Month: August 2022

Our Flash Drive Faces Brown-Trained Trio In Ballston Spa

Live Oak Plantation's Florida homebred Our Flash Drive will attempt to keep her good form intact while striving for a third career graded stakes victory in Saturday's 34th running of the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa going 1 1/16 miles for older fillies and mares over the Mellon turf at Saratoga Race Course.

A victory would provide Live Oak Plantation, owned by Charlotte Weber, with its third Ballston Spa victress after winning with Dynaslew [2010] and My Typhoon [2006] – a half-sister to Group 1 winners and influential sires Galileo and Sea the Stars.

Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper captured the Fasig-Tipton De La Rose on August 7 at Saratoga last out. Never off the board in four starts this year, Our Flash Drive earned a runner-up placing in the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 14 at Belmont Park and was third in the Grade 2 Nassau on July 2 at Woodbine.

In the De La Rose, Our Flash Drive stalked the pace from the outside in fourth and remained in the clear to fend off a late inside rally from Plum Ali to win by one length and produce a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I thought her last race was big,” Casse said. “Obviously, this is going to be a tougher race for her, but she's training well, she likes it here and we figured we'd give it a shot.”

During her sophomore campaign, Our Flash Drive became a dual surface Grade 3 winner at Woodbine when capturing the Selene over the Tapeta last July and the Ontario Colleen on the turf the following month.

A third-out maiden winner in her 3-year-old debut last June going seven furlongs over Woodbine's Tapeta, Our Flash Drive has matured according to Casse. He said the development mimics that of multiple Grade 1-winner Got Stormy, who defeated colts in two non-consecutive runnings of the Grade 1 Fourstardave at the Spa.

“She's just gotten much better. At two, she was kind of a mental mess. At three, she was better but still not great. But now at four, she's come a long way,” Casse said. “Got Stormy had the same issue. She got better mentally, and when she did it made her a better horse. Not to suggest she's as good at her, but they both got better mentally, and it helped them both.”

Dylan Davis, the pilot in 4-of-11 starts, will ride from post 3.

Klaravich Stables' multiple graded stakes winner Technical Analysis will be in pursuit of her third career graded stakes victory.

Technical Analysis, trained by six-time Ballston Spa winner Chad Brown, captured last year's Grade 3 Lake George and Grade 2 Lake Placid at Saratoga. An in-hand winner of the Grade 3 Gallorette on May 21 at Pimlico, the 4-year-old daughter of Kingman was a last-out second behind stablemate In Italian, who led a Brown-trained superfecta in the Grade 1 Diana on July 16 at the Spa.

Technical Analysis, purchased for just over $250,000 at the 2019 Tattersalls October Sale, brags the highest bankroll in the field with earnings of $608,200 and a consistent 10-5-3-1 record.

Jose Ortiz, the pilot in all five of her career victories, will be aboard from post 5.

Brown will also saddle two other Ballston Spa aspirants in graded stakes winners Lemista [post 2, Flavien Prat] and Fluffy Socks [post 4, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], who ran one-two in the Grade 3 Matchmaker on July 23 at Monmouth Park last out.

A Head of Plains Partners homebred, Fluffy Socks is in search of her first trip to the winner's circle since capturing last year's Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont Park. The 4-year-old Slumber filly has been consistent this year, recording narrow runner-up finishes in the Matchmaker as well as the Grade 3 Modesty on May 6 at Churchill Downs, finishing a half-length behind stable mate Bleecker Street.

Peter Brant's Lemista earned her first stateside graded stakes victory in the Matchmaker last out. During her European campaign with Irish conditioner Ger Lyons, the 5-year-old Raven's Pass mare captured the Group 3 Lodge Park in March 2020 at Naas and the Group 2 Kilboy Estates in July 2020 at The Curragh.

Lemista earned her lone Grade 1 placing in last August's Beverly D. at Arlington Park.

Woodford Racing and Team D's High Opinion will be out for redemption following a narrow defeat to Viadera in last year's Ballston Spa for trainer Tony Dutrow. The 5-year-old Lemon Drop Kid mare earned her first stakes victory two starts back when shipping to Parx Racing for the June 14 Neshaminy Match Series, which she won by three-quarters of a length.

High Opinion earned graded stakes black type when second in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel in October at Belmont and third in the Grade 3 Beaugay in May.

“She's a stakes winner and has been graded stakes-placed several times, so at this point the only other accomplishment she can make is to be a graded stakes winner,” said Dutrow. “She ran very well in the Ballston Spa last year and she's never been better so we're taking another try at it.”

High Opinion arrives off a fourth-place finish at allowance optional claiming level on July 27 at Saratoga, where she finished three lengths back as the lukewarm favorite.

“I'm not troubled by that race. She's doing fantastic and we're looking forward to Saturday,” Dutrow said.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez picks up the mount from post 1.

Carded as Race 4 on Saturday's action-packed program, the Ballston Spa kicks off graded stakes action on Runhappy Travers Day, which features the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers – the Spa's marquee event – as well as the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, the Grade 1, $600,000 Forego, the Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign, and the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Invitational, which is a “Win And You're In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf. First post on the 13-race card is 11:35 a.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present daily coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

The post Our Flash Drive Faces Brown-Trained Trio In Ballston Spa appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Multiple Moving Parts in Monarch, AZ Simulcasting Morass

For over two years, the simulcasting signal from 1/ST-operated racetracks, along with several others around the country, has been missing in Arizona–the residual fall-out from a long-simmering dispute between the owners of Arizona Downs and the arm of The Stronach Group (TSG) tasked with distributing the company's signal.

In both California and Arizona, stakeholders argue that this simulcasting blackout has hit both the bettors and the industry–by how much appears open to debate.

A recent analysis by the Arizona Horseman's Benevolent & Protective Association (AZHBPA) of the projected lost revenue to California purses between 2020 and 2021 pinned the number at more than $1,1 million, and another nearly $900,000 in lost track commissions.

The estimated loss to Turf Paradise alone between the years 2021 and 2022 amounts to more than $1 million, said Vince Francia, general manager of Turf Paradise. For Arizona Downs, however, the impact has been “negligible,” say track operators.

Scott Daruty, president of TSG's Monarch Content Management, also downplays the impact of the hamstrung signal to Monarch's bottom-line, saying that the resulting lost fees is only a fraction of Monarch's total business. He also disputes the AZHBPA's projected losses to the California purse account.

Monarch's umbrella extends over several California tracks–including Santa Anita Park, Del Mar, Golden Gate Fields and Sonoma County Fair–as well as Turf Paradise, Lone Star Park, Gulfstream Park, Laurel Park, Pimlico, Rosecroft Raceway, Monmouth Park, and Meadowlands.

Against the backdrop of this ongoing dispute, there are indications that 1/ST is eyeing potential inroads into the Arizona marketplace.

Within recent months, representatives of 1/ST have visited Turf Paradise with the intention of possibly purchasing the facility, said Francia. AZHBPA executive director, Leroy Gessman, said that 1/ST recently did the same at Arizona Downs.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, 1/ST has made a thus far unsuccessful bid to purchase Arizona Downs.

Daruty declined to comment whether 1/ST has indeed made any formal bid to purchase Arizona Downs but called the Arizona marketplace “one that appears to have potential.”

 

 “At that point, you're negotiating with a terrorist, right?”

The genesis of this rather convoluted simulcasting dispute goes back years.

In summary, when Arizona Downs reopened for live racing in 2019, Monarch sent its signal to the track itself but not to the track's network of Off-Track Betting parlors (OTB), and at a higher rate than its Arizonan neighbor, Turf Paradise.

In contrast, Monarch distributed its signal to Turf Paradise and its network of some 60 OTB's.

When asked about the contracting disparities between both Arizonan tracks, Daruty said at the time that Arizona Downs had been “consistently delinquent in its payments to our racetracks.”

In an effort to resolve industry stakeholder disgruntlement, the state passed in 2019 a law requiring all simulcast providers that send their races into Arizona to offer the products uniformly among all tracks and all their OTBs.

The following January, the Arizona Racing Commission passed a motion requiring the three racetracks in the state–Turf Paradise, Arizona Downs and Rillito Park–to comply with that law.

The commission also sent a letter to Monarch to “stop sending any simulcast signals to Arizona permittees racetracks and/or their additional wagering facilities.”

To all intents and purposes and despite various legal maneuverings in the interim, that state of affairs has remained, and Monarch has not beamed its signal into Arizona since.

At the start of Santa Anita's most recent winter meet, Monarch approached the operators of Arizona Downs with an offer of all Monarch content to the entire Arizona marketplace, including to Arizona Downs' network of OTBs, said Daruty.

According to Daruty, the operators of Arizona Downs made several unilateral modifications to the contract which were unacceptable. They included reducing the fees paid to Monarch tracks below the previously contracted rate between them, and a requirement for Monarch to “pre-approve” new simulcast locations without the ability to conduct legal and regulatory due diligence, said Daruty.

“At that point, you're negotiating with a terrorist, right?” said Daruty, once again raising Arizona Downs' reported history of delinquent payments.

“We can't abandon our principles and abandon our reasoned business approach to distributing our signals,” Daruty added.

Detailing a back-and-forth process of negotiations, Tom Auther, an Arizona Downs owner and partner, said that Monarch initially offered Arizona Downs a contract with non co-mingled pools–what he described as an immediate non-starter–and then an offer charging the track overall as much as twice what Turf Paradise was paying.

Monarch subsequently declined Arizona Downs' counter-offer, which was to pay Monarch 20% more in fees than Turf Paradise, said Auther.

“Twenty percent's still a lot of money,” Auther said. “If we paid what they want us to pay, the horsemen would not approve it because there'd be no money left–only three percent left in horse purses.”

When asked about Arizona Downs' reported history of defaults, Auther said that they had offered Monarch to escrow an adequate amount of money to offset the anticipated costs. “They refused it,” said Auther.

In an effort to understand the impact from the nixed signal into Arizona on California's horsemen, the Arizona HBPA contracted the firm Global Racing Solutions–founded and operated by Pat Cummings–to run the numbers.

According to GRS' calculations, California horsemen lost $1,115,000 in purse contributions between 2020 and 2021, and California track operators missed more than $877,000 in commissions during that same period.

To put that into perspective, California's purse total in 2021 was some $118 million.

TDN reached out to Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), who declined to comment.

As for Monarch, when they last ran the numbers, “the host fees that the Monarch tracks received out of the state of Arizona were less than one percent of the total host fees received by the Monarch tracks,” Daruty said. “It just doesn't move the needle for us.”

Daruty also said that the AZHBPA's projected California purse loss numbers were over-estimated, though added that Monarch hadn't run their own calculations.

And what of the potential impacts on the Arizona tracks? Again, there are mixed-signals.

Between 2021 and 2022, Turf Paradise lost an estimated $1,011,317 due to the missing Monarch signal, the estimated loss to the purse account was $944,915, and the estimated loss to the Regulatory Wagering Assessment (RWA)–a wagering tax used to fund the state racing department–was $61,139, according to Francia's calculations.

Auther, however, shared handle numbers with the TDN–taken, he said, from the state commission's website–comparing the year 2021 with 2018, when Turf Paradise received the Monarch signal.

According to Author's numbers, Turf Paradise lost in 2021 more than $8 million in overall handle compared to 2018. Turf Paradise operated in 2021 with 13 fewer OTBs than in 2018, however, and those OTBs were closed for 1038 days more than in 2018, according to Auther's calculations.

Auther also estimated that the annual hit to Arizona Downs' business without Monarch has been negligible. “It exists,” said Auther, about the loss. Horseplayers, however, have simply adjusted their betting patterns to other available options, he said, adding that the loss of the Monarch product to Arizona Downs was one of quality rather than numbers.

More broadly, Arizona HBPA president Bob Hutton broached what he sees as some of the more deeply felt impacts to the state's racing industry.

“With the state of racing the way it is, when we're trying to get fans to the sport, why is this good?” said Hutton, critical of Monarch's part in the negotiations. “This is costing horsemen all over the country money, and why? I don't get it.”

Turf Paradise, it should be noted, has been for sale since at least 2020.

According to Francia, 1/ST representatives recently toured the track with a potential eye to purchase the facility. “They have not made an offer but they have looked at the track,” he said.

According to Gessman, representatives from 1/ST have similarly toured Arizona Downs, adding that he was present at the visit.

According to two sources who wished to remain anonymous, 1/ST made the owners of Arizona Downs an offer for the facility which was subsequently declined.

Both Auther and Daruty refused to comment on any possible offer that 1/ST has made for Arizona Downs.

Though calling the Arizona marketplace one with potential, Daruty added that “I think all the infighting and frankly some of the regulatory dysfunction has just left it in a place that's not healthy.”

The post Multiple Moving Parts in Monarch, AZ Simulcasting Morass appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Spot the good poker player

My opinion of what makes a player a good player has changed over the past few years as my game has matured. It is very important for a new poker player to realize what makes a good poker player and more importantly, how to spot him. If you can spot the good player, you will have an advantage over him.

Signs of a good poker player:

1) He Plays Tight: Its the first sign that someone is educated about the starting hands of poker. Because I play so much shorthanded, I think that playing too tight is a problem for some players, especially the ones that don’t use the image they have created with their tight play. I play some shorthanded players who have little chance of winning at all due to this single problem. So what used to be a key to winning 10 handed hold em is now the reason they have no chance of winning shorthanded. …Interesting point to ponder…

2) He plays aggressive: You just can’t be successful in poker without being selectively aggressive. This is even more true shorthanded. When he’s in a pot, he bets it aggressively. Tight to get into the pot, aggressive once he is in the pot.

3) Varies his speed of play: Some decisions take longer than others. I’m not talking about the 10 table poker players who might have just happened upon that table being up when its his turn to act. I’m talking about the people that are playing the table…and are THINKING. He must adjust his play and think of every move. Poker is a lot like chess in this way.

4) He plays the same hands differently: This goes hand in hand with point number three, he not only varies the speed of his play but the manner in which he plays it. By this I mean the player is not the guy 6 handed who will open raise any ace from any position. If the blinds are tight, fine; do it. If the whole table is tight, fine, do it. But many players short-handed raise any ace from any position and this is a mistake. So sometimes it is correct to raise A7o utg, and most of the time it is not.

5) He folds his blinds: Sounds odd; but 30% of the players I play defend their blind 100% of the time. It’s a basic aspect of Poker that one must realize. The chips are just tools to get you to your goal, which is more chips. You must use the tools to your maximum advantage and never waste chips.

If you can realize these five signs of a good poker player, you will be a stronger player because of it and you will be able to make appropriate moves against him. Remember, poker is a game of skill and some people are better than others. Spot those good players and adjust your play accordingly.

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