NJ Assembly Approves $10 Million Annual Purse Subsidy

[biggestal99]

Originally Posted by cj

All I know is Jorge Navarro must be sporting a huge smile upon hearing this news.

Maybe another sharp trainer will bring their horses to Monmouth this summer to compete with him.

In the lower claiming ranks, his horses always towered over the comp, fig wise and went off at odds on.

Allan

[therussmeister]

What if...

This is actually what the casinos want if the alternative is casinos at the racetrack. I'm sure the casino at Aqueduct is tickled pink that this means no casino for Meadowlands.

Canterbury has a similar deal with the casino four miles down the road, and the government has nothing to do with it.

[Redboard]

Originally Posted by Tom

Not all.
IF the casino is a partnership on the track grounds, I can see it as part of the family.
But taking money from independent businesses is welfare.
The business model, as Al says, is not good for the track.

Duh,
Then STOP doing it.

NJ is not alone, NYRA does it, Gulfstream, Parx, Del Park, and others, they all do purse supplements.

[Tom]

And none of them should be.

[spiketoo]

Originally Posted by Tom

Not all.
IF the casino is a partnership on the track grounds, I can see it as part of the family.
But taking money from independent businesses is welfare.
The business model, as Al says, is not good for the track.

Duh,
Then STOP doing it.

IMHO Tom, its not welfare but gov't sanctioned extortion that is the new norm in capitalism (tho not sure it's' so new - see BigPharma paying off companies to not make generic drugs).

In the good ol' days (!), Vinny would visit your biz and ask for money so 'nuttin happened to your place'. Now the tracks go to the feds and say 'get us some money from them big casinos or we're gonna ask you for a casino too'.

I'm guessing the casinos dont mind somewhat as they can payoff potential competitors to well, not compete with them. And my guess is it also 'relieves' the feds of a messy battle with the casinos if the tracks asked for slots. I just think its wrong. Free market 101.

'Purse supplements, derived from payments from Atlantic City casinos in exchange for the racing industry not pursuing casino-style gambling, had previously been in place in New Jersey but were ended under former governor Chris Christie.'

[biggestal99]

The big question here for Monmouth is whether to hold an elite meeting for 20 days or so and distribute the 10,000,000 that way or spread it across the meeting evenly


Here is an opinion of one man


https://www.app.com/story/sports/hor...ss/2770147002/


Allan

[chiguy]

I see this as a positive. If I understand correctly it is for a five year period with the idea of raising up the crop of horses bred in the state. Not welfare but an investment with a specific outcome in mind. I for one hope it works and improves the industry in a state where racing if floundering.

[biggestal99]

Originally Posted by cj

All I know is Jorge Navarro must be sporting a huge smile upon hearing this news.

Originally Posted by biggestal99

Maybe another sharp trainer will bring their horses to Monmouth this summer to compete with him.

In the lower claiming ranks, his horses always towered over the comp, fig wise and went off at odds on.

Allan

According to what I have read.

5k claims going for 20k purse.

Allan

[Tom]

Didn't we go through this fiasco a few years ago?
This, IMHO will make the races totally unplayable - it is a breeding grounds for cheating.

[biggestal99]

Originally Posted by Tom

Didn't we go through this fiasco a few years ago?
This, IMHO will make the races totally unplayable - it is a breeding grounds for cheating.

Tom,
I cant be any worse than last year where Navvaro won almost every 5K claim at Monmouth and almost every winner that he had paid 4 or less on a regular basis.


Allan

[thaskalos]

If the horseplayer has learned one thing during this "racino" experiment...it's that a sharp increase in purses will not increase the size or the competitiveness of the horse racing fields that are currently maligning this game. In fact...the exact OPPOSITE seems to be the most likely outcome. To me...there is only one certainty in this game, and that is: "What's good for the horsemen is definitely not good for the horseplayers".

[Tom]

Agree 100%.
I remember horses were seriously dropping to get those nickel purses, and there were 3-4-5 claims in a single race.

Lower the purses - make them HAVE to run more often.

[Afleet]

During the so-called ``Elite Meet’’ in 2010, Monmouth Park ran 49 days with average daily purses of $797,070, the highest in the nation. The result was a 213 percent increase in average daily handle, a 79 percent increase in on-track handle, a 47 percent rise in attendance and a 25 percent jump in field size. And the 22-day ``Fall Meet’’ at Monmouth Park that year, featuring average daily purses of around $420,000, enjoyed similar increases over the previous year’s fall racing dates at the Meadowlands.


If this was so successful, why did racing decline so significantly in NJ so soon afterwords?

https://www.app.com/story/sports/hor...ss/2770147002/

[biggestal99]

Originally Posted by Afleet

During the so-called ``Elite Meet’’ in 2010, Monmouth Park ran 49 days with average daily purses of $797,070, the highest in the nation. The result was a 213 percent increase in average daily handle, a 79 percent increase in on-track handle, a 47 percent rise in attendance and a 25 percent jump in field size. And the 22-day ``Fall Meet’’ at Monmouth Park that year, featuring average daily purses of around $420,000, enjoyed similar increases over the previous year’s fall racing dates at the Meadowlands.


If this was so successful, why did racing decline so significantly in NJ so soon afterwords?

https://www.app.com/story/sports/hor...ss/2770147002/

Chris Christie. Wanted horse racing to die in jersey.

Almost accomplished it. Almost.

Allan

[Redboard]

A few meandering thoughts:

Monmouth’s ``Elite Meet’’ in 2010, was awesome. The cards were much better. Monmouth is a great track that can compete with Saratoga IMO. I’m excited to start playing it again.

I don’t want to bet my hard-earned money on a family softball pickup game, I want to bet on a contest that means something. Most trainers believe that a horse runs the fastest after a 5-week rest, with , of course, proper training during that time. I want high purses with fulltime, skilled trainers running rested, ready-to-run animals.

I just don't understand how keeping the purses low, will stop people from cheating. If someone is cheating , what does it matter whether they are cheating with $5k claimers or whatever, they should be stopped from cheating. Why it is dangerous to drop a horse from a $50k claiming race, to a $5k claiming race, no matter what the purse of the latter? If it is, it should be studied and rules enacted that prevent abuse (maybe ban claiming races?).

Another thing I don’t understand is the theory that there is just as much cheating at tracks with high purses as there is at others. There was a trainer that moved from Turfway to Parx who said he couldn’t make ends meet at Turfway even though he was winning races(I believe Turfway has increased their purses since). It’s just common sense that someone who is having trouble financially, is going to look at other ways — the pari-mutuel pool, paying employees crap, cutting back on animal welfare, etc.

Another aspect of the low purses is the bad image problem the sport has. I would like to be able to go into a track without a bag over my head. There’s a direct inverse correlation between the size of the purse the horse competes for, and his probability ending up in Fido’s food bowl in Guadalajara.

The theory that keeping the purses low to make them run more and therefore larger fields, makes no sense. The cards at Monmouth the last few years, as well as Del Park, and others, sucked. I don’t want to see the same dogs running week-after-week for the same crap purses. It’s one thing to have large fields, but if half the field can’t win.

It's too bad Monmouth can't get together with Parx and Del Park. Del Park racing in maybe March, April, May; Monmouth racing June, July and august; Parx racing September, October, November. Combine their state breds if they want. The rest of the year these places should be casinos because people want to bet on slot machines and table games, for the most part. But I know Monmouth is forced to not have a casino with this deal.