CDI officially out of Fla racing

[RXB]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/85961/a-done-deal-between-calder-and-gulfstream

Good riddance. Now if only Fair Grounds and Arlington could be freed, too.

[horses4courses]

I'll drink to that......cheers!! :jump:

[Some_One]

Good deal for CD, get to have a racino without having to spend money on the racing part.

[Maximillion]

I know im in the minority here,but I love the dirt racing surface at Calder.
Wish they were owned by a different company.

[classhandicapper]

"Changes at Calder have already begun. Track management announced July 1 it has canceled live racing for July 4 and would discontinue simulcast operations in its grandstand and casino buildings at the close of business July 1."

No simulcast?

[Robert Goren]

Good deal for CD, get to have a racino without having to spend money on the racing part.I am pretty sure that a cut of the casino profits will still have to horse racing purses( I can't see the horsemen giving up that), but they will be rid of the cost of running the race track. A great deal for CDI, a good deal for the horsemen and again the horse race bettors are left out in the cold.

[nvemil]

I know im in the minority here,but I love the dirt racing surface at Calder.
Wish they were owned by a different company.

I completely agree with you.

Hell, from I have read over time, this dirt surface is the only thing that's going survive the liquidation of the racing side, which began as soon as they got the casino in.

[andtheyreoff]

I am pretty sure that a cut of the casino profits will still have to horse racing purses( I can't see the horsemen giving up that), but they will be rid of the cost of running the race track. A great deal for CDI, a good deal for the horsemen and again the horse race bettors are left out in the cold.

Yeah, I know I loved betting small fields at Gulfstream over the winter, while Calder ran bad races only to spite their rival.

This is a great deal. Now, racing in South Florida will get back on track, and hopefully get back up to past quality.

[therussmeister]

... and again the horse race bettors are left out in the cold.
I don't see it that way. I think it is a positive thing to go from six cards/week to four cards/week. Gulfstream has a marginally lower takeout rate than Calder. During the time they ran concurrently Gulfstream routinely had better cards than Calder. And surprisingly, Gulfstream had better weather than Calder. Calder was often sloppy/ off the turf, whilst a few miles away Gulfstream was fast/firm. It was very rare that Gulfstream was off the turf while Calder was still running turf races.

[Robert Goren]

We are always told that we will get larger fields and better races to bet on, but seldom ends up that way. Sure we might a half a horse more on average than we had before, but ain't near enough. Now if were getting 2 horses more race on average, then they could talk. One thing more, better horses doesn't always translate into better betting races.

[Valuist]

I don't see it that way. I think it is a positive thing to go from six cards/week to four cards/week. Gulfstream has a marginally lower takeout rate than Calder. During the time they ran concurrently Gulfstream routinely had better cards than Calder. And surprisingly, Gulfstream had better weather than Calder. Calder was often sloppy/ off the turf, whilst a few miles away Gulfstream was fast/firm. It was very rare that Gulfstream was off the turf while Calder was still running turf races.

Better weather or better drainage? I think the tracks are about 7 miles apart, or something similar to that.

[Rex Phinney]

I haven't been following this very closely, but the final deal reached here, seems to leave us with CDI true colors bleeding thru. They still want to run the casino and get the associated $$$ but they want to just drop the racetrack on it's head?

I suppose it's better for the horsemen because it consolidates things at Gulfstream or makes the purses bigger there, Again I haven't followed it much. Kind of seems like a sleezy way for CDI to get into (or just stay in) the casino business.Seems like they could have ran the minimum amount of race dates themselves but they didn't even want todo that so they left it up to Stronach.

Crazy deal all around.