Quote:
Originally Posted by elhelmete
I've always thought the same and have been a bit baffled myself. All I can think of is maybe they're super sensitive to operating costs and running the plant with fewer people works for them. I can attest that year over year I feel like the food and bev has steadily declined.
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Despite being an East Coast Saratoga summer on-track player, I was on the West Coast in the San Diego area during early August. On Sunday, August 7th, I was at the Del Mar races - the adventure was documented in a trip report on this board. There were several observations that are worth making outside of the trip report.
First, the concessions are far below the quality and range that you would find at Saratoga. Now, my Sunday crowd was less than 10,000 people which might be driving a vicious cycle : less selection -> less people -> less selection -> less people and so forth. As the Southern California racing place to be, this was somewhat surprising and very different from my midweek recollections dating back 20 years when last in attendance.
Second, the in-person wagering crowd at Del Mar was much less savvy than the average summer client at Saratoga. Wagering windows were slower than any racetrack I have seen; in some ways, the variable wagering amounts (20 cent options, 50 cent options, $1 options and so forth) had me wishing for the old days with windows pegged for specific tickets at specific values. My guess is that the live handle could have seen impacts of 5% with the number of gamblers shut out at the off. In parallel, the tellers were slow in turning over transactions. At one point, I started using my NYRA Bets account to avoid the lines and aggravation.
Third, there is little attempt to teach hadicapping as the Racing Form is a separate purchase from a pocket program which includes dozens of tracks that the live audience will never watch. Del Mar needs to focus on their own product and stop with the overload of small track wagering options.
Fourth, try to find a "help me" booth anywhere at Del Mar. How do I get seats, how do I buy a box, how do I make a bet?
In closing, was I glad that I attended in person? Absolutely. However it is not nearly the same experience of Saratoga - in fact, the two are simply not comparable.
