"don't touch dos tings"
Posted on 02/28/2025 7:31:05 AM PST by Cronos
..Back in the day, when horse racing was the only legal form of gambling in New York State, 20,000 or more people would jam the stands at Yonkers Raceway, cheering wildly as the horses ran their mile-long course. But on this day, despite the beautiful July weather, just a few dozen spectators hang around, slumped into faded orange seats along a chain-link fence. Even with online betting, the racetrack takes in less than one-fortieth of what it would have at the sport’s peak. So the horses take their two laps, head back down the runway and exit the track to something near silence. ...
Back in 2001, when New York State agreed to hand out new licenses to operate slot machines, the racing crowd won an agreement that a chunk of the proceeds would go to them.
At the Yonkers track, the adjacent casino was doing enough business to generate around $600 million during the last fiscal year. About sixty million of it went to pay out those purses, fund the local breeders and dole out a few million for Faraldo’s group. Multiply that by every year and every racetrack, and it’s billions and billions of dollars.
.. Maryland uses as much as $91 million a year in slot machine revenue to prop up its horse racing industry. The state last year agreed to acquire the decrepit Pimlico track and invest up to an additional $400 million to upgrade it. Pennsylvania has sunk over $3.5 billion over the past two decades into its racehorse development fund. Even Kentucky, the storied home of American horse racing, relies on a similar machine. Without them, “we would have a few days of racing at Churchill Downs,”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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.
Race-Track gambling is a shotgun marriage to get casino gaming into states that resisted it.
Bull Shit!
Hit just one nice trifecta and you will understand the allure. I'm picking up Aqueduct forms in a bit. Want a tip?
“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.
Pretty much.
Horses are abused to provide a fig leaf for slot machines and poker rooms.
Horse racing, like dog racing, chews up and spits out animals.
I’ve known a couple greyhound rescues. They are beautiful beasts.
Some say horse racing is abusive, remember that philly who broke her legs at the Kentucky Derby?
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...
If a genuine quote, I suspect it was said by the father of the last shah.
Whoever bought a dead horse from him wasn't very smart.
Horse racing, like dog racing, chews up and spits out animals.
I’ve known a couple greyhound rescues. They are beautiful beasts.
“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.
"don't touch dos tings"
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.
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.
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
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