Ontario’s Liberal government will provide $400 million in public funding for the horse racing industry over five years in a plan announced Friday morning by the province’s premier, Kathleen Wynne.
The winners of the off-the-turf Shadwell Turf Mile and Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland last weekend both will still receive a credit for entry fees into Breeders’ Cup races even though the races automatically lost their Win and You’re In designation after being moved to the main track, Breeders’ Cup officials said Friday.
Racetracks are likely to continue to lower the minimum wager on many bets but are unlikely to put any significant downward pressure on takeout rates, officials of racetracks said on Wednesday during the closing session of the three-day Simulcast Conference in downtown Lexington.
On a year-to-year basis, the number of new owners entering Thoroughbred racing has fallen 22 percent from a decade ago, with some comparing the experience of getting started to being handed a board game without instructions. The infusion of new blood is key to the survival of any sport or business, and it was identified as a point of concern for racing by marketing firm McKinsey & Co. in the summer of 2011. In response, The Jockey Club and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association in May 2012 launched OwnerView, a resource website tailored toward new, existing, and prospective Thoroughbred owners.
Eleven win and exacta bets were made on an unidentified race three weeks ago after the race had already been run, the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau’s director of wagering analysis disclosed Tuesday during a presentation at the Simulcasting Conference
There is a storm on racing’s horizon. And it doesn’t appear as if the sport is preparing for it. The storm is a serious contraction in the number of horses of racing age, a decline that has already started. The contraction is expected to accelerate significantly over the next two years because of the dramatic decline in the foal crop from 2009-11, with serious repercussions on the ability of racetracks to card races with full, competitive fields.
Monmouth Park had a strong summer meet this year, with handle and attendance up significantly for a 61-day stand on the Jersey Shore.
Speakers on the first day of the Simulcast Conference on Monday spent their time discussing just about everything but simulcasting. The topics discussed on the first day – the design of facilities, the adoption of technology, and the use of social media – did not directly address any of the nuts and bolts of simulcasting, which provides the majority of revenues to racetracks and horsemen in the U.S. But organizers of the conference said that the topics were selected in part because previous conferences had often ignored the fact that the majority of wagers are still being made at bricks-and-mortar establishments.
Racetracks need to focus on delivering consistently satisfying experiences to ontrack customers if the sport is to stem a worldwide decline in its popularity, several speakers at a panel on marketing said Monday at the International Conference of Horseracing Authorities in Paris, France.
Today, Daily Racing Form unveiled its newly redesigned print edition of Daily Racing Form that combines upgraded and more readable past performances for DRF’s current players with a fresh and visually appealing new package geared to a new generation of players.
