Why is the Kentucky Downs meet so short, and why are purses so high?

[PalaceOfFortLarned]

Originally Posted by Onesome

Just wait till the politicans see the purses and start asking why it goes to these people instead of schools, roads, healthcare..etc. It's just a matter of time, ask Woodbine and Pennsylvania.

Then we'll see how 'successful' the track is.

Maybe, but there are some awfully big fish in that KY pond. KEE is the breeding capital of the country, if not world. Churchill hosts the biggest and most watched and wagered race of every calendar year.

[cj]

Originally Posted by Onesome

Just wait till the politicans see the purses and start asking why it goes to these people instead of schools, roads, healthcare..etc. It's just a matter of time, ask Woodbine and Pennsylvania.

Then we'll see how 'successful' the track is.

Kentucky is not Ontario or Pennsylvania. I think they'll be OK.

[Elkchester Road]

Originally Posted by cj

Kentucky is not Ontario or Pennsylvania. I think they'll be OK.

^^This.^^

[BMustang]

Originally Posted by westernmassbob

Surprised nobody mentioned that the meet is so short because the turf wouldn’t be able to sustain the beating it’s getting. Actually I watched all the races today and saw quite a bit of horses taking a misstep. The track is hilly and has a country meadow type surface. So yeah short meeting because of track conditions.

Not necessarily true. Kentucky Downs' turf course is not a traditional American turf course. It has long bending blades of grass, much like the Curragh in Ireland. I'm thinking Fescue, which is much more durable than whatever we have at Saratoga. The "grass" at KyDowns often has brown tips, whcih can give it a tan cast.
Years ago, foolishly I walked completely around the Kentucky Downs oval, which is 1 1/2 miles. I say foolishly because by the time I got to the I-65 Rest Stop, I was thinking about jumping the fence and calling a cab to get back to the "clubhouse." It was extremely tiring. It was also during the spring, where it might have been a bit more dense than in September.

I would think that the Saratoga courses take much more a beating in two months than the KyDowns track would. In Ireland, The Curragh only runs on weekends, for about a two or three month stretch. It can rain torrents there, but the "turf" is so lush, that you'd never know that it has rained at all. Another interesting item about The Curragh is that they list different track conditions for different sections of the track. They also have normal fields of up to 30 horses or more.

Kentucky Downs could run longer meets. They simply choose not to, since it is not a spectator friendly facility, plus as stated, if they stretched the meet, they would diminish the purses no one would go, or run there.

[baconswitchfarm]

Kentucky Downs chooses to run longer meets. Keeneland and Churchill collude with the racing commission members that they own to assure it doesn't happen. That's the sum of the situation.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by Onesome

Just wait till the politicans see the purses and start asking why it goes to these people instead of schools, roads, healthcare..etc. It's just a matter of time, ask Woodbine and Pennsylvania.

Then we'll see how 'successful' the track is.

Might want to ask again---in Pennsylvania the effort to take money that the state is providing the racetracks for purses failed. In fact, the amount of money from the state to the tracks was increased.

https://www.drf.com/news/meadows-mso...purse-increase

[ubercapper]

Originally Posted by baconswitchfarm

Kentucky Downs chooses to run longer meets. Keeneland and Churchill collude with the racing commission members that they own to assure it doesn't happen. That's the sum of the situation.

I never believed this but it was rumored to be the case many years ago, before Kentucky tracks took control of their own fortunes entirely, with help from the legislature (yes, politicians), keeping HHR management to themselves (no outside companies) and many of the tracks are in partnership on the HHR facilities that aren't on track property.

Since then, the result has been no infighting. Kentucky Downs has supported purse supplements at Ellis Park for a few years now, and Ellis Park gave up a date this summer so Churchill Downs could run the Arlington Million card.

As a result Kentucky Downs got an extra day this year and lots of extra dates for rain outs. There's just no more room for racing and allowing for turf horses to have time off before the Churchill Downs meet starts.

[ubercapper]

Originally Posted by cj

Kentucky is not Ontario or Pennsylvania. I think they'll be OK.

This is 100% accurate. Although some legislators are opposed to gambling in any form on moral grounds, there is almost zero chance anyone in Frankfort will be looking for more money.

As a concession during the HHR debate to change some language in the law last year following the state supreme court decision about HHR being legal, legislators agreed to revisit the pari-mutuel tax.

This was done WITH the agreement of the tracks, and a slight raise in the tax tracks pay on handle took place this year, along with penny breakage. There was zero talk about going any further than that.

[metro]

Originally Posted by baconswitchfarm

Kentucky Downs chooses to run longer meets. Keeneland and Churchill collude with the racing commission members that they own to assure it doesn't happen. That's the sum of the situation.

Kentucky Downs could be running this Friday, or could have last Friday, if they so desired.

Probably could run a two week 10 day meet if they wanted.

Nothing to do with other KY tracks.

[BarchCapper]

Here's the TDN article from the most recent time I found something where they looked to increase dates - they only got 6 though it appears they were requesting 7. They ran 6 in 2020 and 2021, and finally got the 7th date this year.

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...dates-in-2020/

There definitely are constraints keeping them from going much past that, if you read what Nicholson says.

[baconswitchfarm]

Originally Posted by BarchCapper

Here's the TDN article from the most recent time I found something where they looked to increase dates - they only got 6 though it appears they were requesting 7. They ran 6 in 2020 and 2021, and finally got the 7th date this year.

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...dates-in-2020/

There definitely are constraints keeping them from going much past that, if you read what Nicholson says.

They have always wanted more days but were shut out. You won't hear any complaining for a while because they were given half of one of the phony harness tracks that got approval.

[kyle r]

Because of a big lie just like so much else in this broken world. In this case they dubbed slot machines instant racing. Et voila. Another way of stripping wealth from the masses was born.