Mohawk Handle up 18.8%...

[LottaKash]

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/10-3-12/mohawk-concludes-increase-nightly-handle.html

This is good news for Harness Players, I think.......

excerpts:
The average per-night total of $1,526,411 in 2012 was an 18.8 per cent increase over the $1,284,883 bet per card in 2011.

The four-day-a-week schedule through the meet proved successful apposed to five days a week last year that included Tuesdays. In all, 81 racing cards took place this summer compared to 97 in 2011.

“We believe the schedule change to four nights a weekserved to better align customer demand with available horse supply,” said Bruce Murray, WEG's VP of standardbred racing. “In light of the uncertainty swirling around the future of the Ontario industry, the Mohawk season produced strong wagering numbers.”

There was an average of 12.3 races per night versus 11.2 last season at the Campbellville oval. Field size also held steady, as 9.1 horses per race lined up behind the starting gate, up over the 8.8 figure recorded last year...

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That's the basic gist of it...

[mrroyboy]

You are right again John. Looks like Canadian tracks are doing everything right while US tracks are doing lots of things wrong

[LottaKash]

You are right again John. Looks like Canadian tracks are doing everything right while US tracks are doing lots of things wrong

I am surprised at the nice jump in handle.....I like the WEG circuit very much, and have for some good while now....But, this season at the hawk, there was/is just too many baby races and cheap NW's for my taste, as it seemed endless to me....I had a harder time finding my kind of plays as a result, while last year I had a mountain of more plays that suited my style....This season I sat out way too many races than I would have liked to....

STill when I like something, it is comforting to know that the quality of trainer's and drivers on the WEG circuit makes for more confidence when I do find a thing or two to wager on....

[Sea Biscuit]

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/10-3-12/mohawk-concludes-increase-nightly-handle.html

This is good news for Harness Players, I think.......

excerpts:
The average per-night total of $1,526,411 in 2012 was an 18.8 per cent increase over the $1,284,883 bet per card in 2011.

The four-day-a-week schedule through the meet proved successful apposed to five days a week last year that included Tuesdays. In all, 81 racing cards took place this summer compared to 97 in 2011.

“We believe the schedule change to four nights a weekserved to better align customer demand with available horse supply,” said Bruce Murray, WEG's VP of standardbred racing. “In light of the uncertainty swirling around the future of the Ontario industry, the Mohawk season produced strong wagering numbers.”

There was an average of 12.3 races per night versus 11.2 last season at the Campbellville oval. Field size also held steady, as 9.1 horses per race lined up behind the starting gate, up over the 8.8 figure recorded last year...

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That's the basic gist of it...

I bit too late for all that John.

I doubt you'll ever see racing at Mohawk again in view of the current situation in Ontario.

They have already decided to turn the backstretch into a training center

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/7-21-12/mohawk-backstretch-become-training-centre.html.

[LottaKash]

I bit too late for all that John.

I doubt you'll ever see racing at Mohawk again in view of the current situation in Ontario.

They have already decided to turn the backstretch into a training center

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/7-21-12/mohawk-backstretch-become-training-centre.html.

Sorry to hear that Biscuit, very......:( ....I have always had a soft spot for that place...

A funny little story from Mohawk....Back in the late 70's or very early 80's somewhere, I was to a Harness Handicapping Seminar up in Toronto....It was run by Prof. Igor Kusyshyn....He wrote a pretty good book called "Harness Racing Gold....And, his seminar featured much or most of what was in the book, plus his professional play plan and an Odds Model for uncovering "Smart-Money" horses... And for it's time it was a very good way to go when playing the Harness tracks....MUch of the basics still stand the test of time in many ways, imo....His system with some tweaking can still lead a player to some steadiness in the cashing of tickets at this game...

Back to the story;...Right around that time, I was recovering from a divorce, and was up to my eyeballs in alimony and child support payments, so kash was in short supply in my life at the time.....I managed to scrape up enough kash to attend the seminar with a little left over for betting, and expenses for the week long getaway with my also "hippie style" brother and I....

I managed to convince the Professor that my brother had little to no interest in harness racing, so he let him sit in the seminar alongside of me throughout....So, in the evening, we were off to the races at Mohawk, to see how well our daytime handicapping would turn out....

Mohawk was still 5/8th's of mile track back then....And we all congregated in the new Teletheatre that was changing the way we went to the races....Up until then there was nothing like it at any harness raceway that I had been to, and that was a bunch of em...

Throughout the nite the "system" had yet to yield any hits of any significance....As a consequence most of our members were kind of subdued if not grumbling on how the sytem wasn't having a good nite.....Much later in the evening, with the end in sight, the Professor caught me counting a scad of kash, and he asked me how I had come into all that bread ?.....He said "the system is going down tonite", so how come you are doing so well...

I said, it's ez Igor, I didn't use your system, I've got my own....:D ...And, I had managed to turn my $40 stipend into nearly $700 for the nite....What a vacation Jimmy and me had that week !

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't forgotten "that" particular way of going for that time in my handicapping life, as then, I always seemed to hold my own and had done so, for a good while, that is until I learned more,,haha....Then it was a struggle for a long-long time....I wish I could remember what it was that I was using and put the importance on, back in those days of the seminar, cause whatever it was, it was "Gold" for me, for a time.....For the life of me, I don't remember a darn thing of "that" way of going....From then on it seemed, the more I read about harness racing , the worse my finances at the races had become, as I was always making trips to the bank to replenish the ole-bankroll....It seemed when it was simpler in the early years, it was easier and more fun and perceptibly more profitable....In retrospect tho, the systems that I had bought and paid for were never really implemented and used to their full degree, and that is most likely why I had turned into a loser for a good while....I mean I had been hybridding all the little things that I took from each of the systems, and it was definitely the wrong way to do this....In fact, Al Stanley had once said in his literature somewhere, that most of his students will continue to lose even tho they have purchased all the tools necessary to make them a winner...Because they are not willing to do all the work, and take shortcuts, and have little patience and discipline...

Been a long ride since, but whatever I'm using now is now "Gold" again, finally...But at least this time I can remember how to do it over and over again....

On a last note....Later by a few years, I also went to an Al Stanley seminar, also in Toronto, with a revisit to Mohawk.....Al Stanley was the one that got me back on track, first with his "Bread and Butter" system and later his Pro stuff, and newsletters featuring powerful angles....My foundation for interpreting running lines and good current form is still taken and inspired from the classic AS-way of going...I would say he is my favorite and most inspiring mentor....Al Stanley was always available to any of his students and colleagues via his personal home phone number.....In fact a few of my calls to him were more than just a hello thing, as he gave me his undivided attention and was so patient with my questions and his answers...

I like Toronto and the people there...Perhaps I will make it back up thataway sometime...probably not tho....

Sad to see what the idiots are doing to a thriving industry up in Ontario...Sign of the times I guess...:(