Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Dirt
I have all my handicapping done the night before, if I am alone I wander all over the place, I usually am a rail bird at the finish line when the race starts.
I probably at least walk around enough to get the equivalent of walking a long golf course. Before a lower spinal fusion slowed me down at any track with an infield I would be on the backstretch rail to watch the start of the one turn races then sprint across to get as close to the finish line as possible to watch the finish. Of course if I have female company my wandering is cut down tremendously.
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I'm the same way at Saratoga. For me, buying a seat is a waste unless I'm with the girl. I can't sit still for half an hour knowing the horses are in the paddock, I gotta see em. Then when its a race I really want to see I walk upstairs. I probably walk 8 miles a day there, I always lose weight this time of year. Too bad its only 7 weeks a year. I would be thin.
I'm not big on crowds anymore either. I love Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at Toga. I can walk the entire park without bumping into and walking around the masses.
Its been obvious for years that racing has lost ground. Of course, eventually some of this will appear at these two boutique meets at times. I don't know how people try to "fool" themselves by pointing out these certain days and meets to say its still booming...…..it isn't. As for the handle, its like the deal NYRA uses for the attendance. They count every season pass owner for every day at times. I'm not there every single day, but I believe that's how they tally the count. Handle is the same thing...……..it will always look great now that you have people dumping the pools with large bets at the last second (and some say even past that
). They need some economist in there. Twenty to fifty people betting thousands of dollars at the bell (or past, some allege) is not the same as ten or 20 thousand fans placing casual bets. That's where this entire game is lost...……….they see this $$$$$$$$$ but they don't see this...…….