CRIST: Sets the NY facts straight

[Hickory Hill Hoff]

Originally Posted by MisterB

The Saratoga Ratcino has many Blue hairs, not many young people around. they profit from the monthly retirement checks, or the dead husbands life insurance and life savings. I told my wife, if she ever goes to the ratcino when I die, I'll haunt her till she dies.

Not one person their is a horse player.

We went to Finger Lakes right after the "ratcino" opened there. I got a buddy who just loves Turning Stone... after he lost the first race at the Lakes, he headed down to the VLT room...45 mins later he comes back upstairs and says he's broke. Well, I told there's 6 more races at the Lakes to go...should have saved your money for here than blowing it on those machines!
It was a long day for him...

[Grits]

The Times Union may have been alright for Upstate, rather limits the reach I think.

The piece would serve better in the Wall Street Journal, the NYTimes, the NYPost, and every other major racing publication and newspaper in the country where racing has a stake.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by Grits

The Times Union may have been alright for Upstate, rather limits the reach I think.

The piece would serve better in the Wall Street Journal, the NYTimes, the NYPost, and every other major racing publication and newspaper in the country where racing has a stake.

I just listed the paper that was next to me, but having it in all would be nice.

[Holland Hacker]

Steve, Andy & Other New York Residents.

Does it make sense for you to write you legislators? I think it might help them make a better informed decision if they receive correspondence from the people who put them in Albany that also go to the track. I know everyone is busy but it doesn't have to be anything long. Perhaps even a short e-mail that points out some of the shortcomings or faults in some of the proposals as we see them.

I plan on sending an e-mail to some of the key legislators, including the Gov's office but I do not live in NY so it may fall on deaf ears. The only thing I can threaten is to stop going to the NY tracks and stop investing in NY Breds.

Even if someone could draft a form letter that people could send to their legislators and the govenor that could have an impact.

Just a thought.

[ALostTexan]

Originally Posted by Holland Hacker

Steve, Andy & Other New York Residents.

Does it make sense for you to write you legislators? I think it might help them make a better informed decision if they receive correspondence from the people who put them in Albany that also go to the track. I know everyone is busy but it doesn't have to be anything long. Perhaps even a short e-mail that points out some of the shortcomings or faults in some of the proposals as we see them.

I plan on sending an e-mail to some of the key legislators, including the Gov's office but I do not live in NY so it may fall on deaf ears. The only thing I can threaten is to stop going to the NY tracks and stop investing in NY Breds.

Even if someone could draft a form letter that people could send to their legislators and the govenor that could have an impact.

Just a thought.

Holland,

I live in Arizona, but plan on drafting a letter to some of those key legislators in NY over this. While the tracks are in New York, they need to hear from the rest of the world who bet the races, and therefore contribute to NY Racing.

I spend a great deal of time keeping up with legislative issues, and this is one that is the hottest right now...

ALostTexan

Originally Posted by Grits

The Times Union may have been alright for Upstate, rather limits the reach I think.

The piece would serve better in the Wall Street Journal, the NYTimes, the NYPost, and every other major racing publication and newspaper in the country where racing has a stake.

Do they even cover racing anymore? Washington Post no longer carries the stuff from Laurel Park.

The more I think about it, the more I think slots will be the death of the industry.

They want to promote jockeys ala the NBA? this is the kind of stuff Executive Assistants at PR firms come up with over lunch. "Hey what about the NBA? Yeah I see a connection here."

They ought to take that jockey cam and put it on them in the jock's room when they play poker. "Oh look DOminguez made his flush. THere's no way Jara can get away from this hand."

[milliam]

How many years do we get before VLT operators say horse racing is hurting our bottom line ?

[SniperSB23]

There is absolutely no way to promote the jockeys as long as there is no way for the common fan to tell which jockey is which each race without looking at their form. As long as the jockeys are wearing the owners silks they are not promotable. Unless they come up with a way to differentiate the jockeys by a quick glance while keeping the owners happy there is little to no chance of promoting the jockeys. Imagine if Larry Bird or Magic Johnson wore a helmet and goggles and came out in a different color jersey with a different number every game. Even they would have been difficult to promote in that situation.

[saucon17]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

There is absolutely no way to promote the jockeys as long as there is no way for the common fan to tell which jockey is which each race without looking at their form. As long as the jockeys are wearing the owners silks they are not promotable. Unless they come up with a way to differentiate the jockeys by a quick glance while keeping the owners happy there is little to no chance of promoting the jockeys. Imagine if Larry Bird or Magic Johnson wore a helmet and goggles and came out in a different color jersey with a different number every game. Even they would have been difficult to promote in that situation.

The only way they can promote jockeys is to switch to thier own
racing silks like the do with harness drivers who have their own set of
driving silks. At least in harness you know who is driving the horse by
just looking at colors of the driver than looking at a program to find out

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by saucon17

The only way they can promote jockeys is to switch to thier own
racing silks like the do with harness drivers who have their own set of
driving silks. At least in harness you know who is driving the horse by
just looking at colors of the driver than looking at a program to find out

Which is something the owners would never support.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

There is absolutely no way to promote the jockeys as long as there is no way for the common fan to tell which jockey is which each race without looking at their form. As long as the jockeys are wearing the owners silks they are not promotable. Unless they come up with a way to differentiate the jockeys by a quick glance while keeping the owners happy there is little to no chance of promoting the jockeys. Imagine if Larry Bird or Magic Johnson wore a helmet and goggles and came out in a different color jersey with a different number every game. Even they would have been difficult to promote in that situation.

The very notion that promoting riders will revitalize the game is borderline insane. Don't get me wrong, I understand the riders have a certain amount of popularity, but they are simply not what either draws fans to the game or increases ( most importantly ) handle. If the game has stars it is most certainly the horses. But, even publicizing them isn't necessarily the way to increase the health of the game. I suppose that one could argue that at least jockeys stay around, and the supposed stars of our game are fleeting at best, but the simple fact is the people interested in racing because of either specific horses or riders do very little, at best, to aid the health of the game. Simply put, racing is driven by wagering, and really very little else. Sure it is wonderful to see enthusiast crowds at Saratoga and Del Mar, but unless they are wagering they do very little to add to the health of the game, except for appearance sake only.

Once again, the answer is to educate, and to do it intelligently. I would bet my last dollar that our Siros Seminars have added more revenue to the game than any interview with Edgar Prado or Jerry Bailey ever did.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

The very notion that promoting riders will revitalize the game is borderline insane. Don't get me wrong, I understand the riders have a certain amount of popularity, but they are simply not what either draws fans to the game or increases ( most importantly ) handle. If the game has stars it is most certainly the horses. But, even publicizing them isn't necessarily the way to increase the health of the game. I suppose that one could argue that at least jockeys stay around, and the supposed stars of our game are fleeting at best, but the simple fact is the people interested in racing because of either specific horses or riders do very little, at best, to aid the health of the game. Simply put, racing is driven by wagering, and really very little else. Sure it is wonderful to see enthusiast crowds at Saratoga and Del Mar, but unless they are wagering they do very little to add to the health of the game, except for appearance sake only.

Once again, the answer is to educate, and to do it intelligently. I would bet my last dollar that our Siros Seminars have added more revenue to the game than any interview with Edgar Prado or Jerry Bailey ever did.

Agree with most of what you are saying but I think you are underrating the potential those enthusiast crowds can have. Give them a reason to follow the sport on days they aren't at the track and for many of them the wagering will continue to increase. Then things like your Siro's Seminar and the Youbet show become important catalysts to increase their wagering. By no means am I saying the jockeys are what is going to give them a reason to follow the sport. All I was saying is that there is absolutely no way of promoting the jockeys when they are wearing a different costume every race making it difficult for the common fan to differentiate between them. So as long as that is the case any efforts to promote the jockeys are a waste of time and resources.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

The very notion that promoting riders will revitalize the game is borderline insane. Don't get me wrong, I understand the riders have a certain amount of popularity, but they are simply not what either draws fans to the game or increases ( most importantly ) handle. If the game has stars it is most certainly the horses. But, even publicizing them isn't necessarily the way to increase the health of the game. I suppose that one could argue that at least jockeys stay around, and the supposed stars of our game are fleeting at best, but the simple fact is the people interested in racing because of either specific horses or riders do very little, at best, to aid the health of the game. Simply put, racing is driven by wagering, and really very little else. Sure it is wonderful to see enthusiast crowds at Saratoga and Del Mar, but unless they are wagering they do very little to add to the health of the game, except for appearance sake only.

Once again, the answer is to educate, and to do it intelligently. I would bet my last dollar that our Siros Seminars have added more revenue to the game than any interview with Edgar Prado or Jerry Bailey ever did.

I agree. I think the horses are definitely cabable of getting people in the door (eg. Smarty Jones) way more than a jockey ever will, but the product has to be built around both being friendly and informative to the people they draw in so the noise doesn't end when the star that brought them in retires. From being fairly new to the experience of wagering, one thing that I think could drastically help are not only the seminars on handicapping the actual races but an understanding of designing your bets and using the computer to make them. Windows aren't very friendly IMO.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

There is absolutely no way to promote the jockeys as long as there is no way for the common fan to tell which jockey is which each race without looking at their form. As long as the jockeys are wearing the owners silks they are not promotable. Unless they come up with a way to differentiate the jockeys by a quick glance while keeping the owners happy there is little to no chance of promoting the jockeys. Imagine if Larry Bird or Magic Johnson wore a helmet and goggles and came out in a different color jersey with a different number every game. Even they would have been difficult to promote in that situation.

Jockeys cant have their own silks. They are EMPLOYEES remember?

[Cannon Shell]

Plus as great as some riders are their skills are not readily apparent like an athlete in another sport. What makes the top jockeys that, is a great sense of timing, patience, and hands. All of which are hard to quantify or identify.

The truth is that promoting jockeys or trainers or any other persons wont work, because even novices understand that the horses talent is what is important and readily apparent.

[Holland Hacker]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Jockeys cant have their own silks. They are EMPLOYEES remember?

Are they employees or independent contractors?

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Jockeys cant have their own silks. They are EMPLOYEES remember?

So were Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.