"No Mas!" $7 for Saturday DRF!!

[BombsAway Bob]

To DRF:
PLEASE..Stop the Madness! You strip the DRF of results, letters to the editor, workouts, etc. during the week; run the same five old news stories on both the Mon/Tue editions; omit small track meets that would justify daily $6 cost; & NOW, you're going to offer INFORMATION & Handicapper opinions in the Saturday Edition..& RAISE THE PRICE another Buck!!?!
Let's guess how the DRF meeting went;
"Gentlemen, DRF paper sales are tanking faster than D'Tara..the only day we sell anything close to our old sales is on Saturday. What can we do?"
"I know..let's throw another 12 pages in the Saturday Edition, & charge More Money for it!"
"But we don't want to hurt out putrid 'PM Edition' sales by adding more track PP's to the Saturday paper"
"No..we're not gonna give 'em anything more than another pullout section! We'll just move our reporter's articles out of the front of the paper, & make a "New" section..something snappy, like..
DRF WEEKEND!"
Please, DRF, stop this nonsense!

[Imriledup]

DRF and Steve Crist are, well, i'm not going to say in print what they are, but you can figure it out. I always thought Crist was a friend of the horseplayer. Silly me.

[wisconsin]

Print readership is way down, so of course the price is going to go up. What do you guys think it costs to print this paper, and then ship it all over the country and then into podunk neighborhoods? Now, after you figure that out, what is their true overhead? If it isn't worth the money, you don't have to buy it. Walk through any OTB or track, and very few people read the Form anymore. Go, instead, and buy 7 programs for $7, or the "Simulcast Program" for $5. You are lucky to get 4 running lines in many races. If that works better, great, but get real about what you truly getting when you buy a Form. You pay $7 on Tuesday I know, but then again you only have to spend $7 on Saturday. Not rocket science.

[BillW]

Go, instead, and buy 7 programs for $7, or the "Simulcast Program" for $5. You are lucky to get 4 running lines in many races.

Or how about TSN's all you can eat package for $2.00/day (plus toner costs if you don't carry a laptop with you) :)

[takeout]

Print readership is way down, so of course the price is going to go up. Sounds like they operate just like the tracks. :) I think the DRF needs slots!

[Tom]

I think if DRF wrapped poop in their paper they would sell more than with that stupid new weekend crap they put in it.:lol:

Ya know, with that huge database they have access to, you would think think they could bother to look up the Beyer pars - way too many races have NA listed. BS. They have more than enough data to come up with pars. I bought their Racing Manual and all the graded stakes are right in there - all that is lacking is someone at DRF able to read and do simple math. :rolleyes:


DRF - you bozos are a bunch of cheap lazy slugs!

[fmolf]

I think if DRF wrapped poop in their paper they would sell more than with that stupid new weekend crap they put in it.:lol:

Ya know, with that huge database they have access to, you would think think they could bother to look up the Beyer pars - way too many races have NA listed. BS. They have more than enough data to come up with pars. I bought their Racing Manual and all the graded stakes are right in there - all that is lacking is someone at DRF able to read and do simple math. :rolleyes:


DRF - you bozos are a bunch of cheap lazy slugs!
bris ultimates are a much better product and i can get as many tracks as i want for $10 a day...$4 a day for regular unlimited premium pp's and they are also better than drf print version.I will never buy another drf for as long as i am playing this game!That to go along with never making a bet on a fake plastic track!

[Horseplayersbet.com]

Or how about TSN's all you can eat package for $2.00/day (plus toner costs if you don't carry a laptop with you) :)
Effective October 1, 2009 Thoroughbred Sports Network (Tsnhorse.com), which is part of the Churchill Downs family of companies, will no longer accept new registrations for monthly TSN discount plans.

They still have 50 cent Premium PPs per track with a $4.00 maximum a day.
I am still on the $60 unlimited monthly plan, and will be until they pull the rug out from under me.

[Tom]

Smart move. Restrict new customers.
What's next, a special report you can buy that has the horse NUMBERS in it?

The Data Whores make no sense some times. Most times. Ok, ALL the time.

[Horseplayersbet.com]

Smart move. Restrict new customers.
What's next, a special report you can buy that has the horse NUMBERS in it?

The Data Whores make no sense some times. Most times. Ok, ALL the time.
I don't think it is just new customers. If I wasn't on the plan in September, I don't think I'd have the option to buy it in October.

[Fingal]

I stopped using a form many years ago when I came to the realization that for allot less $$, I could get better info with no fluff articles or adds. The DRF is pushing people toward BRIS & TSN.

[CincyHorseplayer]

This sounds like a bunch of wash women arguing about the cost of Tide!!

What does the cost amount to,about $1 an hour for entertainment???If you handicap 3 hours and watch races for 5???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzn5d0dBLIU

:lol:

[Robert Fischer]

Sounds like they operate just like the tracks. :) I think the DRF needs slots!:D funny

[jelly]

The DRF has definitely lost It's luster.

The DRF circulation is down to 34,000 a day and who knows how many they actually sell.

I wouldn't be surprised if the DRF is up for sale.

[magwell]

I've been strung out on "the form" for to long to shake the addiction now.....:)

[Overlay]

When viewed in perspective, I'm not sure that Form price increases in the last 30 years have been so disproportionate with the cost of living (or maybe I'm just judging from my own situation back then, as compared to now). It's just the daily frequency with which you're required to make that outlay as an up-front "sunk cost" of doing business that makes it seem so onerous. However, in any event, I'm glad that I at least got past the need to maintain a massive collection of sequential hard-copy Forms for data-mining and the endless search for "the way, the truth, and the light" (to quote Andy Beyer's description of speed figures) a long time ago, from both a cost standpoint and the routine logistical difficulties associated with my periodic job-related moves.

[takeout]

I stopped using a form many years ago when I came to the realization that for allot less $$, I could get better info with no fluff articles or adds. The DRF is pushing people toward BRIS & TSN.Same here. DRF propelled me over to BRIS, then I realized BRIS was using DRF data, and that dropkicked me over to TSN. :D

[takeout]

I wouldn't be surprised if the DRF is up for sale.According to their web site http://drf.com/about/about_history.html they’re on their 5th owner since ‘88. I’m starting to wonder how many times they can squeeze that lemon. A couple of more turnovers and it’ll probably cost as much as the Rag sheets. :rolleyes:

[takeout]

then I realized BRIS was using DRF data,
BTW... I just noticed that the BRIS disclaimer stuff on their home page has been changed and no longer says “DRF data” like it used to. Anyone know when this happened, and how?

[Horseplayersbet.com]

When viewed in perspective, I'm not sure that Form price increases in the last 30 years have been so disproportionate with the cost of living (or maybe I'm just judging from my own situation back then, as compared to now). It's just the daily frequency with which you're required to make that outlay as an up-front "sunk cost" of doing business that makes it seem so onerous. However, in any event, I'm glad that I at least got past the need to maintain a massive collection of sequential hard-copy Forms for data-mining and the endless search for "the way, the truth, and the light" (to quote Andy Beyer's description of speed figures) a long time ago, from both a cost standpoint and the routine logistical difficulties associated with my periodic job-related moves.
$1.00 in 1979 is worth $2.79 today
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

Now the question is what was the price of a Form in 1979

I can't remember, and I used to sell them at the track. I do remember my first day selling Forms, it was when Secretariat made his last start at Woodbine, and the price was either 75 cents or a dollar. That was in 1973 of course. And according to the inflation calculator, it the price was a buck, it is equal to $4.86 today.
I remember a lot of quarter spikes from the early 70's to the early 80's.

[Horseplayersbet.com]

1979, the price was $1.50
http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=drf1970s;g=drf;xc=1;q1=secretariat;rgn=full% 20text;view=pdf;cc=drf1970s;seq=1;idno=drf19790505 01;didno=drf1979050501

So according to the inflation calculator, the price today should be $4.19.

[Horseplayersbet.com]

Print readership is way down, so of course the price is going to go up.
Now that type of economics only seems to be logical and rampant in the world of thoroughbred racing.
On EBAY if demand is down the price sold is lower when the demand is high. It works that way in the stock market too.
Racing seems to try to defy the laws of supply and demand.
The best example of this is when betting is down, a track or government decides to up the takeout.

[Hosshead]

Effective October 1, 2009 Thoroughbred Sports Network (Tsnhorse.com), which is part of the Churchill Downs family of companies, will no longer accept new registrations for monthly TSN discount plans.

They still have 50 cent Premium PPs per track with a $4.00 maximum a day.
I am still on the $60 unlimited monthly plan, and will be until they pull the rug out from under me.
Is this the end of the $59/mo Procaps for new subscribers?

[MickJ26]

Steve Crist is the first guy to complain about excessive track takeouts, breakage, adw fees and anything else that screws the horseplayer/fan. If this was an across the board increase, I'd grudgingly accept it, but, it's just the Saturday editions, horse racings biggest day of the week. They give you a "weekend section" that's a waste of paper. Looks like price gouging to me.

[Greyfox]

This sounds like a bunch of wash women arguing about the cost of Tide!!

What does the cost amount to,about $1 an hour for entertainment???If you handicap 3 hours and watch races for 5???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzn5d0dBLIU

:lol:

Where I play the form costs $ 5 most days and $ 5.50 on Mondays.

Playing over 300 days a year, I'm spending over $ 1,500 on the DRF.
It's not as though I'm going on a Saturday afternoon for "entertainment."
If I want entertainment there are other venues.

I seldom read their articles. If I want info and opinions I can get it off the 'net.

[Tom]

1979, the price was $1.50
http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=drf1970s;g=drf;xc=1;q1=secretariat;rgn=full% 20text;view=pdf;cc=drf1970s;seq=1;idno=drf19790505 01;didno=drf1979050501

So according to the inflation calculator, the price today should be $4.19.

$0.50 when I started buying it. Six or so tracks.
Don't recall too many other things going up over 1000% in price in that time frame.