Horse racing notebook: Earlier starts may aid SHRP

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 10:45 PM PST

Years back, when Houston Grand Opera performed at Jones Hall, Wagner's 4 1/2-hour Tannhauser demanded a schedule fix. HGO advanced its starting time from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m., ensuring that some folks would get home by midnight.

Most patrons remained to applaud the majestic final act, though many had long since tiptoed out Jones Hall's side doors.

Horse tracks are known for touting, but maybe HGO could give Sam Houston Race Park a tip: Consider moving up start times for significant events.

Many attractive races filled Saturday's national schedule, and SHRP offered two of them. Both the Two Altazano and Jim's Orbit Stakes carried $100,000 purses, but not everyone was around to see them.

The Two Altazano was scheduled for 10:03 p.m. Due to several delays early in the evening, the race went off 18 minutes late.

The Jim's Orbit also went late at 10:46 p.m.

Many families with children were gone by then, and those entering the yawning phase of their day had to decide whether to yawn at the track or at home.

Then there's the simulcast audience. You've got to believe bettors in the Eastern time zone, where it was 11:46 p.m., had seen enough races for one day.

Forget about a betting offset from tracks in California, where it was just 8:46 p.m. when the Jim's Orbit started. Due to the state's restrictive simulcast rules, SHRP's signal rarely breaks into a Golden State program.

Some wagering "handle" arguments weigh against earlier starts, but every other argument calls for bumping up those times.

The Astros years ago moved Saturday evening starts up 90 minutes. College football, too, has discovered that even on Saturday, late is not great. Southwest Conference games used to start at 8 p.m. Today, many games played in Texas are in the third quarter by then.

The trend shouldn't be ignored.

You could also make a case for not running major races back-to-back. Santa Anita, for example, might have three significant events on a Saturday. The track might schedule two of those at the program's end and one early in its day. The early offering would attract simulcast bettors on the opposite coast, where the day is three hours older.

To be sure, elegance and power are qualities of every major race and every Wagnerian opera. But not to those who have bailed because of the hour.

SHRP numbers jump

Sam Houston Race Park will add $1,000 per race in purse money for the remaining eight days of its thoroughbred season.

Why? The track reports a chubby 36 percent increase over the 2010 daily wagering handle for thoroughbreds. That number is for "live" handle, wagers placed at SHRP on its races.

With two weeks left in the track's compressed, seven-week thoroughbred meet, these improvements strongly suggest that shorter meets are here to stay.

Distaff tops schedule

Saturday's $50,000 Sam Houston Distaff is the main event on this week's racing schedule. The Saturday program starts at 7 p.m.

The racing week begins Friday at 7 p.m. There also are programs at 5 p.m. Sunday and 1:20 p.m. Monday.

Landeros top rider

An error in last week's notebook indicated that jockey Chris Landeros finished second in his first season at Lone Star Park. He finished No. 1 in jockey standings at the Dallas-area track.

horsechronicler@gmail.com

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Horse Racing

Thursday, February 24, 2011