just how bad are things?

[CLOCKERbiggestal]

Well, we seem to have a bunch of local horse owners here. Are you running at Haw or another northern track? Or are you waiting until April?

My hosses prolly won't start at Hawthorne.

[pjcleve]

Clever, Jim -- Arlington gobbles up all of the good TB dates, including Derby Day...then, it's Hawthorne's fault for starting too early.

If Hawthorne agreed to start in say, late March, I'm sure DD would readily agree to start AP later to balance things out "for the good of racing", right? Riiight.
 
Pete, are you under contract with Jim to provide "yes boss" posts? This isn't the first time you've had nothing more to post than "Jim, I agree with everything you just said, signed, your toady, Pete".

Hey jag-off. I've posted plenty of times about Hawthorne's issues. I don't know Jim and but I like what he had to say. You can go ahead and keep sticking your nose up Carey's butt. Hawthorne is a dump with no redeeming qualities. The sooner they shut down or focus solely on Harness will not be soon enough for me. Here's a suggestion that even a dimwit like you can follow. Illinois TB racing dates: Hawthorne March 15 - April 30, October 16 - November 30. Arlington May 1 - October15. Dark money all goes to the only real track we have in Illinois - Arlington. Frankly I don't give Hawthorne a chance of surviving past next year without casino/slot revenue. Arlington has recently commited $13 million to new track surface and on track housing. Do ya really think they're not here to stay?

I was at Trackside today and played four tracks which have links to Arlington's meet - Fairgrounds, Turfway and Oaklawn Tampa. There are plenty of Illinois horsemen at those tracks and the racing and wagering opportunities are magnitudes better. We laughed at every 5 horse field that Haw paraded out. Gee is it only coincidence that the local horsemen that insist on racing during this ridiculous weather all cashed a check with the short fields in each race. What a joke. But Horse Voice you can keep burying your head in the Stickney quagmire and cursing big bad Arlington. Screw you.

Pete   

[dogs up]

Hey jag-off. I've posted plenty of times about Hawthorne's issues. I don't know Jim and but I like what he had to say. You can go ahead and keep sticking your nose up Carey's butt. Hawthorne is a dump with no redeeming qualities. The sooner they shut down or focus solely on Harness will not be soon enough for me. Here's a suggestion that even a dimwit like you can follow. Illinois TB racing dates: Hawthorne March 15 - April 30, October 16 - November 30. Arlington May 1 - October15. Dark money all goes to the only real track we have in Illinois - Arlington. Frankly I don't give Hawthorne a chance of surviving past next year without casino/slot revenue. Arlington has recently commited $13 million to new track surface and on track housing. Do ya really think they're not here to stay?

I was at Trackside today and played four tracks which have links to Arlington's meet - Fairgrounds, Turfway and Oaklawn Tampa. There are plenty of Illinois horsemen at those tracks and the racing and wagering opportunities are magnitudes better. We laughed at every 5 horse field that Haw paraded out. Gee is it only coincidence that the local horsemen that insist on racing during this ridiculous weather all cashed a check with the short fields in each race. What a joke. But Horse Voice you can keep burying your head in the Stickney quagmire and cursing big bad Arlington. Screw you.

Pete   

Well said Pete--By the way- i have no clue who you are or what you do, but you could not be more correct

[pjcleve]

Well said Pete--By the way- i have no clue who you are or what you do, but you could not be more correct

Careful Dog. Horse Voice might call you a "Toady" for agreeing with me.:-)

Pete

[Thomas Graham]

Hawthorne having a bad meet is not a good thing for anyone.  Each track would be better served if both had good strong meets, but that wasn't the case for either track in '06 and the start of the spring meet at Haw '07 does not bode well for AP '07.

There's too much racing - period.  HAW should just now be opening and even then only 3-4 days a week until the end of this month.  And this isn't just true here in Illinois, there's too much racing just about everywhere.

[pjcleve]

Hawthorne having a bad meet is not a good thing for anyone.  Each track would be better served if both had good strong meets, but that wasn't the case for either track in '06 and the start of the spring meet at Haw '07 does not bode well for AP '07.

There's too much racing - period.  HAW should just now be opening and even then only 3-4 days a week until the end of this month.  And this isn't just true here in Illinois, there's too much racing just about everywhere.

I agree Thomas, there are too many tracks running simultaneously. I counted at least 10 tracks running during the day today and most of the races had small fields - 7 or less. I'm also quite certain that the live attendance at most of them was just a few thousand or less. Most of the wagering is obviously done off site and I suspect those off-track bettors play more tracks than they do when attending live (if for no other reason that there is more to do at the track than sitting in the OTB). The OTB bettors really need no more than 5 tracks running simultaneously. With 20 minutes between races a wagering opportunity could occur every 4 minutes - certainly sufficient for most off trackers.

The problem as you say is too many tracks. We could easily get by with half the number and then field sizes and wagering opportunities would improve greatly. Too bad it won't happen.

Pete

[FishHack76]

We laughed at every 5 horse field that Haw paraded out.

AP has so many five- and six-horse fields that it's actually called a TAR or "Typical Arlington Race."

[dogs up]

AP has so many five- and six-horse fields that it's actually called a TAR or "Typical Arlington Race."

Hopefully the polytrack will help change that. If it doesn't- then I think the end, as we know it, is near

[Moon]

The end is nigh!!!

[edwarren]

I think the Poly is  to get winter dates. The stuff isn't holding up winter-wise, it's rumored, but if true it's nothing the Public Relations Department couldn't solve.