"The TOC at first argued against the popular pick five, claiming it would not fly. Santa Anita wanted to institute it, but management was rebuffed. Finally, Hollywood Park was allowed to offer a pick five that carries an attractive 14 percent takeout, and the fans ate it up."After hearing reports from HANA members who attended yesterday's meeting, it seems little has changed in the way of the TOC thinking, when looked at from a customer (i.e. the people who pay for most of the purses) perspective.
Let's start with rescinding that terrible idea to raise the takeout at a time when fans were staying away from the game to begin with. It just gave them further reason to turn their backs on the sport.
Sort of like a store with a $35 pair of jeans that's been sitting on the shelf for two years and raising the price to $44.50.
Makes no sense at all. "
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1 comment:
Mr. Wilson;
Thank you for telling the truth about the state of horseracing in California. If you read the paid for "spin" in the DRF or listen to TOC reps talk at Hollywood Park last weekend you wouldn't learn anything. The truth is the purse increase (takeout increase) was a con job, a total money grab benefitting the same people whose policies have put the sport in dire staights to begin with. (A la Wall Street) According to Equibase at the beginning of the 2009-2010 Santa Anita winter meet, the purse for a Maiden Special Weight was $55,600 with as much as $14,000 added for owner awards. While Gulfstream and Aqueduct were only paying $48,500 and $41,000. Before all the nonsense (the takeout hike) wouldn't it have made much more sense to directly tackle what was by far the biggest problem facing the industry in California? Which, of course, was the fact that the product was terrible (short fields) and customers were losing interest.
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