Meadowlands Dates

[bigeastbeast]

Without thoroughbred racing-on the main track,at least-,why doesn't the Big M change its schedule to Thursday-Saturday from March through November?Not enough money for purses?Too much competition for horses from Pocono and Harrah's?

[Just a Fan]

I think you pretty much answered your own questions! They only run about 80 dates because that's all that can be supported by the purse account and the available horse population, and they do a pretty good business in Jan and Feb despite the weather because they can put on a good show with the horses that are available.

September-October would be a tough month for them in any business climate because the action heats up on the grand circuit, particularly at the Little Brown Jug and in Lexington.

[mrroyboy]

A lot of it is the state of NJ. Meadowlands would probably love to race more days and would get enough horses but the state allots days to both Freehold and Monmouth(T-bred).

[LottaKash]

I always hate to be such a downer, but so far, what with winter and all the "stale" racing dates to work with, I am having a difficult time trying to find the angles that give the most bang for my buck....As a result, I have played very little at M1 so far this season....

Of course, early spring to early summer & early fall to early winter are the times when I do best, and I relish those times of the year vs. these early season plugs... I have laid mostly "low" this winter, taking many spells away from racing so far since Nov. ...I am just not that happy with racing at M1, as well as the many other venues that I usually visit regularly and like to play... As it now/recently is, there are simply not enough of good "in form" horses that have "good angles" to them, for me...Too many nw of 2 & 3 & & 4 & 5 LT horses....Imagine, 5yolds that haven't won 2 races lifetime...:eek:

I know others are doing good this time of year, and I happy for them....So I will continue to be patient tho, still...:cool:

Altho, in contrast to northern racing, I do find some nice gems at PPk when they pop up from time to time, and the new Miami track, since opening, is where I have found that the locals are pretty clueless at times by letting some of the very good eastern shippers coming in to town, thus making for some nice low price overlays, so far...

[mrroyboy]

That's interesting John. I did a lot better in the Contest with Meadow than Big M or Yonkers. Maybe avoiding NE racing for a while would be good.

[LottaKash]

That's interesting John. I did a lot better in the Contest with Meadow than Big M or Yonkers. Maybe avoiding NE racing for a while would be good.

Maybe so Roy....;)

As for M1, I also (very) do not like the ABC system of classifications....To my way of thinking at least, it takes away the "trainers intentions on raceday" in a very big way, and gives the "racing secretary" way, way too much power in that regard...And trainer angles had been a bedrock in my handicapping these past few years....Consequently, I don't find the "looks" that I look for at other raceways where I have much more success, and because of that, I bet less @M1, or not at all on most nites....

I guess some people like the ABC-way, as in perhaps, that they perceive that it is easier to properly assess class using this paradigm....It doesn't mean that to me, at all....Class to me is a combination of things not just that a horse raced against a higher class last week or recently....

Too many C2's & C1's for my taste....Same as with DD, where the majority of the runners are nw 4 or 5 LT or 7,500 clmers ....Boring as hell there too...But hey, I am only one guy, with an opinion or two....:cool:

[mrroyboy]

Right about giving too much power to the racing secretary. Track likes it because there are more medium price horses and more carryovers but from the standpoint of handicapping it is not a good thing.

[Just a Fan]

I like ABC, but I agree that it gives the race sec'y a lot of power, maybe too much, and he had better be really good at it, and really fair. There was a classified horse at the Meadowlands last weekend that went off at over 100-1 for 2 weeks in a row... if I owned that horse I would be annoyed, because the horse is clearly overclassified, and as an owner there is nothing I can do but take my lumps. Can't remember who it was, but the horse wasn't a C2. And on the other end of the spectrum, Panesthetic was put into a C1 and won by open lengths in 1:49.3 at 4-5. Oops. (They double jumped him this week). 98% of the time, I think the Meadowlands classifies horses pretty well, but I can see how this system would tick people off sometimes.


The only other solution I can think of would be to get rid of everything B1 and cheaper, and replace those classes with nothing but claiming handicaps, so that instead of the race sec'y classifying all those horses, the trainers can classify them by naming their claiming price each week when they enter. The very best horses would still be able to race in A2, A1, and FFA (think of those classes like an Open 1, Open 2, Open 3) so that those horses wouldn't have to be risked for a tag. The race sec'y might get a few dozen claimers entered in the box, and all he has to do is divide them up into closely priced horses, so one race might turn out to be Clm Hcp 18,000-22,000, then another race would be Clm 22,500-28,000, and so on. The next week, the claiming groups might turn out to be slightly different, so that the 22,000 horse that got the 10 hole the first week would get a different draw the next week. Come up with a formula to base the purse on the average claiming price.

The drawback would be that once a horse won his way out of the NW4/90K lifetime class, if he wasn't good enough for the top classes, they would have to either race for a claiming price, or leave. And of course, the Meadowlands may feel that the current system isn't broken, since the handle has been strong.

Crazy?

[LottaKash]

.

The only other solution I can think of would be to get rid of everything B1 and cheaper, and replace those classes with nothing but claiming handicaps, so that instead of the race sec'y classifying all those horses, the trainers can classify them by naming their claiming price each week when they enter.
Crazy?


Yikes JAF, how boring is that ?....Me, I can't stand claiming races, at all....I generally, only play conditioned races or very high tag claimers....That doesn't mean that I don't take a peek at each claiming race that may be on a card, but if I play a claiming race at all, it will be because there is an angle to it, that just may be a dialectic of the "what is my horse worth game"... Otherwise, "most" claiming races for me, are just a merry-go-round of horses, each taking his turn winning and losing vs. the same bunch, endlessly, week after week after week.....I just don't have the patience for that drudge anymore....And my wagering records will bear this out (where I excel or where I continually keep flopping around)...