On Thursday, news that Wonderland Greyhound Park shut down has some in Raynham worried that the Raynham-Taunton Park could follow suit. George Carney, the owner of the track vowed to keep his facility open.
Carney said, “The Raynham dog track has no intentions of closing down, we’re here for the long run, and we’re going to stay open.”
In a statement released to The Associated Press, Wonderland announced that because it could no longer compete in a “drastically changed gaming market, it was suspending business operations immediately. It has operated in Revere for 75 years. The casinos and racinos in neighboring states are responsible for the suspension.
Wonderland and Raynham-Taunton had remained open for simulcasting, since a voter-approved ban on dog racing went into effect in January. This allowed patrons to place bets on dog races in other states.
On the gaming issue, Carney said he still hopes that Deval Patrick and the state Legislature will reach an agreement. Last month, to authorize three resort casinos and two racetrack slot parlors, the House and Senate approved legislation. The governor refused to sign the legislation and he opposes slots at the racetracks.
Patrick however sees resort casinos as a better long-term investment and he said that he thinks slot parlors would saturate the gaming market and take business away from resort casinos.
Pacheco said, “I don’t know if (the chance) is ever going to come back again. A lot of people put a lot on the line to try to get this done, and unfortunately the governor just didn’t get it.”
The old and once-illustrious greyhound race track, Wonderland – Massachusetts‘ last bastion of live dog racing for the past 75 years, until last years’ voter-approved ban on greyhound racing – closed its doors for the final time on Thursday.
“This is an emotional day for us,” said Richard Dalton, the CEO and president of Wonderland. “And the most difficult part of it is that hardworking people have been given notice they no longer have a job.”
Most employees blamed the closing and their subsequent loss of employment on Governor Patrick for his seemingly insensitivity toward their plight, as all knew he was aware of their desperate situation. Still, when a bill came up requesting allotment for slot machines to be allowed into the track which might have tempted more customers back for something other than greyhound racing, the Governor refused to sign it.
Governor Patrick has claimed that despite the unfortunate consequences resulting from his refusal to sign the measure, which he said he could not, in good conscience, do, because, he said, “the slots provision amounted to no-bid contracts for the tracks.” However, he promised he would help all those who had lost their jobs.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who strongly supported the bill favoring the slot machines, has said that he plans to file a bill for $2 million to go toward job re-training for those workers who had been put out of employment yesterday by this closing.
Wonderland employed up to 150 people.
Greyhound Racing in the United States has been an interesting thing throughout its history. Even in early history it seems that Greyhound tracks struggled to stay afloat. This is best supported by the nature of the sport in the 1920s. Men would move from area to area setting up tracks and have people bet on dogs. There was popularity in many of the areas, but Greyhound Racing struggled to survive until it was brought to Florida.
Greyhound Racing has its own trials today. The racing is regulated on a state to state basis with local laws also helping in regulation. There are many states that allow the sport, but it seems like many of the states around the country are taking away the support that they used to grant towards the sport.
Several states have recently stopped conducting races. Massachusetts, Kansas, Wisconsin, Colorado, Oregon and South Carolina all have had Greyhound Racing in the past, but currently do not conduct races any longer. Massachusetts had a law passed that banned racing, but the majority of the other states simply do not conduct races even though it is perfectly legal to do so.
This may demonstrate the current popularity of the sport.
Of course there are still many that enjoy the sport. The majority of viewers of the sport like to take part in the gambling aspect. Unfortunately any sport that is so richly entrenched in gambling will have opposition from others in the public. With recent worries about gambling addiction, coupled with the animal rights movement, there are many people that are more openly opposed to racing.
The more popular tracks to race at today are Birmingham, Caliente, Corpus Christi, Dairyland, and Daytona Beach.
Racing dogs, especially the huge greyhounds in events has always been a favorite sport amongst people for various centuries. For many, rather than just being a simple sport, the greyhound racing is a gamble where many players stake their money on the greyhound racer dogs.
Initially, the animal sport was introduced with the prime requirement of controlling the population of jackrabbits in the farms by the farmers. However, it later turned into a sport for which even the greyhound dog tracks were created.
People in many countries consider this game an amateur and play it just for fun and related enjoyment. These dogs weigh about 60 to 70 pounds and are skinny in their structure. They have well developed muscles which hence help them run faster on the tracks. However, their biggest advantage is their huge height and high strides which make them the favorite dogs for the racing tracks.
Gamblers bet differently on these greyhound races to earn quite an amount of money. Well, you can simply bet your money on a greyhound that reaches the finish line first, while you can also bet on the other dogs which finish the race at the second or the third place. This betting system makes the sport more interesting and also rewarding for all gamblers.
However, to win the largest amount you should learn about the running capabilities and the past records of all the greyhound racer dogs. Without these details, betting on the dogs may turn into a risky and extremely unsuccessful business.
tyfitz21 asked:
I am doing an essay that is pro dog racing, and i was trying to figure out some arguments against dog racing nay-sayers
What are the three most important parts of a dog race? If you said, “The break, the first turn and the stretch”, you’re probably a pretty good handicapper. Those three points are where so many dogs either forge ahead, fall back or get into trouble. Here are some tips for handicapping how the break will affect a race.
Although the break isn’t as important in some races, in other races it decides the race right from the start. If there are several breakers in a race, the dogs might try so hard to out-break each other, that they burn themselves out, leaving the race to dogs who get out more slowly, but close.
If there is only one breaker in a race, many times it will get out in front of the other dogs and lead all the way around the track and win. With no dogs around it, it has a clear field all the way to the finish line. When you handicap races, it’s important that you look at each dog’s break style and compare it to how the other dogs get out when the boxes open.
When you do this, be sure to take into consideration the grade of the dog compared to the grade of the other dogs. Look at who it’s been running with and the times of its last races. See who the breakers have been out-breaking. This is a crucial piece of information. A dog that gets out first in a D race will likely have more trouble out-breaking C Grade dogs.
Of course, what happens at the break rarely determines who wins, but it can be the biggest factor in some races. Bettors who know this and who take a very close look at how the break will play out have a big advantage over those who don’t
Horse Betting
Dachshunds, like all modern breeds of dog we are used to seeing today, were initially bred for a specific task. Breeders and breed enthusiasts work with breeds to bring out desirable traits that will benefit their breed’s respective duties and skills, and to quell those that are undesirable or non-beneficial. The Dachshund in particular was bred to hunt small mammals on the ground and in burrows, which becomes obvious when taking into consideration their size and body structure.
Dachshund clubs in America and worldwide support something called Earth Dog Trials, sponsored by the AKC. These trials have been very popular with terrier enthusiasts for years. The trials cover various tasks that are similar to agility trials, but are more natural and based on instincts the dogs are born with, such as navigating labyrinth-like burrows to uncover a caged rodent. Dachshunds excel at these trials and have even been banned from certain Terrier Association trials because they beat out their terrier competition so easily.
The Dachshund Club of America once hosted a “Wiener Dog Race” for nothing more than a gag. These races pitted Dachshunds against each other on a track not unlike Greyhound races, and was intended as funny piece of entertainment. However, since this first race, the act of racing Dachshunds actually caught on and began to spread.
Concerned with the terrible fate of racing dogs like Greyhounds, such as abandonment after their prime, confined housing, a lack of socialization, or just general poor quality of life, the Dachshund Club of America has since renounced the act of Dachshund Racing and strongly discourages any owner from participating in it.
Dachshund enthusiasts support Earth Dog Trials in lieu of the Dachshund Races because it accentuates the Dachshund’s natural instincts and skills, whereas racing does not. Dedicated breeders and enthusiasts alike are concerned that with the success and rise of Dachshund racing, new breeders will work to breed the dogs for speed instead of what they are born to do, which can damage desirable traits in the breed.
True Dachshund enthusiasts are devoted to preserving the breed and the skills at which the Dachshund already excels. Earth Dog Trials, along with being more ethically operated than dog races, are a wonderful way to exercise your Dachshund’s talents and intellect, as opposed to placing undue stress on a dog performing an activity he or she was not bred to perform.
Horse Betting
If you’re serious about winning money at the dog track, you know it takes time to go over a program. You can’t just glance at it once and pick dogs. You have to look at each race and decide whether there’s a bet that is worth the risk of placing it.
This is why it’s so important that you don’t let time get away from you when you’re handicapping the dogs. You can start going over a program, get bogged down with a few hard-to-handicap races, look up and realize that it’s five minutes before the first race goes off and you’re not even in your car.
Don’t let this happen to you. While it’s important to get your program early and go over it thoroughly, don’t let the time wasters steal your money. One of the biggest ways to fritter away too many minutes is when a race is just too hard to handicap.
You have dogs coming back from layoffs, dogs shipping in, dogs with schooling races… So you struggle with it, trying to figure out who’s going to do what and where while time goes by. Truth to tell, it’s likely that no one can figure out what’s going to happen in a race like that.
Do yourself a favor. Save your precious time for the races that you CAN handicap. Don’t get bogged down with races where there are too many variables to handicap. We only have so much time. Spend it wisely and you’ll be rewarded with more money and more winners.
Horse Betting
Learn how greyhounds stay in shape for head to head competition in the sprint path in this free dog race training video from our expert greyhound racing trainer. Expert: Torri Morris Contact: www.rmga.org Bio: Torri Morris is the owner and operator of the Torri Morris Racing Kennel and adoption coordinator for Rocky Mountain Greyhound Adoption in Colorado. Filmmaker: Thomas Tamura
NFL Odds
Greyhound racing is arguably one of the most exploiting forms of entertainment that we have today. Yet people who go to these tracks oftentimes don´t even realize what they are truly supporting. Yes, it is certainly no lie that greyhounds love to run. But no animal should have to run for the sole reason that people want to earn money. These dogs live for our entertainment. They are not well socialized and miss out on so many things that make a dog a dog things like getting to romp and play …
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