Downs after dark is a wild success

[toussaud]

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/churchill-s-downs-after-dark-is-a-wild-success/

[sonnyp]

he's correct about not overdoing it. we've become a society of overexposure which leaves nothing special. too much, too much, too much.

too much baseball, too much nba, too much football, way too much horse racing.

i really worry they'll keep extending the saratoga meet and screw that up.
i remember the 4 week saturdays....whitney,alabama,travers,hopeful.

less,less,less.....better

[Striker]

Doesn't hurt to have a large university in your backyard for a friday night party.

[The Hawk]

Doesn't hurt to have a large university in your backyard for a friday night party.

Lots of tracks have that and don't do nearly that kind of business. Give them some credit for trying, and succeeding.

[Striker]

Lots of tracks have that and don't do nearly that kind of business. Give them some credit for trying, and succeeding.
Absolutely they get credit for trying and succeeding. I've been impressed by how CD runs things in comparison to Arlington each time I have visited Louisville. What other tracks are there that have a university with greater than 20,000 students in basically the same distance that U of L is to Churchill?

[sonnyp]

Absolutely they get credit for trying and succeeding. I've been impressed by how CD runs things in comparison to Arlington each time I have visited Louisville. What other tracks are there that have a university with greater than 20,000 students in basically the same distance that U of L is to Churchill?


yeah, but aren't the majority of those gone on summer vacation ? they've probably ended their semester about 5 weeks ago.

[duncan04]

Absolutely they get credit for trying and succeeding. I've been impressed by how CD runs things in comparison to Arlington each time I have visited Louisville. What other tracks are there that have a university with greater than 20,000 students in basically the same distance that U of L is to Churchill?


Yeah thats the only reason its succeeding. How about Churchill has some quality racing and that special night racing seems to do well anywhere.

[Striker]

yeah, but aren't the majority of those gone on summer vacation ? they've probably ended their semester about 5 weeks ago.
Yes, you're right 1st week of May the semester ends.

[thespaah]

he's correct about not overdoing it. we've become a society of overexposure which leaves nothing special. too much, too much, too much.

too much baseball, too much nba, too much football, way too much horse racing.

i really worry they'll keep extending the saratoga meet and screw that up.
i remember the 4 week saturdays....whitney,alabama,travers,hopeful.

less,less,less.....better
I agree...The 6 day weeks are too much. The Meet is fine at 6 weeks. 5 days per week would be better.
Wednesday attendance is not very good. The Spa should be dark Tuesday's and Wednesday's. Some may disagree. That's fine.
I am a firm believer in less being more.

[thespaah]

Absolutely they get credit for trying and succeeding. I've been impressed by how CD runs things in comparison to Arlington each time I have visited Louisville. What other tracks are there that have a university with greater than 20,000 students in basically the same distance that U of L is to Churchill?Keeneland.....UK is nearby.
Lots of college students in attendance at the races there.

[lamboguy]

you have to give them credit for figuring out how to get those 28,000 people into the place. on the same night in hollywood park they got less than 5000 people in the place and an ontrack handle less than $1 million. i have friends that go with a group of about 20 different people to churhill every friday night and they are no where near college age and they have a tremendous time there every friday night.

[porchy44]

$20.00 Admission, Seat and Program

$4.00 Bottled water
$4.00 Hot Dog
$4.00 Soda
$4.00 Slice of Pizza

[Black Ruby]

There are a number of reasons the CD night racing is doing well. Racing is more ingrained in this community than in most others. There's not a great deal of entertainment competition, only minor league baseball for pro sports. Some of us here grew up with night racing at the old Miles Park. And of course, it only makes sense to have racing when the majority of your fan base aren't at work.

[lamboguy]

that's true, the fans in kentucky are unreal. it used to be that way in new england, even more so, and they allowed the game to just fizzle here. in kentucky it still alive. when i come to think about it, in new england we had 2 major league tracks in rhode island, the smallest state in america. scarborough downs had a thoroughbred meet, there must have been20 different fair meets every summer across new england. now its almost all gone.

[senortout]

Another reason might be.....Churchill doesn't seem to be scraping the barrel by carding races for the cheapest horses on the grounds, like they do in SoCal.

Plug ugly cards don't detract from the concerts I guess....

Some of the jockeys even seem to be avoiding that nite...

[Striker]

Yeah thats the only reason its succeeding. How about Churchill has some quality racing and that special night racing seems to do well anywhere.
What are you talking about? All I said was it doesn't hurt to have U of L in their backyard. Please show me where I said that is the only reason that downs after dark is a success. I have been there for 1 night of it and they had tons of entertainment for all ages and they do have a pretty decent racing product with good size fields. That is what IMO has yielded success. Black Ruby's post hits the nail on the head also.

[toussaud]

A few thoughts


1. friday night racing, is not created equally. hollywood park treats friday raing just like they treat thursday racing. it's usually a shitty card with 6 claimning races, a state bred and a regular allownace race.. if we are lucky

in 2007, i remember they had a million dollar cash call mile on a friday night. it generated some interest.

2. hollywood park starts too late even for people who live in socal. 7pm local time is just too late to be GOING to the track. i don't midn being at hte track at 7 per say but knowing i JUST GOT THERE is a different story. Churchill starts at 6pm local time. big difference, i can be done with racing at a half decent hour.


3.i remember the big cry about this when it first came out was how churchill didn't understand it's customers and how charing 20 dollars for admissino would "ruin churchill". don't see those people aroud here much anymore. people will pay to be enterained.

4.we have way to much ****ing racing. I love college football almost as much as i love horse racing. I never fele like I need a break from college football in fact i'm checking every article, reading every practice report anything I can get mjy hand on to hold me over. with horse racing on the other hand, i make myself go days without watching, like i am now. It's a different type of love if that makes any sense. on sundays with football i am looking forward to thursday night football. with sundays with horse racing I'm glad the grind is over.
]
why is there a grind in the first place? who said horse racing had to be so grinding? who said there had to be ****ing horse racing 363 freaking days of the year, 12 hours a day, 2 channels, cover every track handicap every race, all this damn racing its' just too much.

I don't hate horse racing. not at all i love it. the difference is, college football doesn let me get tired of it. Horse racing makes you get tired of it eventually.

[On Spec]

A few thoughts

2. hollywood park starts too late even for people who live in socal. 7pm local time is just too late to be GOING to the track. i don't midn being at hte track at 7 per say but knowing i JUST GOT THERE is a different story. Churchill starts at 6pm local time. big difference, i can be done with racing at a half decent hour.

You're never going to get a big Friday Night casual crowd of Southern Californians going to the neighborhood that Hollywood Park is in, even though the park has little to do with its surroundings.

Hope this isn't insensitive, but the area has a reputation as a high-crime area. This may be changing, but if it is, it's not common knowledge among Angelenos

I've been there on a few Fridays and had a good time, but I already know I like racetracks.

[elhelmete]

that's true, the fans in kentucky are unreal. it used to be that way in new england, even more so, and they allowed the game to just fizzle here. in kentucky it still alive. when i come to think about it, in new england we had 2 major league tracks in rhode island, the smallest state in america. scarborough downs had a thoroughbred meet, there must have been20 different fair meets every summer across new england. now its almost all gone.

Born and raised in NE (So Cal for past 12 years), and I still don't get why the huge student population doesn't flock to Suffolk Downs. They're young enough not to really care that they're not watching Secretariat race, they have disposable income, it's on the Blue Line (which can then get them to the beach, Kelly's, Santarpio's, etc.), and (with just a tiny bit of outreach/marketing from the track) it can be a really retro/hip afternoon of fun. And not prohibitively expensive. And given the rate at which chalk has been winning, the beginners $2 bet means they'll probably go home in decent shape.