Sun, 9 November, 1997
Hi Al,
Well, here we are, already into November. How is it that time can fly
by so fast? And time is proving to point up some cold hard facts at Lone
Star. That is, the public prefers the Thoroughbreds. So far, this
mixed meet has been much lower in attendance and handle that the TB
meet. Before live racing, the simulcast pavillion was seeing between
1500 and 2500 people per day. With the TB meet, total attendance ran
around 5-6,000 per day on a weekday, and up to 20,000+ on the weekend.
The numbers are speaking. Current weekday attendance runs anywhere from
2500 to maybe 4,000 if a big set of trials is running. Weekends usually
sees 4500 to 5500 in attendance--and these numbers include the simulcast
attendance. Yesterday's simulcast of the Breeder's Cup events set a new
record at LSP. Bettors pushed more than $1.8 million through the
windows on the BC and other simulcast events. That beats Kentucky Derby
day, where the handle was $1.4 million. Attendance at LSP was
9,224--surely much higher than a normal day during this meet.
Fear not, however--there is hope. Lone Star officials have spent the
week in LA. Yes, they are trying to find out everything they might need
to know and have ready to host a BC championship event here. The size
of Lone Star might prove to be a problem, as 50,000 people could be
expected to attend the event. Plans for overflow crowds, however could
be handled. Lone Star would need to show that Dallashas a strong market
for horseracing, which I do not anticipate to be a problem. Much must
happen though, before this could be a strong possibility, and would not
likely be a possibility until 2002 or 2003.
Lone Star's fame and notoriety will be stretched even further supposedly sometime in December or January. Regular patron Chuck Norris has wanted to film one Walker Texas Ranger show at Lone Star, and it has happened. Some of the Lone Star regulars including two jockeys. Ahh, stardom.
I pulled the results of the fall Texas mixed sale. Looked about like
what I expected from the catalogue. Lots of throw away horses. There
were several people at the sale buying mares, quite a number of them,
from $500-$700. There were alot of outs, those horses that owners
didn't want to give away. Top price for the breeding stock was $22,000
for a stakes places winner of $54k in foal to Sea Hero. Overall, a weak
sale--the process of culling and improving the stock in Texas requires
this.
The process also requires bringing in new blood. Lots of that has been
happening, as evidenced by the number of Texans buying stock at the
Keeneland breeding stock sales. Also add another Kentucky stallion to
our roster. Sunny's Halo will be moving to Billy Hanna's farm in
December, where he will join former Kentucky stallion Naevus. We will
get there!
Well, that about wraps it up for now.
Jill
The Running Horse (https://www.isd1.com/)