How to promote the sport of horse racing (2) · 19.08.09
Some other recent Hastings initiatives:
- schedule more 3 1/2 furlong races, not for maiden 2-year-olds as per normal but for older horses — check
- inaugurate Wednesday evening racing during the 2009 Pacific National Exhibition, when there will be more people in and around Hastings Park (and therefore more potential racegoers) than at any other time of year — check (scroll down to August and September schedules);
- cancel Saturday and Sunday afternoon racing during the PNE, when there will be more people in and around Hastings Park (and therefore more potential racegoers) than at any other time of year (you read that right) — check (see the schedule linked above);
- allow PNE fairgoers to park on the racetrack grounds, including the recently-renovated infield — check.
The idea of carding 3 1/2 furlong races for 3yo-and-up is ostensibly to attract interest/wagers/money from simulcast bettors at quarter-horse tracks in the American Southwest. How effective is this? As if the Thoroughbred as a breed isn’t already being ruined by over-emphasis on speed at the expense of stamina. Come on — leave “nursery course” races to the juveniles, and other such “ultra-sprints” to the quarter horses.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the PNE-related schedule changes. As if Hastings won’t already be losing money when they are forced to close for a month during the Olympics and Paralympics. Now they are foregoing the chance to maintain a high profile on weekends during the biggest event in Vancouver’s summer schedule. I would hope that a deal of some sort has been made between Hastings, the city, and the PNE through which Hastings will benefit somewhere, some time, down the road… faint hope?
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What do you think?
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I have not heard a single logical explanation for that scheduling change. NOT a one other than the handle from the CORE crowd is usually down during the PNE, but with simulcasting from internet sites that should not matter.
— Dr. Timothy Yatcak · Aug 19, 03:13 PM · #