bad, bad signs

Had always heard noises about it, but this piece in Star Ledger not good news for the future of racing in NJ. Unless, of course, watching Pletcher pick up major cash w/ his C-string floats your boat. Cut to 71 days pretty much tells anyone even considering dropping a NJ-bred to forget about it. Sure, the top in-state outfits will do okay given their numbers, but the lower-level operations just won't have the chance to get out on their so-so stock. 71 days? In this day and age of 30-45 days between starts, how does that add up? Even with the meet spaced out, you're looking at significantly fewer opportunities to earn purses. Knock it down to 120 if you must, but be a little more creative than just buying into the nonsense sold by the trainers wintering down in Florida. Will be curious to see, too, how racing execs handle loss of income for those seasonal workers that make the MP meet go? Wonder if they'll step forward and take a 40% pay cut, too, all in the spirit of solidarity.

So, yeah, I'll ship in to chase NJSEA's purse money (if it can manage to stick around until '11), but you can bet that all the ancillary dollars (and open space) associated with my stock will stay out of state. Maybe even out of country, soon enough, given the state of affairs in NY, but you get the idea...

I guess curtains have been a long time coming for NJ racing. Still sad, though, to feel like final act just about to get underway.