I can sum up Thistledown in one word: "disappointment".
I was excited to see what Gilbert's $88 million bought him, but truth be told it's not nearly as nice as it could have been. The gaming area is confusing to navigate, and the security people have a tendency to congregate around certain entrances just BSing and hanging out. The only time they hustle is when they get to hassle you about searching your wife's purse or checking her ID. There are no floor people, and waitresses are few and far between. The "VIP Lounge" is literally a couple of booths and a mini-bar. I've seen bigger bar setups in people's basements.
Diamond status doesn't get you much here. Aside from free 12oz bottles of Pepsi in the "VIP Lounge" it's pretty useless. Everyone gets free valet, and the valets here were a lot more courteous and careful with our car then the Valet Racing Team downtown. The wait for the car was minimal. I have also parked there several times without issues. As for free play and comps, I received a few coupons when it opened and haven't even gotten a postcard since (despite playing there several times).
It was nice to be able to take my kids to see a few live races, but the racing betting is also very confusing. There are mutuel machines downstairs, but on the rare occasion you win you have to take the ticket upstairs to a cashier window to cash it out. The cashiers in the slot area can't redeem racing tickets and vice versa. The upstairs area is old, outdated, and sad to see. Why couldn't they have fixed it up a little? I don't know.
Now that Hard Rock is open I have absolutely no reason to ever go to Thistledown again.