A quick question on US racecards on the Sporting Life website

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OddDog

OddDog

Mild mannered janitor
Staff member
Jun 2, 2011
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Berlin, Germany
Each day I use the Sporting Life website to peruse the days cards - you can find it here


Taking today, we have the UK and Ireland racing, then South African racing from Durbanville, and then we get into the US racing. My question is, are these real racecards, or is it that "virtual racing" nonsense the bookies show. The reason I wonder this is, just look at tonights card from Albequerque. The race times are 21:30, 21:53, 22:16 etc etc etc so a race every 23 minutes. Nonsensical start times it would appear to me. Can't they round them up or down to 5 minute intervals? Or do they have so many races and are trying to accommodate the TV schedule?

I'm just wondering if there is a racing forum for US racing where someone is just posting about the 21:16 Allowance Optional Claiming race over a mile at Saratoga - doesn't have the same ring as the 3.00 at Newbury does it?

Can anyone shed any light on this?
 
The forum question was a bit rhetorical Ron, real questions are: are they real races and why are the times so ****ing strange?
 
They must be real if Timeform are analysing them, I presume.
 
They are real!

Go on ATR after about 10pm and you have US race after US race from Presque Isle, Albuquerque, Mountaineer Park etc

Not that i've watched and bet on these though <whistle>
 
I'm not too sure, so don't hold me to it, but I think the Albequerque course is part of a casino deal. Some casinos in the states also run race courses. I've read some eye opening stuff about some of these enterprises. The racing side of things in some of these places is said to be pretty ugly. Horses raced into the ground etc.
 
Smokin Beau said:
found it



http://youtu.be/AInAgb9U6jk

What does he say
Click to expand...

The first 2 words sound like badly pronounced French "Ils sont" as in "They are" but the 3rd word sounds more like the German for "ready" - "fertig"

I think it might be some weird colloquial dialect for "They're ready" - a bit like Dessie always saying "Mmmmmmh white flag is raised ............... they're off" <laugh>
 
Knickers seems to be causing a problem at the start. They could go without knickers.....................Yes ..... They're off!

Any ideas for the rest of the commentary?
 
OddDog said:
The forum question was a bit rhetorical Ron, real questions are: are they real races and why are the times so f**ing strange?
Click to expand...

They are real races and the race times are very stupid; but in the land where money is king (and, therefore, betting) race times are determined to suit the market. You have to remember how vast America is so there are not just three meetings like there would be here and most off course betting is in casinos in the few States where betting is legal.

If you look at many of the big race days in France, you will see that there is often a big handicap at 15:08. This is almost always the race on which the PMU is offering all the ludicrous bets such as the Quinté (nominate the first five in order) to maximise the betting interest amongst the peasants &#8211; the more they put on, the bigger French prize money gets thanks to the big rake off.

Strange time for a race that, compared to racing here where the race times are staggered in five minutes intervals to help the bookies maximise their turnover because The Levy is a percentage of it; and to help television.
 
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