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Keeneland Approves Polytrack

As expected, the Keeneland board of directors unanimously approved the installation of Polytrack in a meeting on Wednesday. Track president Nick Nicholson conceded there were some risks to switching from a dirt to a synthetic surface, particularly when it comes to horsemen using the Blue Grass and Lexington Stakes as Derby preps, but also suggested the benefits of Polytrack outweighed such concerns: “I don’t know how horsemen are going to react to the Derby,” he said. “But I do know that horses are going to be safer and healthier and have fewer problems, and I know fewer riders are going to get hurt.” With Polytrack, Keeneland may lose its speed-favoring reputation, but bettors will have plenty of other angles to play when the fall meet opens: The surface change is only one part of a multi-million dollar renovation project to be completed over the summer that also includes wider turns and a longer stretch.

Related: Steven Crist calls Keeneland’s decision “bold and innovative,” but warns against “a rush to transform the game as we know it before more is known.”

Posted in Track Notes on April 20, 2006

More Gulfstream Numbers

Ray Paulick compares Gulfstream purses with those of Calder and Tampa Bay and finds Gulfstream lagging:

The median purse per race — the middle number that factors out top-heavy prize money from the Sunshine Millions and other stakes — has fallen from $30,000 in 1999 to $17,500 in 2006.

Thus, from 1999 to 2006, average daily purses are down 7.7%, average purse per race is down 2.2%, and median purse per race is down 41.7%. Factors that account for varying rates of decline from 1999 to 2006 are fewer races per day and heavier concentration of money into the stakes program….

Owners racing at Florida’s two other tracks have benefited from purse increases since 1999. Daily average purses at Calder grew 14.3%, reaching $226,638 in 2005. Median purse per race, however, has remained a constant $17,000.

Tampa Bay Downs is one of racing’s true success stories — and one that isn’t driven by revenue from slot machines. Daily average purses there have grown 81.9% since the 1998-99 season, with the median purse per race up 58.7%. Tampa Bay’s current meeting is offering daily average purses of $157,451 and a median purse per race of $11,900.

Earlier: Gulfstream Numbers

Posted in Track Notes on April 12, 2006

Gulfstream Numbers

Official Gulfstream attendance and handle numbers won’t be released until the meet ends on April 23, but track president Scott Savin told the Daily Racing Form both figures are looking good:

“Believe me, we are all very pleased with the way things have transpired so far,” Savin said. “Ontrack business is up substantially over last year, and through Sunday our attendance is up 365,000 compared to the same period [72 days] in 2005.”

Attendance is up 365,000 people? That’s impressive. And implausible. For Gulfstream attendance to be up that much, the track would have to be attracting an average of 5,069 more people a day this year than they were in 2005, which they certainly weren’t doing in January and February, as Bill Finley wrote earlier this year:

There were 42 days of racing at Gulfstream in January and February, 2006 and the daily average ontrack attendance was 5,157. It may even be less. The attendance figures given out by Gulfstream are estimates and, based on per capita handle, they appear to be optimistically high. For the sake of argument, let’s say they are true: they still represent a 44 percent decline in attendance compared to the 2004 meet.

As for March and April, Equibase numbers indicate that average daily attendance for those two months declined 25%, from 5,177 in 2005 to 4,157 in 2006. The one bright spot in that period is this year’s Florida Derby, which drew 11,990 people to the track. While the track wasn’t exactly packed, that number is an increase over last year’s attendance figure of 9,905.
If attendance is down, though, handle is up. Ontrack handle for last year’s Florida Derby was $1.7 million, this year’s exceeded $2.7 million. Average daily handle doesn’t seem to have increased as dramatically, but it’s up as well, and Gulfstream (again, based on the Equibase numbers) seems likely to report increased ontrack handle of approximately 15% for the meet.
So, more money from fewer people. I guess that’s one vision for the future of racing.
4/26/06 Addendum: I wasn’t too far off on the ontrack handle estimate: “Gulfstream Park … reported double-digit gains in average daily on-track handle. Wagering on Gulfstream races rose 18 percent while on-track handle was up 13 percent compared to 2005.”

Posted in Track Notes on April 8, 2006

The Collmus Interview

Patrick Patten interviews Suffolk Downs-Aqueduct-Monmouth announcer Larry Collmus. Among Collmus’ favorite lines from calls past: “My best lines were off the cuff. My favorite would be when Cigar made his move in the 1996 MassCap, I said ‘There goes the Legend.’ I don’t think anyone had called him that before. I liked it. He certainly was a legend.”

– – –

Noticed this tossed-off phrase in a Jay Cronley ESPN column today: “Women can’t call races?” Which made me wonder — is there now, or has there ever been, a woman calling races at any thoroughbred track?

3/30 Update: I knew there had to be female track announcers somewhere. A correspondent wrote in today to say: “Yes, in Japan and Korea, some women call races. Yasuko Iguchi, the first woman announcer of horseracing in Japan, had called JRA races from 1971 to 1995 on live broadcast of Radio Nippon. Kayo Koeda also is woman announcer at Hokkaido tracks. Kim Su-Jin became the first woman announcer in Korea.”

Posted in Track Notes on March 29, 2006

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