December, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Hot King Prawn, Waikuku Take Sha Tin Trials Ahead of HKIR

Hot King Prawn (Aus) (Denman {Aus}), recent winner of the G2 Jockey Club Sprint, and his John Size stablemate Waikuku (Ire) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) signaled their readiness for the Dec. 13 Longines Hong Kong International Races with victorious barrier trials at Sha Tin Dec. 4.

Waikuku, runner-up to the re-opposing Admire Mars (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Ire}) in last year’s G1 Hong Kong Mile and a latest third in the G1 FWD Champions Mile in April, came with a wide run from far back on the turn and kept on well to take the day’s opening trial over 1200 metres (video), while the naturally speedier Hot King Prawn sat handier to the pace, took over a furlong and a half from home and was under little urging to score in the morning’s third heat, with fellow Hong Kong Sprint aspirant Wishful Thinker (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}) third (video). Waikuku and Hot King Prawn were put through their paces by Joao Moreira, who has the call on both horses on international day.

Size famously sent out Glorious Days (Aus) (Hussonet) to win the 2013 Mile off a lengthy layoff and believes Waikuku can be in the finish yet again.

“He’s making some progress so go to the races and just hope he gets a sweet run,” the conditioner said. “He might grab some prizemoney. He’s first-up for a long time and he’s had some interruptions, but if you could get some prizemoney, I’m sure we’d be happy with that and we could proceed to the Stewards’ Cup.”

Waikuku defeated Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock {Aus}) in the 2020 Stewards’ Cup for a maiden Group 1 win.

Hot King Prawn, second to the now-retired ex-stablemate Beat The Clock (Aus) (Hinchinbrook {Aus}) in the Sprint, looks to be holding his form as he seeks a first top-level tally.

“He seems OK. He’s sort of improving all the time. He’s needed the racing to bring him on,” Size said. “He’s a fairly gross horse and you can’t push him, you’ve just got to wait for him and I think he looks OK to me.”

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NYRA’s Expanded TV Coverage Seen as Reason for Healthy Handle Numbers

Because of the coronavirus and the resulting cancellations, comparing 2020 handle numbers to 2019 numbers is an inexact science. But something clearly has gone right for NYRA this year. Entering December, the daily average all-sources handle number for NYRA races was $11,829,355, a 19.6% increase from this time last year when an average of $9,894,226 had been pushed through the windows.

For the year overall, NYRA’s all-sources handle is down 14.2%, a modest decrease when considering that the amount of races offered has dropped by 25.1%.

That the increase in daily average handle has coincided with a significant increase in the number of hours devoted to NYRA race coverage on the Fox Sports networks is probably not a coincidence.

“It would not be an overstatement to say we have no idea where we would have been without television this year,” said NYRA’s chief revenue officer and the president of NYRA Bets Tony Allevato. “Television played an important part in NYRA’s strategy long before I got here. They had always looked at the future as being television and distributing the content to a mass audience. But nobody could have foreseen (the pandemic) coming. Thank goodness we had in place what we had in place. Otherwise, I’m not sure what would have happened.”

NYRA first teamed with Fox Sports in 2016 when the network televised 80 hours of racing from Saratoga. The total hours Fox Sports devoted to racing continue to climb, with the network broadcasting 385 hours in 2019. Another major expansion was ushered in for 2020. A total of 775 hours of coverage will be shown. For much of the year, virtually every race run at the New York tracks could be seen on a Fox Sports network.

The show, America’s Day at the Races, will air for the final time in 2020 Saturday when the Aqueduct card is topped by the GI Cigar Mile The broadcasts are expected to resume in the spring of 2021.

“We were really able to get our programming out and in front of, in our opinion, a new audience,” Allevato said.

The 2020 Fox-NYRA agreement called for NYRA to pull its races off of TVG, a calculated risk considering how many people watch that network and make their wagers through its ADW platform.

“We did worry about that,” Allevato said. “TVG had been a great partner with the New York Racing Association for almost 20 years and, obviously, they do a lot to drive handle. We didn’t take that decision lightly. We just looked at the difference in the type of coverage we could get for New York racing on Fox and compared it to what we were getting on TVG and we thought this gave us the best opportunity to really push our content.”

It was not just the increase in the total number of hours. Last year, the extent of NYRA racing coverage on Fox Sports 1 was all of one hour, with the remaining coverage airing on Fox Sports 2. This year, Fox Sports 1 picked up 206 hours of NYRA coverage. According to Allevato, Fox Sports 1 is available in 80 million homes, while Fox Sports 2 is available in just 55 million homes.

“The viewership difference between the two channels is pretty big,” Allevato said. “We will see three to five times the viewership when we are on Fox Sports 1 versus Fox Sports 2. Our hardcore audience is still watching when we are FS2. but we are seeing that we are getting that causal sports fan to watch when we are on Fox Sports 1. There were days during the summer that our show on Fox Sports 1 drew more viewers than a major league baseball game on the same day. Right now, our ratings on Fox Sports 1 are comparable, or higher than, college basketball and major league soccer. That’s a pretty big accomplishment for horse racing, in my opinion.”

In an attempt to track whether or not the shows were creating new racing fans, NYRA offered Fox viewers incentives to sign up with the NYRA Bets ADW, including a free $20 bet when someone signed up for a new account. Allevato said that the number of people who made additional deposits and became at least semi-regular bettors after opening up an account to take advantage of the free offer exceeded expectations.

It wasn’t the hardcore player or the existing fan that already was betting a lot that we were getting,” he said. “We were getting new people. Those types of customers are how we can grow this sport.”

To acquire 800 hours of air time on a national network and to put together the shows is not inexpensive, especially when you consider that NYRA produced the shows. Allevato said that when it comes to “America’s Day at the Races,” NYRA looks at more than the bottom line.

“One of the great things about NYRA is that NYRA is a not-for-profit,” he said. “So, when you look at what the team is trying to do here it’s not a short play, it’s a long game for us., It’s really about making sure that horse racing in New York succeeds and we also believe that for horse racing to be successful in New York we need horse racing to be strong across the country. Sometimes some of the decisions we make short term probably don’t pencil. But we are not about the short term, we are all about the long term. While we have not lost money on the shows–and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our sponsors, America’s Best Racing, Claiborne and Runhappy–it is certainly not a lucrative short-term proposition for us. It is something we do because we feel it is right thing for NYRA and right thing for the sport.”

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How Much Do Trainers Really Make?

Depending on where you sit, racing trainers either appear to be poor as church mice or living in luxury. The Racing Post's Stuart Riley embarked on a project earlier this year to learn more about what British trainers can actually expect to take home each month. As it turns out, there is no one solid answer that applies to all trainers and a lot of it comes down to their training fees.

There are four main categories of costs that trainers incur. The first, and most costly, is staff, which Riley estimates accounts for more than 40% of running costs for most trainers in the UK. The other three categories include variables such as feed, hay, bedding and medication; fixed overheads such as rent or mortgage repayments; and incidentals.

“I provide free accommodation and pay my lads £500 ($676.65) a week,” A Newmarket trainer said to Riley. “They start at 6am and finish at 11.20am. They come back for an hour and three-quarters in the afternoon and are done in the yard by 6pm. I've got 30 horses and six full-time staff, the rest are part-timers. It's £20 ($27.07) a lot for a good part-time rider, so if they do three lots that's £60 ($81.20).”

that trainer's estimated monthly costs for his 30-horse yard are £35,000 ($47,365.47), which doesn't account for travel or extra staffing costs to races.

The four main ways a trainer makes money are prize money shares, training fees, buying and selling horses, and transportation.

Many people think that most of a trainer's earnings comes from the prize money since race purses are known for getting into the millions, but that's not the reality for most trainers. Most trainers in the UK get a little less than 10% of winning prize money and only a little under 6% of placing prize money in a country where most races have purses closer to five figures. This amount alone would not be enough to keep an operation afloat.

There are trainers who can make a decent amount of their income from buying and selling horses as well as having a small transportation business on the side, but Riley found the biggest part of a trainer's bottom line is their training fees. These can range anywhere from £30 ($40.60) a day per horse up to £90 ($121.80), but the most trainers do not advertise what they charge. For a 30-horse yard, A trainer charging £40 ($54.13) a day, would make a £8,000 ($10,826.39) monthly profit, but on ly on the cost of basic daily operations – racing costs and incidentals eat into that quickly.

Meet Shortened By Nearly One Third, Woodbine Handle Drops Only 10.5 Percent

Woodbine Entertainment announced Friday that the shortened 2020 Thoroughbred meet produced an all-sources handle of $462,041,545.76, down more than $50 million compared to 2019 ($516,189,419.44).

The 2020 Thoroughbred meet at Woodbine Racetrack included 96 race days as a result of starting late and finishing early. The COVID-19 pandemic postponed the start of the season from April 18 until June 6 and forced it to finish prematurely on Nov. 22, instead of Dec. 13 as scheduled. The shortened season included 35 less race days and 305 less races than in 2019.

“Like many businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our business and the entire horse racing industry in Ontario,” said Jim Lawson, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. “However, I am very proud of how we responded and look forward to working with all of our stakeholders as we continue to manage the ongoing impacts caused by the pandemic.”

The shortened season, which had 28 percent less race dates than scheduled (133 race days were originally scheduled), was a primary contributor to a 10.5 percent decrease in all-sources handle. The closure of Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park to the public, and the closure of Woodbine Entertainment's Champions' Teletheatre Network, were also significant contributors to the decrease in handle.

“The fact that we were able to limit the decrease in handle to 10.5 percent despite losing nearly a third of our scheduled race dates speaks to the strength of our Thoroughbred racing product and our extensive efforts and focus on our wagering business in response to the pandemic,” said Lawson.

In Woodbine Entertainment's Home Market Area, wagering on Woodbine Thoroughbred racing was $54,810,867.06, down 41 percent compared to last year. In 2019, Woodbine Racetrack contributed $28 million to the all-sources handle on Thoroughbred racing. This year, Woodbine Racetrack only contributed $124,000 to the overall handle due to being closed to the public for most of the year.

However, wagering on Woodbine Thoroughbred racing continued to be strong in Foreign Markets, generating $391,395,974.30 in all-sources handle, which is down less than three percent, despite running 27 percent fewer race cards.

Handle per race was also strong at $509,417.36, up 19.6 percent year over year.

Field size per race was 8.9, up from 8.2 the year prior. The eight and a half percent growth in field size was believed to be a result of the postponed start.

“With the start of the season being postponed more than a month, this allowed more horses to be ready for the start of the season which resulted in increased field sizes,” said Lawson. “While any growth in field size is always encouraging, it continues to be a focus for us as it is impacting our ability to maximize our wagering handle and support the purse payments.”

Although The 161st Queen's Plate was not able to welcome spectators this year, it generated the third highest handle in its history. The 13-race card generated a total of $14,532,678, including $3,494,496 on The Queen's Plate race that saw one-eyed Mighty Heart live up to his name, defeating his 13 rivals after going off at 13-1.

“Overall, we will reflect back on this season as a year of overcoming many challenges that will only strengthen and benefit our industry moving forward,” said Lawson.

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