Ellis Park closing

[mlwinter]

According to two articles I read this morning, Ellis will not open for the summer meet, even though they have taken two days worth of entries. Has anyone heard that Turfway is going to run Ellis' days?

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... /807030409

http://www.kentucky.com/302/story/451103.html

[ratherrapid]

the HBPA strikes again. pigs get fed. hogs get slaughtered.

[madelyn]

It's a VERY bad situation. Horses had shipped in, concessions all ready to open, etc. I think Geary might need a bodyguard.

There is no hint about the racing days .. one wonders if Geary waited till now and used the HBPA as an excuse so that the days couldn't easily be reallocated to other tracks. He had talked last year about not racing this year. One wonders what axe he had to grind or who he meant to punish.

I think it is possible the truth of the situation might lie elsewhere.

[tinners way]

ratherrapid, obviously you are not an owner. Eveyone in this industry debates on who puts on the show, and the answer is the horse. The owner gets the horse to the track, the trainer trains it (or the vet), and the track provides the forum, and the ADW outlets provide wider distribution of the gaming opportunity. Handle and purses are vital to each of these elements, but what comes first the owner or the track. There should be an equal cut.

[ratherrapid]

tinner it seems to me there are a lot of good horsemen that just seem to lose their minds when it comes to money. the answer to your question is easy. the track comes first. when the tracks are up to their gills in cash and have financial ability to pay for everything that's demanded of them, then they may start doling out money to "horsepeople".

i was present in the ridiculous scene 18 years ago when the Wooldand's opened up, the new owners all excited about their product, and there on day 1 was the Kansas HBPA threatening to withhold their horses unles there was an increase from the track owners to Kansas Purse money. soured the whole atmosphere right off the bat.

i'm unqualified to comment on the present situation. know nothing about it. but seems to me common sense requires a smidgen of recognition that when Ellis Park puts on a meet and loses 2.7 million dollars we're doing something other than talking about putting more money in owner's pockets, or, am i missing something here?

[steward]

Bottom line, a business venture has to make economic sense or it makes no sense at all. The main reason why employee-owned stock businesses fail is that they vote themselves raises that aren't justified by the accounting ledgers. Same thing goes for socialist democracies that turn government payments into "rights"; eventually they grind down economically.

The main challenge to horse racing is the handle and the take. Those are the fundamentals. Drugs, breakdowns, slaughter and similar blather are sideshows by comparison.

[Georgerz]

I read earlier this afternoon in the Thoroughbred Times, that the issues have been resolved, and the track will open this coming Friday.

[Georgerz]

Double posting