Congrats to PJ and his crew.
Hallandale, Saturday, middle of February.
12 race card, seven maiden races.
Just sayin.
Cards at \"Championship\" GP meet a joke,overall quality very poor.
While I am not a fan of too many Maiden races either, I think they were giving TB their day in the sun. Velasquez, The Leper, Javier, Jersey Joe, Lezcano, and Edgar along with a bunch of top trainers made their way across the state for TB\'s second biggest day of the year. Total GP handle for 2/13 was north of 15mm, which is still a good day. By PJ carding those LOUSY $6250. card fillers he keeps the CRC guys around so they can stay year round. Just a thought.
I think Richie was referring to this coming Saturday (2/20).
Well that certainly explains it. Looks to be a very weak card, I must agree. As usual, I bring up races that have already been run!!!
It\'s been the whole meet, can only get better.
Next week is Fountain of Youth Day and there will be 5 Stakes races. Probably a few key 3YO allowances races.
There has to be a down day and there hundreds of good well bred maidens down here. These races fill. They could move a couple of those FOY Stakes races back a week and it would look better but FOY Day worse.
Devil in the detail but Calder and many dog tracks probably close.Horsemen bought off by subsidies but a dangerous precedent established if this passes.At some point T-Bred racing in Fl will have to go toe to toe with more full blown casinos.
Florida bill allowing tracks to drop racing advances
By Matt Hegarty DRF
A Florida Senate committee advanced two gambling bills on Wednesday that would permit most of the state's parimutuel facilities to drop their live racing operations but would also create a purse pool for Thoroughbred racing subsidies estimated at $40 million a year.
The gambling bills are designed to grant legislative approval to a compact negotiated late last year between Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the Seminole Indian tribe. The compact has triggered a massive lobbying effort by parimutuel operators on a variety of issues, but the most controversial, from the standpoint of Thoroughbred horsemen, has been an effort by some parimutuel operators to be allowed to drop their money-losing racing businesses while still retaining their licenses to operate casino-type games.
The bills advanced by the Senate Florida Regulated Industries Committee would permit greyhound tracks, harness tracks, Hialeah Park, and Gulfstream West (formerly Calder Race Course) to decouple their racing licenses from their casino licenses, potentially leading to mass closures of parimutuel facilities if the legislation is signed into law. But they would not allow either Gulfstream Park or Tampa Bay Downs to decouple, and they also require the Seminole tribe and the parimutuel operators who have shuttered their racing operations to provide an estimated $20 million each annually in subsidies to Gulfstream's and Tampa's purses from their casino operations.
Combined, Tampa and Gulfstream run approximately 300 live racing dates a year when including race dates at Gulfstream Park West, the name given to a two-month meet at Calder that is operated under a lease by the owner of Gulfstream. At that number, the $40 million annual subsidy will provide for approximately $130,000 in additional purse money and breeders' awards for every day of live racing.
"I think we've bent over backwards to accommodate [Thoroughbred] interests," said Sen. Joe Negron, a member of the committee.
Two Thoroughbred industry representatives, Tom Ventura of the Ocala Breeders Sales Company and Lonny Powell of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, spoke during the hearing on the legislation, and both thanked the committee members for acknowledging the Thoroughbred industry's concerns about the impact of the bills.
"Your purse pool is certainly appreciated as a platform we can build upon," Powell, the chief executive of the FTBOA, said.
The bills would also lower the tax rate on slot machines at parimutuel facilities from 35 percent to 25 percent. A portion of the savings would be directed into the purse pool. Gulfstream Park, which is owned by The Stronach Group, currently takes bets on 800 machines.
The owner of Calder, Churchill Downs Inc., would be allowed to continue to own and operate a casino at the track, but it would be allowed to decouple the parimutuel permit that is currently being leased to The Stronach Group under a six-year deal signed in 2014. Calder's long-term future as a racetrack is unclear; Churchill has said in its financial statements that it plans to tear down the grandstand and redevelop the portions of the property used for racing operations, such as the racing surfaces and barn area.
While the Thoroughbred industry received lucrative carve-outs and protections, other parimutuel constituencies did not fare well. Jack Cory, president of the Florida Greyhound Association, said that most of the state's 39 greyhound tracks would close if the bills pass, and, because the bills allow for parimutuel licensees to also operate slot machines, the legislation would lead to 39 new casinos in the state.
Negron countered that the bills do not require greyhound tracks to give up their parimutuel licenses, and that the legislation would only give those companies the option to cease live racing.
"Nothing [in these bills] stops greyhound racing from continuing," Negron said.
The bills were the result of months of negotiations between legislators and various gambling constituencies, and their main provisions are expected to be endorsed in the Senate and House. A House committee advanced similar legislation last week.
Either the GP Super High 5 pool is not regularly updated or a computer assisted rebater is sharp shooting when a carryover pool is present
"Nothing [in these bills] stops greyhound racing from continuing," Negron said.
Except for the fact that it is much cheaper to operate a slot parlor than it is to run any sort of live racing.
Looks like another sweetheart deal for the Seminoles. Thanks, Rick!
From the Miami Herald, December 2015: \"The biggest recipient of the Seminole Tribe spending spree has been the Republican Party of Florida, which collected $100,000 in checks from the Tribe in 2015 and $1.1 million in the previous two years. Another $75,000 went to the to the Florida Republican Senatorial Committee earlier this year.\"
\"It\'s Chinatown\".
Lets walk this back. Who owns the Palm Beach Dog Track? The Rooney family. That would be House Rep Pat Rooney. Friend and neighbors with Senator Joe Negron of nearby St Lucie.
So if Rooney could operate a Card/Casino without having to do pari-mutual wagering he could get rid of the money losing dogs. Could he sell the pari-mutual license if he doesn\'t want it? Maybe. But who would want it? Maybe Mr Frank Stronach so he could get more bang for his buck at Palm Meadows and the Rooneys were always his stumbling block because they owned the License he couldn\'t get....
TGJB Wrote:
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> \"It\'s Chinatown\".
I have yet to find another line from any movie that explains so much of life with such brevity.
Well, perhaps they\'re thinking the big days bring in the casual bettor - while the degenerates will show up with their money regardless.
FOY day has 5 graded stakes, 3 local stakes, 3 allowance races and 2 MSWs. A couple of the stakes came up a bit light, but it still looks like a great day.
Could be a very chalky day in those stakes races..
Yet the $400K G2 FOY attracts only 6 entrants and one maybe two (Golden Ray, Fellowship) seem to have entered the wrong race?
Is that because the bet against early favorite for the Yum Kentucky Derby is so good looking, diminutive and fast that the others don\'t see any sense in challenging him.
Is it that others don\'t figure to win enough to cover the costs of entry. Or that any post positions outside of six has no chance at the race distance on the inside speed favoring racing strip.
Are there so few stakes wannabe runners in South FL. The Tampa Derby will likely start a dozen it usually does. Maybe the race is jinxed many of its past winners had a shortened career and only a few went on to notable TC success.
I guess the race is just not that significant just a showcase for the current crop\'s leading FL colt? A big performance # and the attendant hype followed by disappointment at longer distances on heavy deeper tracks.
To complicate once again a front is moving through Florida cooling temperatures, thunderstorms high winds and ridiculously high pollen counts.
Can\'t help but remember the movie Zulu very impressionable on youngsters.
Going to be a beautiful day Saturday at Gulfstream..
Rumor has it that Awesome Speed won\'t go leaving this race one of the worst Derby preps in recent memory. Yuck!
That is some card, in all respects.