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Champagne Joe revisits his Superstory article and updates the fans on the impending closure of Hollywood Park. We hope and pray for a last minute reprive at The Stick, but how long will it be before they start closing all the race tracks in America ? Story by Champagne Joe 5/17/05 - Arcadia ,California --------------------------------- Forward by MC_Excelsior (Story Article below Forward) Our good friend and California reporter, Champagne Joe has been keeping Stick Horse Racing Fans well informed about the possible closure of Hollywood Park. We must ask...how long will it be before they close all the race tracks in America ? With the exception of TVG, and our hard working friends at DRF and the Bloodhorse, I cannot say I have seen any attempt to save this sport or make people excited about Horse Racing. When they closed Hialeah a few years back everybody and their brother pointed towards predatory business practices and high percentage takeouts on mutuals as being paramount for why Hialeah had to close. Everyone missed the boat, that closure was the harbinger of things to come. Now we have Hollywood Park set to close and become a Condominum complex. Does anyone notice ? Does anyone care ? I have an idea...very sarcastic ally written...why dont we open a slot machine parlor at the racetrack ? That will change everything. It will bring new business and save the racetracks from financial ruin ! Yeah...Right ! Keep believing that myth, and we can close the doors on American Horse Racing today ! Horse Racing cannot compete with mindless Gambling. It never could, and it never will. In NY, the recent ruling on Slot Machines at the track, was that they had to be classified as video, lottery, terminals. Oh...no profit from the slots could go to the racetrack, they had to give 100% of the profits to the state ! Well, that will really help racing and the horseman. It might accidently draw a few thousand people to the racetrack, but I promise you, they are not going for the horses, they are going to play slots. No one will listen to me, not one person in any position of authority, but I can tell you with certainty, Horse Racing in the United States is flirting with disaster and financial ruin. There is no possible way to win the "gambling" angle to draw new fans to the race track. Its amazing how the tracks are content to sit back and watch as the crowds get smaller and smaller, and the fan base dwindles away to the lowest levels they have been in 80 years. One big day of a Kentucky Derby or a Breeders Cup will never be able to replace the daily apathy Horse Racing is given as a sport. The reason for this is that no one is given any reason to enjoy the races beyond betting on them. There are no storylines, or rivalries, or anything to capture a persons imagination or make the day interesting. I love Horse Racing and was raised around the industry, but my generation may well be the last to know of it. I have a million ideas, and I can write them down, one by one here. The only problem is that NO ONE is listening outside of our loyal fans. NO ONE cares about the future of Horse Racing as a sport. If there are honest and devoted people out there, they are mute and in the minority. If Horse Racing is to survive into the future, people should get their priorities straight. You know as I write this article, I wonder...is anyone listening ? Does anyone really care ? We at The Stick horse Racing care, and we just don't have any power to do anything about the downward spiral. It just a matter of time before a Casino will be built in your town, and you will be encouraged to go to it. You are watching the end of an era, and if nothing is done to correct the problems, American Horse Racing will disappear as a Nationwide Sport, and be replaced as a small network of independents living and surviving based on the efforts of their local communities and fan base. There is a nationwide base of fans, but up until this date, no one has done anything to unify them or appeal to them in any meaningful way other then to offer them a "Guaranteed Pick Six" payoff. The betting angle will never keep the tracks alive, never. Some fans just want to enjoy a day out at the races, a day in the sun, to see some intrigue and watch a powerful and wonderful animal run like the wind. If you dont start appealing to fans from a enthusiast perspective you are dooming this industry's fate to "old man x" and his $60 investment on the days races. So much could be done to make horse Racing exciting...so much. It would seem very unlikely as of this writing that anything will ever be done to help the sport in those terms. The betting angles will be pushed and Horse Racing will move farther and farther from the mainstream into something akin to a insiders game. Average men and women will be too intimidated to even go, as they will be confronted by angry old men yelling at television screens, and a fear that they are going to lose the weeks grocery money on some scheme to win $1,000,000 in the next advertised bet. For the fans who simply like to gamble on Horse Racing, the problem is less then one of an exciting new wager or incentive, as it is based on more background and flair to the days races. Lets see more information and conversation during the day at a race track. TVG has the right idea by interviewing winning riders and trainers in normal ALLW races. Lets do that at EVERY Track for EVERY Race. We have so many positive ideas for the tracks and the industry...If only we had some say in the process, we would make every racetrack a palace and every fan royalty ! So Says The Stick, Excelsior ! End Forward. --------------------------------- Headline 26 by Champagne Joe Hollywood..Going, Going...GONE! Its true! My heart is breaking! Churchill Downs hopes to sell Hollywood by the 3rd quarter of this year! First bids were due in on Friday the 13th! There has been more than a handful of interested parties wanting to bid on this property, so a few have been granted an extension in time in order to finalize their proposals. Churchill hopes to sell the 238 acre track property in a straight all cash deal. They paid $140 Million for the track in 1999, & now hope to sell it for around $250 mil, so even figuring the &20 mil they invested in improvements over the past 5 years, Churchill Downs Inc. stands to make a substantial ROI return on investment! Dan Weinstien, a partner in the Wetherly Capital group, a real estate & investment banking corp. based in Los Angeles, estimates that a more realistic selling price would probably be closer to $190 mil, still a hefty return for Churchill Downs. Any new owner will also be recieving around $3 mil a year from the casino which leases its space. Meanwhile Watt Communities has already bought a 37 acre Hollywood Park parking lot (for roughly $650,000 per acre) where it plans to build, together with MBK Homes & John Laing Homes, a master planned gated community to be called "Renaissance", with 375 homes selling at $375,000 each. Also we now know of 5 developers seeking to buy up my favorite race track; they are 1. Miami based Lennar Homebuilders, largest homebuilding corp. in the country. 2. Los Angeles own KB Homes. 3. The aforementioned Newport Beach company John Laing Homes. 4. The Johnson Developement company, this is Magic Johnsons homebuilding company which specializes in inner city developement, & 5. The American City/Vista Corp. of San Antonio, which also occasionally works together with the Laing Corp. of Los Angeles. All the jockeys, trainers, grooms etc. are speculating about where would So. California racing go when Hollywood closes this year. Trainer Mike Mitchell says "Los Alamitos!". Well, STICK readers already knew that Mike, but thanks anyway for the heads up! Now to wring out my crying towel! See you at HOLLYWOOD PARK! Champagne Joe Previous Article's relating to this story
Champagne Joe's series of article's concerning the close of Hollywood Park condensed into Superstory 3. TO READ THIS PAST ARTICLE:*PRESS HERE*
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