19 October 2008

Sandy Hawley Does Canada Proud

Sandy Hawley won the Living Legends Race yesterday:

I picked the winner, and no offense to Hawley, but any of those jocks would have won on Tribal Chief yesterday, in fact, almost any jockey in the Woodbine or even Fort Erie colony would have won on that horse as well.
One bit of trivia, if Hawley doesn't ride again, he will remain undefeated on all weather race tracks.
I handicapped the race because of the Brisnet Handicapping Contest I entered. Picked the exactor one two, but didn't bet because I don't get rebated on California horse racing. I would have blown back the profits in a later California race anyway.



NASCAR says no to Fort Erie I'm not sure if the proposed track is being built with NASCAR races in mind since they are starting out with only 65,000 seats, but one thing did come to me, at the risk of throwing political correctness out the window: NASCAR is the center of the "redneck" sport's universe. I wonder if an Arab owned race track will ever become part of their circuit regardless of the location.



Racing Execs and Horsemen Get What They Deserve
California Defers ADW Rule Change Look for California handle to keep going down down down.

NYRA is cutting purses for the Aqueduct meeting by 10%. This comes right after an increase in track takeout on New York races was put into place.
When is racing going to understand that the bottom line drops with higher takeouts and goes up with lower takeouts?

Louisiana Posts modest increases in handle for 2008 meet. Handle is down almost everywhere, but La. Downs is bucking the trend. Could it have something to do with the fact that they make their signal available just about everywhere? Maybe being on Premier Turf Club's menu has something to do with it too.


Krista Carignan wants to come back to the Ontario circuit next year. I wonder if the circuit will be Woodbine and Fort Erie or Woodbine and Ajax Downs.


Halsey Minor looking to buyout Magna Entertainment?


Premier Turf Club's Joe Riddell tells it like it is.
The industry won't compromise with customer needs and wants. It would rather chase away the customer than give in.
"...not only does it not have the right business model, it doesn't have the right management team in place. As a whole you have to understand where our customers are, where they've gone, what they're demanding and recognize that we need to bring them back into the game and certainly back into the revenue stream. ..."

One commenter offers a counter solution to Riddell's central exchange idea:
....Each track needs to be able to accept internet wagers direct. This would give each track an on-track bet. Then the tracks "commission" the ADW's for acquiring the customer and servicing the account....

-Joseph




Horseplayers Association Of North America (HANA) has a good post: Vet Records-For The Bettor
Hong Kong does it right. North America keeps the bettor in the dark.


CLAP CLAP CLAP
Way to go Woodbine. Four days of Pick 6 build up and the carryover is up to a whopping 4 G's. The audacity of a $2 minimum instead of a $1 one shows how out of touch Woodbine is with their customers.

As predicted, so far at least, Emma Jayne Wilson and Eurico Rosa Da Silva have picked up the winners that Chantal Sutherland left on the table.
These two jocks seem to love the colder weather.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Im giving the Sand man more credit,Sandy Hawley worked 'Catch the Luck'
in a 1.00 h for samson farms prior to his legends romp. The 3 year old galloped to victory here at Woodbine,on Saturday,does he at least get an assist?

Anonymous said...

Wasn't like Sandy was on Ghostzapper, he was the mild 5/2 choice.

Anonymous said...

hEY, JAKE THE RAKE COULD HAVE RIDDEN HAWLEY'S MOUNT AND WON...

Anonymous said...

hEY, JAKE THE RAKE COULD HAVE RIDDEN HAWLEY'S MOUNT AND WON...

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't call a 6% increase in on track handle modest for La Downs. I don't know for certain but I would guess that a dollar increase in on track betting carries a lot more bang than a dollar increase in simulcast or ADW wagering.
If anyone could tell me for a typical track with $100,000 wagered in each of the three categories, on track,simulcast and ADW what % in each category goes for purses, to the state in the form of taxes and is retained by the home track, simulcast sites and ADWs.
RG

Anonymous said...

RG, I didn't write the article, but tracks range from anything between 12% live handle to over 50% (as in the case of Woodbine who owns their own ADW).
I'm not sure what % LA Downs gets live.
But live handle is probably 5 times as valuable as ADW handle to a track like Fort Erie for example.

Anonymous said...

The Pick 6 situation is pretty funny at Woodbine.

Who are they kidding?

Woodbine is NOT the big time, no matter what people who work there tell themselves.

They would be better off lowering the take on the pick 4 to under 15% like they had in the past.

Anonymous said...

Sandy still has it!

There's an article on the Fort Erie situation in the latest issue of Down The Stretch written by Perry Lefko. I hope they find a way to keep Fort Erie open. There's a lot of history at the track and plenty of horsemen (and horses) to think about.

I'm also hoping a few Canadian readers might take a peak at the interview with Alex Brown on my Triple Dead Heat blog and help out a few race horses in need!

Cheers

Keith

Anonymous said...

I think there is no racing next year at the Fort and management is keeping it quite until the Breeders cup or until the meet ends Tuesday.