Is harness racing thriving?

[Justwatchingtheraces]

Being proud that the industry is “thriving” on subsidies is like bragging about living off an EBT card and Section 8 housing. If it were truly thriving, wouldn’t the handle be higher than the purse?

[Grandstand Handicapper]

I think it's also stupidity and greed. The people who run racetracks know little to nothing about the racing business. Ownership/management turned a deaf ear and a blind eye for far too long, and now they scream they are on life support and need help. Whatever happened to suffering the consequences of your own actions? No, I am not saying the sport and the industry should die off. That will never happen. But, I do think there needs to be more accountability and responsibility. Give the tracks alternative revenue sources, like a casino, wean them off the BS subsidies, and let them survive on operational payments, business revenue, etc. If they can, they can. If they can't, so be it. I am sure WEG, Meadowlands, and a few others would have no problem.

[Pacer 2]

Why would smart people be paying record prices for standardbreds that are earning record amounts if the sport wasnt thriving?  Drivers and trainers are earning record amounts also. Its huge!

[Pacer 2]

 
so let the cheating pigs race against each other. see how long it lasts. cause that's where its heading.

   There is cheating in every sport, politics, business. Its part of life. And I've been told harness racing is disappearing for 35 years!   TOO FUNNY!

[MTP1972]

Why would smart people be paying record prices for standardbreds that are earning record amounts if the sport wasnt thriving?  Drivers and trainers are earning record amounts also. Its huge!

Spending alot of money doesn't make you smart, it means you have alot of money. The majority of those high ticket items don't work out but most are still multi-millionaires.

[Grandstand Handicapper]

There are parts of the industry that are doing well, very well actually. A few of the commercial breeders are seeing record revenue. Some of the new consigners who sold in Lexington did very well. OBBBA has a very positive impact on buyers. Big time. I don't count other people's money, but in their respective businesses, I know a few who are doing extremely well, so from a tax perspective, putting money into the sport/business they enjoy is even more favorable now.

[Any1Left]

Years ago PINNACLE SPORTS became the biggest bookmaking outfit in north America and it was run by a group of gamblers from NEW YORK and they changed things for the better when it came to the gambler by making 8 cent line and 5 cent on certain bets and every smart gambler went to PINNACLE and when it came to horse racing they had a four class system with with A-B-C-D and the D meant you could only win 500 a race but the A was 25000 and the BIGM was the only A harness track had an A,    Mohawk was a B and after a short while Mohawk became a D while Flamboro was a C and i was told that they got killed with MOHAWK and i went to a higher up at WEG and told them about this and let them know that working with Pinnacle could clean up racing and the official told me that last week a gambler got back 65000 for a 12 dollar bet at a TB track in a pentafecta and i asked him what did that have to do with my story and he said Canadians are much smarter than Americans and that is the reason Pinnacle made Mohawk a D,  This guy was one of the top guys at WEG,    Management allowed the bad racing happen by hiring dope after dope and all you have to do is watch the show on tv every night and i can not think off a bigger shit show around than watching a harness show with morons giving you no insight on the game, 

[Racetime]

Pacer2 ... you must've never been to the LBJ when there were 40,000 plus watching the race maybe 10,000 -15,000 this year ? Were you ever at the Mlands when they bet 4 plus million live handle on a Friday or Saturday night ? Were you ever at the International Trot at Roosevelt when they bet over 2 million and the place was packed ? I'm going to say no you've never seen a packed Grandstand in you life !!!

[Pacer 2]

Pacer2 ... you must've never been to the LBJ when there were 40,000 plus watching the race maybe 10,000 -15,000 this year ? Were you ever at the Mlands when they bet 4 plus million live handle on a Friday or Saturday night ? Were you ever at the International Trot at Roosevelt when they bet over 2 million and the place was packed ? I'm going to say no you've never seen a packed Grandstand in you life !!!

   I'm going to say you have no clue why more standardbreds are selling for in excess of $500,000 than ever before in history. And you'd be wrong I've seen many packed grandstands before computers and cell phones. 

[Justwatchingtheraces]

   I'm going to say you have no clue why more standardbreds are selling for in excess of $500,000 than ever before in history. And you'd be wrong I've seen many packed grandstands before computers and cell phones. 

Because the amount of money paid out in purses is really high due to the fact the industry is propped up. Take away the free money and watch it fail overnight. The idea of injecting all this money to make the purses higher has not worked. The thought of doing that was to get more people to bet.It is simple horses are selling for that much because the purses are paying out more. In Ohio the amount of non race horses is higher. If a fraction of the money injected into harness racing was put into lets say barrel racing you would see barrel horses selling for more money than they already are. You must be a socialist with your views and opinions

[simplify]

Finally someone who gets it.

[NOTHING BUT TRUTHS]

pacer2 just isn't that smart.

[Calhoun]

Years ago PINNACLE SPORTS became the biggest bookmaking outfit in north America and it was run by a group of gamblers from NEW YORK and they changed things for the better when it came to the gambler by making 8 cent line and 5 cent on certain bets and every smart gambler went to PINNACLE and when it came to horse racing they had a four class system with with A-B-C-D and the D meant you could only win 500 a race but the A was 25000 and the BIGM was the only A harness track had an A,    Mohawk was a B and after a short while Mohawk became a D while Flamboro was a C and i was told that they got killed with MOHAWK and i went to a higher up at WEG and told them about this and let them know that working with Pinnacle could clean up racing and the official told me that last week a gambler got back 65000 for a 12 dollar bet at a TB track in a pentafecta and i asked him what did that have to do with my story and he said Canadians are much smarter than Americans and that is the reason Pinnacle made Mohawk a D,  This guy was one of the top guys at WEG,    Management allowed the bad racing happen by hiring dope after dope and all you have to do is watch the show on tv every night and i can not think off a bigger shit show around than watching a harness show with morons giving you no insight on the game,

I remember those -105 / -105 baseball lines well.

[Any1Left]

I remember those -105 / -105 baseball lines well.

YES i messed up as that was the way PINNACLE started with five cent lines and they controlled the market and that was because the people who owned the site were gamblers and not suits,               I will give you an example of suits running a place,  Enzo owns a construction company and ENZO  had a dad that played the track so he found interest in it and unless he bet 800-1000 a race he got no rush as he wanted to cash big if he won and the racetrack was the only game in town and now a casino opens one hour away and Enzo takes a trip and brings 15000 with him and gambles and win or loose a casino host is on him very quickly giving him the royal treatment and telling him about the great steak house and telling him about the gift shop that he can get free merch with the casino logo on it and Enzo enters the track a few days later and he has to pay for a program and is told that the dining room is sold out but he may get a seat if someone cancels,    And all the Enzos who played the game became casino players and the track vig became way harder to survive and racetracks still did nothing to offset the loss of these people and these suits are still working today or they now have children moving up in management and this cycle will never end and racetracks finally figured it out by letting computer betters to keep the handle up and now make sure that they drive all gamblers away, The answer was always lower the rake big time and double the handle because winners will bet more but non gambler suits can not understand this easy recipe,

[seriously]

Being proud that the industry is “thriving” on subsidies is like bragging about living off an EBT card and Section 8 housing. If it were truly thriving, wouldn’t the handle be higher than the purse?

You've just hit on the "American Dream" for many people.  The number of poor people that welcome the birth of another child, to another father, with no means of supporting the ones already here, is amazing.  I've had a few conversations with these types, always counselling against having kids early, as it is financially difficult.  The response is always the same, "we'll just get money from the government."  Seriously, that is what many have said. 

Harness racing is in the same boat.  There are too many that, completely wrongly so, believe that the money they are given is a good thing, and will always be there, and that they deserve it. 

To those people, and the ones having multiple kids with no means, I say, "I hope all the funding disappears and you have to stand on your own feet.  You deserve nothing and there is more than enough opportunity in this country to thrive."