– Andrew Beyer has seen the future of racing. So has Bob Roberts: “It’s my couch, my debit card, a laptop computer, and two pari-mutuel networks bounced off the satellite dish atop my garage and onto the screen of my television set.”
Both Beyer and Roberts are right that racing’s future is online, but I can’t help but to point out that some of the sites they praise, like Youbet.com, are unusable for Mac OS visitors. Youbet doesn’t even let Mac users get past the first page without throwing up an error message. And while the solution could be that Mac users just have to buy a PC and chalk up the expense as a necessary one to fully enjoy racing online, it really shouldn’t have to be that way — I can think of no other multimedia content or security-conscious financial services site that shows the same disregard for potential users. In some corners of the racing industry, though, customer service and making your product accessible just don’t matter.
Tote Board Brad isn’t ready to concede the future yet: “The track offers real value to me in a few ways.”
– A thoroughbred named for the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series victory is set to make his career debut at Gulfstream Park in the next couple of weeks. Curse Reversed, a son of Grand Slam, was purchased by Boston-based racing outfit Centennial Farms for $180,000 at the 2003 Keeneland September yearling sale and is trained by Jimmy Jerkens. He probably won’t be the only horse with a Red Sox-inspired name to hit the track this year either: The Jockey Club reported in November 2004 a flurry of such names registered, including Red Sox Parade, Sweep the Series, and Bambino’s Curse.
– Maryland racing is suffering this winter. Short fields caused by the quarantine at Pimlico and restrictions on shippers into the track have made Laurel a bleak place to be these days. At Pimlico, a third horse was killed by the equine herpes virus this week.
Posted by JC in News, Web/Technology on 01/26/2006 @ 11:00 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Everyone you expected. There were few surprises at last night’s Eclipse awards … Saint Liam took Horse of the Year in a landslide, Afleet Alex was named three-year-old champion, and Lost in the Fog won champion sprinter easily.
Jay Hovdey catalogs the hits and misses. Among the latter: Michael Gill’s “Nixonesque” acceptance speech upon winning the owner’s Eclipse.
Bill Handleman found the whole ceremony a joke: “This year you didn’t have to be a hardcore cynic to enjoy the Eclipse Awards … such was the power of the message. Evidently it no longer matters how openly you violate the spirit of racing, not to mention the rules of the game. If you win enough, you will be rewarded. And at the end of the year, those who do the voting for the awards will disgrace themselves by honoring some of the game’s worst offenders.”
Posted by JC in HOF/Awards on 01/24/2006 @ 7:00 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
I meant to address all of these stories last week in longer posts, but never found the time …
In a report issued last Thursday, consultants to the Massachusetts State Lottery said that slot machines at the state’s racetracks would bring in $1.1 billion annually without cannibalizing lottery revenues and that launching a Keno-style horseracing game would boost existing Keno revenue $168 million. The slots numbers boost slot supporters’ arguments, not that the report is likely to have much effect on the slots debate when it’s taken up again in March. As for the Keno game, the lottery tried to introduce it last spring, but gave up after some legislators opposed the game out of worry over its effect on Suffolk Downs. In typical fashion, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald report the same information, but the Globe downplays slots and the state’s racing industry, the Herald puts both at the center.
Friends of New York Racing is urging New York legislators to require that any bidder for the NYRA franchise commit to improving living conditions for backstretch workers at the state’s three tracks. In a report released last week, FONYR recommends renovating “existing dormitories … to meet State Department of Health and OSHA standards” and notes that “although women comprise nearly 35% of the backstretch work force, only 16% of the available rooms are assigned for use by women.” An appendix details the squalor.
Andy Stronach wants to help rookie horseplayers. With SheTips. I still hate this idea.
Posted by JC in State Issues on 01/23/2006 @ 8:30 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
