For Immediate Release October, 2002 Cyber Finley By Bill Finley Special to ESPN.com   It's a beautiful fall day in New York and Belmont Park has a great card. But I won't be there. I don't see any need to. It's not that I don't like the game or don't enjoy Belmont, the most underappreciated track in the country, but I can bring Belmont Park into my own living room these days, bet without leaving my house, download past performances and even watch replays to catch up on my trip notes. Should I choose convenience or the niceties of a day at the races? With what's now out there for the horseplayer, it's really not much of a contest.        Racetrack executives might not want to hear that. Everyone loves to see the stands packed and throngs of fans cheering home their selections, but that's increasingly a scenario from some bygone era. Racing will thrive by continuing to make the sport more accessible to the masses and by making betting as user-friendly as possible, while appealing to a new generation of computer-savvy fans. Well, the future is here. The at-home bettor wanting to follow the sport and bet on the races has virtually everything he could possibly want or need. There's never been a better time to play this game.        I wouldn't have said that three months ago, before I discovered Youbet.com. Because I live in a wooded area, I could not have a satellite dish installed. (My many trees block the satellite transmission). Without access to TVG, I pretty much gave up on being able to watch the races from my home. Youbet didn't interest me. I remembered it from the days when it only took a handful of top-flight tracks and the pictures were basically unwatchable over a dial-up modem.        But two things had happened since the last time I had given Youbet a chance. I purchased high-speed Internet access and Youbet entered into an agreement with the parent company of TVG, which allowed it to expand its menu to where it could take betting on and show the races of virtually every track in North America. When a friend told me that he had become a Youbet addict, I knew I had to give it another chance.        High-speed access is a must. Youbet doesn't work nearly as well with a dial-up. But once you're armed with a super fast modem, you can watch high-quality pictures of any race you could possibly want to watch. There's even Australian racing and a well-stocked menu of harness tracks. I spend much of my Saturday and Sunday afternoons surfing back and forth between tracks, catching up on all the major races across the country.        Betting is just as convenient. A few clicks here and there and your bets are in. If your account runs low, that's not a problem. Youbet alllows customers to transfer money from their checking accounts right into their betting accounts.        And by no means is Youbet the only option. It is my preference, but there are several other quality web sites out there through which at-home player can watch and wager on the races. The list includes XpressBet, WinTicket.com. Brisbet.com and web sites run by The Fair Grounds, TVG, Philly Park and Penn National.        About the only thing missing from Youbet is a video replay library, where the at-home player can check previous races, an indispensable tool when trying to gather trip notes and follow track bias trends. That problem was solved with the advent of RaceReplays.com.        RaceReplays doesn't seem to do much marketing, which has made it the best kept secret out there. Run out of Vancouver by a company named Post Time Technologies, it also hasn't signed up all the essential tracks it needs to have, but the list is growing. They have, among others, the NYRA tracks, the Churchill-owned tracks, Del Mar, Keeneland and Turfway. Want to know more about Glow Worm in the fifth at Belmont because the Racing Form comment reads, "steadied repeatedly?" RaceReplays is the place to go. The subscription fee is just $9.95 a month. It's a good service and it can only get better. Again, a high speed modem is a must.        Finally, downloading past performances has never been easier. The Daily Racing Form used to have an awful site that was so cumbersome it was nearly impossible to use. But the new DRF.com is terrific. In a matter of seconds, you can easily download past performances from any major track in North America and it's generally cheaper than plunking down the $5 for a Form at your neighborhood candy store.        Amazingly, no one in the on-line betting and information business seems to making any money. A share of Youbet stock is going for 58 cents these days. But those who predicted that the game would take a major shift, with more and more money coming in from on-line or at-home players, should remain patient. These services are too good not to succeed.