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Good longform writing on horse racing
https://mail.chicagofanatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=129&t=82852		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Curious Hair [ Fri Nov 01, 2013 4:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Good longform writing on horse racing
http://deadspin.com/can-dirtbags-pretty ... 1456016820

Love me some Mr. Destructo. Very interesting stuff. Thoughts, JORR?
Author:  Walt Williams Neck [ Fri Nov 01, 2013 5:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Curious Hair wrote:
http://deadspin.com/can-dirtbags-pretty-ladies-and-twitter-save-horse-rac-1456016820

Love me some Mr. Destructo. Very interesting stuff. Thoughts, JORR?

I'll wait until the movie comes out
Author:  Zizou [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 1:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Lund's usually decent but how can you write about the future of racing and not talk about slots at tracks?
Author:  Rod [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 10:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Interesting article, but I have a few thoughts. The first one would be that we're living in a time when attentions spans are short. It takes a lot of effort to learn about racing. I know guys that have gone to the track everyday for thirty years and still don't really know how to read the program.

Every young guy I know is fascinated by mob culture. Just look at the popularity of show like Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos. That would be the angle I'd take in marketing the sport. Instead of trying to be "wholesome fun for the whole family", I would embrace the grittier aspects and exploit them.

One of the problems with the racing industry, particularly in Illinois, is that you have these people who had a monopoly for years and they don't know how to compete in a marketplace. For years they threw open the doors and counted the money. Now you have all other kinds of gambling everywhere and their answer is to attempt to get another monopoly, i.e. slot machines.

Slots at racetracks are a devil's bargain. They make politically connected track owners even richer and make a bunch of illiterate horsemen believe they are rich. But in these times of unbalanced municipal budgets and pension crises, it usually doesn't take long before elected officials start asking why racing is receiving this subsidy. The track owners don't care. They're making more money from the casino part of their operation. The horses and the horsemen are just an annoyance, a necessary evil.

When politicians start looking desperately for money, eventually they see Sheik Mohammed al Maktoum winning a purse of $500,000 that has been supplemented by money from slots and they start asking questions. Were sending money to Dubai that could be going to fund our pensions? And then the game is over.
Author:  Jaw Breaker [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 1:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Slots at racetracks are a devil's bargain. They make politically connected track owners even richer and make a bunch of illiterate horsemen believe they are rich. But in these times of unbalanced municipal budgets and pension crises, it usually doesn't take long before elected officials start asking why racing is receiving this subsidy. The track owners don't care. They're making more money from the casino part of their operation. The horses and the horsemen are just an annoyance, a necessary evil.

When politicians start looking desperately for money, eventually they see Sheik Mohammed al Maktoum winning a purse of $500,000 that has been supplemented by money from slots and they start asking questions. Were sending money to Dubai that could be going to fund our pensions? And then the game is over.


That's an interesting angle I hadn't thought of. I used to have fractional ownership of some racehorses in Illinois and the purses dwindled to the point that you had to win or finish 2nd just to break even. I gave up waiting for slots to be approved at the tracks. It's really strange that a world-class track like Arlington has lower purses than tracks in Indiana.
Author:  Rod [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 4:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Jaw Breaker wrote:
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Slots at racetracks are a devil's bargain. They make politically connected track owners even richer and make a bunch of illiterate horsemen believe they are rich. But in these times of unbalanced municipal budgets and pension crises, it usually doesn't take long before elected officials start asking why racing is receiving this subsidy. The track owners don't care. They're making more money from the casino part of their operation. The horses and the horsemen are just an annoyance, a necessary evil.

When politicians start looking desperately for money, eventually they see Sheik Mohammed al Maktoum winning a purse of $500,000 that has been supplemented by money from slots and they start asking questions. Were sending money to Dubai that could be going to fund our pensions? And then the game is over.


That's an interesting angle I hadn't thought of. I used to have fractional ownership of some racehorses in Illinois and the purses dwindled to the point that you had to win or finish 2nd just to break even. I gave up waiting for slots to be approved at the tracks. It's really strange that a world-class track like Arlington has lower purses than tracks in Indiana.


There are a lot of problems with racing in Illinois. The track owners want slots, obviously, because of the money. I would venture to say that Churchill may have already sold the Arlington property for development except that they are holding out for slots.

Of course, the politicians generally take the viewpoint that the entire industry has to be on board before they support legislation. At that juncture, the tracks need agreement from the horsemen. But the horsemen are largely uneducated and they always just look short-term. There are many smart owners that have ideas and are willing to take the lead of the horsemen's associations, but they are viewed suspiciously by horsemen who consider them "grandstand goofs".

What the horsemen should be doing instead of demanding that a piece of revenue from the slots go to fund purses is to become partners in the casino with the tracks. That would take a lot of work and possibly a little risk. But it certainly could be done if the horsemen would worry about it as much as they do their Cadillac insurance plan.

Also, the tracks are always trying to sneak stuff into the bills, particularly on-line casinos that would do nothing for the purses. And that leads into the philosophical question of why someone has a special right to operate a casino simply by virtue of owning a racetrack. I want my casino too!

I think as long as Neil Bluhm owns Rivers, slots at tracks is going to be a tough play.
Author:  Curious Hair [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 5:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
I'd love horse racing if I could be any good at betting on it. It's a beautiful sport to watch, and the atmosphere is charming. Lund rips on the datedness of the places, but I have a soft spot for that sort of atmosphere. I don't want everything in this world to be bourgeois and new.
Author:  Rod [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 5:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Curious Hair wrote:
I'd love horse racing if I could be any good at betting on it. It's a beautiful sport to watch, and the atmosphere is charming. Lund rips on the datedness of the places, but I have a soft spot for that sort of atmosphere. I don't want everything in this world to be bourgeois and new.


One of the bad things is that there are still a lot of racing plants that were built to accommodate crowds of 50,000. Outside of a few special events, that kind of crowd is a thing of the past. People are at OTBs, and, more and more, betting from home via computer.

It's difficult to have a sport that nobody is watching live. Some of the newer tracks have been built smaller so at least it seems as if the crowds are large.

The article touches on it a bit, the fact that racetrack operators seem to think they are in the food and beverage business. They are in the gambling business. Food and beverages are simply an accommodation for the bettors. If the tracks are going to run that part themselves, they should be doing it at break-even. If they're going to make money with it, they should bring in real pros to run it. Anyway who has ever eaten in a racetrack dining room knows what I'm talking about. The food is generally awful.

Take Maywood Park, for example. You have a great mid-century modern building in a good location. They haven't used the third floor in years. If I were running the show over there, I would call the Melman brothers or Billy Dec and offer them the space at no charge if they wanted to build it out and put in a restaurant/club.

Jeff Gural, the operator of the Meadowlands has the right idea. He's building a great new plant.
http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absoluten ... &zoneid=35

Eventually he will get a casino. But he's a racing fan first. Many of these guys get casinos and abandon the horse racing, failing to promote it and treating it as a pain in the ass.
Author:  Brick [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 6:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
The article touches on it a bit, the fact that racetrack operators seem to think they are in the food and beverage business. They are in the gambling business. Food and beverages are simply an accommodation for the bettors. If the tracks are going to run that part themselves, they should be doing it at break-even. If they're going to make money with it, they should bring in real pros to run it. Anyway who has ever eaten in a racetrack dining room knows what I'm talking about. The food is generally awful.
This is a really good point. I went to the Belmont Stakes this year. The actual food provided by them was worse than a minor league baseball game and more expensive. It was also more expensive. Now, after we ate we discovered they were having a bunch of things outside with craft beer and a few food trucks. However, those obviously aren't always there. The food inside was also more expensive and the bud and bud light was fairly expensive.

They really should look at some of the really successful minor league baseball teams and copy that. I've been to Belmont Park twice and the Stakes was fun because of how well known it is and how many people were there. I went another time on an average Thursday and it was pretty depressing filled with degenerates and stale pretzels. I actually think Arlington Park is much better though I remember thinking beer was way too expensive for a place with gambling. Then again, I guess I could have brought a cooler or a milk jug full of purple juice and everclear like many others were in front of us when we were watching the races.
Author:  Curious Hair [ Sat Nov 02, 2013 6:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Good longform writing on horse racing
Boilermaker Rick wrote:
a milk jug full of purple juice and everclear


It's been a long road down from the mint julep.
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