What's With The Short Fields At Penn National?

[Shemp Howard]

All the stables in the red for the year being given a chance to pick up some purse largess from the slot money??

Is it really sport to run a 3 horse claiming race?

[nijinski]

All the stables in the red for the year being given a chance to pick up some purse largess from the slot money??

Is it really sport to run a 3 horse claiming race?

Maybe they are worried about that ten year ban that was handed out in NY.

[proximity]

at least one scratch in every race tonight and multiple scratches in most. mountainman warned us that this could happen in a multi-supertrainer environment.

[LottaKash]

I know that I am beating a dead horse to death, as I find myself saying this more than a time or two with each passing year....But, there are just too many racetracks open simultaneously throughout the year, and not enough healthy and qualified horses to fill all the vacancies....I find it hard to believe, especially at the bigger venues, why it seems, with so much purse money up for grabs, that there just aren't enough takers.....
.
It is hard to get and keep players interested when viewed in this light, I think...Short fields aren't good for anyone, be it players or tracks....Only the horsemen seem to benefit the most from this modern day shortage....Imagine not even having to have a race worthy and competitive horse entered in a race to earn a check...Baloney !...Change is sorely needed, imo...

best,

[Robert Goren]

Weren't racinos suppose to give us big fields?

[onefast99]

Weren't racinos suppose to give us big fields?
Was there a study done to prove this theory?

[cj]

Was there a study done to prove this theory?

That is how they were billed in the beginning. Supposedly, these bigger purses were going to draw more horses and even spur more breeding. Obviously, nobody bothered to actually do a study.

[ByeByeBuck]

I think before racinos, "everybody" thought many tracks were eventually going to close up and go away, so there probably wasn't any new or big investment in the breed. Now, I think with the big purses at the racinos, whatever horses are out there, are actually being trained and worked to death for these big purses - all of which has reduced the pool of good available horses. But it all should eventually catch up.

That's my two cents for what it's worth.

[proximity]

Weren't racinos suppose to give us big fields?

they did give us big fields at evd, ded, mnr, ct, rp, hoo..... del and to some extent pha seemed to be the only racino tracks initially struggling with field sizes after getting slots. and pen fields certainly were bigger when slots first arrived.

of course field sizes at tracks in this region weren't helped by the creation of presque isle.