Bama Horse Racing

[wes]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/08/live_horse_racing_may_return_t.html


Will horse racing return to Birmingham Al ?

wes

[Robert Goren]

Bad Idea, we need fewer race tracks not more.

[rastajenk]

Good idea; we need more fan bases, not less.

[cj's dad]

I'm looking forward to those $2500 NW1, Alabama state bred races

[PhantomOnTour]

Each year at FG they run those Ala bred races the article was referring to. These are SLOW horses folks. We're talking BSF in the 35-45 range

[Scanman]

Slow horses have to run somewhere. I don't have a problem with it. I visited that track in 1990 and it was a really nice facility. Don't know what their attendence was, but I'm sure the locals would like to see live racing return.

[RaceBookJoe]

Each year at FG they run those Ala bred races the article was referring to. These are SLOW horses folks. We're talking BSF in the 35-45 range

Alabama angle....bet the horse who is the least slow, or the one only wearing 3 leg wraps :) rbj

[Robert Goren]

Slow horses have to run somewhere. I don't have a problem with it. I visited that track in 1990 and it was a really nice facility. Don't know what their attendence was, but I'm sure the locals would like to see live racing return.There is no shortage of places for slow horses to run. The locals did not want to see live racing in 1995 or the place would not have closed. What makes you think they have changed their minds?

[wisconsin]

There is no shortage of places for slow horses to run. The locals did not want to see live racing in 1995 or the place would not have closed. What makes you think they have changed their minds?

Geez, they are talking about running a couple of weekends per year. Fans would come out for that. See Atlantic City, Les Bois or how about Horseman's Park in your own backyard. No one is talking about an extended meet of any kind.

[Robert Goren]

Geez, they are talking about running a couple of weekends per year. Fans would come out for that. See Atlantic City, Les Bois or how about Horseman's Park in your own backyard. No one is talking about an extended meet of any kind. Horseman's park runs only because state law requires them to run a few races a year in order to have simulcasting in the Omaha area. Their attendance numbers for live racing are terrible. The simulcasting site does ok, not great, but ok. There is riverboat casino gambling across the river in Iowa, so running a real race meet is out of the question. They have tried several times to legalize Casino gambling at race tracks in Nebraska, but it requires a vote of the people and it always loses by a large margin. I believe the last time it was 40-60.

[Scanman]

There is no shortage of places for slow horses to run. The locals did not want to see live racing in 1995 or the place would not have closed. What makes you think they have changed their minds?Perhaps their model was wrong. I've read that they over-estimated handle and offered/paid too much in purses. They averaged 6K+ in attendence their first summer. After closing, then re-opening, their first day back they drew 15K. Interest isn't the problem, right-sizing and scheduling the product is.

The concept that is often lost is the recreation/sport/enjoyment side of racing. Lots of tracks fail financially, but not out of interest. I've visited too many "grassroots" tracks to know otherwise.

Hopefully, they'll figure out a model that will allow them to be successful. I'll be rooting for them.

[Bruddah]

Slow horses have to run somewhere. I don't have a problem with it. I visited that track in 1990 and it was a really nice facility. Don't know what their attendence was, but I'm sure the locals would like to see live racing return.


I visited the track back in 1993. The racing was really going down hill at that time. A very nice facility with sparse crowds.

I hit two trifecta's betting 1-2-3 straight and then boxing them. The middle and outside of the track were playin slow because they only harrowed it once and that was before the first race. Ended up the day over $2500 ahead.

I couldn't win handicapping the PP's because of the cheap horse flesh, so I decided the nags were so bad, I would bet inside speed.

The question that comes to mind is where would the horses come from?

I think old DaddyO' is correct about those 2500 Alabama claiming races.