Missed Opportunities and Frustration

With the Breeders Crown eliminations in the books, attention will now be drawn towards the finals this Saturday at Pocono Downs.  Fortunately, the past performance pages are available so handicappers can get their hands on figuring out the key to these championship races, as the programs will be available all throughout the country and.....

Oh, that would be the Breeders Cup, thoroughbred racing's championship series.  While the proofs of certain of the Breeders Crown Finals are available, the fields for the 3yo colt and gelding events for trotters and pacers will not be drawn until a press conference on Wednesday.  This means for harness racing, those fans chomping on the bit are going to have to wait until Thursday after the final driver changes are made to be able to get a program for Saturday's action.

I understand the desire for a press conference but in all reality, while handicappers, including our thoroughbred brethren who decide to take a shot at Championship harness racing will not even be able to get their hands on a program until two days before the racing program.  That's a loss of five days of getting fans juiced up, stories out to the regular media and building up the excitement.

What a missed opportunity for harness racing.  Perhaps one day the Breeders Crown will be able to schedule things so there will be a whole week to stoke the flames.


Here in New Jersey I must confess, we didn't appreciate the frustration of gamblers not being able to play their favorite track.  After all, 4NJBETS.COM was run by the state and the general rule was what the tracks and OTWs had on their calendar was what was available for the only legal ADW in New Jersey.

Then TVG came in 'to power' 4NJBETS.COM, basically making NJ's legal ADW system another flavor of TVG.  Now I understand the frustration gamblers in other states deal with and why many of them have multiple wagering accounts. I must admit, my findings are incomplete as my interest falls more into 'blue collar racing', wagering on minor league tracks.  So far, this is what I have observed.

• Gold Cup and Saucer card at Charlottetown not carried.this year after being available for two years.
• Delaware County Fair (Little Brown Jug).  Available for wagering at the tracks and OTWs in state but not on 4NJBETS.COM..
• Fraiser Downs.  The regular TVG website shows wagers accepted on the British Columbia raetrack as long as you are not in New Jersey.  To be fair, it was never available in New Jersey.
• Cal Expo.  NJAW has had Cal Expo on their card for years and with a friend's horse racing last night, I went to place a bet only to find 'No Live Racing' today on Cal Expo while a friend in California is able to wager on the races.  If you were at the Meadowlands or their OTW location, you could play the Sacramento track.

 Why this transpires in New Jersey, I am not sure but I find it particularly frustrating.  After all, why can my fellow harness fans play these tracks in other states while New Jersey players are denied?  Making it worse, being 4NJBETS.COM is 'powered by TVG', why can certain tracks be shown by TVG in one state but not another?  Why can a NJ racetrack and OTW network carry a certain signal but NJ's only legal ADW not carry it?  Good questions indeed.

So those of you who find similar situations in your states or just have an ADW refuse to carry a signal you want, requiring you to have multiple accounts, I finally understand your pain and now appreciate the lunacy of it all.
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