HORSEPLOP.COM
General Category => Harness Racing => Topic started by: darnoldrocks on January 03, 2025, 09:27:29 AM
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Here's a different perspective than regularly promoted on Plop !!
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/31/horse-racing-resurgence.html
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the only mention of harness racing was the closure of freehold
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Just go to YR or Monticello and count heads, the under over is 12 bettors in the grandstand. I remember when both tracks attracted thousands in attendance.
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Here's a different perspective than regularly promoted on Plop !!
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/31/horse-racing-resurgence.html
The CNBC article is nonsense, actually embarrassing
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The CNBC article is nonsense, actually embarrassing
My take is horse racing will be around at super tracks, maybe 3 or 4 TB and 2 Buggy tracks, all set up for high rollers and CAW’s
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CAW is a big issue. its ruining it or the regular players. maybe congress will pass a bill for ukraine and the outlawing of CAW will be on page 1,789.
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Lots of info but a bit all over the place. What I had never heard of was the backwards racing they did in the old days. Just looking at the picture of the driver in front of the horse made me dizzy, can't imagine racing from that perspective
https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/108080715-1735582292408-gettyimages-542400355-1628175.jpeg?v=1735582339&w=1858&h=1045&ffmt=webp&vtcrop=y
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Go to any track in the US or Canada and look at the attendees for live racing. I'm not talking days when there are marquis events, overnight racing. People are not motivated to stay at the track, long and boring.
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My take is horse racing will be around at super tracks, maybe 3 or 4 TB and 2 Buggy tracks, all set up for high rollers and CAW’s
Like baseball, the big tracks need the smaller tracks to supply them participants. As casinos force horse racing out of business due to decoupling. It will all fall apart in a matter of years as contracts and laws expire.
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Racing is not dead, but it will be in about two years. You can't have 80% of gamblers losing. You also cannot have 90% of owners getting crushed. You end up with two major issues; your demand will evaporate as bettors will cease patronize your product and the supply side will shrink to a level where not enough horses are getting bred to support putting on any racing. It's happening folks, right before your eyes.
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Very good point about the Factory Farms crushing the guys who have a few head for guys that just want to make enough money to cover their bills . These types of owners are getting tired of racing for third fourth and fifth! Theses types are mostly "race fillers" & that gets old real fast!
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Harness racing is thriving in Toronto!
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Harness racing is thriving in Toronto!
Its thriving in most places. Saratoga and Hoosier are getting record handles. Lots of tracks doing well......
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11.wj 11.wj
Last 2 posters ngc3
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While "Fair" racing here in Maine is always popular, racing in Maine is in pretty bad shape. Before Scarbourgh closed, you could count the attendance at maybe 50 on a sunny summer day. At Monticello, the numbers are truly sad. Maybe a couple of dozen between the simulcast room and the makeshift mental seating they put out there. Young folks don't know and certainly don't care about harness racing. Casinos, Sports Betting, and Poker are now all the rage, When I play poker in Boston'd Encore Casino. the blackjack and roulette tables are packed with the under 30 crowd. The Horse Racing part of the Fan Duel room is with old farts like me. LOL!
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Its thriving in most places. Saratoga and Hoosier are getting record handles. Lots of tracks doing well......
Record handles and still could come nowhere near supporting those purses. That’s not thriving. What happens if the casino subsidies get cut off?
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The amount of contraction in the sport in the past 10-15 is alarming and if it was any other industry, you'd be hard pressed to be bully on its' future. The amount of breedings for sale at any given time might be the bellweather as the demand side, that's the amount of money being wagered on horseracing, has plummeted and with less and less horses being bred that only means less product to be offered. Not the ideal situation but when you have morons in control of the sport that's what you get after 20 years.
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The amount of contraction in the sport in the past 10-15 is alarming and if it was any other industry, you'd be hard pressed to be bully on its' future. The amount of breedings for sale at any given time might be the bellweather as the demand side, that's the amount of money being wagered on horseracing, has plummeted and with less and less horses being bred that only means less product to be offered. Not the ideal situation but when you have morons in control of the sport that's what you get after 20 years.
Contraction or "downsizing" in a normal industry is a good thing. Shrink overhead, consolidate and boost revenue. Not in an industry that survives off welfare though. Not much different than a pyramid scheme. This industry is expanding off state funding. What happens when that plug is pulled? We've seen it a few times already. Imagine it across the board.
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I was responding in the context of what is presently in place. To be frank, the sport would be insolvent in a month without the handouts by the various governments. Everyone with an IQ over 50 understands that Mike. What strikes me is even with the hand-outs, basically a lifeline, the morons in control of the sport still cannot get things sorted out. But rest assured the contraction will continue and you will see less than 5 major racetracks in all of North America within 3 years.
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I was responding in the context of what is presently in place. To be frank, the sport would be insolvent in a month without the handouts by the various governments. Everyone with an IQ over 50 understands that Mike. What strikes me is even with the hand-outs, basically a lifeline, the morons in control of the sport still cannot get things sorted out. But rest assured the contraction will continue and you will see less than 5 major racetracks in all of North America within 3 years.
You nail where the problem exists with the morons in control. They're not stupid, they're protecting themselves. Control IS the operative word. Just look at who is in control, the top 2% of the industry. Perfect example is that track we won't name in Westchster County NY. 60 million a year in VLT subsidy and you need to be approved by the track to race there? That's state generated revenue and you need to be cleared by the race sec "track employee" to race there. Truth be told is yes the state is aware now, question is will they actually do anything about it. The little guy doesn't stand a chance when the money is being controlled by the wealth and power who they compete against.
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Yonkers is Ontario 2.0 and it will eventually tumble and when it does it will not be rebuilt back. Just like Ontario circa early 2000's the purses got dispensed, mostly to the shady owners that employed trainers that would win at a ridiculous rate. Vets made a small fortune, farriers actually got paid and most trainers scratched out a decent living. Not one penny was earmarked to a committee or consulting firm to figure out a ten year plan how to drive handle or improve the quality of either the breeding side or the customer experience. Today in Ontario, you have Great Canadian running two of the four tracks into the ground and Woodbine Mohawk masquerading as a signature track. I see a very similar situation happening in real time at Yonkers and our guy in NJ doesn't give two shits about the sport regardless of what he says. It's all about getting the casino away from Atlantic city. Like I said, sport will be reduced to a fair-like atmosphere within 3-5 years if a major shake-up doesn't occur.
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Great question! Let's answer it this way:
1986 (40 years ago) - Illinois harness meets
Hawthorne
Maywood
Sportsmans
Balmoral
Quad City Downs
Fairmount
2026:
?*
Purse checks from Hawthorne 2025 meets bounced, hence the question mark.
** 50 years ago, add in Aurora Downs, Washington Park, and a single meet at Arlington Park.
*** also consider the fact that the Hambletonian was run at DuQuoin from 1957-1980.
If it ain't dead, it barely has a pulse 11.wp