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You haveto factor in the trends in racing as well as a whole. Lots of tracks had declines in 03 and 04. Its much more accurate to compare it to the trends with all tracks especially since simulcast money comes in form all over the world and is far greater than on track hanlde at ANY track. The local ecomony of a racetrack area is not a significant factor when comparing all sources handle. How do you ignore the trends at other tracks when making a comparison? |
Is Keenelands handle up or down. I know I havent touched Keeneland, but for maybe 3 races and Im good for 25 thousand during the meet. I sit with a few guys who make me look like a 2 dollar bettor and they won touch it either. Im very curious if they are losing the real players yet. Who cares about the young college kids all kicking in 3 bucks in a pick 6. Losing the real sophisticated whales is going to hurt, and I see that happening.
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I agree with you. I think the real serious players, guys who have a clue and put up big dollars have decided to switch tracks. I bet Belmont's handle will be up, but I really dont think Keeneland's will. Not only is Keeneland's bias unreal, the best horses simply arent winning races. If you cant be rewarded for being sharp, knowing which horse is the best, why play? Like I said Im good for 25 a meet, the guys I get down with are good for 20k a day. They have swung that money over to Belmont, as have I. Im sure there are other guys who bet a lot of money doing the same thing, who can blame them?
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There is absolutely no similarity between a Mustang and a Thoroughbred. The Mustang was the one bred to run over dirt and grass, and they are doing just that on the plains of the West. The reality is Thoroughbreds are just as man made as the Polytrack they now race on. Thoroughbreds today are simply bred to get from point A to point B as fast as they can, regardless of how badly conformed they are, the fact of the matter is if Storm Cat was turned out in the plains of Montana, he would have his ass kicked by a 13 hand Mustang and driven off, and he would be too sore and crippled to do much about it. Thoroughbreds are bred to be fast, Mustangs have evolved to survive, big difference. |
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Thoroughbreds are descendants of the Godolphin, Byerley Turk and Darley arabians... arabians were bred to do well in the desert (sand.) So what does this mean? We can turn this around and around, but the reality is that running on dirt and turf is DEFINITATELY what we have bred thoroughbreds to do... it will affect the way we breed our horses. It will... |
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I watched two races at Keeneland today with Mr. Byk on TVG or HRTV (whichever one it was...) and both races were won by horses on or rear the lead the entire race :eek: Looks like the wet weather speeds up the track and makes it more managable for frontrunners! |
Okay, I finally can't stand it anymore (pause while I put on my well-worn nerd glasses):
Horses weren't created/didn't evolve to run (evolve, in my opinion, for what it's worth). They were created/evolved to spend the majority of their time walking slowly over very long distances (the hoof is a marvelous adaptation for that-- it's essentially a big fingernail, so they are literally walking on tip-toe). They are capable of running very fast, yes, but for relatively short distances and in order to evade a predator (so are most hooved prey animals). They are designed to spend most of their lives walking slowly with their heads down, cropping a lot of a low-calorie food (browse). Yes, they can run for stretches in the wild and they do, but that's not an optimum state for the horse-- it's usually a response to a dangerous situation and ends when the danger does. Yes, I know we've bred the TB to have the desire to run (and boy, do they!) but it's erroneous to start with the impression that the wild horse is designed to spend most of it's life in flight, regardless of the surface. It's not. I think if they were, A) their digestive system would not be as simple as it is and B)our domesticated horses wouldn't need so much cooling out time after a long exertion. Okay, taking off the nerd glasses now and bracing for the hate mail. ;) |
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Besides having to go further in search of feed and water, the horse evolved into the present day species of Equus caballus because they had to be able to run faster and further to escape enemies. Although the horse is not the fastest animal on the earth, the horse does possess great endurance. The horse is therefore, a creature of the open country and to this day, its first reaction to any strange or frightening object or situation is to panic and run away. This great fear of the unusual, plus the speed and endurance developed at the gallop, has made the horse a most valuable animal to man... Another point to not is that world horse is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word hors meaning swift. As a side note, their teeth evolved as an adaptation to vegetation changes. But their size and hooves evolved for reasons specifically related to speed, endurance...and power for those two purposes. I can post numerous sources that say this if you would like. For the most, part the rest of your post contained some very good information. Sorry to get into the whole evolution thing for those of you who don't believe in it. I definitely agree with you that a horse was not designed to stay in long periods of flight. But, they did evolve for the survival of the species directly related to the fact that they had to outrun predators. And don't feel bad. I'm being a super nerd:D |
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Some of the most beautiful equine art can be seen on the ceiling of Lascaux. Painted by folks that really depended on them. To me, they look a lot like Icelandic or Fyord ponies. For sure they never ran on poly crap. And I've never grilled a equi-steak. No recipe and absolutely no taste for it. But the folks that painted their beautiful representations on those cave ceilings certainly did. And, here, all the time...we thought it was really about clicking some numbers to our on-line betting account or passing some green paper through a window. Times have changed! The art remains. |
All the talk about the pro's and con's of Polytrack makes me think how horseman and fans must have felt when they introduced the electric starting gate with humans leading them in and handling them in the stalls. Im sure alot of people voiced concerns about the head man holding the horse or the gate not opening or horses not coping with the small confines.
Im sure when the electric teletimer came into use people thought that there was no way a peice of electronic equipment could replace the human hand and stopwatch that was used and that photo finish cameras would never take the place of patrol judges and the stweards watching thru binoculars. And what about the toteboard? Im sure the die hard gamblers were freaking out that odds would be posted on a electronic board and not done on a oddsboard like they had always done before. Just things to think about and the changes that racing has went thru over the years, we all seem to have adapted quit well and so have the horses. |
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