Some comments on the Arlington Meet

[Scav]

1) I absolutely thought the Tim Thorton videos were awesome, for all people in the game. Handicappers had to love it, horse racing fans had to love it, and new people had to really enjoy being that close, and getting that many details. Had to really educate them

2) I thought day in and day out the racing office did a wonderful job carding races. There are always gonna be a bad card here and there, but they did a great job placing races and they were fortunately given very good weather (besides the heat) for most of the meet.

3) I think next year is gonna be bad attendance-wise by this new rule where there is an extra charge to bring food in. Its obviously dependent on what they are thinking they want to charge, but if they think they are putting a $20 surcharge on that, they are nuts. The right price is $2-$4 per cooler and at those numbers, why even piss people off?

4) Arlinton did not do enough on specific days to promote their card, there were three cards specifically when they were the only game in town and they refused to put aggressive guarantees on those cards to promote the game. People will bet into guaranteed pools and if they like what they see they would be back. Very rarely do other tracks besides NYRA have a 100 horse P4 pool and Arlington had it consistently, yet wouldn't take the risk to guarantee it.

[the exactorman]

1) I absolutely thought the Tim Thorton videos were awesome, for all people in the game. Handicappers had to love it, horse racing fans had to love it, and new people had to really enjoy being that close, and getting that many details. Had to really educate them

2) I thought day in and day out the racing office did a wonderful job carding races. There are always gonna be a bad card here and there, but they did a great job placing races and they were fortunately given very good weather (besides the heat) for most of the meet.

3) I think next year is gonna be bad attendance-wise by this new rule where there is an extra charge to bring food in. Its obviously dependent on what they are thinking they want to charge, but if they think they are putting a $20 surcharge on that, they are nuts. The right price is $2-$4 per cooler and at those numbers, why even piss people off?

4) Arlinton did not do enough on specific days to promote their card, there were three cards specifically when they were the only game in town and they refused to put aggressive guarantees on those cards to promote the game. People will bet into guaranteed pools and if they like what they see they would be back. Very rarely do other tracks besides NYRA have a 100 horse P4 pool and Arlington had it consistently, yet wouldn't take the risk to guarantee it.

I agree with all of your points, especially #1 the TT videos were outstanding.
I read people on here constantly complain about the prices at Arlington. I usually ignored them because I only get there a few times a year, since I am from the Northeast. It IS pretty annoying how they nickle/dime and try to get every last dollar. I realize for the small bettor they have to make money, but what if a person goes with lets say $1,000? or even $500. Should they have to pay the addmission, Clubhouse, seats inside, seat outside? I mean You are stuck $40 before you make a bet. Dont get me wrong its not so much the money its the principle that someone betting a decent amount, is not taken care of.

[brivolta]

Totally agree on the videos. If every track did something similar and marketed it properly, they would attract new fans to the sport. Make a deal with one of the local news channel to run it once a week on their Sports Sunday show. Something. Anything. For God's sake promote the effing sport!

The funny thing for me was I watched every episode as they came out. But then when I found out TT was going to be riding my horse, I watched every episode again from a totally different perspective. It really helped me understand how he might ride her.

[ChrissyTina]

I saw Timmy last night at the employee post season party and told him I thought the videos were fantastic. I'm glad they picked him to be the representative jockey. He said they do plan on doing the videos next season.

I also thought that the ROAP program I participated in at AP was awesome! I had a lengthy discussion with Tony Petrillo about either offering that program again OR for AP to start its own "shadow a racing official for a day" program. I couldn't believe the how much I learned from Lou shadowing him for a day in half in the paddock. Being able to examine up close each and every horse for every race on Friday was amazing. I had a written exam at the end of my two days, that was more difficult then I anticipated but I passed and did receive a certificate.

[pamwaggy]

WOW, good for you, Chrissy!  That is awesome.

[PURPLE LAVERN]

Just like to throw my 2 cents in for the AP recap this year...

I live 15 minutes from Arlington & attend at least 50% of the racing dates.......

It was good to see a lot of turf racing- much prefer betting the turf races then the polytrack (you really have to watch the poly as it changes daily)
The good weather helped as very few turf races got rained off.

I thought Rosemary Homeister & Jeffrey Sanchez were nice adds to the jockey colony...Can't really understand why Jozbin Sanatana didn't come back but opened up lots of mounts.
Edgar Perez was sneaky good with some prices as well.

It would still be nice to see some bigger stables having a string at Arlington....

My biggest complaint with Arlington is the insane prices for food & drink.....$5.00 for a hot dog  $4.50 fries more then you pay at Sox or Cubs game.
It just doesn't seem like they care or do anything for the regular players.

I have held the ARC pass since its inception & have seen the perks totally evaporate to nothing more then admission this year at a higher cost.
Why not take care of the regular players with free preferred parking  (lot is wide open most every day), free program, & discounted food.

With so many gambling options, most regular gamblers are taken care of at casinos etc. not milked out of every penny like Arlington's recent policy.

It seems to me like Arlington is all about attracting slots & spent most of the effort on that rather then their regular players...
I can only imagine what is going to happen once they get their slots,..BYE BYE ARC

[Trainer Rusty]

I think it was a good meet and they did the best they could with the stock on the grounds.  I never had to pay admission thanks to the TSC elite card.  I hope they keep this around.  I am a 70 % So. Cal player, 22% NYRA, and 8% Arlington.  Not paying admission made me a 40% Arlington player.

[Trainer Rusty]

I forgot to mention my favorite part of the meet.  It was the bikini contest for slots.

[Yimmy]

Homeister did some amazing stuff in turf races.  I won't mention her teeth.

Oops.

[honest & balanced terry]

I forgot to mention my favorite part of the meet.  It was the bikini contest for slots.

Photos?

[PURPLE LAVERN]

Homeister did some amazing stuff in turf races.  I won't mention her teeth.

Oops.

What would happen if you bred Rosemary Homeister to John Elway

[Yimmy]

You can bet that Pulledtherugout would be posting a lot of jpegs of THAT spawn.