"Worse than I ever could have imagined"

[InsideThePylons-MW]

A early quote from a Santa Anita higher-up talking about on-track turnout before 3rd race.

[Tampa Russ]

A early quote from a Santa Anita higher-up talking about on-track turnout before 3rd race.

It's Friday and they have overpriced the tickets. What did they expect. Regardless, after 2 BC races, so far, it's the best BC I've watched. Two tremendous races...great finishes..wow!!

[JustRalph]

Lots of empty seats

[Tom]

Looked more like a Wednesday than a BC day.
Very poor turn out.

[DarrenClarke]

Great racing. Pro-Ride, so far so good. Maybe a little fast. As for attendance and handle, I hope they suffer HUGE for both days. With high prices and the massive economic problems it might be a perfect storm. There was a story in Sunday's DRF that included interviews with the two main BC people and their arrogance toward the fans who make this sport go everyday was absolutely stunning. Their justification for high prices was that by having high prices outsiders would view the BC as being as important as the Super Bowl or (get this, do you think they are from NY) the US Open tennis tournament. Truly bizarre anywhere else, par for the course in racing.

[llegend39]

It's Friday and they have overpriced the tickets. What did they expect. Regardless, after 2 BC races, so far, it's the best BC I've watched. Two tremendous races...great finishes..wow!!

TVG was advertising the last 2 days you could buy General Admission tickets for $20 at the window for either day.

[Rackon]

There was a story in Sunday's DRF that included interviews with the two main BC people and their arrogance toward the fans who make this sport go everyday was absolutely stunning. Their justification for high prices was that by having high prices outsiders would view the BC as being as important as the Super Bowl or (get this do you think they are from NY) the US Open tennis tournament.

Yes, indeed - agree completely. This is the kind of thinking that has gotten us to where we are today.

Instead of pricing the tickets so high, why not price the tickets affordably (especially for Friday, a WORK day for most people), plus promote discounts to actual "ladies" on BCC Ladies Day, then maybe the young women who love horses and are excellent prospects for race fans could actually afford to to go. What hubris led the BC to think they'd easily fill the stands today? That would only happen at CD.

[Bruddah]

Yes, indeed - agree completely. This is the kind of thinking that has gotten us to where we are today.

Instead of pricing the tickets so high, why not price the tickets affordably (especially for Friday, a WORK day for most people), plus promote discounts to actual "ladies" on BCC Ladies Day, then maybe the young women who love horses and are excellent prospects for race fans could actually afford to to go. What hubris led the BC to think they'd easily fill the stands today? That would only happen at CD.

It's easily defined as snobbery and arrogance.

[Speed Figure]

TVG was advertising the last 2 days you could buy General Admission tickets for $20 at the window for either day.
So, $20 to get in, $6 for the form, plus paying to park. Your talking about over $30 just to get in. That's far to much money. I'm more than happy to sit and bet at home and pay nothing. When they learn to open up the gates and just let people come in and bet, things will be far better. Don't ya love it. "Horse Racing, the sport where the bettors pay to play".

[sandpit]

TVG was advertising the last 2 days you could buy General Admission tickets for $20 at the window for either day.

A week ago, the price was $50, but they backed it down when they realized they weren't gonna get anybody out there.

A friend sent me a note from the stands today and said he had talked to some people that paid $150 for tickets that had a face value of $250.

[ghostyapper]

What was the point of running all the bc races so early? The distaff ended around 3:30 west coast time. Why not run the last race at 5 local time?

And they are nuts tomorrow starting the day with a bc race. Why not run 1 or 2 allowance races or stakes?

[Endsweep24]

The DRF shows todays Attendance at 31,000 and change not tremendous but a little better than a Wednesday crowd

THats 4 thousnad more than was at Monmouth Last year on Saturday Plus Monmouth had to deal with the Bad Weather.

Last time BC was at SA in 2003 there were 51,000 on track it will be interesting to see how tomorrow compares to the 2003 figure

[thespaah]

TVG was advertising the last 2 days you could buy General Admission tickets for $20 at the window for either day.
20 bucks? Heck ,the track should be paying people for coming.

[thespaah]

So, $20 to get in, $6 for the form, plus paying to park. Your talking about over $30 just to get in. That's far to much money. I'm more than happy to sit and bet at home and pay nothing. When they learn to open up the gates and just let people come in and bet, things will be far better. Don't ya love it. "Horse Racing, the sport where the bettors pay to play".
Tall ya what......the racing industry should take a lesson or two from the casinos..

[The Hawk]

The DRF shows todays Attendance at 31,000 and change not tremendous but a little better than a Wednesday crowd

THats 4 thousnad more than was at Monmouth Last year on Saturday Plus Monmouth had to deal with the Bad Weather.

Last time BC was at SA in 2003 there were 51,000 on track it will be interesting to see how tomorrow compares to the 2003 figure

I wouldn't bet that number is real.

[JustRalph]

what? They counting the people at the mall across the street now?

[Norm]

Blood Horse has the numbers :

All sources (common pool) handle for the five Breeders’ Cup World Championship races was $33,180,205 of which $4,315,487 was bet on track.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/47752/first-day-cup-handle-tops-47-million (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/47752/first-day-cup-handle-tops-47-million)

[Endsweep24]

Hmmmm Funny I have talked to a few people that were there yesterday and all of them said there was a great crowd. So I am not sure what you guys were seeing were you there.

[Zman179]

Blood Horse has the numbers...

The numbers certainly back up the possibility that the stands were pretty deserted for a major event. I highly doubt that, on track, the per capita for each BC race with 31,000+ "fans in attendance" was only $27.61 considering how much bread one had to outlay just to get into the joint. I'm sure that there was only like 20,000 there and the other 11,000 were pre-purchased admissions that went unused.

Breeders’ Cup president/CEO Greg Aviol said, “The horse racing fans of Southern California and sports fans around the world responded enthusiastically to the new format for Championship Friday." I betcha that if the Santa Anita grandstand were to burn down, he would say, "Everyone could feel the warmth in the crowd. The stands were absolutely crackling with excitement (panic) today."

[098poi]

[QUOTE=Speed Figure]So, $20 to get in, $6 for the form, plus paying to park. Your talking about over $30 just to get in. That's far to much money. I'm more than happy to sit and bet at home and pay nothing. When they learn to open up the gates and just let people come in and bet, things will be far better. Don't ya love it. "Horse Racing, the sport where the bettors pay to play".


Great line!

[eastie]

What was the point of running all the bc races so early? The distaff ended around 3:30 west coast time. Why not run the last race at 5 local time?

And they are nuts tomorrow starting the day with a bc race. Why not run 1 or 2 allowance races or stakes?

i guess because the least common thing in the world is common sense. Duh. talk about no brainers. you should have called and explained it to them a month ago.

[rrbauer]

A week ago, the price was $50, but they backed it down when they realized they weren't gonna get anybody out there.

A friend sent me a note from the stands today and said he had talked to some people that paid $150 for tickets that had a face value of $250.

Not so. GA has always been $20. Clubhouse has always been $50.

Here's the original order form for tickets.

http://www.oaktreeracing.com/bc/BC08ticketapp.pdf

[rrbauer]

To follow on: The BC is like all big racing days. If you want to go you will find a way. The power structure can say what they want and plead "bad economy", "high gas prices", etc. But, what they need to get in touch with is that, more and more, their fan base just doesn't want to be bothered. Thirty years ago, 31K was a normal Saturday crowd at SA. Big Cap and closing day would draw 55K or more. All things considered, the BC crew should be happy with 31K on a Friday. Probably get it up to 45K for Saturday.

[toetoe]

The numbers certainly back up the possibility that the stands were pretty deserted for a major event. I highly doubt that, on track, the per capita for each BC race with 31,000+ "fans in attendance" was only $27.61 considering how much bread one had to outlay just to get into the joint. I'm sure that there was only like 20,000 there and the other 11,000 were pre-purchased admissions that went unused.

Breeders’ Cup president/CEO Greg Aviol said, “The horse racing fans of Southern California and sports fans around the world responded enthusiastically to the new format for Championship Friday." the Santa Anita I betcha that if ndstand were to burn down, he would say, "Everyone could feel the warmth in the crowd. The stands were absolutely crackling with excitement (panic) today."

:lol: . Yer on FYE-YA!

[BombsAway Bob]

I'm sick of this "Fear of the NFL", having FRI/SAT instead of SAT/SUN Breeders Cup races.
Why Not move "Ladies Day" to SUNDAY with FREE ADMISSION for the fairer sex? :jump:

[maxwell]

Why not make Friday a free day? Good PR never hurts!

[Tom]

Do we need a Marathon and two 2yo turf races?
Cut that crap out and run one day. No need for 40 minutes between races.
I imagine it gets boring at the track, and TV just fills up the time with nonsense and nothing about real racing.

[cj]

Do we need a Marathon and two 2yo turf races?
Cut that crap out and run one day. No need for 40 minutes between races.
I imagine it gets boring at the track, and TV just fills up the time with nonsense and nothing about real racing.

If they must have a Friday, run the two Juvenile turf races, the Marathon, the Filly and Mare Spint, the Dirt Mile, and the Turf Sprint. Save the good ones for Saturday.

[alhattab]

If they must have a Friday, run the two Juvenile turf races, the Marathon, the Filly and Mare Spint, the Dirt Mile, and the Turf Sprint. Save the good ones for Saturday.

This hits the nail on the head. No objection to more races for insignificant divisions but move those races to either Fri or Sun. I felt having insignificant races on Sat. cheapened the day a bit. Other than for betting purposes I don't have much interest in races like turf sprint, Marathon and juv turf (for $1 million!).

[Valuist]

If they must have a Friday, run the two Juvenile turf races, the Marathon, the Filly and Mare Spint, the Dirt Mile, and the Turf Sprint. Save the good ones for Saturday.

Well said. Watching the Marathon, I thought it was the equivalent of a Claiming Crown race, or even just a decent starter allowance. We don't breed for marathons on dirt; the race is completely useless. As for the 2YO turf races, most of the runners had little turf form to go by so they really aren't great betting races. I didn't see a need to add a turf sprint; the only two races I was glad to see added were the Filly/Mare Sprint and the Dirt Mile. But why not make the F/M Sprint 6f?

[DeanT]

We don't breed for marathons on dirt;

What if the dirt marathon was for $2M. Would we then breed for it and have sounder horses? I think the Marathon makes a very important statement.

CJ: You are hired! I wanted to see Zenyatta yesterday because I thought it would be the story of the day. It was not a huge story and I would have loved to see her strut her stuff today.

I'm up for your changes. It would make a good blog piece for some kinda Horseplayer club :)

[JustRalph]

How about two consecutive saturdays?

[o_crunk]

The numbers certainly back up the possibility that the stands were pretty deserted for a major event. I highly doubt that, on track, the per capita for each BC race with 31,000+ "fans in attendance" was only $27.61 considering how much bread one had to outlay just to get into the joint. I'm sure that there was only like 20,000 there and the other 11,000 were pre-purchased admissions that went unused.

Breeders’ Cup president/CEO Greg Aviol said, “The horse racing fans of Southern California and sports fans around the world responded enthusiastically to the new format for Championship Friday." I betcha that if the Santa Anita grandstand were to burn down, he would say, "Everyone could feel the warmth in the crowd. The stands were absolutely crackling with excitement (panic) today."

I went to the Friday card last year at MTH (for free, BTW, with a 10 year expired college ID) and the announced attendance of 27k was full of ish. I spend a lot of time at MTH and I know what 27k feels like at that track. I'd put my life on the turnstile number actually saying somewhere just south of 18k, tops. The grandstand was empty, parking plentiful, betting no problem...the top 2 levels of the grandstand, you could sit where ever you pleased and this is in the rain. That's not even in the neighborhood for what you'll experience for a decent father's day card most years.

Even when they play with the numbers, the turnout isn't positive....it's sad.

[WinterTriangle]

How about two consecutive saturdays?

Like that idea. Breather in between. 6 hours of racing on SAT was just about all I could handle, but with Fri too is a bit "exhausting".