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I'VE READ SHORTER BOOKS
the fundamental problem with large purse increases and allowing "outside" stables to come in and race more and more horses isnt to difficult to understand. first of all, these stables have experienced many seasons of slot infused purses in their own states, prior to ohio getting slots, where their home states or tracks did indeed protect them. this gave them a massive jump on our state, and also a massive influx of cash building over time allowing them to buy more expensive, better stock. now those stables have upgraded from this cashflow, and do indeed have better horses and resources, and can come right here and race for our newly raised purses. by not having preferences really of any sort here, its created a major problem for me and others im sure. we've had about 1 year of real decent slot purses and that was last year. i started to buy better horses myself since i had more money from racing for more money, obviously. but one year isnt really enough to fully upgrade a barn, and it has gotten so much tougher so quickly, its been impossible to adjust. i had a mare i bought last season for only 7k, make 67,000, and won opens in 154. this year, shes pacing the same speeds, and racing at fairs because its to tough for her there with the influx of new stock and out of state horses that i agree, are much better than mine. to have that much turn around in only one season is absurd. long story short, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer, or out of business. furthermore, thinking its as easy as "just go buy better horses" is ridiculous. its the same premise as above. these super barns can go to the sale and buy horses for 4 and 5 times their values. a smaller time operation trying to build has to make "money earning decisions, and buys". i cant go to the sale and spend 25k on a horse that shows 15k claimers and will have to race in nw6500 at nfld if i dont want it to get claimed, against horses others paid 40, 50, 60+ for . those horses will struggle to make money and i cant afford to lose that much money, or take those big of gambles, because it was only about 3 years ago our highest purses were 6000. hard to believe now, but these big barns wouldve had the same issues years ago before their states got slots as well. finally, to clear up the thinking that the purses are "to high" and the horseman shouldve thought it through better for only screaming to raise purses, their are any number of things im only assuming couldve been done differently, instead of watching it go out the guard gaits and down the road, to benefit other economies in other states. obviously the money is there. i understand the theory we have it, we need to distribute it now before the government gets it, but there seems to be alot that could be done to benefit everyone, not just the super stables. drivers now get 15 per drive no matter their finish which i agree with. how bout everyone getting paid in the race? how bout trainers/owners getting 100/head for racing if they dont finish top 5? how bout an incentive ohio owner based earnings program similar to pa where ohio owners get a 20% win bonus? these ideas would benefit all parties involved, and help the "little guys" go out and be able to spend more money and take more risks. it would even help the race office immensely as im sure a track that is paying 6th-9th places would have no problem filling the box. on the other hand, if youre worried guys would just buy rats to put in and collect 100/race, simple, lower the qualifying time! lol. i i just think there are several ways to "spend" all this money constructively, rather than just hand it to the people who have had the opportunities to build bigger/better stables over time, in other states, by simply jacking up the purses as high as possible. as above, its making the already big guys bigger, the middle guys much smaller, and the hobyists, all but non existent.
It Wasn’t too long ago when the Meadowlands had races just for NJOS-New Jersey Owned or Sired.Currently, The Meadows has a lot of races designated PA owned or Sired.I see Northfield only has the following:HORSES ENTERED BY "NON LOCAL TRAINERS" MAY LOSE PREFERENCE TO HORSES ENTERED BY"LOCAL TRAINERS" AT THE DISCRETION OF THE DIRECTOR OF RACING.Not much protection there.
Northfield purses have been good for almost 5 years now. All the small guys have the same horses they had 5 years ago. I race there and had 3 or 4 overnight horses we paid 20 or 30 k for that all made over 80k. Not hard to do when you race for purses of 9k to 14k. All the horsemen there had plenty of time to upgrade and haven't done it. They all complain about the big stables but to dam lazy to take their own horses to lasix. They pay people to walk them to lasix. It's hard to tell any investing owner to put up big money but you cant race where you want to.
Now Rhoades trains for Stein!! What a total joke.
CORY is right on ! These purses the past 2 weeks at 43K and more - well, what if those were shaved off by a few grand and every person in the paddock could get a fistful of dollars. Let's make the whole gang happy instead of a couple big faces ? share the lincolns ?
