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Dead Athletes. Empty Stands. Why Are We Paying Billions to Keep This Sport Alive? {Horse racing}
New York Times ^ | Feb. 28, 2025 | Noah Shachtman

Posted on 02/28/2025 7:31:05 AM PST by Cronos

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To: iamgalt

You don’t bet the races do you? A rail bird will use the 20 minutes the horses are being prepared in the paddock to finalize his handicapping. That is a very important time if you are serious about not throwing your money away.


41 posted on 02/28/2025 8:11:12 AM PST by hardspunned (Look for the“Putin Stooge” libel, news from Ukraine you’ve gradually grown to trust over 30 months s)
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To: Resolute Conservative

Race-Track gambling is a shotgun marriage to get casino gaming into states that resisted it.


42 posted on 02/28/2025 8:11:58 AM PST by Tallguy
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To: Miami Rebel

Bull Shit!


43 posted on 02/28/2025 8:12:00 AM PST by hardspunned (Look for the“Putin Stooge” libel, news from Ukraine you’ve gradually grown to trust over 30 months s)
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To: Cronos
But, but, i've never seen the horses kneel. Same with the jockeys.

Hit just one nice trifecta and you will understand the allure. I'm picking up Aqueduct forms in a bit. Want a tip?

44 posted on 02/28/2025 8:14:53 AM PST by Kudsman (We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. )
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To: Tell It Right

“In response, The New York Times stated that the funds received were payments for government subscriptions, totaling less than $2 million last year.”

The $40 million figure is BS. At the full retail online subscription price, that would mean the government had over 300,000 subscriptions.

By the way, the Times generates over two and a half billion in subscription revenue a year.


45 posted on 02/28/2025 8:14:53 AM PST by Miami Rebel (pro-)
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To: Tallguy

Pretty much.

Horses are abused to provide a fig leaf for slot machines and poker rooms.


46 posted on 02/28/2025 8:15:51 AM PST by Miami Rebel (pro-)
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To: hanamizu

Horse racing, like dog racing, chews up and spits out animals.

I’ve known a couple greyhound rescues. They are beautiful beasts.


47 posted on 02/28/2025 8:17:56 AM PST by Miami Rebel (pro-)
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To: woweeitsme

Some say horse racing is abusive, remember that philly who broke her legs at the Kentucky Derby?


48 posted on 02/28/2025 8:20:48 AM PST by packagingguy
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To: Cronos

A lot of mobsters owned race horses back in the day.
I think it was because of the special tax laws about them.
I’m not remembering very clearly...


49 posted on 02/28/2025 8:21:49 AM PST by Doctor Congo
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To: woweeitsme
Supposedly the shah of Iran said, "I know one horse can run faster than another. Why should I care which one?"

If a genuine quote, I suspect it was said by the father of the last shah.

50 posted on 02/28/2025 8:25:56 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: SaxxonWoods
He eventually got tired of them dying for various reasons and sold them off.

Whoever bought a dead horse from him wasn't very smart.

51 posted on 02/28/2025 8:28:45 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Miami Rebel

Horse racing, like dog racing, chews up and spits out animals.
I’ve known a couple greyhound rescues. They are beautiful beasts.


Yes, a lot of dog tracks started adopting out many of their used racers. Greyhounds make great pets, but now the supply is disappearing. Don’t know the fate of the average thoroughbred.


52 posted on 02/28/2025 8:40:18 AM PST by hanamizu ( )
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To: hardspunned

“You don’t bet the races do you? A rail bird will use the 20 minutes the horses are being prepared in the paddock to finalize his handicapping. That is a very important time if you are serious about not throwing your money away.”

My father was pretty good at handicapping and would study the forms and find a jockey on a hot streak and then watch the horses saddle up and decide which was really ready to run that day with a good jockey.
But he was old enough that he had ridden horses all his life. When he was a teenager it was who had the best horse not the best car.


53 posted on 02/28/2025 8:41:09 AM PST by nomorelurker
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To: nomorelurker

“What was the name of the horse?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiUWAOL_uH8


54 posted on 02/28/2025 8:43:35 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator
2vy8hz

"don't touch dos tings"

55 posted on 02/28/2025 8:52:11 AM PST by RckyRaCoCo (Time to throw them out of the Temple...again)
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To: Cronos

I’d think the stands would be packed were it not for the nanny state.

Gambling appeals to addictive minds and in the old days, there was plenty of drinking and smoking at the tracks.

Now, you face DWI pulling out of the parking lot and can’t smoke on the property.

So 99% of the tracks customer bases simply watches stuff on TV and uses OTB.


56 posted on 02/28/2025 8:56:01 AM PST by fruser1
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To: ponygirl
There is a former dog track in Phoenix, right along the metro line. They shut the racing down a while back and now it’s a crappy swap meet where all the illegal aliens go to sell the stuff they’ve stolen.

The big homeless encampments are just down the street west a bit. The track is near the airport. Surely theer could be a better buyer.
57 posted on 02/28/2025 9:00:42 AM PST by Dr. Sivana ("Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." (John 2:5))
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To: hardspunned

I don’t but my dad had a passion for it and did what you referred to. I got a kick out of it. I found the characters you would see at the tracks were almost as entertaining as the races. Very unique.


58 posted on 02/28/2025 9:32:22 AM PST by iamgalt
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To: RckyRaCoCo

My favorite Zappa song

“The Deathless Horsie”

https://youtu.be/6hlUKj42nYo?feature=shared


59 posted on 02/28/2025 9:33:27 AM PST by Clutch Martin ("The dawn cracks hard like a bull whip and it ain't taking no lip from the night before" Tom Waits)
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To: Cronos

De Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
De Camptown race-track five miles long, Oh, doo-dah day!
I come down dah wid my hat caved in, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
I go back home wid a pocket full of tin, Oh, doo-dah day!

CHORUS
Gwine to run all night!
Gwine to run all day!
I’ll bet my money on de bob-tail nag,
Somebody bet on de bay.

De long tail filly and de big black hoss, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
Dey fly de track and dey both cut across, Oh, doo-dah-day!
De blind hoss sticken in a big mud hole, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
Can’t touch bottom wid a ten foot pole, Oh, doo-dah day!

CHORUS

Old muley cow come on to de track, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
De bob-tail fling her ober his back, Oh, doo-dah-day!
Den fly along like a rail-road car, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
Runnin’ a race wid a shootin’ star, Oh, doo-dah-day!

CHORUS

See dem flyin’ on a ten mile heat, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
Round de race track, den repeat, Oh, doo-dah-day!
I win my money on de bob-tail nag, Doo-dah!, doo-dah!
I keep my money in an old tow bag, Oh, doo-dah-day!

CHORUS


60 posted on 02/28/2025 9:40:40 AM PST by Moltke (Reasoning with a liberal is like watering a rock in the hope to grow a building.)
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