Yesterday, the New Jersey Racing Commission voted down the proposal to introduce the Fair Start Rule to New Jersey. According to unidentified sources, the commission had some concerns about the rule proposal, but were not completely opposed to the concept. The rejection of the rule proposal will be published in the New Jersey Register and once the specifics are known, I will report on it. Perhaps once the objections are known they can be addressed in a new proposal. Hopefully, it will not take another 18 months for the proposal to make its way through the rule making process once if it is resubmitted.
In the meanwhile, New Jersey, like other states in the United States with the exception of North Dakota, harness racing is the one gaming sport where the gambler can lose their money before the game (the race) even begins. If you are concerned enough about not being protected, I suggest you consider wagering on the races in Ontario instead. Otherwise, let the gambler beware.
Harnessracing.com has an excellent story about how people are trying to figure out where the loss of handle on Meadowlands races are coming from. Supposedly, some of the biggest loss is coming from within New Jersey. I would suggest part of the problem comes from the poor quality fall meet which was contested and the fact top drivers fled to Yonkers and other points during that time for greener pastures. Though many of the drivers and better horses are back, people don't realize it as the Meadowlands advertising budget is likely severely limited. For example, the Meadowlands result show which was once shown on TVG and on SNY are no only shown on SNY and are shown on TVG at 6:30am in the morning. Advertising efforts may not may not change until track ownership has transferred since I am sure the state has handcuffed the NJSEA when it comes to spending money. In the meanwhile, the only thing certain is purse cuts would appear to be on their way.
2 comments:
Drivers will certainly not like this, as very few of them would be competitive under saddle. Jody Jamieson tried it, and he was happy to escape in one piece. Weights would actually mean something, and fitness would be much more important to ride under saddle.
This would be a radical change, and you know how the industry feels about that!
This post actually was meant for the thread where I discuss racing under saddle.
Of course, a driver could not just get on a horse and race it under saddle, the same was a driver could not just get behind the sulky when they first started their driving career. It would take conditioning and practice. This is why I am saying plan now for 2012.
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