What is Racing's biggest problem?

[LottaKash]

Originally Posted by Charlie D

You can see it's good business practice, i can see it's good business practice , others can see it's good business practice, so it begs question, why don't the racing organisations see it the same way

CharlieD, I suspect it is because they are too busy admiring the "Emperor's New Clothes".......hahaha...........

best,

[BUD]

Originally Posted by jonnielu

The racing information industry.

The prosective new fan is quickly instructed that he should buy a lot of accompanying products in order to increase chances for winning.

The prospective new fan is taught by grandpa's experience with that concept.

He follows in his father's footsteps to the casino.

The racing information industry has never taught the player how to play the game, if it did they would work themselves out of a job.

The racing industry has never taught the player how to play the game either, it needs to start doing so, right now.

jdl

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Sorry I don't know how to double quote,,,,The Bottom is from Jaco P
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I didn’t vote Doug because I couldn’t find the “all of the above” selection.

Even though I agree with 90% of what is written above the main issue that drives me insane is pool integrity.

The drugging of defenseless animals (that is actually defrauding the wagering public and should be prosecuted as such.) The ADW debacle, insane tax rates, lack of full disclosure with equipment / medications etc…all demand immediate attention; but who can overcome some criminal past posting?
__________________
Dan G
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"There Is Something about the outside of a Horse That Is Good for the inside of a Man." ~ Winston Churchill

[joanied]

I voted for 'integrity' but I agree it is 'all of the above'. I can't speak about the handicapping part, except to say that every track needs to have a place for newbies to go and learn how to handicap...betting has become so confusing to the avergare person (race fan) that I would have to say they have no clue about what they are doing.
Oh, it was so easy back 'in the day', when the most exotic wager was a trifecta!!!! So, at least at the larger tracks, if not all tracks, a place needs to be set up where folks can sit down and learn the 'ropes' via race track employees that can 'teach' a handicapping class in a short period of time, that'll give a newbie at least the basics of betting. That's a tall order, but the only way I can see that would be available for folks to learn how to bet, and have fun doing it.

Customer service, I gather from posts here from members that get out to the tracks, is very lacking. I also assume many tracks are less than appealing in their upkeep...run down, dirty...all that negative stuff...and as far as I can see, there is no excuse for not keeping a track, any track, in tiptop shape..clean, good food, enough tellers so lines at the windwos are not long, good seating, comfortable in both hot & cold weather, a place for families to entertain kids (play areas), paddock areas that afford everyone a view of the horses, good food...and all of this needs to come at an affordable price.

Safety, drugs ect. I think that is finally being taken care of, but not fast enough, I beleive the best way to get rid of the notion that every horse racing is drugged is to ban all drugs, period...but, the drug issue & track surface issues are a work in progress...the powers that be best hurry up.

Marketing...now here is something 'they' can work on, it's so easy...they have to advertise racing on prime time TV. There are so many great angles they can use to advertise racing...great film footage, great music, maybe some humor, defintely something that stirs the emotions...
get jocks and trainers in these ads, we have several that are 'star' material, well spoken, good looking, even funny...use them in ads. Use the horses...
get ads in during other sport programs...NFL, NBA ect. I see good race ads on TV....but always during a race show...is that not preaching to the chior? Get ads on primetime networks.

That's my two cents...

[Bruddah]

While many great points have been made, I have narrowed my list of what's wrong with thoroughbrd racing and it's management to, they have never learned to put the paying customer first, and understand how to capture the youger players and teach them how to play. If they need a prime example of how to do both, look to the Casino's for a business model. Even those facilities which have been allowed to become Racino's do not understand this business philosopy.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that Racing mgmt. is nothing but a bunch of inbred, blue blood morons. They are good at propping their feet on the desk and waiting for business to come to them. Better yet, they are better at holding Symposiums at expensive retreats. All in the name of looking busy at trying to solve Industry problems. Idiots!

[Hajck Hillstrom]

Thank you all for contributing, as it does my heart good to hear such astute POV's. Some almost echoing my perspective verbatim.

Recognizing the problem is the first step, and now we must address the solutions.

Part III in my series on the H.A.N.A. Blog will attempt to do that, and I will be directing readers to this thread supporting some of the issues.

[jonnielu]

Originally Posted by Hajck Hillstrom

Thank you all for contributing, as it does my heart good to hear such astute POV's. Some almost echoing my perspective verbatim.

Recognizing the problem is the first step, and now we must address the solutions.

Part III in my series on the H.A.N.A. Blog will attempt to do that, and I will be directing readers to this thread supporting some of the issues.

Hajck,

Direct Nick Nicholson to this thread, there is a reason that Keeneland loves you back.

jdl

[Charlie D]

Originally Posted by boomman

Charlie: Spot on! It is absolutely ridiculous that certain tracks aren't offering their signals to ALL ADW's, and IMHO there is an easy solution to this from a player's perspective. DON'T bet them! Don't reward their stupidity by "searching" for that one ADW that may be available. Shut 'em out and if everyone does this we'll see how long this stalemate lasts!

Boomer

Been thinking about this last and i think it's only way things will change Boomer


Which tracks, horsemen deserve our bucks???

[sjk]

I don't expect anyone here to agree with my opinion but here are the two biggest factors in my view:

1). Rebates. These effectively increase the takeout on the casual player and are a significant barrier to new players taking an interest. If any track executives are reading they should take a look at the takeout on-track i.e. for every $1 bet on track how much is paid out on-track. I suspect the answer is sufficiently ugly that they might then wonder why they expect anyone to want to come back.

2). The increasingly bad horseman's economics. Many here have suggested that if they do not like the way things are they should get out of the business. You may get your wish to a greater degree than you expect and it is not clear to me how much of any of it will be standing at the end of the day.

[sjk]

Here is the other item on my list:

3). Outdated technology used to gather bets and compute prices. Odds and prices at smaller tracks change dramatically in the last minute which I would guess has more to do with the posting of the bets than when the bets are actually made.

[Imriledup]

Originally Posted by sjk

I don't expect anyone here to agree with my opinion but here are the two biggest factors in my view:

1). Rebates. These effectively increase the takeout on the casual player and are a significant barrier to new players taking an interest. If any track executives are reading they should take a look at the takeout on-track i.e. for every $1 bet on track how much is paid out on-track. I suspect the answer is sufficiently ugly that they might then wonder why they expect anyone to want to come back.

2). The increasingly bad horseman's economics. Many here have suggested that if they do not like the way things are they should get out of the business. You may get your wish to a greater degree than you expect and it is not clear to me how much of any of it will be standing at the end of the day.

Pool sizes are bigger because of rebates. How does a higher pool size hurt the casual player? The bigger the pool size for the 50 dollar bettor, the less of a chance that his 50 win bet will knock his horse from 6.20 to 6.00. Once in while a 50 dollar bet will knock a horse down 20 cents. This would happen LESS in a 100k win pool as opposed to a 50k win pool. Just more money for the casual player, i don't see how this is bad.

[onefast99]

The major issue in my state(NJ)is marketing. The same group that marketed these tracks since the early 80's continue to promote the same failed marketing strategies. The no Sunday racing in NJ once the racing shifts to the Meadowlands is inexcusable. MP can handle an early bird card and battle Aqueduct at least until Thanksgiving. The state continues to let the casinos dictate to them how racing will be run in NJ. I dont know if any of the other states have these issues but based upon some of the comments thus far it seems a few need better marketing and management.

[ezrabrooks]

2). The increasingly bad horseman's economics. Many here have suggested that if they do not like the way things are they should get out of the business. You may get your wish to a greater degree than you expect and it is not clear to me how much of any of it will be standing at the end of the day.[/QUOTE]

Yep, let the real whining begin... when we start having full fields of $2500 claimers filling up the majority of the cards.. Then the question will be..what happened to those greedy horseman?

Ez

[DeanT]

Originally Posted by ezrabrooks

Yep, let the real whining begin... when we start having full fields of $2500 claimers filling up the majority of the cards.. Then the question will be..what happened to those greedy horseman?

Ez

It will never happen like that. If owners started leaving, the first thing to drop would be the number of racedates, and number of races. Supply of racedates will be eased to meet demand so that price can encourage investment. So, if you have $10M for a purse pool you race 15 days instead of 40 and your average purse would go up by 300% and horse owners would buy horses. Higher purses draws better quality stock and the game becomes heavily ROI positive again.

With fans screaming for less racing this is not a point that I think horse owners should bring up. It does them no good at all in the court of public opinion. This is especially true because empirical handle data from other jurisdictions show that when racedates are dropped it has no appreciable handle drop as fans play the races in front of them and the fuller fields and "non-wall to wall racing" is a more pleasurable customer experience.

[ezrabrooks]

"It will never happen like that". I am always suspicious anytime some one throws out the phrase 'never will happen', when discussing a business out come. Ask the boys at Lehman, AIG, etc. about 'never will happen'.

[DeanT]

When Lehman or AIG go out of business there is still insurance and stock brokerages. There are 52,000 races run in the USA at an average purse of $19000. Cut them in half with people leaving and you have 26,000 races (still the most by far in the world) racing for $38000. $2500 claimers do not race for $38,000. Horse quality will go up.