JC / Railbird

Why did Ellis not open?

Posted by libby on July 3, 2008 @ 10:25 am

It’s closing, permanently according to Ron Geary, due to a dispute with the horsemen over ADW revenues.
Thanks for posting the link, Ed. That’s a really lovely piece about Ellis.

Posted by Jessica on July 3, 2008 @ 10:35 am

Let’s see. Who should we blame? The Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group might be a good place to start. That relatively new organization believes hardball is the only way to play; nevermind that it’s throwing its fastballs at an opponent wielding a rickety old, badly decaying wooden bat. Then let’s blame the tracks, who rather than do the serious work of revitalizing the game, fall back time and again on other forms of gaming, primarily slot machines (although poker and other things are in there as well). If the horsemen’s group would constructively engage the ownership of all tracks about interoperability across all platforms, regardless of alliance and allegience — but for the benefit of the fans — gasp! — we might actually get somewhere. But they rather say all or nothing, watch the track close and then be forced to, I don’t know, race at River Downs. Do the horsemen congratulate themselves after Geary shuts down? “Boys, we showed ’em!” Or do they look at each other and say, “Holy Crap! What the hell did we just let happen?” Form small groups and discuss …

Posted by anon on July 3, 2008 @ 6:02 pm

If the Fed wants to get involved, it’s time — as Jess Jackson said — to change the law that gives the horsemen power over the broadcast signal. it’s insane. Name another sport where that’s in a collective bargaining agreement. Now, I’m not so sure we should replace the trainers with the owners in the language, as ole Jess wants, but the trainers have to go. They wield way too much power in the dynamic for what they comparatively provide in exchange for what they get in return — namely free stabling and the chance to compete for millions of dollars. Even in a depressed real estate market, it ain’t cheap to operate a track. Look at all the pressure Magna shareholders put on Frank to sell the tracks to developers. Everyone is at fault in the Ellis situation, but the horsemen — not the rank and file, but their leadership groups — are dillusional. If I’m an owner who wants to race at Ellis and my trainer has backed the track into a corner over unreasonable demands for the ADW split, I fire the trainer with a quickness. Period.

Posted by anon (p.s.) on July 3, 2008 @ 6:13 pm