USTA New look

[Tom]

Personally I don't like it a bit. Too cluttered.

And Pandy - a lot of your stuff is missing - the links to your articles are no good. Is there another website you have them on? You were the bright spot on the website!

[LottaKash]

Personally I don't like it a bit. Too cluttered.

And Pandy - a lot of your stuff is missing - the links to your articles are no good. Is there another website you have them on? You were the bright spot on the website!

You are right Tom, Pandy's "archive" is no longer active or accessible.....:(

Too bad, as there are many newbies and folks that are not up to speed, that need "his" kind of knowledge and insights, concerning the "harness-game"..

"Knowledge not shared, is lost forever" - (someone said)

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As for the rest of the "new-site", I am not sure how I feel.....I mean, all the info is "still" there, but at first glance, it seems that you have to push a few more buttons to get to what you may be interested in.....

I simply use the "site-map" to accomplish that....and that is how I have "defaulted" my trips there....Rather sterile doing it that way, tho....

best,

[InsideThePylons-MW]

Anybody involved in harness racing....especially those who work at the USTA should be embarrassed by that website.

[RaceTrackDaddy]

I said this before in other groups and message boards..What does the USTA do with all the money they collect for dues? I have no idea how they spend all that cash...unless they moved, there is a little office in Columbus that I saw back in the days when I traveled..

Plus, they get a ton of money for those past performances we purchase. Every time my cost goes up, I complain to Trackmaster who then blames the USTA for raising the ante.

They can not eve get a single rule so that all jurisdictions are congruent on the pylon violations. In this day and age of simulcast wagering, we need a strong central governing body to standardize the sport. We have not that today nor it seems to be in the future.

rtd

[botster]

I said this before in other groups and message boards..What does the USTA do with all the money they collect for dues? I have no idea how they spend all that cash...unless they moved, there is a little office in Columbus that I saw back in the days when I traveled..

Plus, they get a ton of money for those past performances we purchase. Every time my cost goes up, I complain to Trackmaster who then blames the USTA for raising the ante.

They can not eve get a single rule so that all jurisdictions are congruent on the pylon violations. In this day and age of simulcast wagering, we need a strong central governing body to standardize the sport. We have not that today nor it seems to be in the future.

rtd

Very well put RTD...They better get Pandy's articles back up and running, otherwise I will throw a tirade of magnamus proportion their way.:mad: They do nothing of themselves to attract new fans and now this:mad: .

[wilderness]

You are right Tom, Pandy's "archive" is no longer active or accessible.

Many, many former USTA pages (and even other websites) are available via archive.org

Pandycapping Archives at archive.org (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ustrotting.com/handicapping/pandolfo/pandy.cfm) incomplete, however some.

[wilderness]

Anybody involved in harness racing....especially those who work at the USTA should be embarrassed by that website.

The USTA Staff has a website that exists to provide many diverse different types of data to many, many different interests.

I said this before in other groups and message boards..What does the USTA do with all the money they collect for dues? I have no idea how they spend all that cash...unless they moved, there is a little office in Columbus that I saw back in the days when I traveled..

The United States Trotting Association is a non-profit org. Their income/expense reports are published annually as per requirement of the law. They may in fact, still be published in the their Hoof Beats magazine

Plus, they get a ton of money for those past performances we purchase. Every time my cost goes up, I complain to Trackmaster who then blames the USTA for raising the ante.

The last USTA/Trackmaster contract that I was aware of (2003) the USTA was being paid $0.50 per each individually paid download. I've no clue on what their commission was/is on those Trackmaster customers that contract for the monthly unlimited downloads, however I kinda doubt they receive anything approaching 25% of the monthly fee.

I may assure you that their are NOT enough USTA/Trackmaster downloads to project the far-fetched profits you suggest.
Consider their market share?
You think there are 500,000 active harness racing fans that are wagering in North America? WRONG?
More like 100,000 or less!
From that 100k or less, how many are USTA/Trackmaster customers, how many are getting FREE PP's from other sources, how many purchase their PP's/Programs at the track.
When you dice it all up, their isn't much to generate tremendous profits.


They can not eve get a single rule so that all jurisdictions are congruent on the pylon violations. In this day and age of simulcast wagering, we need a strong central governing body to standardize the sport. We have not that today nor it seems to be in the future.
rtd

The USTA has NEVER been a governing body, rather statistical. It's a bit far-fetched to assume that the USTA could muster such control from all the states/provinces that would never relinquish their own authority.
The USTA began in 1939, previous to that (1927-1938 and earlier) four organizations existed which served basically the same function as the USTA did in 1939 (and remains so 2009).

They do nothing of themselves to attract new fans and now this:mad: .

Absurd! Because of your own lack of awareness, you assume incorrectly that USTA Staff does nothing to attract new fans.
You disrespect some very dedicated people with such broad statements, people that are under an employer-bound gag rule, which prevents them from defending themselves.

[Tom]

Many, many former USTA pages (and even other websites) are available via archive.org

Pandycapping Archives at archive.org (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ustrotting.com/handicapping/pandolfo/pandy.cfm) incomplete, however some.

Thanks.....great idea....duh! I just used this site LAST NIGHT to post a link to PA's i2st birthday.

[Pacingguy]

As earlier mentioned, the USTA's main purpose is to be a breed registry, promote the standardbred breed. They can't make rules that are enforced, merely provide model rules. Rule making is done by the individual states. The ARCI is trying to get states to go with a racing compact where the rules can be standardized for all breeds, but apparently, states like NY have no interest in that.

As far as not being able to get Pandy's archives, did anyone contact the USTA? When they redid the website, there were a lot of broken links. Let them now and they may fix them.

[LottaKash]

Many, many former USTA pages (and even other websites) are available via archive.org

Pandycapping Archives at archive.org (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ustrotting.com/handicapping/pandolfo/pandy.cfm) incomplete, however some.

:jump: ....As usual, you are right on time...THANKS DON...:jump:

best,

[wilderness]

BTW,
I also dislike the new USTA website, however for different reasons.
I oppose the domination of Java onto web pages, which add a tremendous bloat and vulnerability to most browsers.

The USTA's recent major design changes (results and entries previously), both rely extensively on Java, however in their defense, the Java integrates nicely with their pay-per-view systems.

[wilderness]

states like NY have no interest in that.

Pacingguy,
There's some really good reading on the controversy surrounding the long-standing battle between the USTA and the NY-ORC going back all the way to the 1930's.

In fact, many believe that the controversy was perpetuated by the owners of Yonkers and Roosevelt whom had the NY-ORC in their pocket at the time.
Even later "anti-trust" suit brought against the USTA was deemed to be navigated by somebody in the pocket of Yonkers and Roosevelt (Emmanuel Celler; interesting reading (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Celler)).

[ALostTexan]

I do not like that the new site has removed the sortable Featured Races segment. You used to be able to look at all of the races on one nice, big chart, and then click on the hadings to sort by age, purse, track, etc.

Not exactly sure why they would take a step back on that one, but it is a huge inconvenience to the fans that actually used the old chart.

That is one of my big complaints about the new site. Otherwise I am pretty indifferent to the new changes...

[wilderness]

I do not like that the new site has removed the sortable Featured Races segment. You used to be able to look at all of the races on one nice, big chart, and then click on the hadings to sort by age, purse, track, etc.


Try this Resutls/Entries (http://racing.ustrotting.com/main.aspx) page and click on the "Advanced search" tab

[botster]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45L8Er56q2E