What's A Horse Worth ?

[Norm]

Just a bit of idle musing between races ... back in the late '50s and early to mid '60s, the bread-and-butter race was the $3,500 claimer. Here, in the NY-NJ area, that was the bottom line, cheapest race ... and there were lots of them. Those are the races where you made all of your money so most players were devout followers of these platers. O.k., now just for reference, a Ford 4-door sedan cost $2,400 brand new in those days. Fast-forward 45 years. There has been inflation ... lots of it. That Ford will cost close to $30,000 today. So those bottom line claimers are worth around $40 - 50,000 today, right?? Of course not right. In NJ the bottom is $5,000 and at NYRA tracks, it's $7,500. It would seem that day-to-day race horses (not the super-stars) have really crashed in value over the past four decades. But then it must be noted that, except for Stakes races, purses have not kept up with inflation either. The culprit ? It's the $2 bet. The minimum bet was $2 back then and still is today (more or less). Seems like we either have to raise the minimum bet to $20 or put slots at every track in the country. But you can't raise the bet or too many people will stop betting. Wow, I'm glad I don't own a race track, it's too complicated :) .

[depalma113]

It's the decline in wagering that is the culprit, not inflation. In the 50's and 60's horse racing was the only gambling available.

[illinoisbred]

It's the decline in wagering that is the culprit, not inflation. In the 50's and 60's horse racing was the only gambling available.
I can remember going to arlington[old,huge one]and hawthorne as a kid with my folks in the 60's and even into the mid 80's when these tracks had large weekday crowds.On weekends you could barely move about the crowds were so large.Since the mid 90's attendance has fallen so badly you can literally roll bowling bowls throughout these facilities and never hit anyone.Racing somehow needs to make itself attractive to the masses again.The very survival of racing will depend on it. We here as mostly daily players need the masses, and soon before its just us betting against ourselves.I've always thought a good starting point would be a nation-wide stake of the week.Somehow encourage good week-long coverage of the race in the media and setup wagering terminals in every convenient location much like the state lotteries have done.I think it could work.I remember back in the 60's here the Jewel Foods or A+P grocery stores gave you a card with 5 races and your horse in each race. You tuned in on saturday night and saw 5 races from Arlington with Georgeoff calling the races.If your horse won, your ticket was good for cash or groceries.I can recall all our neighbors became engrossed with racing and started to attend on a regular basis.

[lamboguy]

the heart and soul of the racing industry are the bottom claimers. not every horse can be a champion. years ago you could find plenty of small stables on a racetrack with 3 for 4 horses in them. ownership was more involved and there was much more interest in the sport. when you needed to work a horse in company you had to go to another trainer to set up the work. today you have large outfits like pletcher assmussen mckpeak, merril sherer and others that don't need other's they got plenty sitting in their barns. they don't dare work a horse with a little guy on the track if the horse the little guy has has any count
to them.
so what that means is that it makes it harder for the little guy to improve his young horse inbetween races. the big trainers work their horses with their own horses, they have fresh horses in a work coming out of a shoot when the horse working is making the turn.

what has happened to horseracing is the same as to what has happened in the corporate world, the walmarts have taken over the smaller stores and cvs and walgreen has taken over the mom and pop pharmacy. big outfits rule the racing industry today, and that has become the downfall in a nutshell. the smaller guy only has hopes, the big ones are living the big life in reality.

[Bruddah]

What's a horse worth? In days gone by, some Kings would have given there Kingdom for a horse. ;)

[Norm]

In the 50's and 60's horse racing was the only gambling available.
In those days there was more than enough gambling to go around. There was a bookie in every corner store and barber shop in most towns. Playing the "numbers" was the most popular game, a $1 bet would get you $500 (the odds against winning were 999-1). The bookies were raking in more "handle" on the races than the tracks. The bookie would let you set up your own parlays; $2 on the DD at Jamaica, the winnings to go in the place pool in the 3rd at Bowie then let it all ride on the 5th at Garden State. Folks were very creative with their parlays and the Bookies almost always took those kinds of bets. And the bookie's "take" was only 10%. Yes, the good old days :) .

[Norm]

I can remember going to arlington[old,huge one]and hawthorne as a kid with my folks in the 60's and even into the mid 80's when these tracks had large weekday crowds.On weekends you could barely move about the crowds were so large.Since the mid 90's attendance has fallen so badly you can literally roll bowling bowls throughout these facilities and never hit anyone.Racing somehow needs to make itself attractive to the masses again.The very survival of racing will depend on it. We here as mostly daily players need the masses, and soon before its just us betting against ourselves.I've always thought a good starting point would be a nation-wide stake of the week.Somehow encourage good week-long coverage of the race in the media and setup wagering terminals in every convenient location much like the state lotteries have done.I think it could work.I remember back in the 60's here the Jewel Foods or A+P grocery stores gave you a card with 5 races and your horse in each race. You tuned in on saturday night and saw 5 races from Arlington with Georgeoff calling the races.If your horse won, your ticket was good for cash or groceries.I can recall all our neighbors became engrossed with racing and started to attend on a regular basis.
So many good ideas there, especially having wagering terminals in every convenient location. Realistically, it's difficult to bet $2 on a horse unless you are at the track and that is the basic bet that gets new people started. All of us here have some computer skills or we wouldn't be here on-line. But think about how many steps are involved in making a bet on-line. We here do it regularly and think nothing of it, but it would be a very revealing exercise if track managers would go out on the street and find a person who never bet on a horse and try to explain to him, step by step by step, don't leave anything out, what he has to do to make that first $2 wager on-line for which he might win $3.20. Some of the problems the industry is facing would become clearer. It was just so much easier to get started in the old days.

[onefast99]

In those days there was more than enough gambling to go around. There was a bookie in every corner store and barber shop in most towns. Playing the "numbers" was the most popular game, a $1 bet would get you $500 (the odds against winning were 999-1). The bookies were raking in more "handle" on the races than the tracks. The bookie would let you set up your own parlays; $2 on the DD at Jamaica, the winnings to go in the place pool in the 3rd at Bowie then let it all ride on the 5th at Garden State. Folks were very creative with their parlays and the Bookies almost always took those kinds of bets. And the bookie's "take" was only 10%. Yes, the good old days :) .
I remember my grandmother doing the numbers from her bar in Syracuse NY. The last three numbers of the attendance at Finger Lakes got you some big bucks!