Frank Is Using Sex To Lure The Young Bucks To Gulfstream

Frank Stronach has set up a new area dubbed Frank's Energy Beach at Gulfstream to lure the younger crowd to the track. Right on the apron of the track a DJ spins dual technics 1200's pumping out house music on the sand dance floor. Stronach is alone among racetrack owners in that he attempts to use sex to sell racing. Can sex sell something like racing? Currently with its geriatric fans and complex intricacies racing does not appeal to the younger instant gratification crowd. There are more race fans that use jazzy scooters to get around the house than go out to nightspots to dance to jazz infused acid house music.


Usually the only skin seen at the local NYC tracks or OTB's is an unwanted plumbers crack when the stoopers bend over during their discarded ticket harvesting operations. Bikini clad 18 year old party girls sipping Mojtios by the faux-beach is a violent departure from what racing fans are used too. Could anybody really be sure about what will happen when these two far removed groups are juxtaposed in the same location? Maybe it will be like the subway and the two groups will just look at the floor and avoid eye contact when they pass each other.


Can Franks Energy Beach grow the racing fan base? Could there actually be a crossover from the Energy Beach to the wagering pools? What will be the reaction of the Energy Beach patrons when they encounter a enthusiastic race fan beating their thigh with the racing form and shouting profanities while rooting their trifecta key home? At the very least I think Frank is planting the seeds of future fans and getting young foot traffic into the door. Perhaps a few of the Energy Beach patrons who would never in their wildest dreams step foot into a racetrack will make a token bet. Perhaps a few will have a thrilling experience watching their horse cross the line first and develop the horse racing obsession that many thoroughbred fans have.

Las Vegas has pulled off the "lets have in nightclub to lure the younger crowd" move in the past. Vegas did not have the modern nightclubs of New York, Ibiza and London during the early 1990's. The entertainment in early 1990's Vegas consisted of lounge acts singing cover songs in places like the Dunes and The Sands. The dance scene was far away at New York's Palladium, The Tunnel or Limelight nightclubs. Now Las Vegas has tapped into the nightlife pulse and almost every casino has a nightclub with house or Hip Hop music geared towards 20 somethings. The very successful and trendy Palms Casino has consistently used sex to sell its casino and almost every ad features a scantily clad young women squeezing some part of her anatomy. It is late to the game but here in 2008 racing tries to combine ecstasy and exactas. Will it work?