Hoss Talk

   Ten years ago, no one would have predicted how global the sport of horse racing would become.
   
   Now, through advanced technologies allowing racing fans to wager on simulcast races from other tracks, horse racing has changed forever.
   
   Aside from slot machines, which provide much-needed revenue toward keeping horse racing alive, simulcasting done in moderation works.

   And nobody knows it better then a general manager at a racetrack.
   
   On Boxing Day management from Cal-Expo, a harness racetrack in Northern California, was in need of a few simulcast races to augment its racing program.
   
   The lack of races was due to the eight-day inactivity of live thoroughbred racing in that state.
   
   "We received a phone call from management at Cal-Expo with regards to sending (simulcasting) them our last three live races," said Chuck Keeling, GM at Fraser Downs. "After those races were over, I had to do a double take on what was being wagered on Fraser Downs from California. When I noticed over $150,000 was bet on our three races, which were not exactly great races, I thought this was unbelievable."
   
   It was a move that sent Fraser Downs' mutuel handle through the roof.
   
   Keeling is the first to admit there were some mitigating factors put into the equation.
   
   Santa Anita traditionally begins its prestigious winter meeting on Boxing Day.
   
   "This was a once-in-a-lifetime break for us. Santa Anita opening day was huge. Then having Cal-Expo choose to simulcast our races throughout their network right after the Santa Anita races were over    -- that was big," says Keeling. "We were very fortunate, by sheer volume alone, to have all those people tap into our product through   Cal-Expo's simulcast network. It was the biggest simulcast coup we have ever had in terms of legitimacy and prestige, to hit that type of marketplace on that date."
   
   There were other benefits that resulted from Fraser Downs' windfall.
   
   Considering that only three per cent of wagering goes back to the track for sending out its live racing, it definitely was not money.
   
   "First, it gave our teletheatre network patrons and everyone attending Fraser Downs a chance to bet into unusually big pools," said Keeling. "Next, it adds legitimacy for us to tell other racetracks our races are simulcast to some of the biggest racetracks on the continent. That's a nice thing to say when your racetrack isn't among the higher echelon of harness racing."
   
   Look for Keeling's track to get another big shot Sunday. He received another call from Cal- Expo Thursday with regard to simucasting the last two races on their program. The reason is that   horsemen at Chicago's Balmoral Park are on strike and Cal-Expo again needs racing product for its fans.
   
   FINISH LINES: Saturday, the Sport of Kings, moves to its permanent 10 a.m. time slot on CKVU-13. This week viewers go inside the starting gate car and watch a race from the best seat at the track.... More wishes for 2002: Here's hoping that all jockeys and drivers be given an opportunity to wear racing silks adorned with corporate logos like NASCAR drivers. ... that local jockey Chris Loseth, with 3,500 career winners, sticks around to ride his 4,000th winner before retiring. ... that jockey Laffitt Pincay Jr., 54, stays healthy enough to do the unbelievable and win 10,000 lifetime races....and that co-owners Jerry Blanchet and Phil Coleman's outstanding BC-bred mare Fast Lane Cruizin returns to the East Coast and beats the best mares in the country.

Tom Wolski can be seen on the Sport of Kings, 10:00 am Saturday CKVU 13.

   twolski@shaw.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Vancouver Province
E-mail Tommy Wolski at twolski@home.com