This Friday at Hastings will be interesting as in the first three races there are 30 two year olds running. Race two and three are stakes races. Post time for race one is 7:00pm.
As of day 53 the handle is almost equal to last year. And that folks is pretty darn good. Considering all that has been stacked up against us it is actually quite remarkable. To date we have run 404 races. Last year at this same time we ran 429 races. Our average handle is up and our average handle per 8 race card is up. However that’s the good news. The bad news is that our field size is now 7.05. This is not a good thing as we live and die by field size. Last year there were 881 horses that ran here at Hastings owned by 488 different owner entities. This year so far there has been 709 horses run and as you can see that is down considerably from last year. However with a little luck we may hit 740-750. It is next year that I worry about and worry a lot. More on that in future blogs.
The leading owners are Patrick Kinsella and Glen Todd. I thought I would switch the order around this time. They now have 47 wins and earnings of $764,090. They had 47 wins all of last year and 41 wins in 2009. The leading trainer is Troy Taylor with 43 wins. The second leading owner is Swift Thoroughbreds with $380,631 in earnings. The second leading trainer is Craig MacPherson with 24 wins.
Here are some interesting owner numbers from Equibase. The top 75 owners have 279 wins from 1157 starts. The remaining 366 owners have 125 wins from 1692 starts.
Within the next several weeks the Jockey Club will be releasing the “mares bred” numbers. On Saturday they announced that “The Jockey Club is projecting a 2012 North American registered Thoroughbred foal crop of 24,700, a decline of 8.5% from the estimate of 27,000 registered foals for 2011. The 2012 foal crop is projected to be the smallest foal crop since 1971, when 24,301 foals were registered”. Stay tuned.
Press Release
Returning to the site of some of the most successful events in its 27-year history, the 2012 Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 2 and Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, Breeders’ Cup Limited announced today at a press conference at LA Live. Santa Anita has hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships five times, most recently back-to-back editions in 2008 and 2009, both of which set records for attendance and wagering. The decision followed a lengthy review process by the Breeders’ Cup Host Site Selection Committee, which included proposals from multiple racing venues in North America. “We are thrilled to bring back the Breeders’ Cup to southern California which is always a strong draw for horse racing fans from around the world and where the Breeders’ Cup has always been embraced by the community,” said Craig Fravel, President & CEO of Breeders’ Cup. “Santa Anita Park is a world class racing venue that will once again provide a spectacular setting for two days of the best in international racing.”
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing’s most prestigious global event, annually attracts the best horses from around the world. It is the richest prize-money event in sports, consisting of 15 races and purses totaling $26 million. The 29th Breeders’ Cup will be televised on ABC/ESPN and to more than 130 countries. Over the past five years, the, Breeders’ Cup World Championships has experienced unprecedented growth, expanding from eight to 15 races, increasing prize money from $14 million to $26 million and growing total wagering from $140,332,198 to $173,339,131.
The reason I included this press release is that this is when our meet needs to conclude next year, on Breeders’ Cup Day, the biggest day of racing in North America. Each year our meet becomes shorter and shorter. This is a contributing factor in why we have less and less horses. There is simply less opportunity to run them. We also need to give reason to all of our trainers not to ship out to other tracks because of a shorter and shorter meet. Remove the Friday night racing in April and May. Take these days and add on 6 more days........the same amount of days that the Standardbred sector increased by and there you have 77 dates to November 03, 2012.
Owners get a potential of 2 more starts. Trainers get an extra month of training. Backstretch and frontstretch workers receive an extra month of work.
Our patrons get 1 month more of racing. Hastings can capitalize on two prime race dates Thanksgiving and Breeders Cup. Win win for everyone!
Ending on Breeders Cup day would be a perfect way to end the meet with two or three of our own stakes races. Run 12 races with an 11:00am start alternating with Breeders Cup races. Run a handicapping tournament. Guarantee a $25,000 pick Five. End the day with the “Au Revoir”. Where did that race disappear to? Make it a grand finish to the meet!!!
We just need to clear this with the Standardbred people and make sure they do not object to such an overlap between the two meets!!!!!!!!
We seem to have to accommodate everyone else. We move dates around because of the PNE. We change post times due to the Canucks, the Whitecaps and the Lions. It would be nice if just once someone else would adjust to our needs!!!
Now reaching over 590 owners, trainers, breeders, jockeys, jockey agents,
Hastings Management, BCLC, and the Management Racing Committee.
2992 site visits up to and including August 16, 2011.
