Saturday, June 23, 2007

Simulcast Blues


I had the day off from work on Friday so I decided to head over the the track and play some simulcast races, particularly races from the Stockton Fair. Hollywood Park had their races at night on Friday so there were no "local" tracks running during the day.

But after yesterdays experience I don't think I'll be going back to Santa Anita on Fridays when Hollywood runs at night. The problem I had is that all the patrons are funneled down into a cavernous, fully enclosed, air-conditioned, underground room, surrounded by banks of television sets and self-service betting machines. How hard would it have been to turn on a couple of betting machines upstairs? The pavilion and the runways under the grandstand were open but the only way to bet from up there was to walk around the corner and go down the stairs.

Things have changed so much at the track in the last 10-20 years. What's the difference between a quinella and an exacta box? For me, the whole simulcast experience is hard to get used to. I mean, I understand it but I don't like it much. There were 10 or more different tracks running yesterday including Mohawk. Mohawk? I was trying to concentrate on Stockton but the TV in front of my table that was featuring Stockton somehow ended up showing races from Mohawk and the Meadowlands. You know, races with horses pulling carts loaded up with an aerodynamic pilot called a driver. Yeah. It was disappointing to say the least.

Part of what makes Santa Anita such a great track is the atmosphere. Yesterday I might as well have been at a sportsbook at some sleezy casino out in the California desert. The pavilion at Santa Anita is a great place. So is the grandstand and the runways behind the grandstand.

The underground room isn't such a nice place.

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