For those keeping score:

[classhandicapper]

Industry handle is not being helped by the fact that we've had over 20% cumulative inflation over the last few years with higher borrowing costs on adjustable debt. Incomes are not coming even close to keeping up. A lot of people are being squeezed. The good news is that with all the monetary tightening, I thought the risk of a recession this year was a lot higher than average, but we've avoided it. Thankfully, I was wrong. Throw a recession on top of what's going on now and imo we'd be looking at a very rough year or two.

[Brass Hat]

Originally Posted by speldedo

Not always, but there is probably at least a 50/50 chance for bad weather. I was at the last one held there in 2005 with my wife and it was miserable (and I grew up in Buffalo). It was 46 degrees, cloudy and very windy. Everyone stayed inside the whole time except for a few brave souls that went out for a few minutes to watch the races. It just doesn't seem worth the risk to me.

That is just not true. There were tons of people outside. I was outside the whole day. The Sunday after was gorgeous.

I don't get why the weather has to be perfect at the BC. The purpose is to wager, have fun and see good horses in person. The Arlington BC was cold - they run it in November. We bundled up, sat outside and had a good time.

My friend, I have a hard time believing you grew up in Buffalo and want perfect weather. 70,000 Bills fans pack that stadium in rotten weather, and a lot travel to New England for games.

[Wiley]

Originally Posted by cj

Hi of 76 both days, low Friday 55, Saturday 60.

Saturday did not feel as warm to me with the strong wind. We were on the apron outside the whole day. I see on weather underground from the airport, there were wind gusts up to 40 mph for most of the afternoon. To me the weather at Keeneland last year was good with Friday being really nice.

[Poindexter]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

Industry handle is not being helped by the fact that we've had over 20% cumulative inflation over the last few years with higher borrowing costs on adjustable debt. Incomes are not coming even close to keeping up. A lot of people are being squeezed. The good news is that with all the monetary tightening, I thought the risk of a recession this year was a lot higher than average, but we've avoided it. Thankfully, I was wrong. Throw a recession on top of what's going on now and imo we'd be looking at a very rough year or two.

Has the high cost of living taking some people out of the racing game? I would imagine so. But on the other hand those that remain in the game should intuitively be betting about 20% more than they were 2 years ago. So I think it is a mixed bag. Fewer people betting but those that are currently betting should be betting more, in a perfect world. Of course we aren't living in a perfect world we are living in a caw infested/overpriced one But you provide the racing industry a good excuse for it's inevitable downward trend in real dollar betting. "it is not our fault, it is that darn inflation".

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Brass Hat

That is just not true. There were tons of people outside. I was outside the whole day. The Sunday after was gorgeous.

I don't get why the weather has to be perfect at the BC. The purpose is to wager, have fun and see good horses in person. The Arlington BC was cold - they run it in November. We bundled up, sat outside and had a good time.

My friend, I have a hard time believing you grew up in Buffalo and want perfect weather. 70,000 Bills fans pack that stadium in rotten weather, and a lot travel to New England for games.

Football is a cold weather sport. Horse racing really isn't (for one thing Bills fans don't need to spread out and read the DRF).

[Bustin Stones]

Another factor...baseball dropped 30 minutes from its games and attendance rose 10%. Anybody out there paying attention? Pace of play has meaning. Dead minutes add up to people finding other forms of entertainment. If we can jam fans into NBA seats at $150 a clip I don't want to hear about the bad economy.

[Frost king]

Originally Posted by Brass Hat

That is just not true. There were tons of people outside. I was outside the whole day. The Sunday after was gorgeous.

I don't get why the weather has to be perfect at the BC. The purpose is to wager, have fun and see good horses in person. The Arlington BC was cold - they run it in November. We bundled up, sat outside and had a good time.

My friend, I have a hard time believing you grew up in Buffalo and want perfect weather. 70,000 Bills fans pack that stadium in rotten weather, and a lot travel to New England for games.

The weather needs to be perfect for the people that own the horses. How would you like to walk in heels, and get your feet stuck in the mud, at some point to the winners circle. Even though, without the lowly horseplayer, they would not have a game to enjoy themselves.

[Andy Asaro]

Twitter

[PaceAdvantage]

A lot of relatively short fields for an opening day...8 races...weather only gets you so far these days I guess

[Onesome]

Originally Posted by castaway01

Handle was down almost 9 percent from last year at Keeneland. That's the important number.

On the flip side


Punters gambled more on the Melbourne Cup at the TAB than ever before.
Betting on the Cup which was won by Australian stayer Without A Fight was up 14% up on last year, with $13.4 million gambled.
Racing turnover on the day topped $28.4m, a 10% increase on last year with the TAB paying out $10 million in winnings from the Melbourne Cup alone.
The number of TAB accounts used reached 127,000, up 15% on last year.
At the height of interest in the race shortly before the 5pm race start, 6,850 bets were being processed each minute.
At one point, more than 50,000 people were accessing the TAB on line or through the app - a number only exceeded in 2021 when Covid restrictions were in place.
Cameron Rodger, the New Zealand Managing Director of Entain - the operator of the TAB - said the Cup continues to be a huge drawcard for New Zealanders.
"On the back of The Everest in Sydney in mid-October doubling in turnover, and the recent injection into stakes and other initiatives within New Zealand, we're seeing record numbers engaging with the racing industry through TAB,'' he said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/501...-melbourne-cup

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

A lot of relatively short fields for an opening day...8 races...weather only gets you so far these days I guess

The Del Mar fall meeting isn't quite as worthless as the Los Al meetings, but it's not exactly obligatory.

[bisket]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

The Del Mar fall meeting isn't quite as worthless as the Los Al meetings, but it's not exactly obligatory.

Del Mar should be dark as much as the entire Aquaduct meet should be dark.

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by bisket

Del Mar should be dark as much as the entire Aquaduct meet should be dark.

Your streak is intact.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by bisket

Del Mar should be dark as much as the entire Aquaduct meet should be dark.

The Aqueduct meet draws big fields. I'm not a fan of it aesthetically because of the terrible weather in the winter in NY, and I like turf racing and they can't run on the grass there for most of the meet, but you can't argue with the product at all-- if you go to Del Mar, Los Al, or Santa Anita on any random day during the late fall or winter, the card at Aqueduct is almost guaranteed to be much more bettable races than what you will see locally.

[MJC922]

Originally Posted by Bustin Stones

Another factor...baseball dropped 30 minutes from its games and attendance rose 10%. Anybody out there paying attention? Pace of play has meaning. Dead minutes add up to people finding other forms of entertainment. If we can jam fans into NBA seats at $150 a clip I don't want to hear about the bad economy.

I would even argue the pace of finding a play has meaning. The game doesn't fit into people's hectic lifestyles as neatly as something like the NFL. It's still just this daily playground for retirees and people who work in the industry. I find it difficult to justify thoroughly handicapping even a few races 'cold' especially when a person comes to understand the importance of doing the work, watching replays to find an edge in a race, then ultimately seeing the odds and finding no good play is there anyway after burning through a couple of hours. The game can keep pushing long horizontals and that's great for the subset of people who want lottery on horseback. Me personally I don't have the time for that. My one play on the Breeders Cup this year? Zandon -115 to finish ahead of Saudi Crown. Now that's gambling IMO, the horse didn't even run a jump and I still got paid, lol. Those are two horses you could have even been following as a 'casual' fan and then made a sound wager after handicapping a race for all of 45 seconds. When racing finally figures out there's a market for those types of match-up bets then it may finally start to make some serious inroads with sports bettors and the general public. If not then I guess I'll see them when I finally retire. People running the game need to get a clue, most folks who work and have families simply don't have time for the level of effort required here.