Purple, SHRP Post Time??

[ranchwest]

According to my data file from Track Master and the Entries web page on the Equibase web site, post time for tonight's ninth race was 10:28. The race went off at 10:17, about the time I tried to get my wager in, which was to be a W/P on 11. The horse placed, but I was too late to get my wager in.

Why do you have races going off ahead of schedule? It seems to me that you're losing money that way.

Also, how can I determine the actual post time ahead of time?

[PurplePower]

Originally posted by ranchwest
According to my data file from Track Master and the Entries web page on the Equibase web site, post time for tonight's ninth race was 10:28. The race went off at 10:17, about the time I tried to get my wager in, which was to be a W/P on 11. The horse placed, but I was too late to get my wager in.Why do you have races going off ahead of schedule? It seems to me that you're losing money that way.Also, how can I determine the actual post time ahead of time? Goal of our mutuel department on "slow" nights (Wednesday, Thursday and Sundays) is to average 23 minutes between post times. That puts the ninth race going off at 10:16 and the tenth at 10:37. Did you notice(and I hestitate to say anything - the old "no-hitter" jinx, etc.) that not a single late jockey change or scratch tonight. Such a change is almost always good (read bad) for a ten minute "push" and the ninth not going off until 10:25 -10:35. On "busy" Friday and Saturday nights, post time is stretched to 25 minutes between races (and sometimes pushed back to 27 or 28 depending on amount of money being wagered somewhere) so ninth doesn't go off until 10:30 or so. I regret you didn't get your wager in. Sometimes when I go to paddock for paddock preview of the stakes race (usually the eighth) I may be looking at 23 minutes to post and plenty of time or 16 minutes to post and knowing I am going to have to edit on the fly. So answer is, if paddock previewer doesn't know exactly what time post will be until he walks into the paddock ........
I will print your email and present at one of our meetings when we discuss that very issue.

[ranchwest]

Well, my point is that the published time should be the earliest possible post time, IMHO. If it goes off late, at least you can still get my money (and hopefully I can get yours, too). If it goes off early, most people don't have ready access to that information.

Tonight, my horse only paid $4.60 to place so it was not a real big deal, but you might mention in your meeting that for every $1 I lost in profit, the track lost the same $1 in take. Of course, my 4.8/1 horse was only 1 1/4 length from winning, in which case I would have considered it a much bigger deal.

Thanks for your response. It is so good to have someone with an open ear to whom we can voice our concerns.

[PurplePower]

Just found out this weekend that when we go to Sunday racing in February and March our post time will be 4 PM. That is an hour earlier than in year's past when Sunday post time was 5 PM.

[BillW]

Reid,

Any reason behind the move, or just an experiment?

[PurplePower]

Originally posted by BillW
Reid, Any reason behind the move, or just an experiment? My understanding from marketing meeting last week was that Group Sales made the initial suggestion. They indicated that they could sell more suite parties and pavilion activities with the earlier post time. (They actually proposed 3 PM as their first suggestion since they knew 1PM would not fly.) A second suggestion had come from someone in New York (via e-mail) that wanted to play Sam Houston right after Aqueduct closed (which is usually around 5 EST) and before the harness started at 7. I don't know that this will get our signal into New York, but a little extra handle from New York would be nice. We won't move earlier than that because we get a lot of play from Los Alamitos (especially when we race Quarter Horses in summer). For that reason we may return to 5 PM Sunday post for summer Quarter Horse meeting.
Horsemen approved this post time change in their bi-weekly THP Horsemen's Committee meeting this past Thursday. So it is a "Go" and all our printed material now has the wrong Sunday post time. On line calendars need to be notified, etc. Some of my co-workers have some busy work to do for the next couple of weeks.

[ranchwest]

Purple Power,

What about the issue of the post times for subsequent races. Can we get the earliest possible time being disseminated as the advance official post time?

[PurplePower]

Originally posted by ranchwest
Purple Power,

What about the issue of the post times for subsequent races. Can we get the earliest possible time being disseminated as the advance official post time? That meeting will be the end of this coming week. As I mentioned earlier our mutuel manager makes decision as to post time for subsequent races. She works under umbrella of these guidelines: 1. Fit SHRP races in between races at other tracks (especially Los Al) so that we don't have races going off at same time. 2. Keep action as fast as possible while still giving fans time to wager. If the lines are long she holds post time and if not many are playing, post time is shorter.
We make a special request when stakes races are coming up so that there are some extra minutes added between stakes races to have time for paddock preview and post-race interviews.
Ranch, if I understand your request correctly, you are asking that we post a "no-earlier than" post time. I don't see why that would be a problem and I think it is a great idea. I'll let y'all know what feedback I get when I present this idea.

[ranchwest]

Thanks, you understand my request correctly. I know there can be nothing perfect about post times, but if I know that I want to wager on a race pre-scheduled to go off at 9:30, then I'd like to think that normally I can get my wager in at 9:20 without the race having gone. If it doesn't go until 9:40, that's OK because I wasn't shutout. Again, thanks.

[Zaf]

Originally posted by ranchwest
Thanks, you understand my request correctly. I know there can be nothing perfect about post times, but if I know that I want to wager on a race pre-scheduled to go off at 9:30, then I'd like to think that normally I can get my wager in at 9:20 without the race having gone. If it doesn't go until 9:40, that's OK because I wasn't shutout. Again, thanks.

Back in December I really liked a horse at TUP, and the Post Time on my Past Performances was 5:00 PM est. I was running late that day and I get into the Race Book at around 4:53 figuring I would have a good 10 minutes. I walk into the betting theater and I see the last horse being loaded and I'm shut out.

The race starts (a 6F sprint), the horse I like is 3 wide in a three horse duel 1/2 way into turn. Then he starts to accelerate away from the others and draws away to win by 7 lengths and pays $16.00.

I was a bit upset, I couldn't understand how a race could go off 5 minutes early on a Monday at TUP, which is one of their very good handle days due to lack of competition. Upon further investigation I see the track is off and its raining. Figures the one day it decides to rain in Arizona I'm playing, Quelle Chance !!
Anyway I proceded to lose the last 3 races on the card.

ZAFONIC