Texas Thoroughbred Forum

[tinners way]

Dream2B I encourage you and every other breeder and owner in the state to become part of the process within the TTA. As the TRC recognized Thoroughbred Breed Registrar for the State of Texas, the TTA is partially funded and has the responsibility to administer the ATB awards, and set breed accreditation policy.

When I ran for the board my platform was simple- pursue more than a slots or nothing agenda, revisit the breedback rule changes, and preserve as many racing dates as possible. Almost as if I had a crystal ball, but that was not the case. These are the same issues that in my view have plagued the industry for the last 8-10 years.

In the past 10 years I have built a farm, invested in Stallions, invested in additional mares, raised foals, spent money getting them to the track, and if possible want continue to do this in Texas. (I must be an idiot.)

There are huge challenges and quite frankly a 21 member board you are going to have differing opinions. The best thing that could happen to achieve the changes that you or Joe or anyone else want- regardless of direction- is to do exactly what you have done. Get more involved. I felt the same way you did for a long time. The TTA was supposed to be looking after my interests, only my interests were not exactly in line with what the board at the time was pursuing.

With seven board positions up for election this year, it represents an opportunity to impact change. Obviously every year provides that opportunity, but this year may be more important than ever.

Throughout the industry, not just the TTA, we blame all our woes on lack of slots. I find that to be an excuse. I want passage of slots as badly as the next person, I just want to quit excluding all the other common sense approaches that we have walked by for so long. I applaud the TRC for pointing out this shortfall in their five year strategic plan

It is estimated that with ADW legal in Texas it would have an impact of 10M+ to the purse account. In my feeble math mind that would equate to a better than 50% increase in purses. Theres 210k a day for Mr. Shubeck, 225k a day for Ms. Young, and 120k a day for Mr. Brown. Unfortunately most of their incentives are based on winning the game of slots, not horse racing.

The exodus of mares and stallions has been criminal. It cannot all be blamed on slots. Texas has a tremendous thoroughbred heritage, it is time we restored it.

In an article in the DRF today they indicated that there is a direct correlation between reduced dates and lower handle and purses. Wow, the Law of Diminishing Returns. And I thought I had been foolish to point this out in the past.

I still stand and am fighting for all three of my agenda items. I know it is the right thing not just for me, but for the industry, and for TEXAS.

If your not a member, join, if you are a member, vote.

[keyranch]

Thank you TTA, nice article on the opening of Retama. Send it over to the THP website they still are not on the same page with the folks.

[jrgators]

I am with Joe, nice article on the TTA site about Retama, and good to see the field size was up as well!!

Good luck to all that are running tonight, and this butt will be in the a seat tonight!

Theo

[keyranch]

Retama Park attendance was 2715 and live handle was over 95k. They averaged 65k last year and Mr Brown estimated they would be down 15% this year. It is amazing what a little publicity can do for attendance!!

I started a discussion on th FB page to give some ideas to Retama on how to keep putting butts in the seats. Need ideas, and we can publish them or send them to Mr Brown. It is in all our interests for the meets to do well, so lets pop some mushroom ideas out there.

I would like to see them be able to add a couple of more days on the last half of the meet. There is another commission meeting coming up on the 14th.

[Roger]

I was at Retama yesterday and we wo'nt talk about results, but there is a lot of fear, confusion, anger, confusion, and a general feeling of lostness on the back side. The full fields were the result trying to get into a few more races before the imposed possible 6 month layoff. In Dave's update he mentioned the full fields and attributed them the short meet. He put a positive spend on a terrible situattion. The ANGER is real. Comments about the SH lady were not positive. Comments about Jan H. were ugly too. They could not believe we elected her. Her LS comments about going to Las Vegas and not being able to bet LS was seen more as a brag about wealth than concern about Texas.
It really would be good for the board members to go to Retama and hang around the receiving barn and kitchen. The SH lady and Jan. H and Dave probably should not go back there, they are not liked back there.

[Roger]

I wonder if this information will be included in the TTA weekly update.

From the 9-4-10 Thoroughbred Times page 17.

Moving from week-end race days to Mon. Tue. and Wed. race days tripled the off-site handle.

What would happen if our tracks moved to Mon. Tue. and Wed? We might not need slots to survive and that is a message a lot folks don't want to be heard.

[onthemark]

My sense is live handle betting would decline and we might increase the simucast #'s on the export signal if you went to weekday racing. It really is about creating fans and filling the seats. I doubt the increase in simucast/ export would offset a loss of the live racing handle. So even with smaller purses we are getting full fields but the export signal at Retama looks much lower than last year. Sat's export was less than 300,000 that seems very low to me.

[keyranch]

It has got to be tuff to sale a signal on a last minute short meet. Lets face it, earlier in the year they were talking about no TB meet. They expected the numbers to be down 15% and they only averaged 65k live last year. This is a positive and the more press and promotions the better to build upon. The payouts on their first two days were far better than Lone Stars were.

Jan Jaynes did make a couple of bold moves to bring SHRP to the table. When they put into play the willingness to pull the signal from SHRP if they did not keep their commitments, that became a game changer. Having made that known and enlisting the help of a better negotiator has changed the balance completely. The statement was made that there were regrets for the vote at Lone Star to support the race tracks 48% cut by one of their board members. It will all be in the transcript when it gets on line this week.

You will see they were not very appreciative of our little mushroom movement, but credit for the negotiating right now is firmly in their court and I believe every effort will now be made for a decent year round schedule. Keep in mind, if they can not come to an agreement the TRC has a proposal that the other folks do not like and will be stuck with. There will be racing at SHRP either way or SHRP will lose their ability to simulcast!!

They have until the 14th to get it all worked out and we will be at that meeting again!!

[tinners way]

I am continually amazed to read Mr. Wests' columns. He has a very small circle of sources. Instead of writing and debating in email format, I will post here and once again point out that he needs to get a grip on economics. How can you have a racing festival of 5 or 10 days and call it an industry.(which is where we will be based on the Law of Diminishing Returns if we continue to cut dates.) Industry implies that there is a need to produce a product, I guess the "industry" Mr. West for sees will need one farm, one stallion and 30 mares.

All the research that has been done and numbers crunched over the past 2 months indicate a modest move in handle if Lone Star moves to 200k plus. Yet, he continues to want to pontificate about the poor quality of the product. Is there any chance he could possibly study the facts and determine his biased belief in the hidden agenda of slots or nothing is at least a bit misguided?

His only solution is to reduce racing opportunity. Where is his fight for the other logical purse fuelers like ADW that have not been pursued for the past 10 years. (The TRC has had to point that out to all the horsemen and organizations. Thank you TRC- too bad you can't drive change.)

Ms. Young, glad you are coming to the party. But your solution to this point has been like Mr. Wests', cut dates, raise purses, and pursue slots or nothing, cut dates, raise purses, pursue slots or nothing..........

If logic and common sense does not soon prevail, or we get slots (highly unlikely), that is where we will be. 5 to 10 days of racing, and those supposedly at the top of the heap here will be squeezed out as well- at least that is the fight they are trying to make- have's vs. have nots. That is the smokescreen. It's all about slots.

Mr. Shubeck makes money with his doors open. Possibly Lone Star needs to address a strategy that will raise purses a measly 50%. Oh wait, ADW would do that.

But for the folks that Mr. West is campaigning for that is not the goal. It is all about slots- not quality over quantity. A good condition book, as Mr. Brown noted, will make the fields fuller and competitive which will drive handle.

No sense in debating the facts Mr. West. If we keep going down your path, we all lose. No need for a writer to report on the number of times the one arm bandit is pulled at a full blown casino with no race track. That I will bet you on. Why am I so confident, I have seen this same crap initiative for 10 straight years.

It is great to see a restoration of at least some of the dates, as much as Mr. West disapproves.

It's all about slots.

[Roger]

My sense is live handle betting would decline and we might increase the simucast #'s on the export signal if you went to weekday racing. It really is about creating fans and filling the seats. I doubt the increase in simucast/ export would offset a loss of the live racing handle. So even with smaller purses we are getting full fields but the export signal at Retama looks much lower than last year. Sat's export was less than 300,000 that seems very low to me.

You are correct that live handle would go down, attendance would go down, but the overall effect would be "I think" a great deal of growth in the off site betting. People who come to the races two or three times a year don't bet enough to factor into the equation. The professional bettor is the one who generates handle. People don't like to think about that, but its pretty much proven. These guys are the ones who chose to bet the east coast and west coast track instead of LS. LS can't go head to head with them even with $230,000 per day in purses.
In another post, I mentioned the fact that horsemen are entering up at Retama out of fear and an uncertain future, thats what I saw there. But when you look at what else is available, we don't have much choice in where we run. We are Texas and we are big. Most of the starters there are Texas breds and most are from within a 200 mile radius of Retama.
When SH went to monday night, they grew from about $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 in off site betting in a month. As the pro's got use to having it, they bet their money. On track handle and attendance went down a little. I hope they will try it again for the full short winter meet.

[jrgators]

My sense is live handle betting would decline and we might increase the simucast #'s on the export signal if you went to weekday racing. It really is about creating fans and filling the seats. I doubt the increase in simucast/ export would offset a loss of the live racing handle. So even with smaller purses we are getting full fields but the export signal at Retama looks much lower than last year. Sat's export was less than 300,000 that seems very low to me.

The handle would improve most with ADW's Here is a good example of what I'm talking about. Last evening I had planned on going to Retama, well the family reminded me it was movie night and I had to stay home to watch "why did we get married too" (great movie btw), and this meant, I didn't go to the track at all. I live about an hour away, and by the time the show was over, the bed was calling, and that was that. But just imagine if I were able to go into the other room, put in the $73.00 I was going to bet, and still got to watch the movie with the family! I would have hit the exacta in the 5th, the Trifecta in the 8th for $1, would have got my clock cleaned in race 6 and 7, so I missed out on winning about 15 bucks for the night, but the handle missed out on $73 from 1 person on 1 night. I missed out on checking the results the next day to see if I had won, or could have just checked my acct. balance for the same thing.

I know many folks frown on the ADW thing, but just think about it. I live 1 hour from Retama, how many people are in my shoes that would like to bet a few bucks on any night, but they can't get away??

Now, here's our reality today.....I think Retama has a 2 sided problem with handle and attendance. Handle, we've lost manor for export, and the crowds without the ability to wager on HotDog Saturday are taking it's toll too I think.

One more thing to keep in mind with Retama Friday Vs Saturday...that big pick 6 pool at DelMar.

I hope everyone had good racing luck over the weekend, and let's keep fighting.

To Mr. Brown from Retama....Bryan what would it take to get a few volunteer tellers in there on these Saturdays to help get the folks thru the lines? I think you have a good thing getting folks out to the track, but how can we help get the dollars in the window?

Theo

PS I'd be willing to volunteer to help out if that's possible, just let me know.

Thanks

[Roger]

Theo is right about the long lines, people wanted to bet, but there were too few tellers on the ground floor. I did not make it up stairs so I don't know what that was like.

[jrgators]

To be fair with Bryan, I spoke with him about that problem, and they have tried to fix it with no luck in hiring folks. That's why I asked about the volunteers. They got it figured out how to get them in the building, now we've gotta help figure out how to get them thru the lines.

[Bedouwia]

According to a recent series of articles in the Austin American Statesman,

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-pol ... 99264.html

there is an astounding amount of money being wagered on scratch off lottery tickets -- they are convenient, and offer an easy way for people to play. We know that your odds are much better at the track, so maybe we need to make race track betting easier for folks? Of course, ADW would do that. You don't even have to go to the convenience store.

I suspect that tellers need some kind of training, and maybe even a license? Maybe that is an area in which the tracks and TRC could cooperate? I cannot believe that there is any lack of people looking for part time work these days. I would think the local community colleges would even provide the job training in conjunction with the workforce commission, if it was needed.

I refuse to believe that we cannot find ways to make things better, and Texas racing work for everyone. It need not be slots or nothing.

[jrgators]

HERE IS A QUICK COMPARISON NOTE FOR YOU ON THE LACK OF TRUTH TO THE RUMORS THAT BIGGER PURSES AND FULLER FIELDS WOULD MAKE OUR RACING SUCCESSFUL.

QUICK LOOK AT DRF CHARTS FOR THIS PAST FRIDAY.

PRESQUE ISLE DOWNS RICH WITH PURSE MONEY, HORSE, BIG NAMES, AND SLOT MONEY CAN'T DRAW ENOUGH PEOPLE FOR A GOOD BAR FIGHT TO WATCH AND WAGER ON THE HORSES. OH YOU WANT NUMBERS, OK....HERE THEY GO

AVG. STARTERS PER RACE 9.125
PURSE DOLLARS PAIDE 160,890 WHICH EQUALS OUT TO BE $20,111.25 PER RACE.

THEY HAD THE GRAND TOTAL OF 544 CUSTOMERS
THEY BET $32,579 ON TRACK
ALL SOURCE 333,444

NOW I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO PULL UP RETAMAS NUMBERS, BUT WE NEED TO WAKE UP, BIG FIELDS, AND BIG PURSES DON'T TRANSLATE TO WAGER DOLLARS ON HORSE RACING.

SO THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE TELLS YOU FOLKS WOULD BET ON OUR HORSES IF WE HAD BIGGER PURSES, AND BIGGER NAMED JOCKEYS AND TRAINERS, SHOW THEM SOME STATS FROM THIS PLACE!

NOW...DON'T GET ME WRONG, I'D LOVE TO RUN FOR THE MONEY! BUT THE ARGUMENT TODAY IS THAT THE PRODUCT HAS TO BE SELF SUSTAINING, AND WE CAN DO THAT HERE, BUT ALLL THAT MONEY FOR THE HORSES THERE HASN'T TRANSLATED INTO INTEREST IN HORSES OR HORSE RACING!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!
THEO