aqueduct | Horse Racing Free Tips

Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Action From Aqueduct, Keeneland, Oaklawn

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday, April 17 in partnership with Keeneland Race Course and Oaklawn Park.

Live coverage will be available with America's Day at the Races on FOX Sports. Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Commencing the sequence is Race 7 at Keeneland [4:24 p.m.] where a field of ten fillies and mares go 5 ½ furlongs over the turf. Trainer Wesley Ward sends out Hat Creek Racing's Chili Petin, who makes her first start since June 21 when fifth in the Lady Shipman at Belmont Park. Lothenbach Stables' Ready for Change will see turf for the first time after two triumphs in off-the-turf events at Fair Grounds for trainer Neil Pessin.

Action shifts to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the second leg of the sequence, where ten 3-year-olds and upward travel six furlongs for an allowance optional claiming tilt. Brereton Jones' Kadri has placed in his last three starts over the Arkansas oval and seeks his first triumph since last September at Churchill Downs, where he defeated eventual Grade 1-winner Idol. The race has a scheduled post time of 4:29 p.m. and will run as Oaklawn's seventh race.

The middle leg will see graded stakes action for the Grade 3, $200,000 Elkhorn going twelve furlongs over the turf. Always strongly represented with talented turf stock, trainer Mike Maker sends out three contenders, two of which are for Three Diamonds Farm. Breaking from the rail, Cross Border seeks his first triumph since the Grade 2 Bowling Green in July at Saratoga, while fellow Three Diamonds Farm color-bearer Tide of the Sea vies for his second graded stakes victory after capturing the Grade 2 W.L. McKnight on January 23 at Gulfstream Park. Maker also will saddle six-time winner Monarchs Glen. Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey will saddle North Dakota, a graded stakes-winning half-brother to prolific stallion War Front. The 5-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro notched graded stakes glory two starts back in the Grade 3 Red Smith at the Big A. Carded as Race 9, the Elkhorn will go off at 5:30 p.m.

Ten minutes later, Aqueduct hosts the penultimate leg of the sequence [Race 9, 5:40 p.m.], where a dozen New York-bred fillies and mares, plus four also-eligible entrants, assemble seeking a first career win for a $40,000 tag over the outer turf course. Three Diamonds Farm's Esotica, bred by Southern Equine Stables, receives a drop in class after finishing fourth to stakes-placed Summer Brew on March 20 over the Big A main track.

The curtains close on the sequence with the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap, where red-hot Silver State seeks five consecutive wins for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing, Silver State was a two-time allowance winner going seven furlongs in the fall before capturing the Fifth Season and Essex at Oaklawn Park in his most recent pair of starts. Trainer John Shirreffs will ship C R K Racing's Express Train from Southern California after finishing second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6. The bay son of Union Rags was second in the Grade 1 Malibu to Charlatan before scoring at graded stakes level in the Grade 2 San Pasqual on January 30 where he registered a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure. Carded as Race 9, the Oaklawn Handicap is scheduled to go off at 5:49 p.m.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, April 15:
Leg A: Keeneland-Race 7 (4:24 pm)
Leg B: Oaklawn Park-Race 7 (4:29 pm)
Leg C: Keeneland- Race 9 (5:30 pm)
Leg D: Aqueduct-Race 9 (5:40 pm)
Leg E: Oaklawn Park-Race 9 (5:49 pm)

The post Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Action From Aqueduct, Keeneland, Oaklawn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

America’s Day At The Races Telecast To Feature Apple Blossom Showdown, Closing Weekend At Aqueduct

America's Day at the Races, the acclaimed national telecast produced by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) in partnership with FOX Sports, will air 19.5 hours of coverage Thursday through Sunday, with stakes action from Oaklawn Park and Aqueduct Racetrack.

Presented by America's Best Racing and Claiborne Farm, America's Day at the Races will broadcast live racing action from the Hot Springs, Arkansas oval featuring a battle between champions Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap as well as Closing Weekend of the 11-day spring meet at the Big A.

Broadcast schedule for America's Day at the Races (all times Eastern):

Thursday, April 15
FS2: 1 – 6:30 p.m.

Friday, April 16
FS2: 1 – 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 17
FS2: 5 – 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 18
FS2: 1 – 2:30 p.m.
FS1: 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.
FS2: 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Stakes action from Oaklawn kicks off on Friday, April 16 with a pair of $150,000 stakes for horses bred in Arkansas, including the Rainbow for sophomore sprinters in Race 6 at 5:09 p.m. ET and the Rainbow Miss for sophomore fillies in Race 9 at 6:10 p.m. ET.

Saturday's Oaklawn card will see Silver State seek his fifth consecutive win when he takes on a field of eight in the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap at nine furlongs for older horses in Race 9 at 5:49 p.m. Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Silver State launched his win streak in Kentucky with an allowance win in October at Keeneland ahead of an optional-claiming score at Churchill Downs a month later. He enters off two wins at Oaklawn in the Fifth Season in January and the Essex Handicap last out on March 13.

The 1 1/16-mile Apple Blossom for older fillies and mares in Race 11 at 7:09 p.m. offers a heavyweight battle as the reigning champion older dirt female Monomoy Girl takes on last year's champion 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver.

Trained by Brad Cox and owned by My Racehorse Stable, Spendthrift Farm and Madaket Stables, Monomoy Girl has banked more than $4.5 million in earnings from a record of 14 wins in 16 starts. A winner of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff in 2018 and 2020, Monomoy Girl captured the Grade 3 Bayakoa in her seasonal debut on February 28 in the slop at Oaklawn. Florent Geroux has the call aboard Monomoy Girl from the outermost post 6.

Peter J. Callahan's Swiss Skydiver, trained by Kenny McPeek, boasts a record of 13-7-3-1 with purse earnings in excess of $2 million. The Daredevil chestnut captured the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga in August ahead of a runner-up effort to Shedaresthedevil in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Swiss Skydiver exited that effort to best the boys in the Grade 1 Preakness before ending a five-win campaign with an off-the-board effort in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She launched her 4-year-old season with a score in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on March 13 at Santa Anita Park. Robby Albarado retains the mount from post 2.

The compact 11-day Big A spring meet comes to a close this weekend. Saturday's action includes the $100,000 Woodhaven at 1 1/16-miles on turf for sophomores in Race 8 at 5:19 p.m.

On Sunday, the $100,000 Memories of Silver will feature sophomore fillies trying 1 1/16-miles on the turf, while the $200,000 NYSSS Park Avenue will feature eligible New York-sired sophomore fillies sprinting 6 1/2-furlongs.

America's Day at the Races is also broadcast on NYRA's YouTube channel which boasts more than 65,000 subscribers. Fans can subscribe to NYRA's channel and set a reminder to watch the show on YouTube Live. NYRA's YouTube channel also hosts a plethora of race replays, special features, America's Day at the Races replays and more.

Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

The post America’s Day At The Races Telecast To Feature Apple Blossom Showdown, Closing Weekend At Aqueduct appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Between The Hedges: Where Do Purses Come From?

The following is the sixth edition of a bi-weekly series entitled Between The Hedges, a column penned by Joe Longo, NYRA General Manager of Content Services. The series will revolve around the business of betting focusing on trending wagering topics and statistics. Send your questions for Between The Hedges to betweenthehedges@nyrainc.com.

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) recently released its stakes schedule for the Belmont Spring/Summer meet featuring 59 stakes races worth $16.95 million in purse money.

Pari-mutuel wagering funds the majority of the NYRA purse account. In addition to pari-mutuel wagering, the remainder of the NYRA purse account is funded through VLT revenues generated by casinos located in downstate New York, most notably at Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct.

Both avenues were negatively impacted by COVID-19, but did you know that racetracks and their horsemen earn more from a wager placed on track or via NYRA Bets?

For example, if a customer is at Aqueduct and bets on a race from Aqueduct, approximately six percent of that wager goes to the purse account. If that on-track/NYRA Bets customer decides to wager on non-NYRA content, approximately five percent goes to the purse account.

With racing being conducted without spectators and off-track betting facilities closed during the pandemic, the high margin on-track wagering channel was significantly hampered.

By contrast, the shift from traditional bricks and mortar wagering to an online wagering platform or account deposit wagering (ADW) format has been expedited by the pandemic. Most horseplayers have multiple ADW accounts, so let's revisit the above example and demonstrate what happens when a customer wagers using an ADW that is not named NYRA Bets.

When this customer places a wager on Aqueduct, instead of the horsemen getting six percent to their purse account, they now get half of the host fee charged for the NYRA content. If that ADW is contractually obligated to pay 8 percent for the NYRA content, that means half or 4 percent goes to the purse account.

There is an additional tax or source market fee that an out of state ADW provider must pay for doing business in New York, but the amount that actually goes to NYRA's purses is about 0.5 percent. The same wager on the same content but different channel results in our horsemen earning 25 percent less in purse money.

If that same customer now wagers on content from a non-NYRA track, our horsemen earn the 0.5 percent from the source market fee instead of the 5 percent that would be made on track or via NYRA Bets. That is a reduction of 90 percent to the purse account.

The NYRA content is the best in the country so we can command a higher host fee than most. But what happens when you are a smaller track with less of a demand for their product?

Recent articles have brought to light that several smaller tracks, who realized a windfall in handle during the pandemic when other tracks were shut down, saw only marginal increases to their bottom line along with their purse accounts.

One such track has gone on record saying they were only getting a host fee of 3 percent. Splitting that with horsemen, 1.5 percent goes to their purse account. To maintain a daily purse level of $100,000 assuming all of it is funded through handle, they would have to average about $7 million in handle per day. How many small tracks do you know of that average $7 million per day?

As a steward of the industry, NYRA's mission is to ensure racing prospers in the state of New York and across our industry as a whole. So, support your local track.

Available in 30 states, NYRA Bets is a legal, US-based, regulated, and licensed provider of horse race wagering. Every wager on the NYRA Bets platform is an investment in New York racing and will ensure that we can continue to put on the best show in the country.

The post Between The Hedges: Where Do Purses Come From? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Jose Ortiz Bags Five Winners From Six Mounts At Aqueduct

Jockey Jose Ortiz won with 5-of-6 mounts on Sunday's nine-race card at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y., topped by a win aboard Regal Glory in the featured $100,000 Plenty of Grace.

“I do pretty well here at Aqueduct. The New York trainers have been a big supporter of my career since I started here. This is my home,” said Ortiz.

Ortiz won with his first four mounts taking the day's first race with Always Carina [No. 5, $3.90] for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, capturing the maiden special weight sprint in wire-to-wire fashion.

He teamed up once more with Brown in Race 4, the Plenty of Grace, guiding Regal Glory [No. 5, $3.40] to a half-length score in the one-mile turf test for older fillies and mares.

Ortiz partnered with trainer Orlando Noda to capture Race 5, a state-bred maiden claiming sprint, with Rainbow Gal [No. 5, $9.20] and one race later guided Three Jokers [No. 3, $16.80] to a 7-1 upset for trainer John Terranova in a one-turn mile allowance.

The veteran rider concluded a memorable day by piloting Big Tony's Girl [No. 11, $5.30] to a maiden claiming score in the final race on the card for trainer James Ryerson.

The rider's lone non-winning effort came with a fourth in Race 7 aboard Spitball.

The five-win day puts Ortiz at the top of the Big A spring meet jockey standings with 16 wins, four more than his brother Irad Ortiz, Jr., who was riding at Keeneland this past week. The 11-day spring meet comes to a close on Sunday, April 18.

“You want to win every meet that you can but Irad wasn't here this week and I'm sure he'll come back and be competitive next week,” said Ortiz. “I have to keep the momentum going. I had a good beginning of the meet. Hopefully, I can finish up strong.”

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 1:20 p.m.

The post Jose Ortiz Bags Five Winners From Six Mounts At Aqueduct appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post