Plan B

Oh, the excitement! To think the Breeders’ Cup World Championships is a mere week away – next Friday and Saturday! But before that, there’s Thirsty Thursday at Rio Mambo with $2.99 margarita specials! But before that, there’s mid-term election on Tuesday!

So first things first: there’s some important politics to discuss, most notably here in Texas, and the hopes and dreams and visions of a 2011 Texas Legislature that will embrace slots!

It’s no secret that the ailing Texas horse racing industry would like to “expand the footprint of gaming” to “generate more revenue for the state and raise purse levels to improve the quality of racing.” So once again, the horse racing industry and horsemen associations are firing up the gambling lobby and painstakingly devising their plans as follows:

Plan A: Slots
Plans B: see Plan A

Well, it’s no secret there’s a lot of opposition to expanding the “footprint of gaming” in Texas Legislature. And our gun-totin’-coyote-killin’ Governor doesn’t support it either (read: veto). So, it would be in the best interest of the horse racing industry to devise an improved and more palatable Plan B.

And I’m here to help.

I have assembled a modest list of potential Plan B’s, all of which could generate more revenue for horse racing, as well as for the state. And all these proposals are VLT-free!

Plan B-1: Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW, or Account Wagering). Texas is the second largest state in size and population. 268,820 square miles. And there’s only 8 7 places where you can legally place a parimutuel wager. It’s 2010: There are iPhones, iPads, TiVo, direct deposit, electronic transfers, FIOS, video streaming, Skype, Toll Tags, debit and credit cards, etc. The last time I paid cash at a Sonic was June 2008. If I can [painfully] watch Cliff Lee get shelled by the Giants on a 30 minute delay courtesy of my DVR, then I should be able to wager on any race at any time while I’m at home, in my pajamas, doing laundry. It’s a no-brainer.

Individuals have griped about the Texas Lottery; it hasn’t lived up to expectations and has not provided the promised mega-funding. Well, here in the ADW model, Texas provides a controlled (read: Texas monopoly) internet betting exchange and enjoys their chunk of commissions on winning tickets. The racing industry supplies the product. It’s ridiculously easy money.

And Texas sells. TexasBet, TexBet, LoneStarWager, or something to that effect. I’d sign up. “Remember the Alamo!” and “That’s the way baseball go!”

Plan B-2: Strategically Placed Toll Road (SPTR. Or SPaToR. Oh, well, I’m workin’ on some kind of clever acronym). I hear the Texan Battle Whine over and over: “Texans pour into neighboring states to enjoy casino gambling. Texas is losing millions of dollars.” Well, one thing that Texas has been enjoying and implementing over the years is The Toll Road. It seems that every time a new road or express lane is constructed, there is a toll holding its hand. And the fees increase. However, Texans and their beloved motor vehicles just continue going about business (we all have Toll-Tags, which is nothing more than ADT – Advanced Deposit Toll – because we don’t really handle money … see Plan B-1). Anyway, I have provided in a schematic below, where the state of Texas could strategically place toll booths:


Of note, one would be in El Paso going into Sunland Park, NM (casino); toll booth on I-35 North going into Oklahoma (casino); and a toll booth on I-20 East into Shreveport, LA (many casinos). The funds generated from these toll plazas would be dispersed among highway maintenance, education, horse industry, SPCA of Texas, the Governor’s hairdresser’s annual gratuity, and the establishment of The Culinary Institute of the Cooking Impaired in Blum, Texas. An annual surplus would be expected.

Plan B-3: Lower the age restriction on gambling. “Texans pour into neighboring states to enjoy casino gambling” and so forth. Would you like to know what else New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have in common? The legal age to gamble is 18. The legal age to gamble in Texas is 21. So let’s amend the Texas Battle Whine: “18, 19, and 20-year-old Texans pour into neighboring states to enjoy casino gambling …” These folks are adults. They earn a paycheck and they aren’t allowed to enjoy gambling – even pari-mutuel wagering – in Texas. Think of the notable military bases here in Texas, like Fort Bliss in El Paso, a block away from Sunland Park and Casino. Don’t you think these young soldiers would enjoy a day at the racetrack on their day off, versus sitting in the NCO Club listening to the same ol’ tunes from Led Zeppelin? Think about it: Lone Star Park offers free general admission on Thursdays for military personnel. Well, that would mean a whole lot more if they could entice the younger crowd. And instead of UT Alumnae Night, where everybody present graduated between 1964 and 1977, they could offer UT Night – free admission and dollar drafts with student ID. College students would have more fun betting $1 exactas and dime superfectas – but there would be a helluva handle.

Plan B requires a little creativity, a little guile. Don’t risk all your money on just one horse – this upcoming Texas Legislature session needs a good “saver” bet to aid the horse industry.

October Occupato

Horse racing?!? Breeders' Cup?!? Kind of forgot about that stuff.

Needless to say, my usual October dalliance with impending Breeders' Cup hoopla has been momentarily voided. My time and attention is currently occupied on an unusual anomaly: Texas Rangers playing baseball in October.

Notably, this distraction has wreaked havoc somewhat in my Horse Racing World; it is a sport and/or hobby that requires constant attention and observation, otherwise I'm completely discombobulated.

There are racing stars that are a given: Zenyatta, Blame, Quality Road, Looking At Lucky. But recent Breeders' Cup chatter brings up other names that, as a fan, I should recognize and get a thrill: Harmonious, Joshua Tree, Espoir City. Who??? If I didn't take a brief moment or two this morning to read Steve Haskin or other some other turf writer, I would've have thought they were a trio of artists that played at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Although I may be [temporarily] clueless is not the point. The issue is that to really know and love and appreciate and get really really excited about the impending Breeders' Cup, it requires serious homework and devotion by racing fans. If I'm already feeling somewhat uninformed of the star-power featured in this year's Breeders' Cup, how does the occasional fan and horseplayer feel? Will they care that this is a championship? Or will it be just a really good betting opportunity? And maybe, just maybe, this could be an example of some of the troubles that is plaguing the industry? I mean, it takes some effort to keep up with all the players, and a lot of us lazy slugs just don't wanna do it ... or we're distracted by other things.

Well, I best get crackin' on Who's Who in the Breeders' Cup or else I'll have to rely solely on the Magic Beer Bottle.

And by the way, whatever happened to Rachel Alexandra?? (Just kidding ... I'm not that clueless!)

Horse Racing When You Least Expect It

We have one TV in our household. Well, not really. There is TV in the girls' playroom study junk room but it's small and the remote needs new batteries, which would explain why the girls have migrated into the family room and claimed the 50" flat screen TV as their own.

Anyway, last week as my daughters were watching Hannah Montana or some other lighthearted show on the Disney Channel, a brief infomercial - Disney's Movie Surfers - was broadcast (video), the movie being featured, Secretariat.

I've read the buzz. I've seen the movie trailers. And even in some vague subconscious notion, I knew that it's a Disney film. But I forgot about the kids! Horse racing on the Disney Channel?!? Who would've thunk!

The Disney infomercial included a little Q&A with "real life jockey", Kayla Stra. Kayla Stra, of course, was one of the featured jockeys on Animal Planet's "Jockeys". I remember that one of my TBA brethren - I can't exactly remember who, but I figure you know who you are - thought she was a real attractive reason to watch the show. So, whoever you are, this is for you:

Kayla Stra featured on Disney's Movie Surfers

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?

Texas Racing Dates Under Siege

Texas horse racing is foundering. Handle is declining, purses plummeting, quality racing diminishing, bettors bitching, and Fred-the-Beerman grousing that he doesn’t make tips like he used to. So in an effort to do something – because doing nothing has proved to be a pretty poor model – the Texas racetracks and Texas horsemen put their noggins together and devised a proposal: reduce the number of racing dates in Texas, effectively increasing the size of purses thus attracting better horses and fields thus attracting bettors thus increasing handle.

Sounds sound, huh?

Whoa, Nellie! Hold your horses ...

Apparently, not all Texas horsemen were in on this scheme. And they are not happy. Nor are they quiet.

The Racetracks/Most-of-the-Texas-Horsemen proposed a 48% reduction in racing dates, which includes eliminating thoroughbred racing at Sam Houston Race Park and doing something or other with a handful of Retama race dates. Losing that many racing dates would effectively put the small Texas owner/trainer/breeder out of business. It’s their livelihood. And if it were my livelihood, I’d probably put up a fight, too.

The horsemen dissidents – self-described mushrooms (“They have kept us in the dark and fed us crap for years”) – are valiant defenders of the status quo. True to their beliefs; fighting for the cause. Much like the defenders of the Alamo – except that didn’t exactly turn out too good for those guys.

Out of this opposition emerged a leader, Joe Kerby. He operates a breeding business in Salado, just north of Austin. In an impassioned letter to the Texas Racing Commission, he argues his case for 155 racing dates throughout Texas:

More race dates = higher handle = higher purses.

Apparently there is an assumption that “better” horses generate more handle. Lone Star Park’s Grade III races, with their large purses, handle far less than an allowance race bet at places like Gulfstream Park or Churchill Downs, or the New York and California tracks. Quality horses do NOT beget handle. Reality is that bettors prefer to bet on full fields of reasonably matched horses. Write races that will be more attractive to bettors, and handle will increase.

Well, I’m neither breeder, owner, trainer, nor odd-ball horseman. I’m a bettor. And I know numerous other bettors. And bettors want better. So yes, I’m all for writing races that are more attractive to bettors; quit filling cards with older claiming maidens and non-winners of two. But with purses sitting at $150,000 per day, it doesn’t exactly attract the likes of Afleet Express.

The vast majority of Texas horsemen would prefer to run at less money per day with more opportunity to race

This is a troubling assumption. How can horsemen afford to maintain stables? Good trainers – those that provide good feed, excellent veterinary care, and top notch training –can’t afford an operation such as that. According to trainers Dallas and Donna Keen,

It costs on average $2500-3000 per horse per month to have a horse in race training. Lone Star Park was the only track someone could break even at if their horse didn't win at least one race a month, but they still have to run second in an allowance type race to make enough money just pay for their training.

Owners are reluctant to send their horses to Texas, as their horses have to win every race they’re entered. Trainers see their clientele dwindle. Moving their stables to other states, be it Louisiana or even Iowa, becomes attractive. You got to make some money – you still got to pay the hay guy.

So what does that leave? The little operations – stables that can afford to run at that purse level - and a bunch of skinny fillies? Is that going to fill grandstands and increase handle? Truly, is that our vision of Texas racing? Once so promising – hosting the 2004 Breeders’ Cup where superstars Ghostzapper and Ouija Board graced our presence – only to deteriorate to a sad conglomeration of perpetual claimers?

Additionally, there remains a conspiracy theory that racetracks are using their clout to expand gaming. “It’s all about the slots”, as some vocal horsemen proclaim. Now, I’m a conspiracy theorist at heart – I don’t subscribe to the Lone Gunman and Elvis is still alive, retired after years of working for the CIA and is now living under the name of Buford Winnebago in Ochlocknee, Georgia – but this is a case of economics. Racetracks have to sell a product (horse racing) and if the customers (bettors) don’t buy, racetracks go out of business. If the racetracks go out of business, then none of this will matter anyway.

True, there is a burning desire to bring slots and casinos into Texas by the racetracks, as well as other gambling lobbies. And each legislative session Texas horsemen are optimistic; the Almighty Slots will be the savior of Texas’ purses. Perhaps one day when the Baptist Convention isn’t paying attention, this will indeed happen. However, Texas racing is in trouble and it’s time to find a creative solution now.

One can only hope that a consolidation of race dates would be merely temporary and that there could be some sort of compromise between the opposing factions of Texas horsemen. Dialogue. Innovation. Creativity. Work towards a solution that is good for Texas racing.