BC Changes for the Future

[BillW]

The Quickie Mart Breeders' Cup. You heard it here first at PaceAdvantage.com.

Not too many state gov'ts, who have a monopoly on the lottery will go for this without a heavy chunk of the action.

[Geekyguy]

My suggestions:

1. Open the card with the BC jump race. It's just a nice touch, and the thing I love most about Saratoga (middle of the week -- hey, let's have a JUMP race!).

2. The starter cap is a good idea, but I'd make it a $1 million race for horses who have started TWICE for a claiming price of $50,000 or less in their careers, and run it at 12 furlongs.

3. Add a race called the "Breeders' Cup Debutante." Make it a seven-furlong race for 2yo FIRST-TIME STARTERS with a purse of $1 million. This could become the first step along the road to the Triple Crown, and wouldn't require horses to have dual peaks. It would also create two Derby prospects on the same card and set up for a rematch battle for the Eclipse award.

4. Use the host track announcer, whoever that may be. The announcer is as much a part of the track's history as the track himself. Just make sure never to hold the BC at a track where Mike Battaglia is working.

5. Add a 10-cent pick-8 and promote it through the lottery terminals. Set it up so that any machine that can spit out PowerBall tickets can handle this bet, and offer computer-generated picks based on the program morning lines.

[schweitz]

Geekyguy---number 5 is an excellent idea---that would draw some interest from newbys and possibly generate some new horseplayers after spending the day watching the Breeder's Cup races to see how their pick-8 did.

[rokitman]

Originally Posted by BillW

Not too many state gov'ts, who have a monopoly on the lottery will go for this without a heavy chunk of the action.

Yup. Give it to them. Or get a 1.7 rating, a 4 share and fade into the noise of our culture one tenth at a time.

[banacek]

Originally Posted by garyoz

Better yet, have it at Belmont every year

I believe it is also called the World Thoroughbred Championships - still Breeders Cup to me. But it does attract the best horses in the world. Should it not move around - even to other countries occasionally. It's been to Canada - probably hard to have the whole thing in the U.K., but you could have one or two of the the turf races there one year and the rest in the U.S. Might be interesting.And could build interest.

[Geekyguy]

Originally Posted by schweitz

Geekyguy---number 5 is an excellent idea---that would draw some interest from newbys and possibly generate some new horseplayers after spending the day watching the Breeder's Cup races to see how their pick-8 did.

Well, I remember when War Emblem was going for the Triple Crown at Belmont and they said that he was good marketing for the sport.

I thought Sarava's $142.00 win payoff was a pretty damn good hook as well.

The best market for horseplayers right now is the "Pinnacle" market: guys who are stuck at the computer all day on the weekends following football and basketball, and want something quick to bet their money on that they can enjoy. Sports bettors don't like horses because they think it's too complicated, fixed, and that the takeout is too high. Even then they still don't mind betting the big races.

[banacek]

Originally Posted by BillW

Not too many state gov'ts, who have a monopoly on the lottery will go for this without a heavy chunk of the action.

I can still remember the Irish Sweeps tickets my parents would buy when I was a kid.

How about a good old fashioned sweepstake.The winners would each come to the track and each would draw a horse's name. The winner got $100,000 or something if their horse won. Could do a killer one on the Breeders Cup. Have a sweepstake on each race.

I don't know - just seems more exciting than picking 6 numbers from 1 to 49.

[rokitman]

Hey Geeky, Number 5 is a good idea! Obviously, I didn't read all of your post before I posted mine!

[Valuist]

Have a race for 5YOs. Quite a few good 3YOs hang around for their 4YO year. But after that, its usually off to the breeding shed. Maybe this would help entice a few more to stay in training.

[twindouble]

I'll try to answer my own questions;

Here we are talking about adding another BC race for what? Another million dollars or two for the rich? Screw them, add a race like I said for claimers, they make up the bulk of racing and run untill they can't run no more or are put to sleep on the track. Seems like a fitting thing to do.

Why haven't other classes of horses purces gone up proportionately to BC and other graded stake races? Simple, it's call trickle down economics, the rich get richer and poor get poorer. It's red lining the smaller barns and tracks so outfits like Magna can pounce on them when the time is right and guys like Gill that will snach your horse when things get tight.

Horseman can't afford the cream of the crop because the rich have put them out of their reach, no different than all the antiques and famous art along with historic centuries old antiquities. They swallow up everything of any value to our culture and others through out the world. Some you need a special permit to see and you or I wouldn't qualify. That's right we don't get to see the best run beyond their early successes.

When it comes to the jock that got paralyzed at Mountaineer Birzer, he's in the same position as most Americans when it comes to health insurance, the Jockeys Club failed him like the medical industry has failing us. If you can't afford some sort of catastrophic health insurance your doomed if something unforseen happens.

I would say there's less hard core horse players than there was 30 years ago, can't support that with any stats but it's just my gut feeling when I go to OTB or to a track, most are as old as I am, plus I've lost many buddies. Same goes for horsemen.

No one here or anywhere else factors in inflation when it comes to where we are today in this game. It eats at everything related to playing the horses and running a track. It plays a big part in my third paragraph, the rich drive inflation.

#9 speaks for it's self, prior post.

[cj]

If you run a race for claimers, it will be Dutrow against Lake against Catalano against Norman etc, etc. Not interested in that really.

Interesting to see a race at Delaware, Lake claimed Draw Play off Dutrow in New York for 16k, ran him back for 16k, he did nothing as expected by me at least.

[twindouble]

Originally Posted by cj

If you run a race for claimers, it will be Dutrow against Lake against Catalano against Norman etc, etc. Not interested in that really.

Interesting to see a race at Delaware, Lake claimed Draw Play off Dutrow in New York for 16k, ran him back for 16k, he did nothing as expected by me at least.

Good point on the trainers, could get around that by putting a ceiling on trainers earnings in the conditons. Like I said, let the little guy have a shot at a big payoff. Pipe dream, I know.

[Geekyguy]

Originally Posted by cj

If you run a race for claimers, it will be Dutrow against Lake against Catalano against Norman etc, etc. Not interested in that really.

Lake has never done that well in The Claiming Crown, however. I think this type of race wouldn't favor the top trainers because their stock would be used up long before their eligibility expires. A BC Starter Cap would more likely favor the genuinely improved horse who just happened to run for a tag, like Charismatic.

[garyoz]

Originally Posted by Geekyguy

A BC Starter Cap would more likely favor the genuinely improved horse who just happened to run for a tag, like Charismatic.

Charismatic is a very rare event, where you have a horse that is a genuine stakes horse who ran for a tag. John Henry is another I can think of. But what is more likely to happen is Shifty Shiek. He is the first plater that I can think of who moved from running for that tag up to winning a stakes race through what appeared to be "magic." Good 'ol Oscar Barrera Jr.

In additional I don't think conditioned races of this type belong in the BC. I think the race menu is near perfect as it is currently configured. I have more problems with having it at a venue like Lone Star. Where the Euros don't come over, the tight turns on the turf course determine the outcome, and the main track speed biased and not conducive to big fields.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by garyoz

Better yet, have it at Belmont every year

ARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Just say NO to Belmont!
Aqueduct, great!
Saratoga - Hmmmmmmm.