Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm

February 11, 2010

One of the more intriguing developments in the Zayat Stables bankruptcy case is the revelation one can receive a mortality payment on an un-dead horse. … Are there similar policies for humans as well?

The Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission investigation into Thoroughbred owner Michael Gill continues, but the public still doesn’t know what Gill did wrong, if anything. The Pennsylvania State Police is conducting its own investigation into something at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course that may or may not involve Gill. … Things just don’t add up.

It used to be all “handle up, purses down,” but lately—and January 2010 offers more evidence—it’s “handle down, purses down,” even with all that revenue from gaming machines. We heard for years about racetracks and horsemen’s groups working on a new business model, but thus far, it seems whatever has been done isn’t working. … All we do know is handle through advance deposit wagering is increasing, but overall handle is decreasing. Looks like the industry’s longtime mantra that ADW is racing’s only future growth channel has become a self-fulfilling prophecy—at the expense of live racing.

The recent rain-related cancellations at Santa Anita Park have been blamed on its synthetic surface, but a few things get lost in the hysteria. One, the surface was improperly installed, and, two, can anyone prove racing would have been held on those days if Santa Anita had a dirt surface? Just food for thought.

Isn't it interesting how some racetrack casinos shut down simulcast operations in bad weather, but the slots casino remains operating?

A filmmaker from South Jersey is marketing a horror flick called Sorrow Hill, which, according to the Press of Atlantic City, was filmed in the summer of 2008 inside the bowels of Atlantic City Race Course. The article says Ron DiPrimio of Vineland got the “desolate, creepy, and cavernous” space free of charge.

The film is about a shuttered insane asylum at which one doctor never left; you can guess the rest. … My only sorrow is that Atlantic City only races six days a year, and the real insane asylum is a New Jersey government that can’t figure out how to keep horse racing viable in the state. … If I ever hit the lottery for $100 million, I’d make an immediate offer on Atlantic City. Retro never dies. ... Of course, one could argue a South Jersey native that loves to go back there to visit should be locked away in a deserted room at ACRC.

Speaking of politics, Kentucky lawmakers and the state’s horse industry had better come to a meeting of the minds soon, or the self-proclaimed “Horse Capital of the World” may become the “Horse Crap-ital of the World.” … With all the rhetoric flying around, maybe it already is the latter. … And by the way, there are Republicans that support racetrack gaming.

The simulcast business at Keeneland in Lexington has been down for a while, but powdered creamer for the coffee at the concession stands? For coffee lovers, there’s nothing like half-and-half, which Keeneland offered for years … No wonder why I drive the hour and 15 minutes to Turfway Park to bet.

With all the hullabaloo over a proposed meeting of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, another logical location for such a matchup has been laying in the weeds. It has been mighty quiet at Churchill Downs, home of the Stephen Foster Handicap in June, hasn’t it?

More than 80 racetracks, including the wonderfully-named Crooked River Roundup in Oregon, are participating in The Jockey Club Equine Injury Database. That's a pretty strong number. Oddly, one major racetrack—Oaklawn in Arkansas—is missing from the list.

Horse racing has many problems, and resolution is difficult to achieve because of the structure of the business. But the process can only begin by taking an important first step: looking in the mirror.