What Gives at Monticello Raceway

[theokodjak26]

Can someone in the please explain what gives at this track? First on many days they only have seven races. Now before you blame this on all the other tracks that are running at this time, other tracks seem to fill pretty well. The horses are much better at Yonkers, Pocono, Plainridge, Saratoga and Harrahs Philly. The quality of horses stinks at Tioga and Freehold similar to MR. My point is there must be all sorts of crappy horses around that can earn at MR. Is the management just cheap and will not run full cards? Clearly management is not spending any money to lure fans. You can’t even buy any food. The place has become a total dump and I haven’t even been there in over five years. Why is this place still open? Is Howard Oil’s majestic race calls bringing the crowds to the Catskills?

[wizardofoz]

and.....what is going on with the increased purses with the new Newburgh slots open?

[CMJAnew]

How’s the handle?

[titans1127]

How’s the handle?

Better than 90% of harness tracks in the country.  Routinely handling 50-100k per race.

[Lar4400]

We all remember how great Sunday afternoon racing at Monti was for so many years. Bring the kids, mini golf, good food, lots of people having fun.
Why did they abandon racing on Sundays?
Lose a Monday and bring back Sunday racing.
My gut is that they would draw decently with a bit of facility improvements?
Thoughts?

[theokodjak26]

We all remember how great Sunday afternoon racing at Monti was for so many years. Bring the kids, mini golf, good food, lots of people having fun.
Why did they abandon racing on Sundays?
Lose a Monday and bring back Sunday racing.
My gut is that they would draw decently with a bit of facility improvements?
Thoughts?

Lar this track barely offers a working bathroom. What used to be on Sundays is so far off management’s radar it is incalculable. The last time I went down their main street, Broadway, looked close to a ghost town. The immediate surrounding area is totally abandoned where there used to be some nightlife and restaurants. I think the place is dead.

[onabrake]

We all remember how great Sunday afternoon racing at Monti was for so many years. Bring the kids, mini golf, good food, lots of people having fun.
Why did they abandon racing on Sundays?
Lose a Monday and bring back Sunday racing.
My gut is that they would draw decently with a bit of facility improvements?
Thoughts?

Draw decently?  The place is a morgue and they are not putting a dollar into any improvements. Entire facility could crumble at any moment.

[JIDGE]

This used to be the place to go to and race if you wanted to get away from the city. Yonkers/Roosevelt little sister. Race a cheap claimer for decent money in the country. They raced seven nights a week -- ten race cards -- with a double header on Saturday.

[dinkadoo]

How’s the handle?

they squash Meadows and Philly every afternoon and most harness tracks in the evening.  They run lots of favorites into the winners circle but for an average handling track, that does more than most tracks, if you can beat a favorite, you can get a decent payout.

[mgriffin]

Better than 90% of harness tracks in the country.  Routinely handling 50-100k per race.

They are not handling that much per race
More like 15-40k. Once in while they will get to 50K in a race, but it's rare.
That said, I am amazed how much they do get for the racing quality they have.

[dinkadoo]

They are not handling that much per race
More like 15-40k. Once in while they will get to 50K in a race, but it's rare.
That said, I am amazed how much they do get for the racing quality they have.

Monday

r1 -- 42k
r2 -- 42k
r3 -- 67k
r4 -- 68k
r5 -- 37k
r6 -- 80k
r7 -- 72k
average 53.4k per race

Tuesday
r1 -- 44k
r2 -- 39k
r3 -- 60k
r4 -- 62k
r5 -- 38k
r6 -- 68k
r7 -- 50k
average 51.6k per race.


Wednesday Racing avg since they don't go Monday or Tuesday

Harrah Philly -- 31.8k per race
Meadows  --  28.4k per race
Scioto -- 46.5k per race
Monticello -- 44.0k per race



I am like a lot of people who thought noooooo way Monticello handles more per race than a lot of tracks --- but it's there
Sort of like Cal Expo, since they start late they're off everyone's radar but they have some big pools.

[bello]

Monti is lots of peoples guilty pleasure. Including mine.

If you have been there you get sort of hooked.

Still the same drivers for at least a couple of decades. M.ost try when they have a shot or are dead when they have no shot looking for class relief. Three Merton brothers can be annoying but one of them rarely wins yet still gets overbet.

But you can get huge overlays as the rail is often overbet with horses that cannot leave or win. Negative and positive driver changes are often not noticed.

Though it has been a hotbed for race fixing over the decades, racing now is very predictable. Typically every race has 4 bad drivers who can be tossed as well as 1/2 the field being overmatched.

I'll start a thread today with comments. Feel free to participate.

[Mailbox Money]

Can someone in the please explain what gives at this track? First on many days they only have seven races. Now before you blame this on all the other tracks that are running at this time, other tracks seem to fill pretty well. The horses are much better at Yonkers, Pocono, Plainridge, Saratoga and Harrahs Philly. The quality of horses stinks at Tioga and Freehold similar to MR. My point is there must be all sorts of crappy horses around that can earn at MR. Is the management just cheap and will not run full cards? Clearly management is not spending any money to lure fans. You can’t even buy any food. The place has become a total dump and I haven’t even been there in over five years. Why is this place still open? Is Howard Oil’s majestic race calls bringing the crowds to the Catskills?

The ignored delapita
zation is all part of the plan, to FORCE the daily gamblers into the Casino!

[HarnessFan1981]

7 races today wagering around 365K - around 52.1k per race

[harnessplop]

They get tons more wagering the batavia, vernon, Tioga, even more then yonkers at times lol