Keeneland Releases Statement on Miscalculated Mutuel Payout

In Friday's fifth race at Keeneland, the order of finish was inadvertently posted as 3-8-9-10. The correct order of finish for the race should have been 3-9-8-10. Any tickets that were cashed on track before the corrected order of finish were honored, and later, the race was repriced and the correct running order prices are official.

Late Friday, Keeneland said that officials had determined that the mistakes was a result of United Tote operator error.

“While safeguards to prevent this from happening are in place, additional measures are being taken to create further checks and balances,” a statement from the track read.

Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) accounts, including NYRA Bets, TVG, TwinSpires and Xpressbet, will be adjusted to reflect the correct pricing.

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McIngvale: Where You Bet Matters

Jim McIngvale, also known as Mattress Mack, is an entrepreneur, furniture mogul, philanthropist and horse owner based in Houston. McIngvale campaigned 2015 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and Eclipse Award champion male sprinter Runhappy and has become a major racing sponsor while promoting his horse as a stallion at Claiborne Farm. McIngvale can be reached at 281-844-1963 or mack@galleryfurniture.com.

As handicappers and racing enthusiasts across America prepare to dive into this week's sensational Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, keep this in mind: Where you bet matters.

It took 25-plus years of horse ownership and a $2.4 million wager for me to fully appreciate the huge difference it makes where a bet is placed. It was a wake-up call for me, and it should be for you. Everyone in horse racing whenever possible should put their money through the windows or self-bet machines at the racetrack.

If you're like I was, you've never really thought about how each dollar gets chopped up. A bet is a bet, you probably think. You get the same payoff if you bet on-track, through simulcasting or online. Even at a casino that is booking the bets, you get track odds, albeit with caps.

But the return to the industry — for the owners whose horses put on the show and for the track that provides the venue — wildly varies depending on where a bet is made. For the long-term viability of the sport, those who work in and/or love horse racing should learn where the money goes and take seriously betting where it maximizes purses.

I was committed to placing at least $2 million on Essential Quality in the Kentucky Derby in order to cover my Gallery Furniture promotion where customers would get their money back if the Derby favorite won. The casinos worked hard to get my action, which they had received for promotions tied to the outcome of the World Series and Super Bowl. It was an eye-opener to learn what it meant in additional dollars to horse owners if I made the largest Kentucky Derby bet in history at the home of the Derby instead of a casino or online.

I lost my $2.4 million total in win bets when Essential Quality finished fourth but sold a boatload of mattresses and had a lot of customers snapping their fingers during the Run for the Roses. But a big winner was Churchill Downs' purse account for horsemen, which accrued $240,000 from my bets alone.

Purses are the lifeblood of American racing — it's what makes our racing unique and is vital to its sustainability. There's a substantial difference in the money that goes to horse owners if a bet is placed onsite at the track or if it's bet through an online platform, simulcasting, a casino or off-shore. It also makes a big difference to the track staging the races, with the significant costs entailed in building, maintaining and staffing the facility.

Had I made my wager in Las Vegas, where the casinos do not have a contract with Churchill Downs and therefore could not bet into the parimutuel pools, no money would have flowed back to Kentucky horsemen. If bet anywhere but on track, at best the funding to purses would have been would have about half. At worse, zero.

If we care about the industry, the last place we should bet is offshore or with casinos that book the bets and don't contribute anything to our mutuel pools or purse account. Offshore sites might offer lucrative rebates – but they can do that because they have no outlay for the cost of putting on the product.

I'm not bashing reputable online betting operations or simulcasting. The pandemic proved how vital ADW operations are to racing, how we were able to stay in business with spectator-less racing while other sports were shut down.

Millennials and Generation Z's office is their phone, so ADWs are expanding our reach but at the same time should pay an equitable rate to racetracks and horsemen. Kudos to ADWs that have worked with various tracks and horsemen's groups in California, Kentucky and elsewhere to make sure ADW betting on-site returns the same amount to purses as if the bet were placed with a mutuel clerk or self-bet machine.

Of course, if we're asking horseplayers and racing participants to bet at the track where possible, tracks likewise must make their facilities and the experience inviting for fans. Every day, and not just on select days.

Horse racing has a great opportunity to step up our game and attract new fans. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness ratings showed people are interested in horse racing. Heck, my Gallery Furniture promotion shows that the Kentucky Derby and racing resonate with the guy and gal on the street.

We've got to attract younger people. We need to attract the followers of Barstool Sports, Bleacher Report, Action Network. We need to embrace sports-betting content.

There is no easy fix. It takes commitment, effort and ingenuity. But our sport and industry are worth it. Excluding football games, the Kentucky Derby was the third-most watched sporting event since the pandemic hit in March 2020, trailing only the NCAA men's basketball championship game won by Baylor and Gonzaga's semifinal victory over UCLA, according to Sports Media Watch. That's impressive.

The Kentucky Derby, Triple Crown and horse racing are still relevant. But you've got to flame the fire — and also be smart about where we bet. Cumulatively, it makes a huge difference.

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Bet To Lose? Irish Trainer’s License Suspended Six Months Over Acepromazine Positive

The Irish Horse Racing Board has suspended the license of Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer Charles Byrne for six months over an acepromazine positive, reports the Racing Post.

Byrne's trainee Viking Hoard was eased in a handicap hurdle at Tramore in October of 2018, and regulatory vets noticed the horse has a slow heart rate. A post-race test showed the horse had a “dangerous degree of sedation” in his system during the race, evidenced by the presence of over 100 times the International Screening Limit of Hydroxyethylpromazinehydroxide (HEPS), a metabolite of acepromazine.

Viking Hoard was heavily bet to lose on that day, but no evidence was found linking Byrne to those wagers. Byrne admitted to leaving the horse alone on two occasions for a total of approximately 25 minutes after arriving at Tramore, which the IHRB characterized as “neglect of the trainer” which may have allowed an unidentified third party to administer the drug to the horse.

“The damage was financial in the case of affected punters, and reputational in the case of the racing industry,” read a statement from the IHRB. “This case illustrates the specific and additional challenges and dangers to the integrity of racing posed by the widespread ability to back horses to lose races for significant returns. The desirability of this practice or how it might be better controlled within the available regulatory resources is worthy of further, constant review.”

Read more at the Racing Post.

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Del Mar’s 2020 Wagering Menu Retains Early Pick 4, Late Pick 5

Del Mar's 2020 betting menu will offer 17 different ways for racing fans to back their favorites at the seaside oval as it presents its 81st racing season between July 10 and September 7.

Though current plans call for the track to race without fans in the stands, the many satellite and online opportunities to wager and follow the action are expected to provide handle results similar to – and possibly even better than – past years. In 2019, 90% of Del Mar's betting took place away from the racetrack.

The track's bet roster starts with the traditional win, place and show wagers and expands all the way out to several five- and six-horse combinations.

Three relatively new multi-race bets that have proven well-liked by the track's punters are again on tap this summer. They are the early Pick Four, beginning on Race 2 at a .50¢ price; a late Pick 5 offered on the last five races daily, also at the .50¢ level, and a Win, Place, Show Parlay available for a minimum of two races and a maximum of six. It is a $2 bet.

In addition to its Early Pick Four, the track will continue to offer its usual Pick Four on the last four races on the day's card, a bet that has proven to be one of the most popular in the country and regularly registers $1-million-plus pools on weekends. Further, the late Pick Five will be similar to the track's early Pick Five held on the day's initial five events. And the Win, Place, Show Parlay will be presented using the standard single-bet W-P-S takeout of 15.43% instead of a multi-bet takeout that goes above 20%.

Del Mar also will continue with its longstanding $2 Pick Six on all racing days, along with the “Single Ticket Jackpot” addition to it that the track introduced during its 2016 fall season. Under the “Jackpot” rules, a separate pool accumulates alongside the regular one if nobody hits the bet as a lone ticket holder. This allows for a large separate pool to grow even in the case of a “hit' on the Pick Six by two or more players. The “Jackpot” pool often reaches six figures in fairly rapid order and can be expected to do so throughout the stand.

And, as it has the past several summers, Del Mar will schedule two “mandatory payouts” on the “Jackpot” pool: first on TVG Pacific Classic Day (Saturday, August 22), then on Closing Day, Monday, September 7. That means that a Pick Six winner on either of those dates would share not only in the regular pool, but the full “Jackpot” pool besides. Additionally, consolation winners on those days also would share in the “Jackpot” payout.

“Seeing what has happened at other tracks that have raced without fans because of the COVID-19 situation is giving us encouragement,” said Del Mar's director of mutuels Bill Navarro. “Across the board nationally betting has been strong. Wagering is the lifeblood of our sport and we believe we can – and will – have a good summer in that regard at Del Mar.”

The full array of Del Mar bets is as follows: $2 win, place and show (all races); $1 Exacta (all); $2 Quinella (all); .50¢ Trifecta (all); $2 Rolling Doubles (all except last); $1 Rolling Pick 3 (all except last two); $1 Superfecta (.10¢ minimum – all); $1 Place Pick All (starts w/Race 1 or 2); $1 Super High 5 (last); $2 Pick Six (last six); .50¢ Players' Pick 5 (first five and last five); .50¢ Pick 4 (Races 2 thru 5 and last four), and $2 Win-Place-Show Parlay (all races but last).

Del Mar will race on a Friday – Saturday – Sunday schedule throughout the summer, ending on its traditional closing day, Labor Day Monday, September 7. First post daily throughout the session will be 2 p.m.

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