NYRA held a press conference today in Colonie NY to announce the giveway days this year at Saratoga. Last year there were 6 giveway days, this year only 5. They are:
July 27: Saratoga Baseball Cap Sunday
Aug. 3: Saratoga T-Shirt
Aug. 10: Saratoga Stadium Seat
Aug. 17: Saratoga Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Aug. 31: Saratoga Cooler Bag
Gone this year is Bobblehead Day. As I go to the track to watch the races and bet, the giveway days are not of interest to me. However I enjoyed Bobblehead Day as I would take my kids with me. They got a kick out of the Bobblehead and looked forward to going every year. It is not easy to constantly drag your young kids to the track with you, and keep them occupied while I insist on staying for the whole card, long after my children have lost patience.
In typical NYRA logic, a NYRA spokesperson said the Bobblehead promotion was let go because it was the least popular of the giveway days. What they failed to mention is that is was held on a Thursday, the second day of the meet, which is historically the lowest attended day of the entire meet. All other promotion days are on Sundays, when people are off and can run to the Track and get their giveway booty. Also the racing card is better on Sundays and vacationers tend to come up on weekends. When they started this Bobblehead promotion in 2002, attendance kicked up dramatically for the Thursday held event. I felt it kicked up an otherwise lowly attended day. Any giveway on a Thursday would be lower than a Sunday giveway. But this is NYRA logic, not exactly the Mensa society of Marketing. So instead of a neat looking Bobblehead to put on your shelf or give to your kid, you can get a crappy T-shirt that reminds me of the garbage T-shirts I would buy in the parking lot at the Meadowlands after a Judas Priest concert in the 80's for 5 bucks.
2 comments:
Did you attend? NYRA says "stadium seat", Bloodhorse says "stadium seat cushion". Surely some investigative reporting is warranted.
I was hoping someone would ask Charlie if he was embarrassed to run the Yaddo as a Saturday feature race.
Yes, I did. The "Stadium Seat" as NYRA calls it, is actually a cushion designed to fit over an actual seat. Anyone other than a small child would break the "stadium seat" if they tried to use it as an actual seat. And yes, the weekend to skip at the Spa is August 9-10th as the 2 feature races on both days are NY Bred races-The Yaddo on Saturday and The West Point Handicap on Sunday. Unless of course you want the "seat" to be given away on August 10th.
Post a Comment