A cheap Horse Racing Day!

Fairmount Park, here in St. Louis is one of the lower end race tracks you'll ever see. It's old, worn out, and struggling financially. It also has one of the best deals you'll find on Tuesday afternoons.

Fairmount is only open Friday & Saturday nights, and Tuesday afternoons. They market Tuesday's as "Horse Hookey", to try to get people to spend the afternoon there. Here are some of the deals they have:

Free Parking
$1.50 admission
$1.50 draft beers (These are 10-12 oz beers of any kind. It includes Killian's Red, Boulevard Wheat, Blue Moon, and Shocktop, along with more typical A-B & Miller products.)
$1.00 hot dogs
$0.75 sodas

They have 8 races with usually 6-8 horses per race. The small fields give the long shots a better chance to win. I went today and left only $24 lighter. That broke down to $15 spent on food/drink, admission, and a racing form, and $9 lost on the races. I only hit one decent winner for $25, the rest were all smaller wins of $3.80, $2.60, etc.

If you are in the St. Louis area and are interested in playing the horses, it's a fun and affordable time.

I can never understand why the racetracks charge for parking and admission.

The racing industry is hurting and yet they charge you to enter and bet. The casinos don't charge you to enter. Why should the racetracks?

Parking at the racetrack was free. Then they decided to charge $2.00. Now it's up to $3.00. Add in the program and it's another $3.00.

Before you even place your first bet, you're down $8.00.

I found the way to beat the cost. I do all my betting on line. The only expense I have is the $1.50 daily program I download.

When you consider that it costs me more than $1.50 for gas to get to the track, I'm ahead of the game.

I go occasionally to Yonkers (Trotters). Such a staggering difference from a decade ago to now when they have the Racino. Pre Racino days I would see less than 100 people in an area that could hold 2,000. Now it is packed.

I can never understand why the racetracks charge for parking and admission.


The old mentality still holds, That's why when a casino opens nearby, ther local racetrack loses 90% or more of their customer base.
Their answer is to have the state make the casino subsidize them or turn into a racino

At least you get a choice of some decent beer, and I'm not talking about the BMC(Bud, Miller, Coors)-swill.

Quote: Alan

At least you get a choice of some decent beer, and I'm not talking about the BMC(Bud, Miller, Coors)-swill.

So true. I was amazed that they included Killians, Blue Moon, etc in the $1.50 promotion. They could have charged a dollar more each and I'd still have considered it a decent price. But I'm not going to tell them they are leaving potential revenue on the table . . .

If I am not mistaken both Killian's and Blue Moon are Coors but I will give them credit for making better beers than the norm.