New Low From CDI/CRC Mgmt (Update: Restriction lifted)

[Alan07]

Gulfstream amends racing dates request
Officials from Gulfstream Park responded Wednesday to the escalating dispute with Calder Racecourse by amending their racing dates request – applying to open on Nov. 26, one week earlier than originally proposed – and creating extra stalls for horses who ship to race from Calder.

The moves comes one day after Calder management informed their horsemen that effective Saturday any horse leaving the Calder grounds to race would not be allowed to return without permission from racing secretary Mike Anifantis. The lone exception would be for horses racing in graded stakes, and even those horses would not be allowed to return to Calder until the day after they race.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

So Calder should continue to subsidize trainers and owners that are using it's free stalls to fill races at GP after GP essentailly declred war on them? Especially when Calder's plan is to start racing year round in response to GP? For once it may be time for government to step in on this one and reregulate dates since the tracks couldn't behave on their own, but surely that will come at a price too.

Did you miss the point about a lower tax rate to keep the backside open? Horseman are running at GP because they are open.The dispute is over future dates, not current dates. The idea that CDI keeps the backside open free of charge to assist owners and trainers is simply not true. Did you ever wonder why they don't charge stall rent when they aren't open like they do at CD? Just because Calder and GP are having a dispute about dates doesnt make essentially shutting down the business of the trainers and owners at Calder ok.

[OTM Al]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Did you miss the point about a lower tax rate to keep the backside open? Horseman are running at GP because they are open.The dispute is over future dates, not current dates. The idea that CDI keeps the backside open free of charge to assist owners and trainers is simply not true. Did you ever wonder why they don't charge stall rent when they aren't open like they do at CD? Just because Calder and GP are having a dispute about dates doesnt make essentially shutting down the business of the trainers and owners at Calder ok.

Ok or not is a matter of perspective and if you don't think the issue is linked, you don't have much of it at all.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

Ok or not is a matter of perspective and if you don't think the issue is linked, you don't have much of it at all.

No one is denying why they are doing it though it certainly is debatable that it will have the desired effect. But outside of a suit at CDI I dont know who else thinks that it is ok.

[tector]

There is a reason why, under US labor laws, secondary boycotts are generally illegal.

A secondary boycott is an unfair labor practice in which a union attempts to strike a neutral third party in order to put pressure on the company that is involved in a certification or de-certification action. It usually involves an organized refusal to purchase the products of, do business with or perform services for (such as deliver goods) a company which is doing business with another company where the employees are on strike or in a labor dispute.

Secondary boycotts are illegal under the federal Taft-Hartley Act and the Landrum-Griffin Act . Many states also have laws, which vary by state, prohibiting secondary boycotts.

http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/secondary-boycott/

Now, what CDI is doing is not illegal (probably)--these laws don't apply to them, and I don't know that any other such legal prohibition does either. That's simply because horsemen have no legislative lobby whatsoever. But the public policy justifications for these labor laws are directly analogous here: CDI is prepared to destroy innocent third parties to try to reach their target.

In short, CDI may not be criminals, but they are quite content to employ means that reek of gangsterism. They are scum.

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Did you miss the point about a lower tax rate to keep the backside open? Horseman are running at GP because they are open.The dispute is over future dates, not current dates. The idea that CDI keeps the backside open free of charge to assist owners and trainers is simply not true. Did you ever wonder why they don't charge stall rent when they aren't open like they do at CD? Just because Calder and GP are having a dispute about dates doesnt make essentially shutting down the business of the trainers and owners at Calder ok.

i think you are kind of missing the point....gulfstream is partly responsible. that meet keeps expanding and it causes friction with other tracks. i mean if you like 5k claimers 4, 5 months a year at the place, fine. that track used to be a WINTER ELITE meet. by now they would be getting near the end of the meet, for crying out loud.....now the FLA derby is in april(are you kidding me!) when they run all the other preps....its a joke. they water down every card with races i would not even bet on that lower tracks could be running(calder, notice they kind of leave stakes horses out of it).....then they sit there wondering why others get pissed off. i usually don't even look at the PP's until after the 5th race at GP and once late march hits it really sucks......all day...so what are they trying to accomplish......more dates??....more racing???...even if its cheap claimers???...at the expense of everyone else....of course none of this is OK but threatened tracks will fight before they go down. when it becomes cut throat these are the issues that come with it. its rarely one sided folks........the parties hurt are just casualties.....if calder gets hurt enough and shuts down.........ALL the REVENUE, FOR EVERYONE, from that track will be gone....then they can rent stall space before its townhouses or something.....lol

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by johnny pinwheel

i think you are kind of missing the point....gulfstream is partly responsible. that meet keeps expanding and it causes friction with other tracks. i mean if you like 5k claimers 4, 5 months a year at the place, fine. that track used to be a WINTER ELITE meet. by now they would be getting near the end of the meet, for crying out loud.....now the FLA derby is in april(are you kidding me!) when they run all the other preps....its a joke. they water down every card with races i would not even bet on that lower tracks could be running(calder, notice they kind of leave stakes horses out of it).....then they sit there wondering why others get pissed off. i usually don't even look at the PP's until after the 5th race at GP and once late march hits it really sucks......all day...so what are they trying to accomplish......more dates??....more racing???...even if its cheap claimers???...at the expense of everyone else....of course none of this is OK but threatened tracks will fight before they go down. when it becomes cut throat these are the issues that come with it. its rarely one sided folks........the parties hurt are just casualties.....if calder gets hurt enough and shuts down.........ALL the REVENUE, FOR EVERYONE, from that track will be gone....then they can rent stall space before its townhouses or something.....lol

Stop trying to make this into something it isn't. The thread is about the outrageous use of horseman as a bargaining chip against their will, TO THEIR DETRIMENT!!! Why is this so hard for anyone to understand. Who runs when or what kind of horses are running or what stakes they have is not the topic of the thread. It is the actions of CDI against their own horseman. There is no justification for this and the words of Marshall make it even worse. His saying that it will be better for Calder because the horses will be rested is a disgrace.

What the horseman should do is get Brunetti to come to his senses, make a deal with GP to run year round except with 2 Keeneland style meets at Hialeah. Refuse to run a single horse at Calder so they get their casino license suspended and get rid of Calder. GP has a training center that sits unused 6 months year and you know Stronach wants year round racing.

[paulo537]

Originally Posted by johnny pinwheel

i think you are kind of missing the point....gulfstream is partly responsible. that meet keeps expanding and it causes friction with other tracks. i mean if you like 5k claimers 4, 5 months a year at the place, fine. that track used to be a WINTER ELITE meet. by now they would be getting near the end of the meet, for crying out loud.....now the FLA derby is in april(are you kidding me!) when they run all the other preps....its a joke. they water down every card with races i would not even bet on that lower tracks could be running(calder, notice they kind of leave stakes horses out of it).....then they sit there wondering why others get pissed off. i usually don't even look at the PP's until after the 5th race at GP and once late march hits it really sucks......all day...so what are they trying to accomplish......more dates??....more racing???...even if its cheap claimers???...at the expense of everyone else....of course none of this is OK but threatened tracks will fight before they go down. when it becomes cut throat these are the issues that come with it. its rarely one sided folks........the parties hurt are just casualties.....if calder gets hurt enough and shuts down.........ALL the REVENUE, FOR EVERYONE, from that track will be gone....then they can rent stall space before its townhouses or something.....lol

I get your general drift but really son't see how the last 4-5 weeks of the year run at Gulf instead of Calder is bad at all. It is not as if Calder is doing much with the December dates, is it?

This year, in November, Calder cut overnights by 10%, which took purses back to pre-slots revenue days. I do believe purse levels at Calder were higher in 2001 than they were at the end of last year. That is almost impossible to believe for a slots track.

Calder also cut a nice G3 sprint, the Kenny Noe, and also cut the Kris S and Cherokee Frolic, which were nice preps for the Calder Derby and Calder Oaks.

So, cutting three really nice stakes races, cutting overnights 10% and putting up as little as they did 10 years prior is what Calder did with the Dec 2010 dates.

In addition, the turf course at Calder in December was an utter mess and they carded fewer turf MSWs and ALWs in 2010 than in prior years. Those were nice races and along with the traditional December Calder stakes made the track relevant during the last month of the year.

I get what you are saying and agree that the Gulf meet after the first weekend in April isn't much but, at this point, is it possible at all to compete with Keeneland? Gulfstream doesn't try and they're right not to do so.

I do think the year-round Florida horsemen have been getting beaten like a baby seal ever since Churchill took over. But that is not Gulfstream's fault.

I am all for December racing at Gulfstream. And, it's not as if CDI is doing all they can to keep the dates after cutting purses and stakes. My guess is CDI really doesn't care about keeping the dates but, somehow, wants to get paid. The only real leverage they have, unfortunately, is their ability to heap misery on the year-round Florida horse people.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

http://www.drf.com/news/gulfstream-a...r-round-racing

[Clip-Clop]

Childish I know but...
“We plan to keep our backside open year-round"

[Cannon Shell]

Earlier on Thursday, Calder vice president and general manager John Marshall said Calder plans to amend its dates request and run four days a week from July 1 through the first week of January 2012. In it previous dates application, Calder had requested a three-day race week during that period.

“We have decided to run four days a week out of respect to the owners needs and to sustain healthy participation for our racing program throughout the summer and fall,” Marshall said.

What a sport. So now the owners needs are important again but they arent going to be allowed to race for the next 2 months...

[Left Bank]

I think it is great that Frank upped the ante and made Churchill downs look like idiots.This is a great story,can't wait to see how it turns out.

[bigjag0716]

let em do it, I like betting Gulf anyways. I wonder what jockeys they would attract when some of the big boys go back up north to ny.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by bigjag0716

let em do it, I like betting Gulf anyways. I wonder what jockeys they would attract when some of the big boys go back up north to ny.

Tampa Bay Downs South

[Pedigree Ann]

The real issue here is Frank Stronach trying to destroy all the other racing associations who run in the same areas and jurisdictions as his tracks. He's already managed to take the October dates away from the Oak Tree Association (a charity group, for god's sake); he doesn't have to do anything about Hollywood Park, since the owners want to tear it down anyway, the same way they did Bay Meadows (for no good reason, since it is still a field of wreckage).

And it isn't as though his management of such facilities is a shining example to the industry. He has run Maryland racing into the ground; he (or his corps of lackeys) messed up the installation of an AW surface at Santa Anita TWICE (Hol and Dmr only had to do it once), then whined to the state commission about the cost; the less said about his fan-unfriendly remake of GP the better; and now he wants to put Calder out of business and turn GP into Aqueduct Inner South. Is is megalomania? Does he so desperately need to wring every penny out of his track properties? I would have hoped that the state commissions would have shown a little more breadth of vision and backbone in dealing with such a bully.

[Kasept]

No resolution in the Stronach-Carstanjen meeting yesterday, but Calder management has relented on the shipping restriction this morning... Horses can go back & forth to Gulfstream.



CALDER RELAXES HORSE SHIPPING POLICY

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (February 26, 2011) – Calder Casino & Race Course today announced that it will allow horses that have shipped to other racetracks to compete in races at other venues to re-enter the Calder stable area and continue to use assigned stalls in the Calder stable area until further notice. Horses that ship to Gulfstream Park to participate in today’s Fountain of Youth program will be allowed to return to Calder.

“We know this has been a confusing time for the horsemen who participate in the racing programs at both Calder and Gulfstream Park, and we are returning to our normal stable-area ship-in policies so we can avoid impacting their operational routines,” said John Marshall, Calder’s vice president and general manager. “Calder wants what’s best for South Florida racing. We continue to look at our racing schedule for the coming year, and as in prior years, we will do what’s right for the South Florida racing community, including Calder, its horsemen and racing fans.”

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Kasept

No resolution in the Stronach-Castenjen meeting yesterday, but Calder management has relented on the shipping restriction this morning... Horses can go back & forth to Gulfstream.

Its all wolf tickets....

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Scav

Its all wolf tickets....

Aren't you all street and schit, yo..

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Aren't you all street and schit, yo..

I'm 2.5% gangsta