York.
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