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The new Monmouth Park experiment of less racing days and higher paying purses was a overwhelming success. The two day "total" handle was 16 million dollars and attendance "on track" was up over the previous first two race days last year. Now, this doesn't means the these figures will be the same for the rest of the meet. But, this start in a new way of presenting the racing product could be a bigger sign for other thoroughbred organizations in their future and how their race meets are conducted. This model looks like a winner, so far and maybe a certain entity who has had their share of problems in recent years may follow suit.
After a tumultuous long period of time with the state of New York , the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has finally gotten the money owed to them from the original franchise agreement that was made when the state renewed their contract with NYRA. Hopefully by August, the state lottery division will choose a vendor for the VLT's (video lottery terminals) and construction will begin at Aqueduct. This has been long overdue (about eight years) and because of N.Y. state dragging their feet for this amount of time, it's cost not only NYRA, but the state coffers millions of dollars. Money that the state and thoroughbred racing could have used. The ball will finally get rolling, but until then the 25 million dollar "loan" should get the association through the rest of the year. But, what happens then until the VLT's are up and running? What could NYRA do to possibly cut costs and still present a good racing product? Maybe less or more in the long run and should look at the "new" Monmouth race meet model for the future.
The plain fact is that there is too many race meet dates across the county and at NYRA. With the exception of a break during the holidays and days off between race meets, NYRA runs year round. The weekly race meet is five days during most of the year and six days when racing is at Saratoga . Going this rate for too long has "water-down" the racing product with shorter fields and lesser quality racing. It's common to see 7,500 claming races during the Belmont summer meet and 5 and 6 horse fields during peak racing times where the "so-called" racing has the top quality. The racing product has been spread too thin and less racing days are the way to go.
The Saratoga season has now reached 40 days, just about as far as it should go. Maybe the race week should be cut to 5 days, like the rest of the year instead of the 6 that they have now. Racing 12 months a year in this day in age is too much. The "top quality" racing tails off after Fall Festival during Thanksgiving weekend. It's my opinion that racing should take a "hiatus" from December to at least mid-January. If not this maybe a few week break, limited to a three day race week (much like Monmouth is running now). The overall quality of racing during the winter months don't have top horses in New York and other than the state bred runners, racing could use this short time off. With purses at equal level in Philadelphia Park , many of the horsemen from N.Y. race could race at this venue during the break time. This schedule would help the cash-strapped racing association in a time where every dollar counts, until the VLT's are up and running. With less racing yearly, the purses could be reconstructed and thus the quality of racing would improve. The cooperation of the state would be need like in New Jersey with NYRA willing to make the changes. Everything that this state has gone through with thoroughbred racing the past ten has been turbulent to say the least and it's time to make the tough changes. In the long run, less means more and things may go smoother in the long run.
