A great day for the sport.

[freddymo]

Originally Posted by Kasept

As we can all appreciate now, Saturday was a magical day of racing conducted by a proud racetrack to an appreciative throng of 85,000 and millions more that watched and wagered in parlors, ovals and at home. Those that choose to scoff and deprecate can wallow in their own misery. The rest of us had an instantly memorable day with friends old and new, made possible by generous equine athletes and intrepid human connections whom we revere and celebrate. In what turned out to be a remarkable epilogue to the week's turn of events, I hope all of you had a wonderful day. If you love the game, I know you did.

I had a great time. All you have to do is listen to 85k people cheer as horses turn for home and you realize that peoples raw expression of emotion for racing is only equaled in nature with Doug and his sox. Anyway only 3k of the people there realized the horses are slow as claimers and or that the horses are drugs to the gills. BTW its the same 3k people that know it 364 days a year. As you said it was a terriffic day and NYRA thats right NYRA deserves the credit for putting on a great show. They really do need to reburbish the place soon because it really needs it bad, while gorgeous Belmont needs an major overhaul.

[Sightseek]

Slow time or not, it was an exciting race when you knew JV had lots of horse and all he needed was to get through!


It's been great that the horses who ran in the Juvie are still around to compete in the Classics.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Thunder Gulch

It was a good day of racing, but let's be honest about the big picture. Yes 88,000 showed up, but it would have been 120,000 so off 30%+. I suspect the off track wagering, and television numbers suffered similar fates. Good day- not so good weekend if you look at it from what was expected Thursday.

still a good showing when everyone knew no tc was on the line. and the finish was very exciting.

[pmacdaddy]

I'm with you Steve. From a day at the races standpoint, yesterday was totally awesome. I spent most of my time in the picnic area and paddock and the crowd was great.

I arrived expecting to find ample parking and folks with stacks of unused tickets outside the gate. Not so.

Not sure how much it means for racing or anything, but personally it was one of the more enjoyable Belmonts I have attended.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Thunder Gulch

It was a good day of racing, but let's be honest about the big picture. Yes 88,000 showed up, but it would have been 120,000 so off 30%+. I suspect the off track wagering, and television numbers suffered similar fates. Good day- not so good weekend if you look at it from what was expected Thursday.

I think 95,000 to 100,000 would be a more likely guess. Smarty Jones' Belmont was a perfect blend of an undefeated horse, a small time owner/trainer/jockey and a geographically proximate fan base that could get to NYC via mass transit.

The great thing about yesterday was that so many people didn't change their plans after IHA scratched- they still went to the track. The joy and sense of fun was palpable.

[booner]

Originally Posted by Thunder Gulch

It was a good day of racing, but let's be honest about the big picture. Yes 88,000 showed up, but it would have been 120,000 so off 30%+. I suspect the off track wagering, and television numbers suffered similar fates. Good day- not so good weekend if you look at it from what was expected Thursday.

Still didn't turn out to bad on-track.....

http://www.drf.com/news/2012-belmont...over-last-year

[GenuineRisk]

I wish NYRA would put in the effort to make JCGC day an event the way the Belmont is an event. The thing Belmont Stakes Day has going for the casual fan is that there's a lot of other stuff to do- merchandise tents, food options, cocktails. Belmont is so gorgeous in the fall; it would be nice to have a day in the Fall meet that is the same sort of celebration the Belmont Stakes is.

Especially the food options.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Not according to Mr Sunshine #2

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/i-ll-ha...nt-stakes.html

Dumb question I know....but how (and why) is Pat Forde writing about horse racing?

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

I've never read a Forde horse racing column before -- and I'm pretty sure he's a general sports columnist.

80, 90, 100 years ago -- horse racing had a lot of truly great writers covering it in both the DRF and in the mainstream press.

The DRF writers started to shift in about the 1950's from hard-hitting, opinionated, rumor-laden, bettor oriented writers -- to good writers who preferred human interest stories and sappy, syrupy, cutesy stuff.

They're a lot better now than in like the 70's -- but much less interesting than the guys from the 20's.

The big difference is that the mainstream press and general sports writers handled horse racing very competently a long time ago. Now, they don't. Most of them are clueless and know absolutely nothing about racing.

thats true..horseracing then is the nfl of now..

[MaTH716]

Yesterday was my first Belmont and while I was hoping to see history, I still had a very enjoyable time (despite maybe my worst day ever at the windows). It was crowded, but bearable. I thought that NYRA did a very good job. There were plenty of buses from the parking lot, plenty of tellers and opportunites to get food and drink all over the place. I don't recall waiting on line for anything yesterday. The only lines that I did see were from the woman's room and the ATM (which was literally 100 deep). No sure how I would have fared if the other 40k showed up, but I would have grinned and beared it. I'm not that keen on big crowds, but I wouldn't hesitate again to go to the Belmont.

But the thing that struck me the most, was the amount of young people that were there. I'm guessing that the Belmont and pretty much the rest of the TC series have become more of social events that happen to have horses race every 45 minutes. That being said, the atmosphere was excellent and the crowd really got in to the races.

It made me think that the sport does have a chance, but they really need to capitalize on days like yesterday. That's where I think that NYRA might have dropped the ball. They had large crowd on hand and there was no promotion (or at least I didn't see any) of any future event to try to get some of the patrons back. Like I said, there were tons of young people there. Schedule a concert on a sunset Friday, bring your stub next week on Father's Day and get free admission and a hat. Have a handicapping help station, where newbies can ask questions the whole day. Just do something that might want to make them come back before next year's Belmont and even better maybe they'll come back because they like the racing..

[tiggerv]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

Dumb question I know....but how (and why) is Pat Forde writing about horse racing?

Because Forde has 6 months a year where he can't write atrocious college football/basketball articles. I think he wrote for the Louisville paper back in the day so somehow that qualifies him for horse racing.

Here is Sally Jenkins hack piece in the Wash Post from Friday. She writes the same crap article every year. Beyer almost has to write positive pieces this time of year to counter the nonsense in his own paper.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...mOV_story.html

[dagolfer33]

All complaining by everyone else aside, I was at work all day. In Louisiana no less. Then I had to go to a wedding while the Belmont was going off. I would have been very appreciative to have had any chance to enjoy Belmont day in any way. It sounds like Steve as well as many others took lemons and made lemonade. As for my situation, well, the way I see it I could have been worse. I could have been in Mississippi.

[Many Others]

sitting at home watching on NBC even a cynic like myself was affected momentarily - when the horses left the paddock, they started panning shots of the crowd, threw in a great shot of the Statue of Liberty, the Belmont grandstand was draped in red, white and blue buntings, it was packed and the fans looked like they were having a blast - then best of all, when the good looking horses step foot onto the track, here comes the tape of Frank singing NEW YORK NEW YORK, perfect and CLASSIC, wish every day was Belmont Stakes day lol... okay back to reality, but truly it was nice, again just for the moment, if nothing else...

[Riot]

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day for horse racing, cheering on friends and favorites, and enjoying an exciting Belmont. Congrats to the connections

Spring, chance and precociousness is over, now we get to see which three-year-olds mature into something even more exciting over the next year.

[pweizer]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

Yesterday was my first Belmont and while I was hoping to see history, I still had a very enjoyable time (despite maybe my worst day ever at the windows). It was crowded, but bearable. I thought that NYRA did a very good job. There were plenty of buses from the parking lot, plenty of tellers and opportunites to get food and drink all over the place. I don't recall waiting on line for anything yesterday. The only lines that I did see were from the woman's room and the ATM (which was literally 100 deep). No sure how I would have fared if the other 40k showed up, but I would have grinned and beared it. I'm not that keen on big crowds, but I wouldn't hesitate again to go to the Belmont.

But the thing that struck me the most, was the amount of young people that were there. I'm guessing that the Belmont and pretty much the rest of the TC series have become more of social events that happen to have horses race every 45 minutes. That being said, the atmosphere was excellent and the crowd really got in to the races.

It made me think that the sport does have a chance, but they really need to capitalize on days like yesterday. That's where I think that NYRA might have dropped the ball. They had large crowd on hand and there was no promotion (or at least I didn't see any) of any future event to try to get some of the patrons back. Like I said, there were tons of young people there. Schedule a concert on a sunset Friday, bring your stub next week on Father's Day and get free admission and a hat. Have a handicapping help station, where newbies can ask questions the whole day. Just do something that might want to make them come back before next year's Belmont and even better maybe they'll come back because they like the racing..

This is Keeneland every weekend they race. You don't need a Triple Crown race to make this happen. The sport may not be magical but it is far from dead.

Paul

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by pweizer

This is Keeneland every weekend they race. You don't need a Triple Crown race to make this happen. The sport may not be magical but it is far from dead.

Paul

It's Saratoga also. The million dollar question is how to make it happen at more places. How do we convince everyone else what a great time our sport is to watch and participate in? How can we show them they are missing out if they aren't there?

I don't have the answer but it feels like educating them about the game further can only help. Horses racing longer, so people actually can follow a horses career for more than a few months will help.

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Doug.. make no mistake, there are people out there working to destroy the sport and cheer its' ruination.

That makes it really tough then as the sport is doing a great job on its own to destroy itself!

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

It's Saratoga also. The million dollar question is how to make it happen at more places. How do we convince everyone else what a great time our sport is to watch and participate in? How can we show them they are missing out if they aren't there?

I don't have the answer but it feels like educating them about the game further can only help. Horses racing longer, so people actually can follow a horses career for more than a few months will help.

I think the bigger issues are the mechanics of the sport and not the product on the field, so to speak.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

It's Saratoga also. The million dollar question is how to make it happen at more places. How do we convince everyone else what a great time our sport is to watch and participate in? How can we show them they are missing out if they aren't there?

I don't have the answer but it feels like educating them about the game further can only help. Horses racing longer, so people actually can follow a horses career for more than a few months will help.

I think racing, at least on the weekends, needs to be more of a social event at the track. I don't mean "society," but social in that it's a place to hang out, and not solely for wagering. A day at the track is a long one and for the casual race fan, it's nice to be able to get up, walk around and look at things besides the tote board.

I don't know about other tracks, but the food options at Aqueduct and Belmont are awful. A six or eight-hour day out of the city when all you can order are bad burgers, fries and chicken fingers is a bit of a bummer.

My uncle, in his late 60s, spent his whole life in Pennsylvania, and he told me when he was younger, Penn National was so crowded on weekends that if you didn't arrive an hour before the first race, you'd be parking a mile from the track and walking. He also said they often had bands, etc. so the afternoon was as much about entertainment as it was gambling.

It may require racing associations to accept that the big gamblers are still likely to wager from their living rooms, but there is still value in casual fans, who may not be as valuable for gambling dollars, but who will spend money on concessions, souvenirs, and put money into the economy through their consumerism. And, of course, they'll still gamble.

What I love about racing (besides the fact that yes, horses are pretty) is that it's a far more interactive sport than any other. The gambling is the point- it makes the fan an active, not passive, viewer. But that's something that takes a while to discover and I think tracks need to take the effort to bring people who want an entertaining afternoon first, and trust they'll discover the fun in gambling eventually.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

I think racing, at least on the weekends, needs to be more of a social event at the track. I don't mean "society," but social in that it's a place to hang out, and not solely for wagering. A day at the track is a long one and for the casual race fan, it's nice to be able to get up, walk around and look at things besides the tote board.

I don't know about other tracks, but the food options at Aqueduct and Belmont are awful. A six or eight-hour day out of the city when all you can order are bad burgers, fries and chicken fingers is a bit of a bummer.

It may require racing associations to accept that the big gamblers are still likely to wager from their living rooms, but there is still value in casual fans, who may not be as valuable for gambling dollars, but who will spend money on concessions, souvenirs, and put money into the economy through their consumerism. And, of course, they'll still gamble.

I think you have made some fair points here. I don't really disagree with any of them, but there are other food options at Aqueduct and Belmont and not just burgers, hot dogs and chicken fingers.

The only thing I will say about the casual fan thing is that yes, racing should be trying to get them involved. But horse racing is different than say football or baseball. Those sports need the fan to come out because they depend on the profit from the overpriced beer, souvenirs, etc. Racing depends on gambling dollars.