Day the music died?

[Barry Irwin]

Hollywood Park could not fill its card for Thursday and racing was called off.

California\'s policy miscues may finally have killed the game.

The denial on the part of the game\'s leaders to stop cheating was one nail in the coffin.

The former head of the racing board\'s practice of letting cheaters off the hook by having them pay miniscule fines instead of being rooted out of the game set the stage for some of the most blatant and consistent PED abuse by gangster trainers in the nation.

The last head of the CHRB over reacting and \"mandating\" that all of the racetracks install synthetic surfaces has now put the sport in a pickle in which nobody wants to train, race, watch or bet on the stuff.

The only fun part about the situation at present is that the economic downturn has put such a crimp in real estate prices that those who would dismantle the grandstands and clubhouses are temporarily stuck with a white elephant that they cannot develop or sell to developers.

[rosewood]

Barry,

They shutdown California so they ship to the DERBY.............

[Ohlo]

Barry,

Ironic, I was researching something from 1974 in Horsemen\'s Journal magazine the other day and came across a story you wrote about California surpassing Kentucky\'s foal crop total that year. What a disaster. Jeff Lowe

[Barry Irwin]

How about Hollywood Park sending out a news release blaming the failure to be able to card racing on Thursday on a \"shortage of horses\" and having trade publications publish this statement word for word as if it were gospel?

Geez, the old Soviet regime would be proud to have pulled off a coup like this when they controlled the press in good old days of Cummunism.

How can any publication simply swallow this and spew the company line?

[firmturf]

I remember there was a waiting list for stalls thanks to the synthetics? So much for that hype.

I expect the next press release to say they feel trainers are waiting for the opening week of Del Mar.

[docicu3]

First the cash cow P6 bet loses what appears to be over a 100K with the guaranteed 500K in the pool this past Saturday followed this inability to fill a Thursday 8 race card.

Here is another example of poly revolt which initially was quietly voiced by the progressively lowering of total handle from disinterested players now trainers and owners are following suit by just saying \"No\" to the garbage gallop followed by last quarter sprints at all distances.

Maybe if trainers and owners keep running their horses on dirt and turf elsewhere,   So Cal tracks will rip up this Cushion crap and Pro-ride puddles before the real estate moguls do it for them as they turn these race tracks into K Marts and condos.

The data is in......players don\'t bet \'em, horses don\'t really run on\'em, trainers don\'t train on \'em and owners don\'t want to run horses at tracks that maintain them.  

How much do they have to lose before they give in to the obvious...if the public wanted quarter horse racing over 8-10 furlong distances Los Al would be Churchill Downs.

[TGJB]

Barry-- speaking of which...

I\'ve been too busy to respond to your piece in TDN about synthetics, most of which I agree with, or the nonsense that followed it in response. But another  point that needs to be made is that the safety studies that were done on dirt tracks a) were inclusive, meaning Belmont and poorly maintained tracks were all lumped together, b) were misleading in that there are no low-level synth tracks with 2.5k claimers that are more likely to break down, as at low-level dirt tracks, and c) assume that no improvements in maintenance, composition and safety can be made at dirt tracks. The letter from the guy who accused you of making assumptions while making his own about safety was a classic.

[Barry Irwin]

Jerry, what was really interesting is that the first day after my piece on synthetics appeared in the TDN, every response received by them and all but one received by me were of a positive nature. Yet, the day after that, they were 100 percent negative!

The best line for me was when one of the nay-sayers said something like \"that\'s just Barry\'s opinion.\" Well what else is somebody suppose to have when they write something that is titled an \"OP/ED?\"

As for Hollywood Park, I have done a little research on this no-Thursday card, and what it really amounts to is that Hollywood Park simply did not want to have racing on Thursday, as they plan to offer 12 races on Saturday when attendance and handle figure to be big because of the Kentucky Derby card.

Had HollyPark pushed for the Thursday card, they would not have had enough horses for the Saturday card.

So they save money by not having to open the plan except for simulcast wagering on Thursday and they get a bounce on Saturday.

Instead of just telling the truth, Hollywood cranks out news releases blaming a so-called shortage of horses on the lack of entries.

Gimme a break!

[chrifron]

Thanks for the info, Mr. Irwin--it seems to me that Hollywood Park Management has been using doublespeak quite often in their recent press releases.

I hope that the California racing industry listens to valuable contributors to the game like you and re-thinks the failing synth experiment.

  BTW--I am curious as to what you thought of Talamo--he rode Sugar Baby Love  in a competent manner today. Those who look to discount IWR\'s chances use the jockey as one of the reasons.

[imallin]

Great post Barry, all you say is true.

The leaders of this game, especially in California, just aren\'t keeping up with the times. For many years, Racing had a monopoly on gambling. You either took it or left it. Now, people not only have many more gaming options, they have many more entertainment options also. I don\'t know about you, but i didn\'t have a satellite dish with 600 channels (plenty in HD) when i was growing up. Racing execs are still treating customers like they are slimeball gamblers who have an addiction and will come out to the track no matter how poorly they are treated.

As far as cheating trainers go, there is so much money available for those trainers taking an edge, the fines and suspensions could double and they would still be getting the best of things.

Until the federal government or FBI steps in and arrests trainers for race fixing and prosecutes them to the \'fullest extent of the law\' things won\'t change.

Horse racing keeps these crimes \'in house\' and trainers are punished under the assumption that they are just breaking \'racing rules\' when in reality, you could make the case that they are breaking state or federal laws.(tampering with a sporting contest)

[Barry Irwin]

Talamo rode a tremendous race on a mare that is very difficult to settle. It was an exceptional effort on his part.

[Barry Irwin]

Well stated.

All true.

If racing should have learned one thing, it is that when the game is tilted toward cheaters, even degenerate gamblers will flee the scene, which they have done in drove.

If this was Las Vegas, a for rent sign would be placed outside of the high rollers room, because the high rollers in racing have left the building with Elvis!

[imallin]

Calif looking to raise takeout also.