Toga Party 2014

[riskman]

Thanks Al, and PA for all you do at Saratoga and through the year.

Hope to be up during the Alabama week this year and will stop by hoping to run into some of the members of PA.

Ted, thanks for taking up some of the slack, and wish you the best and members of your group. Hope to meet you this year. Believe I meet you two years ago in the tent.

To all, hope you get the chance to attend Saratoga this summer. It is well worth it.

The best.

Riskman( Jim )

[SilverSow]

I just wandered out here for the first time in many moons. First of all, many thanks to Al for picking this thing up several years ago and keeping it alive. Second, from my standpoint, anything I did this year would be spotty at best, since I just started a new job and employers hesitate to give a whole mess of vacation time in August to somebody who just started in late May.

I do plan to be at the track Aug. 13, 14, & 16 with the kid when he comes to town, and since I'll be working in Albany, I could probably hook up with folks at the Racino one night as well.

I promise to do better at checking in here and finding out what's going on.

Dave

[Red Knave]

Originally Posted by SilverSow

I do plan to be at the track Aug. 13, 14, & 16 with the kid

Haven't heard from you and 'the kid' for a while.
Looking forward to seeing you on the 16th (and maybe the evening of the 15th?)

[Track Collector]

I "hope" to be there on Thursday thru Sunday. Given my current medical condition, and that I have not been able to drive for over 2 months and counting, I will just have to play it by ear, including getting any tickets.

It sure would be nice to see everyone and enjoy the racing at the Spa!

[Mike at A+]

We're looking at 8/9 through 8/16 for our annual Saratoga trip.

[joeprunes]

I`ll be there alabama week end. Sorry for your problems Al hope everything works out ,your a good person and friend. Hope all my young puppies will be there,they know who they are...................

[OTM Al]

Originally Posted by joeprunes

I`ll be there alabama week end. Sorry for your problems Al hope everything works out ,your a good person and friend. Hope all my young puppies will be there,they know who they are...................

Hi Joe. No problems really. I can give some of the story now I guess as it doesn't matter much now. As some of you know, my wife worked in the Marketing Department at NYRA the last 5 years or so. When I initially wrote about no being sure if I was going to be there, the majority of the staff had been told not to make arrangements to be in Saratoga this summer. There was a belief that they would be asked to try to run things from down state. My understanding is that some of that has shaken out by now but a fair number of people are not going to be up there this year that had been in past years. She quit NYRA at the beginning of May. Not going to much into that other than to say that our vaunted turf press have missed much of the story that is going on there. She got a new job pretty quickly, so all is well there.

I am in fact going to be up in Saratoga at the end of July for the Jim Dandy weekend I believe and we may go back for closing weekend but haven't decided for sure. As I said though, I had to say something, though understandibly vague, to warn you all that I could not be relied on to put the event together this year before you all were going to make vacation plans. Fortunately Ted Craven has been able to pick up a bit of it. So I'll miss seeing you all this year, but hopefully in the future I'll see you all again.

[Ted Craven]

Still haven't received the tickets yet for the Festival Tent tables (Aug 14-17) - and apparently the fault lies in the personnel 'change-over' process (code for something, I'm sure ...)

Hopefully they arrive before I depart.

See you all there!

Ted

[OTM Al]

Originally Posted by Ted Craven

Still haven't received the tickets yet for the Festival Tent tables (Aug 14-17) - and apparently the fault lies in the personnel 'change-over' process (code for something, I'm sure ...)
Ted

No, actually it is quite accurate. They fired almost everyone in group sales this spring and pretty much everyone they didn't fire quit. Really going poorly if they haven't managed to get the tickets out yet...

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

No, actually it is quite accurate. They fired almost everyone in group sales this spring and pretty much everyone they didn't fire quit. Really going poorly if they haven't managed to get the tickets out yet...

Jeez...A mass sacking like means there was a change at the managerial level or
NYRA is looking to slash salaries

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

Hi Joe. No problems really. I can give some of the story now I guess as it doesn't matter much now. As some of you know, my wife worked in the Marketing Department at NYRA the last 5 years or so. When I initially wrote about no being sure if I was going to be there, the majority of the staff had been told not to make arrangements to be in Saratoga this summer. There was a belief that they would be asked to try to run things from down state. My understanding is that some of that has shaken out by now but a fair number of people are not going to be up there this year that had been in past years. She quit NYRA at the beginning of May. Not going to much into that other than to say that our vaunted turf press have missed much of the story that is going on there. She got a new job pretty quickly, so all is well there.

I am in fact going to be up in Saratoga at the end of July for the Jim Dandy weekend I believe and we may go back for closing weekend but haven't decided for sure. As I said though, I had to say something, though understandably vague, to warn you all that I could not be relied on to put the event together this year before you all were going to make vacation plans. Fortunately Ted Craven has been able to pick up a bit of it. So I'll miss seeing you all this year, but hopefully in the future I'll see you all again.

DAMN..I am planning on going the following week. That's the plan. Things can change.
I wanted to go to the PA thing in the middle of the month, but that may not work out either......

[OTM Al]

Originally Posted by thespaah

Jeez...A mass sacking like means there was a change at the managerial level or
NYRA is looking to slash salaries

The edict was that they must function as if there were no VLT revenues. Some staff was let go and some was marginalized to the point that the quit, another win as that means no severance payments. Meanwhile many high priced executives were hired, so figure that out. It takes 3 people to do PJ Campo's former job, plus the creation of some postions, CXO for example, that never existed before. On top of that the stakes program has certainly not been handled that way with many huge purse increases and the creation of new races. Now that money does have to, by law, be spent on purses and maybe they figured this is the best way to do good with it, I don't know, but it certainly would not be sustainable. Is the bad press you get if those are cut more damaging than the good press for increasing them in the first place? Who knows but be sure the current administration will never have to pay the piper on that one.

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

The edict was that they must function as if there were no VLT revenues. Some staff was let go and some was marginalized to the point that the quit, another win as that means no severance payments. Meanwhile many high priced executives were hired, so figure that out. It takes 3 people to do PJ Campo's former job, plus the creation of some postions, CXO for example, that never existed before. On top of that the stakes program has certainly not been handled that way with many huge purse increases and the creation of new races. Now that money does have to, by law, be spent on purses and maybe they figured this is the best way to do good with it, I don't know, but it certainly would not be sustainable. Is the bad press you get if those are cut more damaging than the good press for increasing them in the first place? Who knows but be sure the current administration will never have to pay the piper on that one.

"high priced executives"...
Ok, their function is....?
Great. So NYRA's new management instead of running the organization like a business, has decided NYRA is to be operated similar to the way local governments operate. Or some such..
Brilliant.

[OTM Al]

Originally Posted by thespaah

"high priced executives"...
Ok, their function is....?
Great. So NYRA's new management instead of running the organization like a business, has decided NYRA is to be operated similar to the way local governments operate. Or some such..
Brilliant.

I would say that they do think they are running it like a business, but an entertainment business primarily. Of course they are ruled by the State much more now than before, so you do have that element as well.

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

I would say that they do think they are running it like a business, but an entertainment business primarily. Of course they are ruled by the State much more now than before, so you do have that element as well.

And to that I say with that sort of eerie tone "oh boy".
So you are pretty much settled on Jim Dandy weekend for you first visit this season?