Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Bluto — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:01:26 GMT

John N

Monmouth is not missing your 2 bucks.

The fact is the state bred races are getting bet.

Enjoy playing the increasingly small fields at Delaware Park.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

John N — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:56:18 GMT

Bob. You almost got it right but I will not bet one dime on a statebred race. These types of races are another nail in the sport’s coffin. Last Sunday there were two statebreds in the pick 5. I don’t mind one or two at the beginning of the day. The statebreds are what has killed NYRA and made their cards unplayable. I am a resident of NJ and appreciate the attempt to improve the sport but I will continue to play Delaware park because of their scarcity of statebreds.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Dawn — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:46:09 GMT

Greg M, your race scheduling suggestions will never fly--they make way too much sense!

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Greg M — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:59:16 GMT

Great start but dont rest on your laurels. Now negotiate with the casinos to get more than 3% from them for your bets. Get 8-9%. Then start a decent phone bet service. You are getting way more from the off track betting. Then talk to Saratoga about them not running the JIm Dandy so you can run 12 horses in the Haskell. You and NY and CHDN really have to coordinate your schedules so that they dont run the Diana the week before the Beverly D and the Sword Dancer the week after the Arlington Million. This will go a long way towards getting these stakes races to having full fields. More ideas to follow

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

the geekster — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:12:51 GMT

always enjoy reading the final turn. id like to comment on the smallest paragraph. " next year our funding will be renegotiated" which means to me that we might not be receiving funds from nj casinos. will mps handle be able to support large daily purses? not necessarily a million a day. and are trainers staking their barn help accordingly?

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Don Reed — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:41:00 GMT

Bob, you're in a false zone.

You've succeeded.

Euphoria is your worst enemy.

Stop. Then clean out ALL of MP's dead wood.

You still are nowhere near where you want to or should be.

If temporary euphoria suffices, what has bedeviled MP for so long, will fester & destroy your aims.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Brian Russell — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:30:59 GMT

Andrew, It was obvious after the turf sprint (the first turf race of the day) that closing ground was going to be almost impossible. Most handicappers don't factor in track bias at all which is why you have to love it when it appears. Gulfstream's main track is biased against deep closers 95% of the time but people still bet on them.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

WinnahPickah — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:35:03 GMT

I couldn't agree more with the previous poster. Once a year my friends have a BBQ out there. I usually disappear to focus on the racing! Need help out there!

Your still doing a good job.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Smart Money — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:01:26 GMT

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I do not think I am. There could not have been a real strategy to the elete meet, but rather a situation where the subsidy was there and had to be paid in purses.

The fact appears to be Monmouth's numbers have improved tremendously but at the expense of competing tracks and horsemen. Monmouth has not grown handle but temporarily shifted share from other primetime racing products.

Lawmakers in New Jersey would have to be crazy to call this a success for racing, but could claim success for New Jersey.

The only thing Monmouth is on too is for every $1 paid in purses they generated $.30. Does not sound better at all; very unlikely to last.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

alhattab — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:45:51 GMT

Bob- first I want to thank you for taking the initiative to save my home track. You are right what you are doing is what Monmouth needed and, I think, the whole game needs.

You've got to get the ontrack fans more engaged to get the per capita up. You need big screens so people in the picnic area are fully engaged to the races and can see what is going on, can see the will pays and probables, can see photo finishes and stretch runs, can see the odds, can see some advertisements even! You have a ton of people out there every weekend who can barely hear what is happending. Could you imagine if Saratoga was like that! Invest the money and get the screens out there!

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

John T — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:03:22 GMT

It,s good to see the experiment at

Monmouth Park is exceeding all expectations and I hope it keeps up for them all the way to the end of the meet.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Andrew A. — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:44:24 GMT

I had the same 9-1 shot you had Brian. What about the world record race? Did you know that the course was rock hard?

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

HollywoodHit — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:05:04 GMT

Have you put any analysis into the effect that the $1500 per also ran receives, to the increase in field size. As an owner I think that this has been long overdue.

Larger field sizes result in increased handle. The ROI on the payout to all starters vs increased handle would be an interesting statistic. Woodbine has similar purses, a full backstretch and a $400 payout to all starters. They're starters per race is lower than monmouths.

Maybe tracks that have a lower purse structure should redistribute their payouts so that all starters are compensated.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Brian Russell — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:06:30 GMT

I disagee with the posters lamenting the biased turf course. After witnessing the world record, I then bet the 9-1 front running winner of the next turf race with way more confidence than a normal 9-1 shot. Horsemen generally don't like biased tracks but every winning player I know seeks them out.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Andrew A. — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:21:56 GMT

Bob, you guys are doing a great job but you need to get control of both surfaces and get them consistent. The extreme slowness of the main track and the extreme speed of the turf course were indicative of a minor league operation. There was no reason for it.

You took a great shot here and Horseplayers appreciate it but get it right and it will last. Any more days like Sunday and you'll lose some customers.

Good Luck.

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

tom m — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:17:19 GMT

congratulations to monmouth park for taking the bull by the horn.they increased their purse structure across the board,by doing so all fields are huge and people are betting into their pools.they are targeting the gambler.not like the rest of the racing industry that is trying to turn racing into a spectator sport by using all of their public relations efforts to attract the non betting fan by promoting rachel alexandra and zenyatta. they are 2 horses,when they run the fields are small and the payoffs are terrible.

tom m

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

onefast99 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:57:57 GMT

Thus far the racing has been excellent, but the track maintainence has been very poor. Why didn't anyone put water on the track on Sunday? The dirt track and the turf course are exact opposites. The turf course is too fast the dirt track is too slow. Get the track fixed up asap and you have the makings of the best horse racing anyone can ask for...one little note how about making Fridays a bit better by increasing the low purses in many of the races. $415k isn't anywhere near $1m!

re: Building Better Racing - By Bob Kulina

Paul Matties, Jr — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:59:49 GMT

First of all, I think Monmouth Park should be commended for their efforts in trying to improve their racing product both for the horsemen and the horse players. However, I think it would be extremely naive to think they have solved all their problems. To just add money to the same stale condition book will not work in the long run. Monmouth Park needs to continue to think outside of the box and come up with innovative ways to keep improving their racing product. The claiming game in America has been ruined by an uneven purse structure. Their goal should NOT to be run the best 5,000 claimers and the best 15,000 never won 2 races in the world but to have the best $50,000 and $100,000 claimers and let it trickle down to the bottom. Reward owners and trainers for winning and more importantly, maintaining horses' forms instead of encouraging them to claim and drop and jamming at all costs. In turn the better horses would have longer and more prosperous careers. The same recognition should be considered in the maiden races and the younger races. A maiden claimer should have a substantially lower purse than maiden specials and the same with the other lifetime conditions. Horsemen should be encouraged to let young horse develop, and only good things will follow. I love what Monmouth is trying to do and will continue to express my gratitude at the windows but I don't think the Monmouth executives should be resting on their laurels, yet.