Changes you would like to see in racing.

[RacingFan1992]

I know there are people who say "Horse racing would be better if this happened..." or "Horse racing would be better if that happened..." What are somethings that you would like to see change in horse racing? Here are some of mine:

1.) Eliminate all synthetic tracks in the United States. (Dirt or Turf only)

2.) The purse size should correlate with distance of race. (ie, the longer the race the bigger the purse.)

3.) Eliminate the point system of the Kentucky Derby. The system designates certain races as being more important than others.

4.) Stop the block buster days at the tracks. Belmont hosted the Acorn, Belmont, Met Mile, and Brooklyn Handicap on the same day in 2014.

5.) Bring back the original seven races of the Breeders' Cup. Remove all the watered down turf and sprint races cluttering the schedule.

6.) Stop the "Win and You're In" series. I consider the Breeders' Cup as being an overrated monster everyone shoots for instead of more prestigious races.

7.) Restore the dates of some of the prestigious dates so a horse is given the opportunity to compete in such events. The Champagne and the Belmont Futurity were once two weeks apart but now are back to back. The Bay Shore, Gotham, and Wood Memorial were are good series spaced two weeks are part but Bay Shore and Wood Memorial are hosted on the same day in 2014.

8.) Good Bye Lasix.

9.) Harder drug scrutiny and stiffer suspensions for trainers who are caught.

10.) Bring back the longer races such as the 2 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup or the 1 1/2 Coaching Club American Oaks.

11.) Reduce the number of turf races and increase the number of dirt races.

Those are mine. Please feel free to add and respond.

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by RacingFan1992

I know there are people who say "Horse racing would be better if this happened..." or "Horse racing would be better if that happened..." What are somethings that you would like to see change in horse racing? Here are some of mine:

1.) Eliminate all synthetic tracks in the United States. (Dirt or Turf only)

2.) The purse size should correlate with distance of race. (ie, the longer the race the bigger the purse.)

3.) Eliminate the point system of the Kentucky Derby. The system designates certain races as being more important than others.

4.) Stop the block buster days at the tracks. Belmont hosted the Acorn, Belmont, Met Mile, and Brooklyn Handicap on the same day in 2014.

5.) Bring back the original seven races of the Breeders' Cup. Remove all the watered down turf and sprint races cluttering the schedule.

6.) Stop the "Win and You're In" series. I consider the Breeders' Cup as being an overrated monster everyone shoots for instead of more prestigious races.

7.) Restore the dates of some of the prestigious dates so a horse is given the opportunity to compete in such events. The Champagne and the Belmont Futurity were once two weeks apart but now are back to back. The Bay Shore, Gotham, and Wood Memorial were are good series spaced two weeks are part but Bay Shore and Wood Memorial are hosted on the same day in 2014.

8.) Good Bye Lasix.

9.) Harder drug scrutiny and stiffer suspensions for trainers who are caught.

10.) Bring back the longer races such as the 2 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup or the 1 1/2 Coaching Club American Oaks.

11.) Reduce the number of turf races and increase the number of dirt races.

Those are mine. Please feel free to add and respond.

1) Can't disagree

2) I think purses should also be bigger in larger fields. No "full purse" if the field scratches down to a few runners. Write the purse into the conditions, 30k for 10 horse field, 27k for 9 horse field, 25k for 8 horse field, etc.

3) Eliminate Churchill (the company).

4) No opinion/Don't care one way or another

5) No opinion/Don't care one way or another

6) see above

7) See above above

8) This is a horsemen's issue, as a bettor, i'll just adjust to whatever they throw at me.

9) Trainers who are suspended can't run the horse under a relatives or groom's name, the horse needs to move to another completely unaffiliated barn to run. None of this sipping pina coladas on Manhattan Beach BS while training from the cellphone.

9a) They need some kind of disincentive for owners to keep using cheaters. I don't know what that would be, i'd have to think about it.

Adding my own:

1) I'd like to see Tri and Super "runner totals" as well as the amount of live tickets after the first leg of a pick 5 and pick 6.

2) I would love to see tracks offer bettors the chance to bet into "Non DQ" pool. Have a separate pool, one is the normal pool and the other is the pool where the results are paid off on the official order of finish (like a dog race). That way, most of us can keep the hair on our heads and not have to ever worry about humans playing god with other people's money. It would be interesting to see who bets in the 'pay the winners no matter what' pool and who bets into the pool where people can play god.

3) I'd like to see pricey fines for jocks who cost their mounts board spots by easing up before the wire. If they can ride the hair of a horse to get 4th in the BC Classic, they certainly can ride the hair off a horse to win me my superfecta in the 4th on a Tuesday at Presque Isle.

4) I'd like to see tracks offer separate betting pools that don't permit people to have computers place bets for them.
Have a pool where you either have to call a bet in by telephone, on the internet, at a live teller at a track or by SAM machine. Its a lot harder to make the "market" tighter if you don't have a computer betting for you.

[magwell]

10% take on all bets...........

[RacingFan1992]

Here is another one:

Get rid of winter racing for horses en route to the Kentucky Derby. Who needs to race in December and January? A future super star starts in the June and ends in November after the Breeders' Cup. Analyze the past charts.

[thaskalos]

CORRELATE THE TAKEOUT TO THE SIZE OF THE FIELD

The onerous takeouts of this game are a big burden for the player...but this burden becomes unbearable when the fields get down to 5-7 horses. The crushing effect of the takeout on the short field was showcased not too long ago at Parx Racetrack...when late scratches due to inclement weather reduced a field down to two horses. The track extracted its full takeout, of course, and the result as evidenced by the tote board was startling. One horse went off at 2/5...and the other at 4/5.

In this game, the smart player's only chance of surviving against this sort of takeout is to take advantage of mistakes that the less sophisticated players make in their betting. When the fields get down to 5-7 horses, the "puzzle" of the race is simplified greatly...and these advantageous "mistakes" are drastically reduced. It's understandable to have the occasional short field...but what we have today defies reasonable explanation. We understand that the trainers love these short fields...but the players' concerns have to be addressed eventually too. In poker...when the game gets short-handed, the players ask for a reduction in the rake...and they get it.

Correlate the takeout to the size of the field...and put some pressure on the trainers to enter more horses in these races. They've had it their way long enough.

[tanner12oz]

Head to head betting like is offered offshore

[andtheyreoff]

Originally Posted by RacingFan1992

I know there are people who say "Horse racing would be better if this happened..." or "Horse racing would be better if that happened..." What are somethings that you would like to see change in horse racing? Here are some of mine:

1.) Eliminate all synthetic tracks in the United States. (Dirt or Turf only)

Agree

2.) The purse size should correlate with distance of race. (ie, the longer the race the bigger the purse.)

Agree with SRU, believe it or not.

3.) Eliminate the point system of the Kentucky Derby. The system designates certain races as being more important than others.

Disagree here. I love the point system. It rewards horses who are in good current form, as opposed to the winner of the Delta Jackpot or the Sunland Derby.

4.) Stop the block buster days at the tracks. Belmont hosted the Acorn, Belmont, Met Mile, and Brooklyn Handicap on the same day in 2014.

To an extent, I agree, but those blockbuster days are important for tracks for two major reasons. One, they make for absolutely awesome betting cards: was there anyone who didn't bet at least one race at Belmont on Belmont day this year?
Secondly, they increase handle on individual races. That's because bettors tend to focus on a race when it's part of a big card, as opposed to the feature on some random lousy Saturday card. This year's Met Mile had a handle of $9,303,653. Last year, when it was held on Memorial Day, it handled only $2,802,542. You'd probably find countless other examples at other tracks if you looked; I mean, do you think the handles of the Molly Pitcher and the Monmouth Cup would've been higher if they weren't on Haskell day?

5.) Bring back the original seven races of the Breeders' Cup. Remove all the watered down turf and sprint races cluttering the schedule.

I'd say keep the F&M Turf (which should've been in the series in the first place) and the F&M Sprint, and run one big nine race card.

6.) Stop the "Win and You're In" series. I consider the Breeders' Cup as being an overrated monster everyone shoots for instead of more prestigious races.

I really don't think it would make much of a difference if it was in place or not.

7.) Restore the dates of some of the prestigious dates so a horse is given the opportunity to compete in such events. The Champagne and the Belmont Futurity were once two weeks apart but now are back to back. The Bay Shore, Gotham, and Wood Memorial were are good series spaced two weeks are part but Bay Shore and Wood Memorial are hosted on the same day in 2014.

Disagree. There really isn't a place for the Belmont Futurity on its old place on the calendar anymore. Aqueduct has a new series for three year olds: the Withers, the Gotham, and the Wood; the Withers has effectively taken the Bay Shore's place. The times they are a changin'.

8.) Good Bye Lasix.

9.) Harder drug scrutiny and stiffer suspensions for trainers who are caught.

Agreed on both counts.

10.) Bring back the longer races such as the 2 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup or the 1 1/2 Coaching Club American Oaks.

The JCGC has a fine place being run at 1 1/4 miles. If you brought it up to two miles- which was abnormally long even back in the good ol' days- it wouldn't be nearly as prestigious as it is now. Besides, the last two years have had very solid fields. Why mess with a winning formula?

11.) Reduce the number of turf races and increase the number of dirt races.

Yeah, have fun betting constant five horse fields with that idea.

Those are mine. Please feel free to add and respond.

I have a few:
1. Lower the takeout to a maximum of 15%.
2. Create a national database of every horse in the country, which would list their medical records and their current whereabouts. Nothing drives me crazier than when a horse disappears from the national scene, and there's no news about him.
3. This will never, ever happen, but it would be a big step toward the improvement of racing: absolve every state racing board, in favor of one national board (or, at worst, two or three more local ones). It holds progress back so much when every state does things totally independently of each other. It makes no sense.

[MutuelClerk]

I'd like to see people at racetracks again. Instead of staying home and wagering online. Local tracks need to find a way to bring people out.

[Augenj]

Originally Posted by magwell

10% take on all bets...........

Ditto here.

[lamboguy]

here would be some of the changes that i would make.

1. limit the number of Horses that a trainer can train to 24 nationally

2. limit the number of horses that an owner can own to 2 per year.

3. get rid of claiming and just grade horses with mandatory raises and drops depending upon results.

4. when owners have horses that run on any given day, give that person a table in the dining room for up to 8 so he or she can bring friends to the track and not charge all those people for anything.

5. update the tote system to modern standards

6. make uniform medication rules nationally

7. make training and treatment records public so that any better can access this information

8. develop their own data base for past performances and charge less or give for free to bettors.

9.offer better and less expensive food and drinks for patrons of the race tracks.

10. clean their bathrooms so that there are no puddles in them like there are in Saratoga these days.

[Tom]

10. clean their bathrooms so that there are no puddles in them like there are in Saratoga these days.

Pimlico's ground floor bathroom is banked....an all or nothing deal there.

[DJofSD]

Originally Posted by RacingFan1992

I know there are people who say "Horse racing would be better if this happened..." or "Horse racing would be better if that happened..." What are somethings that you would like to see change in horse racing? Here are some of mine:

1.) Eliminate all synthetic tracks in the United States. (Dirt or Turf only)

2.) The purse size should correlate with distance of race. (ie, the longer the race the bigger the purse.)

3.) Eliminate the point system of the Kentucky Derby. The system designates certain races as being more important than others.

4.) Stop the block buster days at the tracks. Belmont hosted the Acorn, Belmont, Met Mile, and Brooklyn Handicap on the same day in 2014.

5.) Bring back the original seven races of the Breeders' Cup. Remove all the watered down turf and sprint races cluttering the schedule.

6.) Stop the "Win and You're In" series. I consider the Breeders' Cup as being an overrated monster everyone shoots for instead of more prestigious races.

7.) Restore the dates of some of the prestigious dates so a horse is given the opportunity to compete in such events. The Champagne and the Belmont Futurity were once two weeks apart but now are back to back. The Bay Shore, Gotham, and Wood Memorial were are good series spaced two weeks are part but Bay Shore and Wood Memorial are hosted on the same day in 2014.

8.) Good Bye Lasix.

9.) Harder drug scrutiny and stiffer suspensions for trainers who are caught.

10.) Bring back the longer races such as the 2 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup or the 1 1/2 Coaching Club American Oaks.

11.) Reduce the number of turf races and increase the number of dirt races.

Those are mine. Please feel free to add and respond.

You had me right until the end. I like turf races, so, that where we part company. And race day meds, I'd put that right on the top of the list.

[RacingFan1992]

Originally Posted by andtheyreoff

Disagree. There really isn't a place for the Belmont Futurity on its old place on the calendar anymore. Aqueduct has a new series for three year olds: the Withers, the Gotham, and the Wood; the Withers has effectively taken the Bay Shore's place. The times they are a changin'.

See how many people Pimlico will piss of when they move the Preakness to mid June or the Breeders' Cup is moved to one race a month instead of two days. The times they are a changin' .

[OTM Al]

1. Why? Works pretty well for winter tracks anyway. Turfway has done well with it.

2. I don't understand the bias against sprint races. There is nothing wrong with sprinters on the dirt or turf. In human racing the guy who wins the 50 is often far better known than the guy who wins the 10,000. Why does it need to be one way or the other?

3. It's their race. They can set the conditions as they please.

4. So that will also rule out Kentucky Derby and Oaks days. Preakness and Black Eyed Susan days, Belmont day (even under last year's configuration), both BC days, Fla Derby day, etc etc etc

5. I assume you mean just get rid of the other races as the original 7 still exist. Yeah, not going to happen. I like having a juvie turf and a turf sprint. I think they definitely belong.

6. More appropriately, if you have a win and you're in, make it actually mean something as winners of those races would never be out if they didn't want to be.

7. Ah tradition, which really means the way things were when we were first introduced to something. Things change. Often they need to. I think the things you list have been positive changes given the current conditions.

8. Don't care one way or another. Think it is being made a bigger deal than it should be.

9. Good idea in theory. Who's paying for the harder scrutiny?

10. Great way to introduce the 15k Claimer into Gr 1 events which won't be Gr 1 for long. These races have become preps, like it or not, for bigger events. Just as European trainers won't run their horses in the St. Leger at 14f+ as a prep for the Arc, no one will run a legitimate horse in a 16f race as a prep for a 10f race.

11. Yeah, I like turf races better too, so no.

[johnhannibalsmith]

Increase the traditional scale of weights a few pounds at least. Take the burden off of everyone and have your athletes in something closer resembling peak form and mental acuity and hopefully have safer, cleaner races and safer, cleaner riders. If horsemen are given a million and ten ways to incrementally ruin a horse and a marathon is now nine furlongs, I don't think a few pounds is asking much.