July, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Grayson Grass Challenge: Charity Handicapping Contest Returns To Horseshoe Indianapolis

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and Horseshoe Indianapolis announced Thursday that they will be partnering for the fourth consecutive year for the “Grayson Grass Challenge” to raise money for the foundation.

The Grayson Grass Challenge is a five-week handicapping contest starting Tuesday, August 1, whereby participants in the challenge submit selections on two specified races held each week at Horseshoe Indianapolis through Thursday, August 31. Each contestant will be given a $500 bankroll provided by Horseshoe Indianapolis from which participants can make win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, and superfecta wagers. At the end of the five weeks, all remaining bankrolls plus winnings from the contestants will go to Grayson.

“Since its inception three years ago, the Grayson Grass Challenge has been a highlight for Horseshoe Indianapolis by attracting engagement in our races and drawing attention to the crucial work Grayson does,” said Eric Halstrom, vice president and general manager of Racing for Horseshoe Indianapolis. “We are proud to sponsor this contest again and raise money for research that helps all horses.”

“The Grayson Grass Challenge continues to be a popular and entertaining competition, and the funds raised go directly to equine research,” said Jamie Haydon, president of Grayson. “We are appreciative of Horseshoe Indianapolis for working with us again and recognizing the importance of equine research.”

The field for the Grayson Grass Challenge will consist of the following handicappers: Brian Arrigoni, paddock analyst, Horseshoe Indianapolis (@MrBAnalyst); Ed DeRosa, vice president, Content & Product Development, Horse Racing Nation (@EJXD2); Scott Ehlers, handicapper, Daily Racing Form; Nick Luck, international racing broadcaster (@NickLuck); Rachel McLaughlin, racing analyst and production manager, Horseshoe Indianapolis (@RacingRachelM); Ellis Starr, national racing analyst for Equibase (@Ubercapper); Jenna Otten, Caesars Entertainment Racing analyst (@JennaBAOtten); and Daniel Tordjman, manager, Partnerships & Sponsorships, America's Best Racing (@DanonymousMan).

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation is traditionally the nation's leading source of private funding for equine medical research that benefits all breeds of horses. Since 1940, the foundation has provided more than $40 million to fund more than 426 projects at 45 universities in North America and overseas. Additional information about the foundation is available at grayson-jockeyclub.org.

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Mandatory Payout for Del Mar’s ‘Pick Six Weekend’

Del Mar will feature a “Pick Six Weekend” this Saturday and Sunday with a $1-million single ticket guarantee on Saturday's 11-race program and a “mandatory” payout in place for Sunday's planned 11-race card.

Saturday's “guarantee” means anyone correctly selecting the bet as a single-ticket winner would get the complete amount in the pot, then earn an additional check from Del Mar to raise the total earnings to $1 million. If there is no single ticket winner, all “jackpot” (single ticket) carryover money will go forward to Sunday.

Those with the most winners Sunday will be paid the amount in the pot divided by the total number of winners. There will be no carryovers.

No one was able to hit the popular exotic bet as a single ticket through the first three days of racing at the seaside track's summer meet, resulting in a $195,122 “jackpot” carryover into Thursday's fourth day of the meet.

The largest win prize in the history of the bet at Del Mar took place Aug. 1, 2004, when one bettor collected a reward of $2,100,017.

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91-Year-Old Owner ‘Poppy’ Gotwals Will Watch His First Two Thoroughbreds Race In Stakes Saturday At Monmouth

It wasn't until he was 89 years old that Bill “Poppy Gotwals, the co-founder and patriarch of Brook Ledge Horse Transportation, decided to buy his first horse. Unaccompanied by a bloodstock agent or vet, and acting entirely on his own, he went to the Keeneland 2021 November Sale and picked out a weanling for $55,000.

Five months later, again acting alone and approaching 90, he picked out another filly, this time for $20,000, at the Ocala Breeders' Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Saturday, the now 91-year-old Gotwals will be in attendance at Monmouth Park to watch both fillies go in separate stakes races on the 10-race card.

First Joke, a 2-year-old daughter of Practical Joke and the first horse that Gotwals ever purchased, will try to parlay a win her debut in Maiden Special Weight company at Delaware on June 3 into stakes success in the $100,000 Colleen Stakes.

That five-furlong turf dash for 2-year-old fillies serves as the supporting feature to the $250,000, Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, where Foggy Night – coming off a win in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks – faces nine other 3-year-old fillies.

Both horses are trained by Butch Reid and run under Gotwals' Pine Brook Farm colors.

“They look like they were both tremendous buys,” said Reid. “He went to those sales without a trainer or a vet and picked out both horses himself. You're talking about a guy who was almost 90 doing that by himself. I'm very happy to say he will be there Saturday to watch both fillies run.”

Foggy Night, a daughter of Khozan-Settling Seas by Stormy Atlantic, heads into the mile and a sixteenth Monmouth Oaks with three wins and four seconds from eight career starts. The $20,000 purchase price has proven to be a bargain, with the filly earning $278,550 so far.

“She's a very nice filly,” said Reid. “She has ended up being a godsend.”

Foggy Night made her seasonal debut at Parx on April 24, overcoming a troubled trip to get second, missing by just a neck. She won her next start by six lengths and then won by 1¾ lengths at odds of 14-1 in Delaware Oaks on July 1.

Paco Lopez, Monmouth Park's leading rider, has the mount again Saturday.

“I don't know if her last race was by far her best but it was certainly her best so far,” said Reid. “The race before that she was pretty good. And the race before that she had a terrible trip at the start. She was a quality 2-year-old for us so we gave her some time off and sent her to Ocala for the winter and she came back a much more mature horse, a fresher and sharper horse.

“All of her races this year have been good.”

With Grade 3 winner Promiseher America, Grade 2 winner Vegas Magic and Grade 1 placed Occult in the Monmouth Oaks field, Reid concedes “this is the toughest group she has faced so far.”

“But she won her last pretty easily and she seemed to have something left,” he said.

First Joke, meanwhile, will take on eight other freshman distaffers in the Colleen. Frankie Pennington has the call on that one.

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Del Mar: ‘Pick Six Weekend’ Offers Mandatory Payout On Sunday’s Card

Both afternoons of racing will start at 2 p.m. and the Pick Six will be based on the last six races on the days' cards.

Saturday's “guarantee” means anyone correctly selecting the bet as a single-ticket winner would get the complete amount in the pot (say possibly $500,000), then earn an additional check from Del Mar to raise the total earnings to $1 million. If there is no single ticket winner, all “jackpot” (single ticket) carryover money will go forward to Sunday.

Then Sunday's 'mandatory' day is just what it sounds like, which means those with the most winners that afternoon – be it six, five or whatever — will be paid the amount in the pot divided by the total number of winners. There will be no carryovers.

Nobody was able to hit the popular exotic bet as a single ticket through the first three days of racing at the seaside track's summer meet, resulting in a $195,122 “jackpot” carryover into Thursday's Day #4. There are eight races scheduled that afternoon and another eight races Friday prior to the “Pick Six Weekend.” If the wager is not “hit” with a single-ticket winner on those two upcoming afternoons, the bet could have a large “carry” with the possibility of much more to be added. Should the single ticket “jackpot” carry on to Sunday's mandatory payout, a potential final pool of between $2.5- to $3-million is a reasonable possibility.

The Pick Six may be wagered on for as little as 20¢. Normally, it pays out 70% of its total pool to those with the most winners with the remaining 30% being allocated to the single ticket “jackpot” pool and carried forward to the following day's race program.

The largest win prize in the history of the bet at Del Mar took place on August 1, 2004 when one bettor collected a reward of $2,100,017.

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