One meet added four days to its meet, the other took four days off a week.
Saratoga starts its 142nd racing meet in six days and it will be interesting to see which model will win out.
Monmouth is halfway through its major experiment of cutting back its racing days. It’s as if Monmouth put a tooth under their pillow only to find a gold brick resting there in the morning.
According to a story in The Blood-Horse, average attendance is 10,572 and on-track handle is $752,718 — that’s about $72 per person. That’s not entirely impressive per cap, but total handle is up 118 percent to $7,672,255.
For the following seven weeks, Monmouth will be competing with Saratoga for the betting dollar. As it stands, the track by the shore had an edge: it has got a beefed up racing product with no major competition. Saratoga, now, is major competition.
Saratoga’s first weekend, which kicks off on Friday, July 23, has the Schuylerville, the Betfair TVG Coaching Club American Oaks and the Sanford. The following weekend will have the Diana, the Jim Dandy, the Ruffian and the Fourstardave.
Saratoga’s second weekend butts up against Monmouth’s $1 million Haskell Invitational, which, given its convenient four-week spacing, marks itself as a more lucrative prep for the Travers than the $500,000 Jim Dandy. More clams for everyone.
Monmouth plans to use the 2009 Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, on July 24, to steal away attention from Saratoga’s first-of-seven Saturdays in the Lady’s Secret Stakes.
I’m curious to see just how much that $7 million bet on Monmouth gets slashed when Saratoga opens its gates. It’s like a pie: There’s only so many slices and I don’t see enough betting dollars around to keep Monmouth’s roller coaster turning corkscrews.
Saratoga’s handle is monstrous and its per cap betting is always in the neighborhood of $150 on-track. But when it matters — on the weekends — is where we’ll see which model rules. Will people tune into Monmouth’s stakes-heavy weekend like the seven it has carded for Sunday, August 1? Or will Saratoga’s traditional card of two strong stakes, allowance races and claiming races win out?
If Monmouth takes a significant betting dollar on the weekends then that is proof that the product on the track matters. That will prove that horse players (some, not all) still want to put their money on the best athletes in the sport.
For my money, that’s where I go because 1. I don’t have much and 2. It’s more exciting than nickel claimers. It just is.
I’m just as excited to see how both will fare against one another. For decades it’s been the same old thing. Now it looks like Monmouth has been in the gym developing this beautiful body in secret. Monmouth is making heads turn now, no doubt about that, a horse racing ugly duckling story.
No matter the outcome or the victor, the winner is the game of horse racing. Summer 2010 could be the best summer of racing any fan or horse player has seen in a long, long time.
The Belmont Stakes winner, Drosselmeyer, is out, but Super Saver and Lookin’ At Lucky are primed to meet in the Haskell. Rachel Alexandra returns to the scene of her smashing Haskell victory from a year ago. Zenyatta still makes monster strides out west and Quality Road looms a tremendous threat. Mine That Bird will look to reclaim some of that luster from a year ago. Like a good tomato or watermelon, summer time brings with it great seasonal varietals.
Monmouth looks pretty good these days. We’ll soon see whose model reigns supreme.
Still, Saratoga is Saratoga and even though it gained a few pounds to the tune of those four racing days, the jury is out as to whether it’s fat or muscle.
Brendan O’Meara blogs about horse racing here at HRI and at The Carryover. He also blogs about narrative nonfiction and his book project “Six Weeks in Saratoga” at The Blog Itself. His Web site is http://www.brendanomeara.com.
17 Jul 2010 at 03:20 am | #
It would be nice if someone asked the NJSEA Chief Financial Officer if the Monmouth experiment of a shortened meet is a success. If he didn’t care about keeping his job he would say, honestly, that the current meet is a financial disaster.
What is missing in all the commentary about Monmouth’s current meet is just how much the purses have increased. We all hear how handle and attendance have increased substantially, but nothing about if the meet will actually be a financial success. Isn’t the only measurement of a meet’s success determined by how much money is in the cash drawer when the meet is completed?
Monmouth is using play money provided by the state and the New Jersey casinos. In no way is Monmouth generating enough income from takeout and signal fees to cover the purses, not even close.
Couple of things: 1) An on-track bettor at Belmont equals 2.5 bettors at Monmouth, meaning the per capita bettor at Belmont wagers a bit over $200 per day, while the bettors at Monmouth per capita is a mere $74; 2) I fail to understand how you find a nickel claimer less exciting than a stake race; and 3) Saratoga will demolish Monmouth in attendance and handle.
27 Jul 2010 at 07:40 pm | #
Why does one find a stakes race more exciting than a nickel claimer?
For the same reason a walk off homer in game 7 of the world series is more exciting than a walk off homer at the 12 and under softball tournament down the street.