Congrats to NYRA on the huge fields for Sat's stakes

[covelj70]

are you kidding me?

4 graded stakes with big purses, including the Wood for 750k with fields of:

7, 6, 6, 6 horses respectively.

Just absolutely unreal.  It was the same for Belmont day last year and same for the Travers last year.

Just ashame.

[FrankD.]

Just wait until Finger Lakes opens in 2 weeks ! The field sizes will really shrink.

It\'s an absolute crime what has happened in NY and Cali. Monmouth will be the weekend place to be this summer.

[Michael D.]

You forgot to mention the 5 state bred races, Jim.

They need to tear down that dump immediately, before it takes Saratoga down with it. The market for Aqu is gone, and it\'s never coming back.

Slots will help for a short while, but it will be just a matter of time before NY politicians redistribute that income at a rate which puts NYRA right back where it started - bankrupt.

[TGJB]

If OTB did not exist (or if NYRA ran it) the solution would be easy-- no winter racing, like in the old days. Meadowlands could run a cheap winter meet, horsemen that wanted to run during the winter could run there, OTB would take bets on it (and GP etc.).

But since they are competing with OTB, if NYRA didn\'t run over the winter the bettors would still bet, and NYRA wouldn\'t get any of it.

[FrankD.]

There you go again JB trying to make sense of NYRA and NYS politicians
You must have bumped your head !

[miff]

NYRA management incompetent but lack of horses more an industry thing.Small and mid sized owners falling like flies in NY.Claiming owners in NY becoming extinct.

Slots will give a temporary jolt,but the new Monmouth purse structure sure to hurt NYRA badly. One delusional NYRA exec calls the Monmouth purse structure good for NYRA tracks, should be immediately fired for being totally out of touch with reality.

No less than 5-10 top NY outfits already laying out plans to race more at Monmouth and less at Saratoga and Belmont.NY State breeding awards program needs dramatic cut back to reduce overwhelming number of NYB slow rats which dominate way too much of the NY racing scene.

Unless bold steps are taken very soon, NY will become second rate even during Saratoga and Belmont.NY Racing Chief Sabini must bite the bullet and restructure top NYRA management adding desperately needed executives with Vegas type gaming skills/mentality.


Mike

[richiebee]

Miff and Others:

The Monmouth super meet is a one year experiment based on a one time only purse
enrichment from the NJ casinos.

Will be interesting to see if Pletcher, who is on an unprecedented roll, sends
his top horses to Woodbine, Churchill and Monmouth, and sends his second string
to Belmont and Saratoga.

As I have been saying for years, NYRA gave up its spot as the home of the best
racing in the US by emphasizing state bred racing, the main proponent of which
should be beginning an extended prison term any day now.

Another problem is Charles Wayward, who can offer a thousand excuses why NY
racing has hit bottom before he points a finger at himself. Part of the Wayward
Hayward problem is that he gets a free pass from his old buddy at DRF. The truth
is that NY racing under the administration of Hayward and Campo took a turn for
the worse long before the economy soured and the Aqueslots plan became a national
laughingstock.

Its just damn sad.

[miff]

Bee,

Crist and NYRA/Hayward joined at the hip. Just try to post on Crist/DRF site something objectively negative about NYRA/Hayward,it don\'t go up.


Mike

[Silver Charm]

I will be betting Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill in Australia. This is the richest day in racing in Australia.

Six horse fields, Synthetics and New York Breds has me going Down Under Mate

[MO]

There will be drawbacks at Monmouth as well, particularly in customer service.  None of Monmouth\'s employees have gotten a raise in pay for 3 years. Now they have had a 5 day week cut to 3, and the hours for those 3 days have been extended. So right around 4PM the lines at the windows will slow down, as well as food service because the employees will be fatigued and grumpy.

[martoon]

Richie...

The most amazing (and smart) thing about the Monmouth meet from an owners perspective is that they are paying $1500 to last place!  This is one of the most progressive moves ever made to help the horse owner and so smart from a field size perspective.  It may only be a year but these guys are really trying something very different and they are attacking racing\'s most pressing issues from all sides with seriously bold moves. I actually think they are doing everything right and hope it works so they can find the money next year and beyond to keep it going.  That $1500 really helps the small owners pay the bills and should insure full fields with extra entries even to protect from scratches too.

[miff]

Regardless of any drawbacks, the initiative is bold and New Jersey must be applauded for the attempt at improving the quality of the product.On the other hand, NYRA adds days to the Saratoga meet, hell bent on killing the goose that laid the golden egg.Guess they\'ll add an additional day to give away a t-shirt or bobble head doll.

Also coming soon from NYRA an \"assault\" on the players with tons of cheap claimers and maidens on the grass.BRILLIANT NYRA!

Mike

[Lost Cause]

MO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > because the employees will be fatigued and grumpy.


I hate to say it but they would be too fatigued and grumpy regardless of what happened to their pay or hours...there are only a few tellers at every racetrack/OTB that are actually helpful..Most just grind through their day slowly under the Union cover..

[MO]

Agreed,and so the longer hours per day can\'t be a plus - at least customer service wise. And don\'t forget the horsemen who already work a long day. And the people who are responsible for the product - horse ID, track maintainence, everyone works an extra 90 minutes per day at the same daily rate of pay under the new program.

IMO, The idea of a 50 day meet at Monmouth with $1M in daily purses is ideal and this is the direction racing must go. Monmouth may surpass Saratoga as the summer place to be and perhaps it should. Saratoga has raped NYRA employees for years with exhorbitant seasonal rental rates and its customer service has never been it\'s brightest attribute, but who can blame them? (I can recall Bill Finley doing a piece on Saratoga back when I was employed there in 1988 or 1989,  using each letter in S.A.R.A.T.O.G.A.to describe how over rated it is).  While customer service has IMO always been much better at Monmouth, the longer day is definately going to affect it. Most Americans by nature tend to rebel (or quit) when they get a pay cut, or have to work longer hours with no increase. That\'s been my experience as both an employee and an employer. A reasonable daily increase in pay for myself ($15.00), for example,  still amounts to a savings of nearly $3,000.00 for Monmouth over the course of the meet. And remember, there have been NO SALARY INCREASES in 3 years. Economy is bad, but you still have to treat your help in a way in which they will produce the best product for you. Longer hours with no increase in pay while cutting 2 days a week is going to have negative repercussions.

[alm]

Hey, watch that.

My favorite betting situations are cheap grass races, particularly maidens.

Don\'t know why, but I hit a lot of them.