Horseplayers at the 2022 Breeders' Cup enjoyed more than $545,000 in additional winnings from just the win, place and show pools thanks to the revised Kentucky law that pays pari-mutuel winnings down the penny.
“The two days of racing at Keeneland were sensational, but it was made that extra bit better thanks to penny breakage increasing payouts to players,” said Patrick Cummings, Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF).
In no race was the impact greater than the Breeders' Cup Classic won by Flightline.
Under the previous provision, and across nearly every American jurisdiction now other than Kentucky, Flightline would have paid $2.80, $2.80 and $2.20 for each $2 stake in the win, place and show pools, respectively. Instead, winning bettors received $2.88, $2.92 and $2.30 from those pools.
“The penny breakage law meant that a $2 bet across the board on Flightline returned a profit 16% larger than it would have under dime breakage,” Cummings said.
Altogether, the win, place and show pools from the Classic returned $240,000 more than with traditional rounding to the dime.
“The wins from Modern Games ($4.76) and Malathaat ($7.76) carried an extra boost too, accounting for an additional $131,000 from the win breakage alone going back to horseplayers.
“Hopefully winning players churned some of that into Rebel's Romance and Flightline.”
Overall, through just 64 days of Thoroughbred racing in Kentucky since the revised law went into effect, total breakage returned to horseplayers from the win, place and show pools is now more than $2.13 million.
Factoring in exotic pools as well as Standardbred racing in Kentucky, the total returned is higher.
“Pricing matters and racing wagering's overall takeout rates, already too high, are inflated by rounding down to the dime. Kentucky took a bold first step and other states and horsemen's groups should follow their lead and support such initiatives.
“Clinging to this antiquated practice is bad business and keeps racing wagering less competitive. We hope racing adopts sustainable practices to build its customer base and 'grow the pie' for all stakeholders.”
After Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) did not meet her reserve of $2.6 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, owner Bob Lothenbach has decided to retain the 6-year-old mare and will breed her, reports her trainer, Neil Pessin.
“More than likely, the plan is to send her to the breeding shed,” Pessin said. “We don't know who we'll breed her to yet. It's yet to be determined, but we should decide that within the next two or three weeks. Bob is a breeder and has about 40 mares. He breeds a lot of Minnesota breds. She won't be one of those.”
Bell's the One has been sent to Collier Mathes's Chesapeake Farm in Lexington, Kentucky to begin preparations for her next career.
While he will miss having Bell's The One in his barn, Pessin said that with Lothenbach keeping her he will still have a connection to the mare.
“I thought we'd be right in that neighborhood,” Pessin said when asked if he thought she would meet her reserve. “Either way, I was going to be happy and sad. I was going to have the full spectrum of emotions no matter what happened. This way I get to go visit her at the farm and see the baby.”
Pessin said the plan is for Lothenbach to keep her foals and race them. Pessin will be the trainer.
“I'll be training whatever she has,” he said. “Hopefully, she's as good a mom as she was a race horse. Hopefully, we'll get one that takes us to the Derby. You might as well aim high.”
Pessin said no consideration was given to running Bell's The One next year.
“We decided at the beginning of the year that this would be her last year,” Pessin said. “We were hoping to enter the Breeders' Cup but that didn't work out. We decided that with her about to turn seven that she had done everything we had asked of her. She missed one race in five years that I was pointing to. I told Bob she can't do much more for us.”
A talented and durable sprint specialist, Bell's the One made 27 starts, won 13 races, 11 of them stakes and earned $2,000,675. Her biggest win came in the 2020 GI Derby City Distaff S. She also won the GII Raven Run S., the GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. and the GII Honorable Miss H.
“You don't replace a horse like that,” Pessin said. “You hope to get one that might be as good, but you never replace one like this.
We Are NY Horse Racing, a coalition of small businesses, labor unions, nonprofits, trade associations, and other groups that support the sport of horse racing in New York, has announced that the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has secured a commitment to bring the Breeders' Cup World Championship back to New York if Belmont Park on Long Island is modernized.
Thoroughbred horse racing's year-end mega event, the Breeders' Cup is a two-day spectacle that attracts fans and competitors from around the globe. Due to aging infrastructure at Belmont Park, the World Championships have not been hosted in New York since 2005.
Bringing the event back to Belmont would result in an estimated economic impact of at least $100 million each time the event is hosted in New York.
“New York is the ultimate global stage, and the new Belmont Park will be an ideal location to regularly host the Breeders' Cup,” said NYRA President & CEO Dave O'Rourke. “The Breeders' Cup is one of the great events in sports, and as we all saw over the weekend, the enthusiasm and energy around the Breeders' Cup continues to grow. We thank our friends at the Breeders' Cup for recognizing the opportunities that lie ahead here in New York and look forward to advancing this transformational project in the coming months.”
According to a recent study, horse racing in New York State is responsible for 19,000 jobs in every corner of the state. The Saratoga summer meet generates nearly $240 million in annual economic impact and is critically important to the Upstate tourism and hospitality sectors, with this year's Saratoga summer meet marking the seventh consecutive year with paid attendance exceeding one million.
The 2022 Breeders' Cup World Championships, which were conducted at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, from November 4-5, generated record breaking all-sources wagering handle of $189 million. Keeneland and the City of Lexington welcomed more than 85,000 racing fans over the course of the two-day event, which received comprehensive national and international coverage from the networks of NBC Sports. Although the event has not been held at Belmont Park for nearly two decades, New York-based trainers, owners and jockeys played a central role in the competition.
The Thoroughbred racing mega event rotates through North America's most prestigious and historic horse racing venues and was previously hosted by the Empire State in 1990, 1995, 2001, and 2005.
In 2005, however, the Breeders' Cup raised concerns with Belmont Park's aging infrastructure — which is not heated or winterized — and determined that Belmont no longer possessed the hospitality offerings needed to support the event. As a result, Belmont was removed from the rotating list of tracks that host the event. Since then, the Breeders' Cup has been held at Churchill Downs and Keeneland in Kentucky, Santa Anita Park and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in California, and Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
This commitment from the Breeders' Cup would add New York back into the rotation to host the World Championships, regularly bringing the event to Belmont Park for years to come.
One year after congratulating her older sister, Laurel Park-based trainer Katy Voss, on breeding a Breeders' Cup winner, Elizabeth Merryman got a turn on the receiving end. A member of one of Maryland's most prominent and successful racing families who now resides in Pennsylvania, Merryman watched with Voss from the grandstand at Keeneland as Caravel sped to a stunning 42-1 upset in the $1 million Turf Sprint (G1).
“We were all in a big group and there was a lot of cheering and hugging going on, so we didn't see much. It was all a blur,” Merryman said Sunday. “It was pretty amazing. I wish I bet on her.”
Caravel broke sharp and led from start to finish in the 5 ½-furlong Turf Sprint, returning $87.78 for her half-length decision over European shipper Emaraaty Ana. Favored Golden Pal, the defending champion, broke poorly and was never a threat in finishing 10th.
“It was incredible. When Golden Pal broke like that and then [Caravel] settled into what, for her, were relatively easy fractions, I was like, 'They're going to have trouble catching her,'” Merryman said. “I was basically in disbelief. I was just like, 'I can't believe this is going so well.'”
A 5-year-old daughter of Mizzen Mast out of the Congrats mare Zeezee Zoomzoom, Caravel made her first eight starts with Merryman as the breeder, owner and trainer. Six of those races were wins, four in stakes, including her first on the grass in the 2021 The Very One at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Merryman sold a majority interest in Caravel to celebrity chef Bobby Flay following a victory in the Goldwood last June at Monmouth Park. She won the Caress (G3) at Saratoga in her first start for the partnership but went winless in three subsequent tries including a last-place finish in last year's Turf Sprint, beaten 9 ½ lengths.
“I was so excited to see her run this year in the Breeders' Cup as opposed to last year, because last year she came into it really not doing well at all and not really training well,” Merryman said. “This year she just seemed like she was at the top of her game and, even though I don't own any more of her, I was so excited to see her run just because I thought she was really doing well. I was thinking the is probably way too tough and everything but I was just excited to see her compete on this stage when she's really at the top of her game. It was very cool.”
Following the Breeders' Cup, Caravel fetched $500,000 at Fasig-Tipton's fall mixed sale on behalf of new owners Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel and Madaket Stables, who sent the mare to two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. Merryman and a new partner attended the sale with designs on purchasing Caravel, but were outbid.
This year Caravel has won five of eight starts, all in stakes, including the Intercontinental (G3) at Belmont Park and Franklin (G3) at Keeneland in her Breeders' Cup prep. Saturday's victory pushed her over the $1 million mark in career earnings.
“We bid on her at the sale to try to get her back and regroup her, but we didn't go high enough to buy her back,” Merryman said. “I'm just really happy for the partners that have her now and the way Brad has managed her and worked to figure out her different idiosyncrasies and quirks. He's done an exceptional job of treating her as an individual even though he has such a big stable. Everything he's done with her, I can tell he treats all his horses as individuals and figures out the different things that make them tick. I just have so much respect for him as a trainer because of that. His outfit is incredible.”
Zeezee Zoomzoom was in Florida when Merryman acquired her and sent the mare to her cousin, Laura McKinney, in Kentucky to be bred to turf specialist Mizzen Mast. Foaled in neighboring Oxford, Pa. by now-retired Betty Miller, Caravel was broken and raised on Merryman's farm, part of the old King's Ranch located between Coatesville and Unionville, Pa. She went unraced as a 2-year-old and was entered in a sale the fall of her 3-year-old season with Wanamaker's – the online auction company founded by Merryman's daughter, Liza Hendriks – but did not meet her $330,000 reserve.
“My cousin saw Zeezee Zoomzoom before I did. I got her, sight unseen, and shipped her to Laura. Then I booked her to Mizzen Mast, and she sent her to me in foal,” Merryman said. “[Caravel] was the only foal I had that year. When she was a yearling, I went to the yearling sales and thought I'd buy her a companion to train with her and bring along. Looking at the yearlings I thought, I just like my own yearling so much I just can't raise my hand. She's going to have to go it alone.”
Merryman is the youngest of six children to the late John and Katherine 'Kitty' Merryman. The oldest is Voss, who with her late life partner Bob Manfuso bred in Maryland the 2021 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner Aloha West, who was 11th in his title defense.
As a trainer, Merryman has won 158 races and more than $5.7 million in purse earnings from 1,340 starters since 2004. Her best horse, Roadhog, ran in the Maryland Million Turf five consecutive years, winning in 2012 and 2013 and finishing second in 2015 and third in 2014.
Caravel's 2021 Caress was Merryman's first graded-stakes win as a trainer before subsequently being moved to Graham Motion, her neighbor at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., for the duration of last year. Merryman has continued to follow Caravel's career.
“She's very talented. We always thought very highly of her. She was a beautiful baby. She was great to break. As a yearling she was just so smart and clever and a lovely mover,” Merryman said. “You never think you've bred a Breeders' Cup winner, but I was pretty excited about her.”
Caravel, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, streaks to victory in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland
