How to Improve Mohawk Product

[whiptherabbit]

Let’s hear from some fellow plopsters on how Mohawk can improve the product they put out!

For starters, I would eliminate the Swinger wager, its absolute bush league showing these pathetic pools on an A track.

Eliminate the pick 6, the pools aren’t big & they dropped the overall wager on the pick 5’s.

There’s plenty of time between races, interview a trainer multiple times per night , even grooms. These people are around the horses all day & know what’s going on.

Interview drivers on the telecast before the show, go over their drives & what they expect from them that night. This adds a little intrigue to the product.

Have guest handicappers either on air or submit picks. Best bets for the night, live longshots, vulnerable favorites etc.

Start fining drivers for ridiculous second quarters (last nights Open) I know some people think all drivers should be fined in said races, but imagine someone pulling first over from third and getting tortured the rest of the way….

Not a regular segment, but have Randy go over different equipment horses wear, or film a groom rigging pacers up compared to trotters etc.

Have scheduled High 5 carry over nights… once the pool gets to 300-500k schedule a mandatory payout on a Saturday night. Let it grow to astronomical levels with mandatory payout outs for North Marrica Cup Night, OSS Super Final nights etc.

Schedule as many claimers as you can, these are competitive races. Write classes in the fall exclusively for grass roots claimers , prospect series claimers… make them optional (owners price them) not specifically 20k etc.

Have a few dedicated nights where they have drivers challenges top 5 WEG drivers vs top 5 B Track winning drivers. Raise money & awareness for finding places for retired Standardbreds etc.

Let’s hear some feedback from other guys on what they believe can improve the product!

[Lar4400]

Why not just copy what the big m does? Seems as if they already do most of the items you are suggesting.

[Trigger]

Interview the drivers (mandatory) after unusual drives, i.e. why they didn't pull, better moves, no urging, missed an easy better placing because they gave up...embarrass the shit out of them so we can have a clean product.

Permanently ban the corrupt drivers and trainers.

Replace all the current AGCO officials and watch them closely.

Make all on track happenings information transparent to the viewers, no censoring, omitting anything out.

Keep the amateurs off the track.

That's a start...

[pocketrocketwinner]

Lower takeout. Unless you bet through a rebate shop, these rates make the track unplayable

Tri 25%
Super 26.5%
Pick 4 25%
Pick 3 26.3%

[seen2much]

#1 Post time should be 7 PM. Who has time to handicap cards at 5PM? I don't want to/sometimes can't be home that early. Easy fix is to cut 2 minutes between each race & end the same time.
#2 A must is improving the driving colony. There is an extreme drop off from James to Doug & Roy & then to everyone else. Cullen is good on his loaded stock. The 1 horse should not be such a big handicap.
#3 lower P4 takeout
Whip has lots of good ideas that I agree with.
PS: Get a race secretary with a clue. There are way to many mismatched fields. I'm aware of the horse shorter. Writing in odds on favorites does nothing for the bettors.

[SDST2009]

#1 Post time should be 7 PM. Who has time to handicap cards at 5PM? I don't want to/sometimes can't be home that early. Easy fix is to cut 2 minutes between each race & end the same time.
#2 A must is improving the driving colony. There is an extreme drop off from James to Doug & Roy & then to everyone else. Cullen is good on his loaded stock. The 1 horse should not be such a big handicap.
#3 lower P4 takeout
Whip has lots of good ideas that I agree with.
PS: Get a race secretary with a clue. There are way to many mismatched fields. I'm aware of the horse shorter. Writing in odds on favorites does nothing for the bettors.

1 - They are moving to a later post time pretty shortly (can't recall the exact date) but also - it's already way later than advertised
2 - I don't think the track themselves can control this (driving colony). I keep hearing Mark McD is heading there. He may be a little past his prime but I do think he may shake it up some over there. In terms of the post 1 handicap - it is horrible for trotters specifically.
your PS: this is a double-edged sword. I get your point, but if you don't write horses in, you can't fill cards. Some pretty big prices have come out of scenarios like this lately.

I think Mohawk does a rather good job of creating classes to get horses on the grounds. Certainly better than a lot of stateside racing.

I watch a lot of Mohawk racing, and it's probably the track I bet most frequently (though I am not big gambler). Some of the things you mention above contribute to why I bet there frequently, because you can bet around a lot.

[seen2much]

Another thing is to have Chad announcing every night. He is the best announcer and could handicap too. When I played years ago Chad was sharp in the studio.

[seen2much]

#1 Post time should be 7 PM. Who has time to handicap cards at 5PM? I don't want to/sometimes can't be home that early. Easy fix is to cut 2 minutes between each race & end the same time.
#2 A must is improving the driving colony. There is an extreme drop off from James to Doug & Roy & then to everyone else. Cullen is good on his loaded stock. The 1 horse should not be such a big handicap.
#3 lower P4 takeout
Whip has lots of good ideas that I agree with.
PS: Get a race secretary with a clue. There are way to many mismatched fields. I'm aware of the horse shorter. Writing in odds on favorites does nothing for the bettors.

I left out Mcclure. He belongs with Doug and Louis.

[SDST2009]

Another thing is to have Chad announcing every night. He is the best announcer and could handicap too. When I played years ago Chad was sharp in the studio.

100% agreed. I really liked Ken M. as well.

I think I'm in the minority here, but I really appreciate Randy's insight. Not everything related to gambling is tangible and I think he brings an experience a lot of the others don't have.

[whiptherabbit]

Helping to maintain or boos the horse population is tough, especially with so many tracks running shortened dates each year. However, the grass roots horses should hit up every track (I understand some not wanting to truck to Ottawa) more exposure to other tracks & create a 4 year old & 5 year old grass roots program to keep some horses here. 6-8 legs with finals 75-100k. This would be too hard doing the same with gold types as numbers are next to nothing end of three year old campaigns.

As long as the Canadian dollar is in the toilet, the horses will keep being sold to the states, hard not to.

[seriously]

Drivers, drivers, drivers and trainers.  The human component of harness racing is the only hope to breathe any life into the sport.  Beyond that, it is a band-aid on cancer. 

[Mohawk mac]

I've been playing WEG races with 95% of my handle for about 10 years starting when Illinois racing went into the tank. 

Lots of good ideas so far.  I would like to see the psychological profile of anyone who bets swingers regularly.  Clearly the worst wagering idea ever.

I'd like to see an experiment into fixed odds wagering.  Maybe one race a night until it proves to be a success or bust.

Agree there are distinct tiers in the Mohawk driving colony.  But isn't it like that at most, if not all, other tracks?

I'm sick of the T-bred "experts" commenting on harness racing.  I like Randy but he thinks like a horseman and not a gambler.  Like Chad as both an announcer and analyst.  Rallis is my favorite.  Really sharp dude!  Liked Kenny and Rob Reid.  Jason Portuondo seemed like a nice guy.  Poor capper and obviously a DEI hire.

Too much time between races, take out is excessive.  The almighty dollar rules.  Greedy bastards.