Woodbine GA Price, Queen's Plate Day
 

Me and a buddy yesterday went to the Blue Jays game, which started at 1:07. It was over by 4:07 and I decided to travel to Woodbine because I had not been there before & figures what better day to go than Queen’s Plate day. It was on the way back home to Buffalo, so might as well.

We arrived at the front gates at 5:30 - plenty of time (15 minutes at least) to get tickets, walk in, and barely see horses behind a wall of people (BUT, we were THERE!). Went to the ticket counter, asked how much one was. Mind you, the day was pretty much over. Many races had been run. $46 for a GA ticket, cheapest way to get in.

Maybe I am cheap, but I am a broke college kid dammit and I’m not going to spend $46 on a ticket when I can pull up the race in HD on my phone. I just think it’s a ridiculous GA entry fee, especially at the end of the day.

When it’s all said and done, they make their money, I guess, and people will pay it. I just think it is very discouraging that my buddy, who I was introducing to the sport, never got to see it. It is reasons like this — $46 admission, $15 parking, $10 form — that the sport is dying. Why pay that when I can go and see 6 more Jays games for that cost?

Sorry for the rant, just really irritated me. I didn’t expect it to be free, but I expected a reasonable ticket price like $20. My Jays ticket was $8. Horse racing shoots itself in the foot repeatedly.

blue jays ticket for 8 bucks
 

where did you sit?but seriously 46 bucks for admission is too much,go on a regular saturday next time.If horseracing wants new fans you have to make it affordable.Belmont and saratoga charge 5 bucks to get in,thats a bargain.

Hopefully they can use some of that windfall to time the races properly.

Funny you should mention it......they found this one that even has the WO logo on it already! :pound:

AJanks - I agree - the greed of WO is disgusting.

When I started going to the track in the 60s, FL would let us in for free after the 6th race was off. We would gather at the gate and wait with a crowd of regulars. Once in a while, if no was looking, the guard would open up and let us in with 5 minutes to post for the 6th. We had a team of 2-4 kids. Our mission was to get in, and scour the place, - trash cans, floors, seats, for a thrown-away program and Morning Telegraph. We would quickly handicap the race and get our bets in. Usually. :rolleyes:

I think that was part of the fun that made me a regular for more than 50 years.
Such a small thing for the track to do, - let a handful of people in for free and let them watch a few races. And we weren't even whales!

Today, FL has free parking and admission every day.
Amazing a big track like WO has to bleed its customers when it has a big casino on the grounds.

A general admission ticket for Saturday was $30 Cdn. With the exchange rate, it is on par with the $22 they charge at Saratoga for the Travers. This race at Woodbine, is on par with the Travers, in terms of importance for this track. The everyday admittance and parking is FREE. I don’t think it is ever free at Saratoga.

They charge you $5 to drive by Saratoga, even in February. :p

We always park in the back parking lot at Saratoga. it is FREE. Its 5 bucks to get inside.

Allan

Tom
we did the same as kids, back in the day. Someone leaving always gave us a Telegraph or a Armstrong on the way out. Last 3 at Lincoln or Narragansett. Fun Times!

A general admission ticket Saturday was $46, don’t know where you are getting your numbers from. The everyday admittance and parking is FREE because nobody wants to go to woodbine everyday. People want to go to Saratoga everyday. Weak argument and not correct.

Love FL - home track and is about an hour away. Hearing stuff like this makes me think about the history of the track and it’s kind of cool to think that people actually waited like that to see racing there at one point. It’s sad what it is now. Love the track to death, though, no matter how many 1/5 Englehart horses win a day.

Terrible seats - $8 for 500 level seats. Still, Woodbine you didn’t even get a seat. You just got inside. Not really a bad seat in the rogers Centre to be honest, though. To be fair, they were playing the tigers and both are below .500.

might have to make a trip up there when the yanks are playing,i get a liittle vacation for the price of going to a game at yankee stadium.

On queens plate day woodbine has a great chance to attract new regular customers, instead they fleece people and teach them that they can only afford it once a year.

WO used to be #1 track. I even took a few days vacation there every summer.
I never even look at the entries there anymore.

After the casino opened, the place took a nose-dive as far as racing goes.