Quote:
Originally Posted by elhelmete
+1
I like their product a lot.
I almost made a trip out there as my sole gift to myself for my 50th birthday.
I think there is a lot of room for these ultra-boutique race meets as part of the American racing landscape.
I absolutely love the can-do and push the envelope attitude of the track management.
There are lessons in ALL of that that can be instructive for the rest of racing's leadership. They should pay attention.
But it's not a straight cut-and-copy for a number of reasons.
I became a racing fan in large part because I attended in person several times in my youth. If I had to chase a bunch of 5 day meets in remote parts of the country, I don't think I'd be the fan/player/sometimes-owner I am today.
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This is the model everywhere BUT North America.
Here we have extended meets. In the UK a race meeting may last two weeks.
In Japan and Hong Kong, meets last a few days.
In Japan and Hong Kong, every race program has Breeders Cup Day sized handles.
Avg on track attendance ( JRA figures for 2017)
22, 400. Avg on track handle per race card , $2.72 million. Average All sources daily handle ....$87 million. Average starters per race 14.1
http://japanracing.jp/_statistics/2017/s01.html
Now, Japan has casinos. Japanese people love to wager. They can wager on power boat racing. There are Pachinko machines everywhere. The reason i mention this is Japanese people have tons of gaming or gambling opportunities. So that excuse used by many here in the US doesn't wash.
So someone please explain how it is that a country with on quarter the land mass and one half the population can get 14 horses to start each race....AND get more people to be more money on the product.
And all track managements here can do is make excuses.
Could it be that we here in the US and Canada just aren't doing it right?
