Well, well. It's about time the NJ Tracks cooperated

[Denise]

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 40439/1002

[bcassidy]

Denise, gotta love this news. I hope it gets a good chance to prove to the racing secretarys the potential turf racing could have in this area. Colonial Downs and Laurel have already proven what great opportunity lie in these races and NJ has the same great potential with Atlantic City, Monmouth and the Meadowlands all having very good turf courses. I love the turf.

[Denise]

Hey Brendan.
I think they are very aware in NJ about the "yields" of turf racing. But no one wants to put the time and $$$ into maintaining turf courses properly over a season to ensure big handle.
We live in a "dirt" country, unfortunately. The Equineline stats about turf racing are staggering, but it doesn't wake up the venue operators to the fact that they really do need separate superintendents for their grass and dirt courses.
So we take what we can get, and a joint effort between the BigM and Monmouth is a good start.

[bcassidy]

Denise, I would contend that the expense for maintaining a turf course is spent up front before the course is built, if it is built with a good drainage system and sprinkler system from the outset than the maintenance is no where near as bad as you might expect, without a very good drainage system and watering system than turf maintenance can be a nightmare. Monmouth Park had to put in a new pump (to the tune of about 1Million dollars to get their sprinkling system to work properly) and the meadowlands has a very good drainage and sprinkling system already installed. I am not sure what AC has installed but I know they have an excellent turf course. Racing secretarys have been reluctant to write turf races in NJ because they are always concerned about running on off tracks. They want to save the turf course for the stakes schedule and are very reluctant to run on good tracks. Other states, like NY, because of how they schedule their meets will run on most days even if the course gets wet, while NJ totally changes the race card when it scratches a race off the turf to the dirt because of rain. The racing secretarys in NJ need to have options for turf racing that will let the race go on the turf rain or shine, only then will they enthusiastically write more turf races. As these secretarys have seen in Va and Laurel full fields mean better races with more dollars bet. The weather has been used as an excuse for many years in this state, but the monday racing at the meadowlands makes a lot of sense to me, full cards, all turf, NY shippers will have another option, and the course will have a week to rest after the day of racing. I have been a proponent of this option for years and there is no reason why you couldn't do the same thing in AC later in the season for the Philly and Delaware based horses when their tracks get beat up in mid to late summer.

[Denise]

The thing I keep hearing is that the infrastructure ($$) required (staff, tellers, backside help, stewards, etc.) is the killer. You can't easily move people back and forth between venues. I would love to see an Atlantic City meet grow beyond 4 days in the spring, especially when Philly's turf course goes to weeds and divots by July. AC's turf course has roots that go down 20 feet...it's wonderful no matter the season. What a shame that let that place fall down to the ground. It was really a class act once.
When Philly closed for 3 weeks to renovate the dirt course last Sept., that would have been a perfect time to give the turfers another shot at AC.
Alas, didn't happen.

[bcassidy]

Denise, in the case of the meadowlands racing on Mondays, the staff and facility would already be in place because The BIG M would be live racing the standardbreds in the evenings. The only thing they would need is a starting gate and starting crew, which I guess is a big deal, but I still can't believe that would be enough to stop this from happening. I hope this works as well as I think it will, it would be great for the horse owners, trainers and betting public. Turf races tend to have bigger fields, more competition, fewer blow out races and in general a better race to handicap thereby increasing the handle on the race--a racing secretarys dream........... Let's hope the trial goes well---I think it will.

[Denise]

Brendan, do you race anything at Atlantic City? Our trainer's got a vanload, only one of which is ours this year. But we're looking forward to it anyway.
We hope to get in the A-other than the first day.
Hope to see you there.

[bcassidy]

I don't think I will have anything running there this year, but there is a slight chance for one of mine. We will see. If I go, maybe we could meet at the paddock. Who trains for you?

[Denise]

Wendy Kinnamon.

[bcassidy]

thanks.