The future looks bleak for the Thumb

[Tom]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...kes?source=rss

"We're going to close the track. Ultimately, that's where we're heading," David Brown, president of the Finger Lakes Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said April 1.

The only April Fool's joke in all is this NY's pathetic governor, Baby Mario, the man without a brain.

A lot of people are going to hit hard by this.


Check the comment section - Tony Calo has some ideas....

[BIGTKLO]

The first order of business is to reduce the racing dates. The days of a 163 racing season are a thing of the past, The 155 day season for the upcoming 2016 isn't really practical in my opinion. The main reason is that from a national basis Finger Lakes is a very unattractive wagering proposition. Small fields with short priced favorites dominating is a thing of regularity at the thumb. With the exception of Mondays and Tuesdays are pools are not very attractive.

The second order of business is to cut back from 5 to 4 racing days a week. Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, Tampa Bay Downs all race 4 days a week. How many tracks really race 5 days a week anymore? For the record, I get paid on a per day basis. The less we race the less I make. Give me 120-130 days a year with a chance of survival and I'll take my chances. It seems to beat the alternative of closure.

The third thing I would do is increase the number of races we run on Mondays and Tuesdays. Those two days are the biggest handles of the week so lets run 10 races, and run 8 races on the other two days. We will be running some stakes races on Mondays and Tuesdays this year, which I suggested a couple of years ago. Well truth be told, my girlfriend suggested it to me. Gotta give the credit to her or I'll never hear the end of it.

I wish everything could remain the same, but that appears to be highly unlikely. I'm willing to compromise and cut back. I'm willing to make less money immediately if it means some longevity, and i believe there are many horseman who would be willing to make the necessary cut backs to ensure survival and postpone closure.

[cj]

Where is the part about making the track's product more attractive to bettors to try to increase handle and generate more revenue?

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by cj

Where is the part about making the track's product more attractive to bettors to try to increase handle and generate more revenue?

CJ, to be fair, I think that's included in cutting the racing dates down---fuller fields. Now as we've seen at other tracks, it hasn't exactly worked out that way, but it might help on a short-term basis.

[Tom]

Used to be they opened in mid May and shut down in mid October. Less days would be a great idea - fields are just too small now. They had a good idea of twilight racing years ago, but handled it terribly - no one was ever sure what days they ran later. Twilight on Fridays might tap into the PID market. There is just way to escape the curse of the NY breeding program though.

[cj]

Originally Posted by castaway01

CJ, to be fair, I think that's included in cutting the racing dates down---fuller fields. Now as we've seen at other tracks, it hasn't exactly worked out that way, but it might help on a short-term basis.

Bigger field size alone isn't going to cut it. Nobody wants to try anything new, they just want to whine.

[Tom]

Well, they take a cue from NYRA and card Starter Stakes - then claim to have a great stakes card every Tuesday!

[BIGTKLO]

I've been watching races for nearly forty years now and the product as a whole has been diminishing at all levels for quite some time. I look at all the smaller venues and recognize that the talent pool isn't there like it was in the past. I think that applies to the larger venues as well. How does Finger Lakes gain popularity among the masses? That is probably not attainable. However there are plenty of fans in New York who will pour the money in on Mondays and Tuesdays. Maybe less dates and bigger fields could attract some other fans as well.

[BIGTKLO]

Originally Posted by cj

Bigger field size alone isn't going to cut it. Nobody wants to try anything new, they just want to whine.

Maybe we should have a race a day where you have to wager with the idea of who will finish last, 2nd to last and so on. Horses who are 99-1 will now be a lukewarm 7/2 selection. CJ. horses who regularly receive a low rating will have high numbers. Any jock who fails to ride to the fullest will be suspended for a month. At Finger Lakes where are the odds on favorite wins so often we will have a product that will differ from the norm. Trying to handicap the super in a reverse order could be extremely challenging. If anything it will make your job of coming up with a number more difficult.

[cj]

Originally Posted by BIGTKLO

Maybe we should have a race a day where you have to wager with the idea of who will finish last, 2nd to last and so on. Horses who are 99-1 will now be a lukewarm 7/2 selection. CJ. horses who regularly receive a low rating will have high numbers. Any jock who fails to ride to the fullest will be suspended for a month. At Finger Lakes where are the odds on favorite wins so often we will have a product that will differ from the norm. Trying to handicap the super in a reverse order could be extremely challenging. If anything it will make your job of coming up with a number more difficult.

I'm thinking more price the game lower to draw customers, but hey, at least you are thinking outside the box.

[Tom]

Maybe we should have a race a day where you have to wager with the idea of who will finish last, 2nd to last and so on.

I could sell my tip sheet for $100 a crack!

[BIGTKLO]

Originally Posted by Tom

I could sell my tip sheet for $100 a crack!

My selections for opening day now have top priority with that wagering menu.

[Big Peps]

It sucks for a lot of upstate ny owners as well on so many levels, not always easy to get a modest priced ny bred to win downstate. I always used finger lakes as a good out and actually really enjoy the track, the people and racing there. Damn shame really that they couldn't have figured out a way to buildthe casino right there, shrink the seating at the track, build a turf course, hotel and events center to really have one stop shopping.

[MutuelClerk]

Originally Posted by cj

Bigger field size alone isn't going to cut it. Nobody wants to try anything new, they just want to whine.

I've worked in racing for almost 40 years. All I can say about this comment is B-I-N-G-O.

[alhattab]

Originally Posted by BIGTKLO

The first order of business is to reduce the racing dates. The days of a 163 racing season are a thing of the past, The 155 day season for the upcoming 2016 isn't really practical in my opinion. The main reason is that from a national basis Finger Lakes is a very unattractive wagering proposition. Small fields with short priced favorites dominating is a thing of regularity at the thumb. With the exception of Mondays and Tuesdays are pools are not very attractive.

The second order of business is to cut back from 5 to 4 racing days a week. Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, Tampa Bay Downs all race 4 days a week. How many tracks really race 5 days a week anymore? For the record, I get paid on a per day basis. The less we race the less I make. Give me 120-130 days a year with a chance of survival and I'll take my chances. It seems to beat the alternative of closure.

The third thing I would do is increase the number of races we run on Mondays and Tuesdays. Those two days are the biggest handles of the week so lets run 10 races, and run 8 races on the other two days. We will be running some stakes races on Mondays and Tuesdays this year, which I suggested a couple of years ago. Well truth be told, my girlfriend suggested it to me. Gotta give the credit to her or I'll never hear the end of it.

I wish everything could remain the same, but that appears to be highly unlikely. I'm willing to compromise and cut back. I'm willing to make less money immediately if it means some longevity, and i believe there are many horseman who would be willing to make the necessary cut backs to ensure survival and postpone closure.

I really envision many tracks going to a Euro type of model that entails short meets like I believe they have in France, or very short meets on specific dates every year like in the UK in the not too distant future. Even a degenerate like me enjoys some buzz at the track, and it is lacking even at a place like Monmouth on every Friday and many weekend days. Right now the meet just drags on, and even I prefer to go to the beach most weekends because there is so little energy at the track. If I'm running a place like Monmouth or FL, I would be thinking really hard about significantly condensing the calendar and/or creating festival days. I don't know much about how FL would do that, what dates it would claim, etc. For Monmouth I could see a roughly 20-30 day meet that combines festivals and racing.

Monmouth pulls huge crowds Memorial Day weekend for a food truck festival. I'm not really sure why, but they do. Ok so there's 3-4 days. Come back 3 weeks later for Father's Day, another huge one. There's another 3 days and, conveniently, attractive timing for the horses that ran Memorial Day weekend. From there maybe you continue every Fri-Sun thru Haskell Day around end of July. That's say six weekends and 18 days if you only run Fri-Sun and 24 days if you run Thu-Sun. Come back again for Labor Day and again say end of Sept for an end of summer bash or something like that. The trick to me is you need to claim the dates and keep them consistent every year.

Could FL do something similar? Have a big statebred festival, revolve a weekend around wine, etc? I understand one challenge is the breeding program and having significantly fewer days to race is a killer for these programs, but as Tony said at some point one needs to decide if a little of something is better than all of nothing. Arkansas does just fine with very little in-state breeding. Ultimately if a state believes that it makes sense economically to incentivize in-state breeding, I would try to accomplish that objective by offering incentives for racing both in state and out of state and taking the pressure off of the instate tracks like FL.