Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Texas Racing Commission Approves Reduction in Racing Dates

Yesterday, the Texas Racing Commission approved the 2011 Race Date Calendar which prominently featured a lot less racing.

Sam Houston Race Park will host 27 days of Thoroughbred racing starting in January and 30 days of Quarter Horse Racing beginning in March. Sam Houston Race Park will not run its Thoroughbred dates in November and December of 2010. Lone Star Park will host 52 days of Thoroughbred racing starting in mid-April and 26 days of Quarter Horse racing starting in September 2011.

Retama Park will host 10 Quarter Horse days starting in July, a 14-day mixed meet beginning at the end of July, and 21 Thoroughbred days beginning in September 2011. Gillespie County Fair and Festivals will host its traditional eight-day mixed meet in July and August. [TRC Press Release]

So, taking out your handy-dandy calculators, you'll see that it comes to 100 days of Thoroughbred racing and a handful of gemistewurst because nobody really knows what the heck they mean by "mixed meet".

The good news is that there will be racing at all three Class 1 racetracks in Texas. The original consolidation plan that took a machete to 48% of the race dates was scuttled as it hurt too many horsemen whose livelihood depend on the Texas racing circuit.

The bad news is that there will be racing at all three Class 1 racetracks in Texas.
“We have to supply racing dates and support the horsemen even if we lose money.” [Bryan Brown, CEO of Retama Park]

Not a very good business model.

With less racing days, the racetracks can increase their daily purses. Lone Star Park, going from 60 days to a 52-day meet, can increase purses to $180,000 per day. Frankly, to some owners and trainers, that doesn't look any more appealing than $150,000 per day. And will this improve the quality of racing product? Or is it just providing life support for Texas racing?

5 comments:

The_Knight_Sky said...

A: Life Support

This move does nothing to make the Texas brand of racing more attractive to the wagering public around the nation.

The horsemen are listening to themselves and not the customers.

As a fan of Martha Claussen, I hope Texas people will get the dates right in 2012.

Anonymous said...

This is a joke. Does anyone know how much work and cost it is to move a stable of horses from one location to another? How many trainers and owners will be willing to make three or more moves for a grand total 24 days of racing at any one location. And as far as the Knight Sky comment is concerned- The horsemen are not being listened to by anyone- only the track owners will get anything out of this- 12 months of simulcast income-that is the whole reason for this farce of a racing schedule. Please-make sure you know whom you are talking about when you say "the horsemen"!!!

Anonymous said...

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE $4.0 MILLION DOLLARS THAT SAM HOUSTON GAVE TO THE TRIBE OPERATING LONE STAR PARK IF THEY (SHRP) COULD GET OUT OF HAVING A MEET IN 2011 ? WE WERE TOLD THAT THE CHECK HAD BEEN CUT AND GIVEN TO LONE STAR OVER A MONTH AGO. WASN'T THAT THE PURSE ACCOUNT TO GO TO THE HORSEMEN FOR ADDITIONAL PURSES? LONE STAR STILL SAYS THEY HAVE THE MONET TO PAY $180,000 A DAY. WGAT IS SHRP DAILY PURSE GOING TO BE IF LONE STAR KEEPS OUR MONEY

suebroux said...

Anonymous - Why do "the horsemen" - or whatever we can call the group of disgruntled race folk - continually bite the hand that feeds them? Racetracks are a business and, yes, they are out to make money - that's what businesses do. One does not operate a business to lose money. And if racetracks cease operation, where are "the horsemen" going to run their horses? When "the horsemen" run their horses at racetracks, they operate their business in attempt to make money; apparently, plenty of "horsemen" don't make money at Texas racetracks and have gone off elsewhere.

ANONYMOUS - $4,000,000??? What the heck are you talking about?!? Enlighten us ... and feel free to utilize your shift key when you do.

Anonymous said...

lets get the money from O'bama, after all he believes in giving it to everyone-spend, spend, spend