NY Gov Pataki has announced the bidding for the NYRA franchise will begin much sooner than expected.
CDI is selling Hollywood to have the needed upfront cash downpayment that the Governor is demanding.
Uncle Frank is working thru his lobbyists to sneak in the backdoor with some secret deal.
Neither of them will emerge the winner.
The last \"gambling frontier\" remaining is racinos with Frank/Magna getting the jump on everyone and not many worthwhile properties left on the table. The big kahuna is NYRA.
Look for MGM/Mirage [unbelievable casino mergers the last few months] to emerge the victor. They have the cash [at least access to cash] that Albany won\'t be able to refuse. Recently they\'ve been granted the franchise to run the video slots at Aqu that will generate billions and what better way to insure the gravy train long term than owning the franchise itself? They\'ll eventually push for expansion at Belmont/Saratoga which will happen, after presenting a sparkling record with Aqu. MGM in turn will hire CDI or Magna to run the true horseracing end of the business.
Gotta believe this is a mortal lock. Thoughts?
Very plausible, except for one thing.
Slots at the Spa??? Sorry, no way, the state can live without slots revenue for 5 weeks. There are already slots 2 blocks away at Saratoga Harness.
Frank Stronach has to show more before he gets a crack at the NY properties. I am not impressed with Magna\'s work in California or Maryland, where his organization faces real uphill battles. His relative success in Florida can be attributed to the fact that he operates a facility which has been a venue of choice for owners and trainers on the East Coast and Midwest for years. Look at all the high- and mid- level management changes in the Magna organization over the last 2 years. What\'s up with that?
Considering the typical attendance level at Aqu and Bel these days, I don\'t think any expansion of the facilities will be required as part of any move toward slots. I\'ve been at Belmont a few times in the last 2 weeks. It\'s starting to remind me of the Aqu inner track meet on an extremely cold day. They could set aside 2 floors for anything they want and still couldn\'t fill up the remaining space with horseracing fans. Live racing is almost dead except when there\'s a marquee race. However, it\'s hard to get those when everyone retires early.
Just imagine what a Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Ghostzapper race would draw and handle - especially if you threw in St Liam, RIM, and RHT.
What they probably should do is admit now that there are much better economic uses for all this valuable racetrack property around the country.
They should probably sell AQU to a real estate developer.
Sell a huge chunk of Belmont to a real estate developer and use all the proceeds to upgrade Belmont into a state of the art 9F track with 1 turf course and room for casinos, simulcasting, etc.... and expand Saratoga for the same.
They should \"can\" winter racing once and for all.
Much if not most of the betting will move online over time. We will need way fewer tracks in that environment.
Class:
I haven\'t visited the board much lately but read with absolute astonishment your \"I Predict\" post.
\"They should sell AQU to a real estate developer\"
\"They\" had thought about selling AQU to the Port Authority about 10 years ago. The deal was never consummated. Do you think that after all NYRA and the state went through to get slots at AQU that they will just turn around and sell the property?
To paraphrase you, you would like to sell part of Belmont and use the proceeds to build a state of the art 9F track with 1 turf course. Great idea. Are you using hallucinogenic drugs? Why would you take something that is absolutely unique (not to mention historic) in American racing and turn it into something conforming to every other track in the country? Part of what makes Belmont great is the variety of race distances provided by the the two turf courses and the 12F main track. Today I will be going to Monmouth Park where I notice that 5 of the 9 races carded are at 6f... BORING.
Slots at the Spa? Have you ever been to Saratoga Race Course? Where is there room for slots? And by the way they have slots at Saratoga Harness.
\"Can\" winter racing has been an oft repeated thought. But as long as there is a viable New York State Breeding program, you need that winter venue to accomodate the NY Bred slow rats (Chuckles\' term, not mine). I don\'t foresee the visionary Frank Stronach carding New York Bred races at Gulfstream, so NY winter racing is here to stay.
I happen to be a fan of winter racing, and I cut my teeth handicapping Aqueduct in the winter (since it was an easy subway ride from my house). I could understand cutting back winter racing (like maybe take a month off) but to eliminate it entirely? I don\'t like that idea. Let them take off from Dec. 1 to Feb. 1. I think this would produce a distinct improvement without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Belmont is a beautiful place. Needs to be left alone.
Saratoga is a beautiful place, but for me it\'s like going to the Hamptons -- it\'s too crowded to really enjoy it. Definitely not a slots venue. They don\'t have enough room as it is. Plus I can\'t win there.
This kind of reminds me of baseball, where people think the problem is the stadium, and if they build a new stadium, it will make things better. The problems of racing (and baseball) have NOTHING to do with the venues. I guess it\'s easier to talk about venue than it is to talk about doing what\'s necessary to really solve the problems.
HP
The problem with racing is super trainers and short fields, period.
richiebee,
I don\'t expect any of those things to happen because they make economic sense and economic sense and horseracing rarely if ever meet. :)
There is obviously no chance of Aqu being sold any time soon for the reasons you suggested. It just should have been because the place is deader than dead. You can hear crickets during the handful of stakes races they run there - and this is NY where the racing is supposed to be great. In general, the winter racing is terrible and the attendance is non-existent. It\'s only hope is a bunch of slots that could have been put anywhere in the city/state instead of on some pretty darn good real estate that could have been sold, developed in a way that would have helped the community, and provided the capital needed to salvage Belmont and Saratoga for the very long term. Who needs the track if it\'s the slots that attract the people and you can put them in a much smaller facility?
There is also no chance of Belmont being reduced in size the way I suggested for all the same sorts of reasons. I agree that it\'s an incredibly beautiful place. However reality is the reality. Other than when there\'s a triple crown race or marqee matchup the place becomes a ghost town. It\'s probably about 10 years behind Aqueduct - which is about 5 years behind Yonkers and Roosevelt (if you know what I mean). A facility and track that large is not needed.
The fact is that people don\'t go to the track as much as they used to. When they bet they play from home or from various smaller more convenient simulcast outlets. IMO, that trend is going to continue. So I believe live racing in the US needs to be consolidated. IMO, the proceeds from the sales of all the excess assets in the industry should be used to make the handful of tracks that are required better and more multi-purpose.
I\'m not saying I want it that way or that it\'s going to happen any time soon. IMO though, it\'s obvious there is massive waste and eventually some kind of consolidation is going to happen.
Hopefully I am wrong, but it seems pretty clear to me where we will be in 15 years or so.
It\'s definately Short Fields period.
NC Tony
For Example Look at the 14 horse Fieild result of Race 6 at Colonial on Monday.
Enough Said.
NC Tony