Walk Up Ticket For Belmont

[slotdirt]

I have said this before, but it bears repeating:

Just get there butt early, find your spot on the rail, and guard it with your life. Guaranteed to see some horse flesh.

[ptgiven]

i'm driving down from upstate NY and just purchasing a general admission ticket and finding a spot somewhere

[NoLuvForPletch]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

I have said this before, but it bears repeating:

Just get there butt early, find your spot on the rail, and guard it with your life. Guaranteed to see some horse flesh.

By butt early, he means before 9am...

I think the gates open at 830. Before the beer ban the place was a mob scene (in the park behind the track anyway) by 10-1030. Since they put the ban in place, there hasn't been an attempt at a triple crown, so we are really in uncharted water here. I remember the first year of the ban how empty the place was, and it really hasn't been crowded since 2004 (Smarty plus beer = 120,000+ people). There were only 61,000 in 2006 and 47,000 last year so you could've walked in after the Manhattan and found a place along the rail.

I still think the ban on beer will limit the total number of people going to Belmont that day, but the people going will be those who want to "see" the races and therefore viewing areas will be at a premium. I've heard some outlandish predictions on the attendance, but I'd be shocked if it got too far over 100K.

[ateamstupid]

There'll be 120,000 people, beer or no beer. You can't bring beer into the Derby, and that doesn't stop 150,000 people from showing up every year.

As for the question, GA doesn't get you a seat, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. You can roam the track and look for a good spot in the morning, and $10 is way better than some of the absurd prices people are paying that won't get them a great view anyway.

Don't buy a GA ticket from anyone on the street. Walk up to the gate and buy one. I doubt they'll turn anyone away, but if they do, it'll probably be in the afternoon.

[NoLuvForPletch]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

There'll be 120,000 people, beer or no beer. You can't bring beer into the Derby, and that doesn't stop 150,000 people from showing up every year.
As for the question, GA doesn't get you a seat, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. You can roam the track and look for a good spot in the morning, and $10 is way better than some of the absurd prices people are paying that won't get them a great view anyway.

Don't buy a GA ticket from anyone on the street. Walk up to the gate and buy one. I doubt they'll turn anyone away, but if they do, it'll probably be in the afternoon.

Yes, the get 150,000 EVERY year for the Derby. We are not in Kentucky (this is NYC where there are other things to do), and this is not the Derby, it never will be. If there were only 120,000 people here on a day when half a city traveled for a hero and you could party til the cows came home and general admission prices were $3 and $5 not $10 and $20, and reserved seats were not as outlandish as they are now, I would be very, very surprised to see that many people again, ever. And does anybody really LOVE Big Brown anyway? Certainly not the way people comepletely fell for SJ.


In regards to your other advice, very true. I don't even think there is a such thing as a general admission ticket. So DO NOT purchase a general admission ticket from anyone, it's a scam. They will not turn anyone away.

[ateamstupid]

This is a major sporting event that will attract just about every casual fan in the tri-state area. Racing may be declining in prominence, but the attendance figures don't support that, as the TC races and Breeders' Cup perenially get huge crowds. I'd be shocked if there weren't at least 115,000 people (if weather cooperates). 103,000 showed up in the pouring rain for Funny Cide, way more than there should've been.

[slotdirt]

Shoot, they stopped letting people bring beer into the grandstand/clubhouse of the Preakness, and that hasn't caused attendance to dip. I think people come to see a potential Triple Crown winner, bringing in one's own beer is secondary.

[infield_line]

If I can just get my teenage son to get up a 6:00......

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

There'll be 120,000 people, beer or no beer. You can't bring beer into the Derby, and that doesn't stop 150,000 people from showing up every year.

As for the question, GA doesn't get you a seat, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. You can roam the track and look for a good spot in the morning, and $10 is way better than some of the absurd prices people are paying that won't get them a great view anyway.

Don't buy a GA ticket from anyone on the street. Walk up to the gate and buy one. I doubt they'll turn anyone away, but if they do, it'll probably be in the afternoon.

yeah, but up here we are used to bringing coolers in. i agree with you on GA, the seats are usaully the "boring" people anyway. i like being in the yard, just like i like the infield at the derby. how can you run your mouth,drink and smoke when you are stuck in a seat next to the q-tips!

[-BT-]

not sure if this had been answered or not.... but whats the difference in GA $10 and Clubhouse $20?

either way, look forward to seeing you guys up there

-bt-

[slotdirt]

GA gets you into the grandstand area, Clubhouse actually gets you into the Clubhouse area.

[-BT-]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

GA gets you into the grandstand area, Clubhouse actually gets you into the Clubhouse area.

and i assume $20 clubhouse tickets don't give you a seat?

-bt-

[NoLuvForPletch]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

There'll be 120,000 people, beer or no beer. You can't bring beer into the Derby, and that doesn't stop 150,000 people from showing up every year.
As for the question, GA doesn't get you a seat, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. You can roam the track and look for a good spot in the morning, and $10 is way better than some of the absurd prices people are paying that won't get them a great view anyway.

Don't buy a GA ticket from anyone on the street. Walk up to the gate and buy one. I doubt they'll turn anyone away, but if they do, it'll probably be in the afternoon.

Attendance : less than 100K

Maybe if every once in a while you guys said, hey I was wrong, the non kiss asses of the group might feel a little more love towards you and your stupid ass posts. Not that you would care. But perhaps you should have a little more respect for what others post on the board.

[hockey2315]

It was 95 degrees and Casino Drive scratched.

[Danzig]

only 97k, a 20% drop from when smarty went for the triple.

[Danzig]

double

[NoLuvForPletch]

Originally Posted by hockey2315

It was 95 degrees and Casino Drive scratched.

So, with CD scratching, wasn't it more likely to see a triple crown winner, if that's what the 150,ooo people were coming to see?

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by NoLuvForPletch

Attendance : less than 100K

Maybe if every once in a while you guys said, hey I was wrong, the non kiss asses of the group might feel a little more love towards you and your stupid ass posts. Not that you would care. But perhaps you should have a little more respect for what others post on the board.

Are you seriously wound up over an attendance prediction? You, along with a lot of others, take what is said here (an internet message board) way, way too seriously.

The posters that seem to be getting the most backlash (ateam, btw, Pants, Hoss, etc...) should all be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of their posts are misconstrued, because of their writing style, as condescending or an attack. Before getting yourself cranked up over a post, take a step back and realize where we are here. This is a horse racing message board, no more no less.

I'm not sure how ateam is a kiss ass, maybe you can enlighten me on that one. No one needs to come on here and find a thread that they made a prediction on, to say I was wrong. If that was a rule, PG1985 would get awful tired looking up old threads to say he was wrong.

Lighten up a bit.
Peace

[NoLuvForPletch]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

Are you seriously wound up over an attendance prediction? You, along with a lot of others, take what is said here (an internet message board) way, way too seriously.

The posters that seem to be getting the most backlash (ateam, btw, Pants, Hoss, etc...) should all be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of their posts are misconstrued, because of their writing style, as condescending or an attack. Before getting yourself cranked up over a post, take a step back and realize where we are here. This is a horse racing message board, no more no less.

I'm not sure how ateam is a kiss ass, maybe you can enlighten me on that one. No one needs to come on here and find a thread that they made a prediction on, to say I was wrong. If that was a rule, PG1985 would get awful tired looking up old threads to say he was wrong.

Lighten up a bit.
Peace

If it were only the attendance that was the issue.

Actually I think the board wants to be taken seriously. I don't think that the main players "have time" for those they feel to be below "their" level of knowledge. Guys like DaHoss and ATeam are all part of what I would call the Pillow Pants Posse, and they spend way to much time attacking people in a condescending way, as you've noted. Nobody really deserves to be abused the way these guys continually pound away. They all do their best to emulate Andy. While I don't know anyone from the PPP, I do know Andy, and however he wishes to express himself on the board, so be it. The guy has more knowledge than 99.9% of the people posting here and I'm willing to take his criticisms, and delivery of them, because I would bet that whatever he was saying wasn't just for the pleasure of beating someone down. I'm willing to bet the PPP has about an average level of knowledge at best, probably no more or less than myself. But they act like they are Steve Crist, Andy Beyer and Joe Hirsch.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by NoLuvForPletch

If it were only the attendance that was the issue.

Actually I think the board wants to be taken seriously. I don't think that the main players "have time" for those they feel to be below "their" level of knowledge. Guys like DaHoss and ATeam are all part of what I would call the Pillow Pants Posse, and they spend way to much time attacking people in a condescending way, as you've noted. Nobody really deserves to be abused the way these guys continually pound away. They all do their best to emulate Andy. While I don't know anyone from the PPP, I do know Andy, and however he wishes to express himself on the board, so be it. The guy has more knowledge than 99.9% of the people posting here and I'm willing to take his criticisms, and delivery of them, because I would bet that whatever he was saying wasn't just for the pleasure of beating someone down. I'm willing to bet the PPP has about an average level of knowledge at best, probably no more or less than myself. But they act like they are Steve Crist, Andy Beyer and Joe Hirsch.

You're reading way too much into this.

You're a whiner. I call you a whiner (and I'm far from the only one who does so). You get mad. You whine some more. That's generally what happens.

Plus, in this thread, I don't see how I was at all disrespectful to you.