July, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Assiniboia Downs Requests Review of Race

The Manitoba Jockey Club, operator of Assiniboia Downs Racetrack, has requested that its provincial regulator conduct a review of the fifth race on the track's July 20 card. Jockey Sheldon Chickeness, aboard King Witt (Five Demon Bag), turned for home some five lengths in front in the maiden-claiming event before appearing to pull his mount up. Once passed by the majority of the field, King Witt re-rallied to ultimately finish second.

“The unusual nature of the stretch drive from race five last night has caused us to reach out and make this request,” the club's CEO Darren Dunn said in a press release Thursday. “When I watched the race in real time, my first reaction was that the jockey was pulling the horse up due to a potential injury. When the jockey re-engaged the horse after the balance of the field caught up and then began to aggressively ride the horse to the finish line, the sudden change was very concerning.

“Though in our opinion there would not have been any adjustment to the ultimate order of finish in the race, due to a lack of any interference with any other horses, the fact that there was no inquiry posted by the stewards created great concern with the public from a perception standpoint. As such, we felt we needed to act and make this formal request.

“To be clear, we have full confidence in our regulator and stewards and value the significant experience they bring to our industry. We trust that they may already be reviewing this situation on their own. However, in light of what we saw last night as an operator and the significant feedback we have received, we felt an obligation on behalf of our customers and the ASD Live brand to crystallize our position of concern on this very important matter.

“While we can't instruct or direct our regulator on how to act on this matter, our request is for a formal review and the issuance of a statement on their findings that we can share with the public.”

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750,000gns Book 1 Yearling Set For Newmarket Debut

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Saturday's Observations features a Godolphin newcomer from Tattersalls October Book 1.

13.27 Newmarket, Nov, £8,000, 2yo, 7fT
Charlie Appleby incumbent HIGHBANK (IRE) (Kingman {Ire}), one of two Godolphin contenders for the trainer, was knocked down for 750,000gns at last year's Tattersalls October Book 1 sale and faces seven rivals in this first go. The April-foaled bay is a half-brother to Listed Prix Pelleas winner Bay Of Poets (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

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High Temperatures: Laurel Pushes Back Saturday Post, Colonial Cancels Monday Card

High temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic region continue to pose challenges for racing. Laurel Park has changed it's Saturday post time and canceled Sunday's card, while Colonial Downs has canceled Monday's races.

Press releases from each track are below:

Maryland Jockey Club

With high temperatures and humidity in the forecast, and in the best interests of its horses, horsemen and fans, the Maryland Jockey Club has pushed back post time for Saturday's live 10-race program at Laurel Park.

The first race, a 5 ½-furlong claiming sprint for maiden fillies ages 3, 4 and 5 scheduled on the All Along turf course, will go off at 1:50 p.m. rather than the usual 12:40 p.m. starting time during the 37-day summer meet.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for abundant sunshine and a high of 95 degrees Saturday, and near-record temperatures approaching 98 degrees Sunday.

Laurel previously had its scheduled Sunday program moved to Thursday, July 28.

Colonial Downs

The safety of our equine and human athletes is always a top priority at Colonial Downs. With excessive temperatures and heat indexes predicted, live racing on Monday, July 25 has been cancelled.

Monday's featured stakes —- the $150,000 Colonial Cup at 1 1/2 turf miles —- will now be run on Wednesday July 27 as originally drawn.

Live racing resumes on Tuesday July 26 at 1:45 PM.

The post High Temperatures: Laurel Pushes Back Saturday Post, Colonial Cancels Monday Card appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Late Surface Switch, Delayed Announcement Befuddles Saratoga Pick 5 Players

In the days when all bets were made on paper pari-mutuel tickets, botched communications like those that occurred on Thursday at Saratoga race course would have led to a stooper's paradise.

As it was many horseplayers were confused or angered about a series of decisions and announcements affecting Thursday's early Pick 5.

With just two minutes to post before Thursday's first race, the opening leg of the Pick 5, the New York Racing Association announced that the third race, a conditioned claiming event originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf, would be moved to the main track and be run at one mile.

That gave horseplayers – both on-track and those playing at other facilities or via their advance-deposit wagering accounts – little time to adjust their tickets.

That third race scratched down to five horses and was won by Al's Prince, the fourth wagering choice. Horseplayers with winners in the first two legs but who did not include Al's Prince assumed they were not alive to the bet and, if they were holding paper tickets, could be expected to discard them after that race.

However, some 30 minutes after the third race was run, NYRA announced the race would be an “all,” meaning every ticket had the third race winner regardless of who was picked on their ticket.

In the old days, the stoopers would have picked up every ticket on the grounds or started going through trash cans in a frenzy.

Now, with most people wagering on their phones, there are far fewer discarded paper tickets, even at a track like Saratoga that has healthy on-track business.

What happened?

“The stewards determined that the late surface changes announcement did not sufficiently inform the betting public,” Patrick McKenna, vice president of communications for NYRA, said via text message. “As a result, R3 was made an 'all' for purposes of the early P5.”

McKenna said the decision to make it an “all” race was done before the third race but that the announcement was late due to a “confluence of circumstances, most notably an unexpected .43″ of rain that came just prior to R1.”

The $0.50 early Pick 5 (which essentially became a Pick 4) paid $328 and handled $913,846. While making the third race an “all” led to more winning tickets, those who correctly had Al's Prince got a much lower payout than they would have received if the stewards did not make it an “all” race.

Many took to Twitter to express their frustration with the sequence of events.

THIRTY FIVE MINUTES AFTER race 3 is run the stewards decide that race 3 is an ALL-WIN in the early pick-5 due to the late surface change.

— David Grening (@DRFGrening) July 21, 2022

Gotta call a spade a spade. Taking a race that's part of the P5 sequence off the turf with 2 MTP for Race 1 is pretty unfair to bettors.

— David Aragona (@HorseToWatch) July 21, 2022

This is messy. Here are the “surface transfer” rules for NYRA P5. The switch was known before the sequence starts. How can they decide to ignore that primary provision? Image of the rule in thread https://t.co/SzGzSSQTBd

— Pat Cummings (@PatCummingsTIF) July 21, 2022

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