NYRA just brought the hammer down on the BC. - 8M Belmont Day w/MetMile

[phil23]

http://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/belmont-stakes-day-now-second-richest-day-in-north-american-racing-with-8-million-in-purses/#.UvUMG9WfYRs.twitter

[twoshoes]

Borrowed from his previous experience at Toys R Us.... it\'s Christmas and will carry us through for the rest of the year. Except that it laid waste to the landscape of the stakes calendar preceding and succeeding Belmont day. Sure hope the weather doesn\'t suck.

Maybe I\'m old fashioned but Memorial Day sure won\'t be the same... may as well not race. There sure isn\'t any purse money left to introduce anything that will remotely draw.... especially not if they are trying to stay the \'Profitable Paisono\'s\' course.

[richiebee]

There are more casual fans on Belmont Day than on any other day in NY. These are
not people who necessarily know or care about the Met Mile, and I do not think
the addition of the Met to the Belmont undercard will result in any appreciable
gains in live gate. I do not think that the absence of the Met Mile will hurt
live gate on Memorial Day.

To me not a controversial move, a Big Day of racing made a little bigger.

Now lets see the New NYRA market this Big Day effectively....

[Silver Charm]

Im with Shoes on this one. The Met.on Memorial Monday was tradition and now .its gone. Sad.:-(

[P-Dub]

Silver Charm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Im with Shoes on this one. The Met.on Memorial
> Monday was tradition and now .its gone. Sad.:-(


Agree with both of you on this one.

I think the title of this thread is silly too.  Bringing the hammer down on the BC??  This will have zero effect on that event.

[richiebee]

P-Dub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Silver Charm Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Im with Shoes on this one. The Met.on Memorial
> > Monday was tradition and now .its gone. Sad.:-(
>
>
> Agree with both of you on this one.
>
> I think the title of this thread is silly too.
> Bringing the hammer down on the BC??  This will
> have zero effect on that event.

Agree that the Met Mile move has no impact on the BC.

Do not agree that the loss of the Met Mile Monday tradition is in any way
sad, though most of the comments I read at DRF were negative on the move. I
think the more interesting move was switching the distance of the Brooklyn to
2 miles.

I commend Martin Panza for at least trying something different. Now maybe he
can work on fixing winter racing on the inner tube. The purse structure needs
some repairing in that, as currently constructed, owners can \"get out\" by
dropping horses first out off the claim. The challenge for an owner/trainer
should be to profit while improving a runner and the purse/claiming level
structure should reflect this; it might have the effect of reducing the
number of short priced mutuels on runners from the usual suspects.

[FrankD.]

Silver & the rest of my fellow traditionalists,

The game that we knew, loved, were brought up with is gone; it ain\'t coming back ever again in the grand traditional fashion that we knew. Quite frankly it will be lucky to survive in a recognizable state. Decade\'s of self induced greed, short sighted thinking, non marketing and being a cash cow for the politicians have sucked it dry.

There is no one more than I who loved the Met Mile and yes it has been part of my Memorial Day since my teen years; attending several live as well as disrupting many a barbecue to watch the race. The obvious one for me was Conquistador Cielo and Woody pulling off the magical Met Mile/ Belmont Stakes double in the same week; my first bet at 23 yrs old that had 3 zero\'s in it and was on track for both. The next most memorable Memorial Day for my was my first year living in Chicago in 1984 at the old Arlington Park spending the day at the track in a monsoon with 40
degree temperatures thinking where have I moved to, where is the barbecue and the Met?

Give Santa, I mean Charles Kay credit for trying to create a big splash via the big event. If marketed correctly, supplemented by a concert, circus acts and a band of T-generates in a $500 buy in beer pong tourney it will draw some new blood to the track.

The 10 MILLION DOLLAR question is what will they find? Richiebee\'s plywood gate may be freshly painted and his friend Mafia maybe could give P-Dub chanting lessons on how to yell out \" Iron Mike Smith\" as he is sure to come into town to ride at such an event. The once pristine Belmont Park is in complete shambles and I\'m going back 5 or 6 years since I\'ve been there; I\'m told it\'s much worse.

Will the NEW NYRA have a handle on what to do with a large large crowd? Will the guest experience be enhanced by people urinating in trash cans as the rest room lines are a block long? Will anyone be able to get a hot dog or a beer without waiting in line for 20 minutes only to find out everything was gone by the 8Th race?

OK OK; enough doom and gloom. Let\'s just say Santa and his elf\'s slap on some fresh paint over the sea gull and pigeon droppings, brighten up the place, call out enough temps to handle betting windows, security, concessions,clean up and general maintenance and its a beautiful sunny 80 degree day and everything goes great; 100,000 come through the gates to see a potential Triple Crown!!!!

The back slapping, all smiles press conference after declares racing is back in NY; if you put out a great product in a big event atmosphere  THEY WILL COME,
see what we can do.

Then next Saturday 3500 come to see NY Breed Slow Rats sprint 5 furlongs on the turf and Mafia can barely be heard chanting from the upper deck \" Why no curry goat today.\"

Clueless Kay and crew just don\'t get it. They will get their 15 minutes of fame and at 55 certainly not getting any younger, I\'ll continue to be one of the younger guy\'s playing this game.

Good luck,

Frank D.

[Fairmount1]

Passionate statements from Andy Serling about these changes.  Certainly worth listening to and considering.  Loved his comments on complacency.  

Fast forward to I\'d guess about 35% of the way across hour 2 for the Belmont Day Changes if you don\'t want to hear the first part of the interview which is also very good.  

http://www.thoroughbredracingradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=1680&year=2014&month=02&day=11&Itemid=35

EDIT:  I also just wanted to point out that the point of the title by phil23  (I believe) was to state (likely sarcastically or possibly sincerely) that NYRA is trying to create a big day that rivals the BC in stature as far as number of stakes, big day, big event, etc. etc.  It wasn\'t about the influence it would have on the BC.

[Bet Twice]

I\'m not sure if it will be good for racing/NYRA but can it hurt?  It seems to me that something different needs to be done.  I for one will be making a trip to Belmont for this, which I wouldn\'t have done otherwise, and will likely make a long weekend of it.  Maybe big days like this will attract some new fans, which I think we can all agree is badly needed.  Again, not sure if it will be a winning move but I applaud them for thinking outside the box.

[Bet Twice]

Does anyone have any recommendations related to hotels for Belmont stakes weekend?  Looking for something that would make getting to and from the track easy.

[Wrongly]

Garden City Hotel isn\'t bad and not too far away but I usually just opt for the Marriot at LaGuardia.  Sure it\'s 20-30 mins away but on Saturday morning there\'s not much traffic.  The tough part is getting back after the race.

[Lost Cause]

do u just want a place to rest ur head and just back and forth to the track or is travelling into the city important?