Quote:
Originally Posted by Hambletonian
That's one opinion.
From what I remember, Colonial wanted to replace their normal meet with a boutique meet, concentrating the purse money in stakes races, which would have ended up largely in the hands of national horsemen at the expense of the locals. Colonial is an island unto itself, you stable there and pretty much that is where you have to race. So horsemen probably felt why go through the trouble of relocating for a meet that would largely be aimed at others.
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That's another opinion.
Colonial was trying to copy success and create a Saratoga of the south. Horseplayers like to bet on boutique meets. Why these local horsemen think they are entitled to a job is beyond me. Nobody guaranteed me any of my jobs in my life.
I don’t understand this “out of state” mentality that they have. If I’m going to hold a golf tournament, I want players like Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson & Tiger Woods to play in it. If I’m going to hold a t-bred meet, I want trainers like Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen, William Mott & Chad Brown. These people bring in interest and money. The local horsemen would like to run endless rounds of low-level state-bred claiming races just so they can make ends meet. If these people cant breed and train a decent horse, bleep em. Who wants to bet on that crap.
Unfortunately, Colonial’s plan was doomed from the start, not just by the local horsemen. They needed a full-time casino to be part of their business plan, which the idiotic legislature wasn’t going to give them.
