Keeneland debacle

[dehere]

No one has mentioned this all that much and I wasn't there so I don't know all that much about it but it seems that KEE has really messed up on their event last Saturday. The contest tote machines evidently went down about midway through the day and entries had to be made by hand for the rest of the contest. The results are still not available some four days after the contest is over. What a mess!

[SPIKE]

No Comment

[km]

The year that I played in the KEE contest they also had some sort of snafu. They refunded all the money to every player and awarded the quallies based on who was in the lead before the scoring broke down. This response was part of the reason why KEE contests have gotten such a great rep.

I'm sure they'll do something similar this time.

One year at the Orleans, they also had a machine failure on Day1. At first they decided to accept slips by hand. But it became obvious that people were past-posting and trying to cheat. So they did the right thing too = Cancelled the entire first day completely, and gave everyone the option of a refund.

Breakdowns happen, sh--t happens, and these contests handled it the right way.

[bettwice2]

I'm just curious--KEE is United Tote if I'm not mistaken, right? Do they use the newer machines/software with swipecards to run contests or are the contest wagers inputted by clerks on typical (i.e. not self automated, touch screen) teller machines?

[Mall]

Kee does use the United Tote swipe card system, which I’m pretty sure was developed at their behest and on their dime initially.

My understanding is United Tote “upgraded” the system after their last contest, and it had worked properly for a number of contests afterward. However, none of those contests included mandatory races, and the glitch was such that the machines went down when any player missed a mandatory race.

They also tell me the delay has been because they have checked and rechecked the results a number of times, that the results will be on the site today, and that henceforth there will be a back-up plan in place to cover the kind of situation everyone had to deal with on Saturday.

The biggest difficulty the problem caused, for me and many others, was the impossibility of knowing which plays made sense coming down the stretch without a leaderboard.

Finally, after raising the issue a number of times, I have a hunch that next year the 5:45 p.m. post time cut-off will be moved back three minutes so that the Jim Dandy can finally be included in the contest.

[timh]

Still no results up on this. Can it really take this long?

[Mall]

The standings are finally up Tim, and based on what you told me in our conversation after the contest, it appears we tied for sixth.

[timh]

Actually, Mel I had forgotten to add in a $3.20 place payoff so I made 5th place. Rumor has it Daven Turner was the winner.

[SPIKE]

Daven "Tiny" Turner was the winner.

[PParker]

Indeed! Daven is "King" of Keeneland!

[dehere]

Congrats Daven (and Paul) - its nice to see you two guys are now set for the NHC and the World Series (you did get that honor after last week end didn't you Paul?)

[PParker]

Henry, I didn't get into the HPWS. They took the top 5 and I finidhed 48th.:(

[dehere]

Heck, shows what I know - i thought it was the top 50. Still time, still time (that's what we have to keep telling ourselves eh?)

[SPIKE]

Very sad . It is clear that the number of players in NHC contests is on a serious decline. When will the people that make decisions regarding the NHC address the current state of affairs. Why did they bury their heads in the sand and allow for this to happen.

[Buddy Hogan]

Km I was at Keeneland when they had that minor malfunction several years ago and they did the right thing.
I was at Keeneland last week and the malfunction was as bad as any tournament I ever played in. It was my worst performance of any tournament I have played in 32 years, my picks were terrible.
Don't get me wrong on what I am saying here because I think Keeneland has one of the top 3 contests I go to and the way they run it is by far the best . They do a outstanding job.
This is what I saw last Saturday and I was 4 tables from Mel who is one of the best handicappers in the country. I saw guys past posting not once but several times because when the breakdowns started the people writing down picks weren't writing down post time on the picks and this went on several times so I went and told John Oldham and he about had a stroke. He started telling all the clerks to right down time when bets were made but it was way to late the tournament had been contaminated bad. Besides we didn't know to bet on a 20-1 or 3-1. No standings. So we left after 5th race and went back to Louisville.

I don't write well and a lot of times I am misunderstood about what I am saying.
This is how I feel. I will be at every contest Keeneland ever puts up. They run their contests better than 95 % of others. The people running the contests are really good. Saturday they had a jam up that is the worst I ever played in and Keeneland handled it as best they could . I don't know all the facts and with what I do know I would have handled it different. Bottom line I TRUST KEENELAND and congratulations to all the winners. Thank you Mr. Jim Williams and all your staff. ( I saw where Keeneland put up a $20,000 bonus for the December contest out of their own pocket for three more spots.)]
Thanks Keeneland
Buddy Hogan

[km]

Good post Buddy, thanks for your thoughts.

Live NHC contests are becoming an endangered species. KEE is one of the stalwarts remaining. Same with FPX upcoming and EMD prior. There are no new faces though.

Buuuut -- lest we forget, the TOC "members only" live contest is still allive and kicking despite promises by the NTRA to "look into it " ;)

http://www.toconline.com/ownerchallenge2010

[TEJASKIDD]

Good post Buddy, thanks for your thoughts.



Buuuut -- lest we forget, the TOC "members only" live contest is still allive and kicking despite promises by the NTRA to "look into it " ;)

http://www.toconline.com/ownerchallenge2010


Did you really think they would turn away money? Time to learn how to handicap English,Australian,and Hong Kong racing. This thing is about done in the US. It's all but over in Texas. More states to follow.

[km]

'kid, you forgot Japan as a gigantic horse racing success. All those countries have something in common - limited racing dates nationwide. Here we had 35 tracks running on the 4th of July. That's a lot of pie slices to divide out. Hong Kong and Japan have one track running at a time in a large population base. The formula for success in all sports has always been Darwinian. I'm going to close this thread because it has gone off topic -sorry :eek::eek: