Published:
October 16, 2009 09:00 am EDT
Stating that "it's a guarantee that the sport will die", racetrack owner and breeder Jeff Gural is today's guest on this no-holds-barred and no-punches-pulled episode of Trot Radio giving his opinions on the state of harness racing
.
Gural and Norm Borg expand upon the discussions from this week's simulcast conference and discuss the danger of casino companies owning racetracks with slots, as well as how Gural's idea of limiting stakes races to sires at least five years of age was met by by racetrack officials, how he feels about Muscle Hill retiring at the end of this year, and whether or not he thinks a commissioner could help.
Episode 62 - Jeff Gural's Wake Up Call
Running Time: 9:35
Audio Format: MP3 audio
Host: Norm Borg
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I totally agree with mr
I totally agree with mr Gural,the old boys club will go the way of the dinosaurs. In an ever changing world the racing industry just does not want to conform.Greed is what it seems to be all about;fleece the patrons.
The north american brand is a failure in comparison to English racing,where the patron can get more bang for his hard earned buck; eg:win & place, doubles, trebels, accumulators, they offer more - that's why they are so successful.
Harness racing would be done
Harness racing would be done or be racing for $1500 purses without the slot subsidy. The racetracks out west are trying to rid themselves of racing completely. Stampede Park wants nothing to do with racing and Northlands Park has delegated Harness racing to race in the worst winter months there is in Alberta. Owners continue to bail and the existing ones can not continue to carry the sport alone. Everyone talks about how we need new blood in the sport and need to bring the old customers back. Well then how do we do that. Everyone wants to continue with the way the sport is and keep their heads in the sand. Ask any owner or trainers/drivers if they would be in the sport if the Government pulled the slot subsidy and the the answer would be "no". They all stand to lose millions if the sport went backwards on purse money. As the purses increased with the supplement of slot revenues so did the daily operating cost far many owners and trainers. Horseman improved their training centres or added new ones and doubled their horses. This was all caused by the false confidence from the boom and the slot revenues. When the government phases out the slot revenues to the horse racing industry and we need to stand on our own it will be to late. The industry needs direction and leadership or it will be all a memory.
Self interest, greed,
Self interest, greed, incompetence especially by officials, drugs, what other end result could be expected!!
Jeff Gural is very frank in
Jeff Gural is very frank in his opinions on harness racing. The casino companies basically used the horsemen to get what they want. We have to work together with our partners to help the game or as he says, our sport will die. The government will try to divert funds to appease the critics as soon as they can after 2014, if we don't work together NOW. In a nutshell, we will be racing for $2000 purses sooner than you think, if we don't get our act together today.