They say all publicity is good publicity...

[TGJB]

Between this, Rick Porter, the Fair Grounds stuff, and raising the takeout-- all coming around the Derby-- I\'m wondering if CD is being advised by whoever is advising Assad.


http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/84712/turcotte-issues-statement-against-churchill

[TMW]

http://www.drf.com/news/chuchill-downs-vegas-books-lack-simulcasting-deal

And, this. The arrogance is stunning.

[miff]

Goes way beyond plain old cold corporate greed.CDI top managements obsession with stock price and their options very obvious.

[TMW]

I have no idea what backgrounds the corporate folks have but they need to realize that they are in the service industry. Plain and simple. Pissing off customers, gamblers, trainers, owners, and industry partners will eventually sink them. I do not own any stock in the parent company but if I did I would sell.

[toppled]

I remember in the early 1980\'s when nobody in NYS could legally bet the Derby.  All the OTB corporations and racetracks could not reach an agreement with Churchill.  Back them I blamed the NYS folks and joked that OTB was so incompetent they\'d figure out a way to get banned from taking the Belmont Stakes.
Then there were the mutual clerk strikes at Belmont when they would let you in to watch the races, but you had to run down to the NYCOTB parlor right over the Queens border to get bets in.

[BitPlayer]

When I heard about the takeout increase, I wondered how this would play out with the ADWs.  If the takeout is increased without a signal fee increase, then the ADWs, instead of CD, get the benefit of the takeout increase (minus any amount by which they increase rebates).  I suppose Vegas is in the same boat as the ADWs.

[HP]

Net income of Churchill Downs is down 16% since 2011.  Since January 2011 the stock has doubled (from about $43 to over $87 today).  The stockholders love \"the corporate folks\" and so does the market.  Imagine running a business where you are totally insulated from \"pissed off\"customers, etc. and rewarded (and I mean REALLY rewarded) for bringing in less money every year.  I don\'t know when \"eventually\" comes, but in my experience as a customer in horse racing eventually = never.

[TMW]

Out of interest I looked at their Q1 2014 results. Their main focus, by far, is on casino gaming and not thoroughbred racing. Not sure the make up of CHDN but according to their reporting, racing is on the decline and casino gaming is doing very well. Stock increase is not due at all to a robust racing operation.

[HP]

Agreed.  Now add that any success they are having with casino gaming now has gained leverage through their interests in horse racing.  Horse racing was first, casino gaming second.  

So if the stock increase is fueled by speculation about their casino operations then from a corporate perspective they REALLY could care less about horse racing, except in terms of using tracks as venues for further expansion of casinos.  Now that the casinos come first doing anything to really address horseplayer concerns is not going to be on their agenda at all.  That stock chart validates their lack of concern.

[moosepalm]

At the bottom end of the race track food chain, Finger Lakes, which also has an absurdly profitable casino operation, recently removed over one-third of their individual race track seating carrels for storage of unused slot machines.  This was actually the only part of the track where you had to pay a usage fee (no admission fee).  But, that\'s how little racing means to them now.  Unused slot machines are more valuable than race track customer comfort or even the fees generated from same.

[mbeychok]

As someone in the biz of publicity, I am absolutely flabbergasted by how little push back CDI is doing. I read where they blamed their problems in LA on a few bad articles. This is a case study of how not to handle media but it is very old school and insular.

[TMW]

This is addressing an old thread. The Churchill Downs shredding continues with an owner of California Chrome ranting about the miserable experience they all had at Churchill -- even though they won the KY Derby. \"The hospitality we received at Churchill Downs wasn\'t very good\" among other very negative comments. Seems like complaints are coming from everywhere, bettors, owners, trainers, handicapped people (Turcotte). I think one word sums it up -- arrogance.