Hialeah is back

[robfla]

Looks like a very nice crowd. Great to see Hialeah open again.

[Merlinsky]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...source=twitter

Who's holding up the works? Crist or the Florida legislature?

[MISTERGEE]

nice crowd, but it looks like they didnt want to bet

[letswastemoney]

betting quarter horses is like throwing darts. one hiccup and the horse is done

[westcoastinvader]

Originally Posted by letswastemoney

betting quarter horses is like throwing darts. one hiccup and the horse is done

Yep, not only can I not handicap the quarter horses I really don't get much enjoyment out of watching their races.

Certainly there is merit to the sport. As their is to soccer.

I just really don't enjoy watching either one.

I have gotten into a couple pick up soccer games over the years and I will admit it is a fun sport to play.

All that aside, very glad there is life at Hialeah.

[SlewsMyHero]

The handle was pretty low as expected. Only about 10K - 14K in the WPS pool for each race, and 6K - 10K in the exotic pools. I was hoping one of the Miami stations would have some video from opening day on their websites, but I checked this morning and didn't find any. I wanted to see what kind of crowd they got, and how the place looked. I know they're looking at the Q'horse meetings as a means to an end, so the handle numbers aren't going to mean much.

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...source=twitter

Who's holding up the works? Crist or the Florida legislature?

Crist. He wants to sign a pact with the Seminoles that the legislature is not approving. The Seminoles are offering the State a large chunk of money and in return want gaming exclusivity.

Crist is being shortsighted on the deal. If they opened up the gaming to all of the state's parimutuel facilities and taxed those facilities accordingly, they will make the money that the Seminoles are offering and then some. Crist seems to be taking the bird in the hand approach which makes sense for him, he won't be Governor forever so why should he be thinking long term?

The Seminoles have a gold mine with their Hard Rock Casinos in Florida and desperately want to keep gaming away from other entities.

[tector]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

Crist. He wants to sign a pact with the Seminoles that the legislature is not approving. The Seminoles are offering the State a large chunk of money and in return want gaming exclusivity.

Crist is being shortsighted on the deal. If they opened up the gaming to all of the state's parimutuel facilities and taxed those facilities accordingly, they will make the money that the Seminoles are offering and then some. Crist seems to be taking the bird in the hand approach which makes sense for him, he won't be Governor forever so why should he be thinking long term?

The Seminoles have a gold mine with their Hard Rock Casinos in Florida and desperately want to keep gaming away from other entities.

Crist is being shortsighted if and only if the Legislature is willing to tell the Bible-beaters, Disney and the cruise ship tax evaders to piss off (finally) and allow more wide open gaming. IF they were to do that (and there have finally been some rumbles about allowing "local option" on open gaming), THEN the Crist deal is truly bad. Otherwise it is a much closer call.

The problems in this state regarding gaming are entirely self-inflcited--blaming the Seminoles, or the Feds, or anybody is a complete dodge. Florida has to come out of the Stone Age on gaming, or it deserves its fate.