Magna vs. Churchill

[fouroneone]

Your track is being bought, the only two bidders are magna and churchill. Who do you like and why? Who do you sell to and why?

[kenwoodallpromos]

SO I can bet speed!

[Tom]

Churchill - becasue they are not Magna!
Got enough slots around here.

[point given]

CD aint my favorite due to late odds drops I have experienced there by letting offshore money in late. BUT Magna is my least favorite. They crapped up Gulfstream as one could never imagine. Then Herr Stronache comes to Saratoga, and vants to change it to a year round destination. Pput in zee hotel, und de
shopps and restaurants. They should develop a force field to keep the magnas out !

[KingChas]

Churchill- half-heartidly ,because if Frankie keeps buying tracks we will be in the dark(ages).Unless he's showing his tracks races on channel 1000?Oops I don't get that high. :D

Churchill's odds drops and exacta payouts plain suck! :ThmbDown:

[DJofSD]

Anybody but Magna!

[takeout]

This reminds me of a George Wallace joke about a past presidential election. A man on the street pulls a gun on George and asked who he's for. George’s reply:
“Go ahead and shoot.”

[Valuist]

How about none of the above?

Magna gets a lot of bad press but CDI is just as incompetant.

[andicap]

Before I answer that, I have to ask Chicagoans,

What is Arlington Park like since CD took it over?

[DeadCrab]

What is Arlington Park like since CD took it over?
__________________
andicap
********************
Not much different.

The Magna v. Churchill question needs to be evaluated in light of two certain events:

1) Meeker is retiring soon.
2) Stronach isn't likely to live forever.

Churchill has a chance to improve (which they may or may not capitalize on).
Magna has a chance to collapse.

I view Churchill as a much more stable operation.

[Valuist]

Before I answer that, I have to ask Chicagoans,

What is Arlington Park like since CD took it over?

Gone way, way down. They raised admissions to $6 for regular grandstand admission. They removed the replay library area to look up videotapes of old races. They don't let people in for free after the 6th race like they used to (I think they do after the 8th). But they make no attempt to compete against the big brother (CD) for stables. There's a number of trainers who were based at AP but now base everything out of KY. Same with riders: Guidry and Douglas ruled the roost for years and Bridgmohan did last year; now all 3 compete against each other at CD. And when CD closes, Arlington still has to compete for horses with another CDI track (Ellis). Guys like McGee and Wilkes keep a small string there but its nothing like it was in the early 90s when horses like Unbridled, Black Tie Affair and Hansel were all based at AP. Duchossois' vision may not have been realistic but the track was much better when he was running things.

[DeadCrab]

Duchossois IS still running things. Here is the AP mgt team:

http://www.arlingtonpark.com/about/management_team.html

Don't forget that DD's accomplishments during his ownership include closing the track for a year.

[Valuist]

Not really. He doesn't have anywhere near the power he had 10-15 years ago. He's getting old; he's already had one quad bypass.

Yeah he did close it down for a year (actually I thought it was two). But the racing was very high quality after he rebuilt in 1989. Now its a shell of what it was.

[Steve 'StatMan']

AP, definitely didn't improve. Still the classic underachiever. Still keeping the vast majority of their focus on the circuses. Still prefering upper management hires that have little or no racing experience. Pretty, yes. Clean enough, yes. Pretty women still showing up on the weekends, ooohh yesss. Parking lot still about 1/10th full of what it used to be though, on Fri-Sat-Sun. But at least the families get their kids their pony rides and their face paintings on Sunday. The youngest of the first pony ride kids should be turning 17 this year. Let's keep watching and see if they come back and bet the races, or just bring their own kids back for more pony rides.

I prefer Hawthorne's answer, when Magna did some preliminary courting back about the same time as the CD/AP courtship, early 2000-01 time frame. "No thank you. Not for sale." (Of course, that was about 5 years ago. A lot has changed down there as well.)

[stlseeeek]

been betting and watching arlington got 15+ years, and it is nothing like it was before churchill took over.

you could see tough ilbred handicap horses run for allowancenw$$$. you were guarenteed to see some nice races and horses every day of the week.


now its garbage. i dont even bet the crap, small fields(cept grass) and bad horses. they should send the allowance and handicap horse from fairmount park up there, they could clean up in illbred and other races.


how sad, i will be up there for the million, but i'm not sure it's churchill downs fault either? of course it seemed that the fairgrounds under churchill had small fields compared to years passed. or maybe it looks that way?

[dccprez]

I think Mag-na sucks-a.

ON A RELATED TOPIC (and if this is somewhere else on the board I do apologize)

Solicitations for bids on the NYRA franchise went out a couple of days ago and both the Magnassholes and CD were on the list.

I really really hope CD is the successful bidder. I am of the opinion that they are just plain better at being "horse-racing-business people" AND, as importantly, they truly know how to do BIG events. I could see the Travers becoming a genuine week-long festival....

[Indulto]

... I really really hope CD is the successful bidder. I am of the opinion that they are just plain better at being "horse-racing-business people" AND, as importantly, they truly know how to do BIG events. I could see the Travers becoming a genuine week-long festival....dccp,
If you had witnessed the deterioration of the racing experience at Hollywood Park, you might not be so quick to embrace CDI.

I was turned off by MEC's initial changes to Santa Anita to the point where I stopped bothering to drive the additional half to full hour longer than it took me to get to Hollywood.

I didn't go back for years until this last meeting for the Pincay Jr. DVD promotion. By that time Santa Anita looked pretty good to me in comparison. That meet, as a whole, showed tremendous improvement, so I still can't finger the bigger loser at this time.

If the RFP winner expects to get huge crowds for Travers week, those mobile betting terminals better be foolproof and easy to use, because the betting lines will be impossible if they can't make renovations. Hope your neighbors are as enthusiastic about the prospect of a week-long Travers Day.

I know the poll only mentioned CDI and MEC, but how do you feel about ERA? Or a reconstituted NYRA?

[Tom]

I could see the Travers becoming a genuine week-long festival....

Saratoga is already a month long festival. I doubt they could possible improve on it. Travers day is arleady standing room only. Last time I was there for the Travers, there were so many people a guy passed out from the heat and never hit the dirt - ended up three blocks down Broadway.:liar:
I live three hours from the track - every year, I have to park four hours away and walk in.:liar:
And it's uphill all the way. And back.:rolleyes:
But I Love it.
And the chowder. CD make better bowl of "Red" that a real New Yorker?
Fugetaboutit!

[dccprez]

Ind-
I wasn't aware of the quality drop off at Hollywood. That's unfortunate.
I agree that some of Magna's plant-improvements have actually worked out for the good. Maybe I'm a little biased because of what they've done at Gulfstream (seems a majority of the player do not like the "upgrades"). Also they've accumulated a tremendous amount of debt. Add to that the fact that Frank will want to run Saratoga for about 20 weeks a year. On the whole I guess I'd take CD over Mag-nasty as the "lesser of two evils".

Is "ERA" that horseman's group? That might be good...
A reconstituted NYRA souds as appealing as eating my "reconstituted breakfast". Too many politicos who don't have any real foundation/understanding when it comes right down to Thoroughbred Racing and the fans.


Tommy -
Agreed, Saratoga is a six-week celebration. I was thiking that Traver's week could become more like Derby week in Louisville - a true "festival week".
Travers are always crowded for sure - NONE more that when Point Given ran a few years back. You had to go out to the parking lot just to change your mind!
But it's fun nevertheless! I do between 14-24 days when it's open (I only live 9 miles away). I'm also intimately familiar with the best and cheapest places to park that are within a furlong or so of the gates! Give me a shout-out when you're planning to attend - our gang always makes a full- fleged-fun-day of it when we go over.

(I'm an original Bostonian. I don't eat Manhattan chowder even on a bet.)

[karlskorner]

Of the 2 tracks I attend daily ( CRC & GP ) one owned by Churchill and the other by Magna, I would have to go with Magna. Not everyone is satisfied with what they have done or will do, but at least they are trying.

[CryingForTheHorses]

Of the 2 tracks I attend daily ( CRC & GP ) one owned by Churchill and the other by Magna, I would have to go with Magna. Not everyone is satisfied with what they have done or will do, but at least they are trying.

I love Calder..The people in the Racing office are always very helpful and the new RS seems to want to help the little horseman by writing a few extras when needed. They have one of the cleanest backsides and the grandstand is nothing short of immaculate.They have bent over backwards trying to fix the backside sinse Wilma.Us Calder guys feel more at home here then GP.

[bigmack]

Gone way, way down.
Darn shame. Can I ask V as I've not been there in years have they done much with facility itself.
Last I was there it was a couple o years after the renovation and I was uber impressed.

[Valuist]

The facility itself it excellent. Second to none. Its the way everything else is run.

[bigmack]

The facility itself it excellent. Second to none. Its the way everything else is run.
Yeah the facility is really aesthetically sharp. Here's a recent deal from DRF
on the track itself:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/75876.html

[DerbyTrail]

Don't forget that DD's accomplishments during his ownership include closing the track for a year.

What a totally ridiculous comment...

If you're "not forgetting" things, try and not forget his REBUILDING THE PLACE AFTER THE FIRE.

[cnollfan]

I despise Magna. I only dislike Churchill.

[BobbysChance]

churchill over magna any day of the week.

but then.. who said i had to bet? hmmmm? :bang: oh wait.. that was a give in right. ok so yeah id shoot myself

[bigmack]

Pine BarkTime
http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=34259