The last at Kilmore on Sunday resembles a Tassie Ben Yole benefit
It irks me that we have several good size fields racing for $4,500 on the program
While this race which could easily end up a field of 3 is for $10,000
https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fi...23#KIC25062304
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All of those horses are overpriced. $50,000 for Bernie Winkle would have been good buying before he won 20 races at Mildura. But now, seriously?
On the other hand there are plenty of other overvalued horses that should be running in $10,000 claimers but connections believe they are far more valuable.
And here we have a stable throwing in a couple of extra runners to make it 4/6 so that a race stands up
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All 6 are racing but it is the Douglas stable - they do not believe in resting/spelling their horsesOriginally Posted by Messenger
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Some of you may have noticed Gavelhouse's recent auction updates for broodmare Carla's Pixel (in foal to Captaintreacherous) front and centre on the HRA homepage
She ended up going for $300k
https://www.harnessbred.com/300000-c...million-years/
Shannon Nixon getting out of breeding may be the bigger story
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Or getting them off the floor. Both Rick Reilly and Bernie Winkle raced at Mildura on Friday, a long round trip before fronting up at Kilmore just 48 hours later.
No animal welfare concerns there, obviously.
USA Harness Racing seems to be going in the right direction
Total wagering on U.S. harness races during the second quarter of 2023 from April 1 through June 30 increased by $17,429,145 (4.20 percent) with $432,816,519 bet this year compared to $415,387,374 during the same three months in 2022.
Purses during the second quarter showed an increase of 6.35 percent. From April through June, $123,886,570 was distributed in purses compared to $116,494,120 last year, an increase of $7,392,450.
Average wagering per race increased by 0.55 percent from $43,762 to $44,003. Wagering per betting interest was down slightly during the second quarter by 1.00 percent at $5,659 compared to $5,716 in 2022.
The number of race days increased by 17 (2.00 percent) with 868 this year compared to 851 last year.
https://ustrottingnews.com/u-s-harne...econd-quarter/
I am thinking they must also be running more races because 2% more race days and an increase of 0.5% betting per race would normally suggest a 2.5% increase in wagering (not 4%) to my simple little brain
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"USA Harness Racing seems to be going in the right direction" (see above) but maybe NOT as we have John Mane writing 'Hello? Is there anybody listening?'
Looking at the results from the five racing days leading up to our July 4 celebration (Wednesday, June 28, through Sunday, July 2), there were 21 pari-mutuel racing harness racing establishments in action.
A total of 576 races were contested with 4,451 horses going back of the starting gates. There were also a couple of cancellations and shortened racing programs during the period depriving a couple of hundred more horses of earning power for their owners, trainers and drivers…although the expenses kept on…
Of those 21 tracks, only two could muster enough entries to average nine starters a race—Scioto Downs and The Meadowlands.
This is not conducive for the future growth of our sport as it is a spectator sport and now, many tracks are unable to stand alone without the help of casinos and/or legislative help—something that is far from guaranteed in the future—leaving the patrons uncared and unappreciated.
Any time a track has less than eight starters in a race, the pari-mutuel prices get smaller, and the betting pools shrink right along with the number of starters…and the number of bettors.
https://harnesslink.com/usa/hello-is...ody-listening/
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US inflation was up around 8% for a lot of last year so a 4.2% increase is still a loss of 3.8% in real terms.
Probably better using that inflation figure for prizemoney which was only up 6.35% (wouldn't we love to say prizemoney was up 6.35%)
The more relevant figure for wagering comparison might be wage increases as this somewhat equates to spending power - were they up more than 4.2%?
If wages weren't up 8% to match inflation, then a 4.2% increase in wagering would be very good as the average home would have been experiencing a spending squeeze to offset the increase in all their essential spending
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