(Jason Moran)

NYRA announced a generous fan appreciation / boost attendance on a slow day giveaway called Thousand Dollar Thursday. On Thousand Dollar Thursdays there will be 15 $1,000 betting vouchers up for grabs to anyone who shows up to say “thank you” for making Saratoga such a smashing success.

“Thousand Dollar Thursday is our way of extending our appreciation to the finest horseracing fans in the world,” said NYRA Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Hal Handel. “Saratoga’s fans have helped to make this year a phenomenal success, despite a challenging economy, and we would like to take this opportunity to reward them with $15,000 worth of wagering on us.”

Beginning at 11 a.m. on the final Thursday of the meet, tickets will be distributed at the admissions booths of Saratoga Race Course and will be available to the public; track admission is not required.

While this makes a great press release and is certainly is an excellent gesture, it just seems to miss the mark on appreciating the folks who actually made the meet a success.

Sure, NYRA is going to make 15% off live handle compared to only 5% (if that) on simulcast/ADW, but that backyard is full of picnickers who might not wager much & bring their own food, yet they can win a $1k voucher & those of us who play remotely can’t? One of the things that makes Saratoga great AND an attraction are the giant payouts and EVERYONE who wagers contributes to that not just anyone who shows up.

Midway through the meet on the on-track handle was up a whopping 12.3% compared to the all sources handle “only” up 4.8% (how many tracks would kill for a 4.8% increase?). As of last week the numbers were still up with on-track being up 3.2% to all sources up 1% but according to a press release sent out today but not yet posted at on their site, the numbers are finally down a little after a horribly rainy week.

Attendance and handle turned fractionally down for the first time during the 2009 Saratoga Race Course meet after two inches of rain Friday night and Saturday lowered attendance on Shadwell Travers Day and forced seven of the weekend’s 11 carded turf races off the turf. Attendance is down 1.6 percent, on-track handle down 1.6 percent, and all-sources handle down 2.8 percent from 2008 totals through Week Five.

While the on-track handle has contributed more to the success of the meet, it’s not like all sources wasn’t up too. Why not make a couple of vouchers available to folks who wager with NYRA Rewards remotely?

I would even argue that the way to make sure people who contributed to the success reap the benefit is to make it only available to NYRA Rewards wagerers regardless of where they’re wagering from. Sure this makes the whole thing more complicated but it keeps John & Jane Layabout who came out once for a hat (and left promptly) from turning up Thursday without even paying admission and getting a big fat voucher. I don’t have a NYRA Rewards account but I might be inclined to open one for a shot at winning a $1k voucher every now and again.

And now for the bigger question, how many of those vouchers are gonna be used on $1000 to win tickets on Rachel come Saturday?

(NYRAvideo)

Posted by dana on Aug 31 2009    
Filed Under: Workouts, Jason Moran, 2009, Rachel Alexandra, YouTube, NYRA, Wagering, Saratoga, Marketing, Racing

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(Charles Pravata)

*Crickets*

Battle of Hastings, who has won the first two legs of the Grand Slam of Grass, is apparently not entered in the third leg that runs this weekend, the Secretariat. Not that you’d know about this by reading the coverage of the race as there is no mention of Battle of Hastings or why he’s not running.

As if it wasn’t already obvious enough that the relatively new Grand Slam of Grass was a bit under the radar, the connections of Battle of Hastings weren’t even there because of the series!

“To be honest, we didn’t know about the Grand Slam and all the bonuses until we got here” for the Turf Cup race, Ayers said. “We were just looking at the purse money. We figured we could race him at Hollywood for $100,000 or come to Virginia for $500,000. Like Mike said, it was pretty much a no-brainer.”

While it didn’t turn out so great for Colonial Downs this year, they already got what they needed from the series… decent races to anchor some marketing. Arlington doesn’t need the marketing juice with the Arlington Millions and Beverly D on the same card. So there you have it… perhaps we should start calling it the Half Slam of Grass?

Posted by dana on Aug 05 2009    
Filed Under: Colonial Downs, Arlington, Grand Slam of Grass, 2009, Charles Pravata, Marketing, Turf, 3yo, Racing

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Gio Ponti in the Man o’War (Mickey Frome)

Since today was the perfect July afternoon, I can now complete my apples to apples handle and attendance comparison to Mother Goose day (which is great because I was starting to get a little tired of doing it).

Both Saturday June 27th and Saturday July 11th boasted beautiful weather and a single Grade 1 on the card.

Saturday June 27th, 2009:
Belmont Park Attendance: 13352
On Track Mutuel Pool: $1,357,534
ITW Mutuel Pool: $2,657,212
ISW Mutuel Pool: $8,361,822

Saturday July 11th, 2009:
Belmont Park Attendance: 6735
On Track Mutuel Pool: $1,283,177
ITW Mutuel Pool: $2,821,920
ISW Mutuel Pool: $8,312,667

Mother Goose day had an increase of:
6617 / 49% in attendance
$74,357 / 5% of on track handle
$49,155 / 1% in interstate wagering (ISW)

No doubt some will dismiss the on track handle increase because it’s relatively small compared to the near 50% attendance increase, however it’s still an increase.

Does that mean having and marketing stars will “save racing”? Not by itself, but it certainly helps get people to track, and in my experience (both of my own when I started going to the track and with folks I’ve taken) if they keep coming back they start to wager more as they get more comfortable. And who doesn’t want that to happen?

Posted by dana on Jul 11 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Handle, Becoming a Fan, NYRA, Belmont, Marketing, Racing

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(Sarah K. Andrew)

Sure, there’s the giant deficit and issues with W&YI, not to mention the ongoing call for change with the upcoming board vote. Even Blood Horse, who’s been accused by some of being an industry mouth piece, has been busting BC chops (ok, not really busting chops per se).

While it’s annoying that the BC isn’t running any W&YI races at Saratoga, it certainly doesn’t mean there won’t be great racing at the Spa. I still have my fingers crossed for a 2011 BC at Belmont but there’s plenty of time to get worked up over that one, although I think o_crunk is on to something.

In the meantime, there are few good things worth pointing out in Breeders’ Cup-ville. As mentioned many times before, yours truly is not a sports fan. So when the Breeders’ Cup announced a charity partnership V Foundation I was a little confused. Why are they not supporting a racing charity?

I was chatting about it with Swifty and he clued me in on the V Foundation. For those of you who also don’t give a rat’s ass about sports, The V Foundation is named after Jimmy Valvano, a beloved coach and sports broadcaster who died from cancer. Knowing that one of the Breeders’ Cup missions is to grow the event, this partnership started to made a lot more sense.

One of the perks of this arrangement is that the Breeders’ Cup has an excellent donated auction item in the upcoming annual “Don’t Give Up” auction to benefit the V Foundation and promote the ESPYs. The auction takes place on the Mike and Mike show July 15th at 7:00am (apparently a great morning talk show time slot).

Saddle Up for the Breeder’s Cup! This package includes two (2) tickets in the exclusive Trophy Lounge for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Friday, November 6, 2009 and Saturday, November 7, 2009 at Santa Anita Park, California. Also included: two (2) tickets to the VIP Winner’s Circle Celebration Kick-Off event on Thursday, November 5th, a meet and greet with the talent at the celebration, and a visit with the horses in the Saddling Ring prior to the Ladies’ Classic. Winners will get an exclusive meet and greet with a Breeders’ Cup favorite at their stall at Santa Anita AND two (2) spots to watch from the Winner’s Circle for the Ladies’ Classic on Friday and the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday. This experience is non-transferable. Dates and details subject to change. This package is for the winner and one (1) guest.

I wonder if the talent are the horses? I guess so given the saddling ring and stall visit. No matter who runs in the F/M Classic it’s always cool to hang out in the paddock with the fancy people (not like I’ve ever done that). I also wonder which race they’ll pick to visit the favorite prior to the race? Let’s hope that either someone who loves racing and can appreciate it wins OR that whoever wins falls in love with racing after doing those things.

But as I was saying earlier, what about a racing charity? TCA is this year’s Breeders’ Cup racing charity. After seeing the V Foundation news I was curious about what the BC has planned for the TCA so I asked Peter Rotondo, VP of Media and Entertainment.

Besides what he characterized as a “sizable donation”, the BC plans on offering the TCA copious media promotion opportunities during their broadcasts, plenty of on track presence during the event and the general access/exposure that comes along with a big event such as the BC.

So, not ALL bad, right? Supporting the those who support our retired equine stars and getting racing in front of new folks… now if we can just get those new folks to bet! Show parlay anyone?

Full Disclosure - the Breeders’ Cup is a Hello Race Fans advertiser.

Posted by dana on Jul 07 2009    
Filed Under: Sarah K. Andrew, 2009, Santa Anita, Marketing, Breeders' Cup, Racing

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Rachel beginning to pull away (Jason Moran)

Robert at They’re in the Gate already posted about this but in my previous post on the matter, Rachel Raises Attendance AND Handle, I stated that I would follow-up with a comparison of this Saturday, so what the heck!

Saturday June 27th, 2009:
Belmont Park Attendance: 13,352
On Track Mutuel Pool: $1,357,534
ITW Mutuel Pool: $2,657,212
ISW Mutuel Pool: $8,361,822

Saturday July 4th, 2009:
Belmont Park Attendance: 7,667
On Track Mutuel Pool: $1,378,296
ITW Mutuel Pool: $2,969,277
ISW Mutuel Pool: $9,564,986

Attendance down: 5,685 / 42%
On Track Handle up: $20,762 / 1.5%
ITW up: $312,065 / 12%
ISW up: $1,203,164 / 14%

Robert already pointed a couple of things, such as last Saturday had not only 1 stakes race vs. 3 on this Saturday’s card, but 3 that were a lot more wide open from a gambling perceptive than the Mother Goose. This Saturday also had an additional race.

One interesting uptick was that the bump in the Intra-State wagering. I’m wondering if this had anything to do with Sweetnorthernsaint at Finger Lakes? While I couldn’t scare up attendance figures, according to the charts from DRF, handle from last Saturday was $596,897 while handle from this Saturday was $623,518, an increase of 4.5%. Probably not a direct cause but perhaps a contributing cause.

Now that I feel somewhat committed to the quest to find a true apples to apples comparison, I’m going to do this (hopefully only) one more time. The next three Saturday’s at Belmont are similar in conditions to Mother Goose day, one featured stakes race on the card and no national holiday. Let’s hope one (if not all) of them has spectacular weather so we can get a fair gauge of the impact of a marquee star.

Posted by dana on Jul 05 2009    
Filed Under: Jason Moran, 2009, Rachel Alexandra, Handle, Industry, NYRA, Wagering, Belmont, Marketing, Racing

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