So the first trainers comments are posted on the Meadowlands website and my initial thought? What the heck was all the stink about?
You can debate the worthiness of these comments but how much time did it take trainer's to come up with comments such as:
Trainer: New addition to Team Miller; had a solid qualifier.
Trainer: Raced OK last start; needs encouragement. Has ability to win.
Trainer: Swam every day this week
Trainer: Trained well Wednesday morning, first trip for the new stable.
Trainer: Trained well earlier in week. Prefers big track; sometimes hard to manage.
Trainer: Scoped sick last week; expect to be better.
Of course, there are those who say when a trainer note is negative, what is going to happen when the horse wins? It will happen, after all these animals are living, breathing, animals and with the luck, anyone can win (they may need a LOT of luck). This is why they call it gambling. These comments are merely another tool in your handicapping quiver. It is up to you to decide if these comments are worthwhile paying attention to or not and how much weight you will give them. I for one am glad to see them.
Right now the comments are only on the top two choices in each race and all horses in the fifth race. Also, while the comments will be shown on the Meadowlands feed, the only other place you will see them are in the Meadowlands program and on their website where they post the race analysis
Will they last? I don't know, time will tell. While brought into being out of anger, it may turn out to be a good idea. The one thing I can say with certainty it sure can't hurt to try.
Balmoral Park and Maywood Park go on the auction block this month and if I had to guess, they will be purchased by non-racing entities. In November, the track advisers attempted to get interested parties to bid on the property but no one was interested, hence the open auction. With no racing dates and the forever on the horizon alternate gaming prospect still on the horizon, the chances are the property will be redeveloped or at best, purchased by someone willing to hold on to the property in the unlikely chance the horizon finally arrives. Just don't hold your breath someone really interested in racing ends up buying the property.
2 comments:
You say: "It is up to you to decide if these comments are worthwhile paying attention to or not and how much weight you will give them."
But now people will just have the comment to complain about. It's up to you to decide if a trainer has a horse set up for peak performance for a particular race and if there's any reason he might not. That's gambling. Thoroughbred bettors seem to understand trainer intent much more than harness bettors. I'm not sure why that is.
Anyway, maybe everyone would be happier if every horse was an obvious 1/2 winner. Oh, wait, we already have that, it's called Harrah's Philadelphia.
Many years ago, I owned a speedy trotter racing at the Meadowlands who had a lot of leg/hoof problems. One February, after racing poorly for a while, he raced with some light snow falling and a nice soft track and won, paying some $68. I return to the paddock after the race and everyone I knew berated me for not telling them I had a winner on my hands (so they could bet him). I responded that if I knew, I would have bet more than a token $2 to win.
A truthful comment in the program for that race would have been "battling leg issues, mostly swimming daily." Then he would have paid triple digits to win. Now imagine if someone WANTS to manipulate the odds for a big payday. It will happen and then what will Gural do? This is well intentioned, but this is horse racing.
As for the Chicago tracks, I don't think Balmoral is worth anything. It is in the middle of nowhere, miles south of the end of the Chicago suburbs. There is nothing around it other than farmland. It would cost more money to tear down the track facilities for development than to simply buy the surrounding farmland. It was probably built there because land was cheap. Maybe a speculator will buy it hoping for slots at tracks. Illinois needs the money.
Maywood, on the other hand, is in the middle of the metro area and would have redevelopment value.
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