coronavirus pandemic | Horse Racing Free Tips

Which ADWs Have Gained The Most During COVID-19 Pandemic?

Without legal advance deposit wagering in the United States, horse racing would have suffered unimaginable consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic that was unleashed one year ago. As it was, many tracks were forced to close while racing officials, health departments and infectious disease experts across the country worked toward solutions to keeping a major industry going.

Almost without exception, on-track business evaporated and racing was dependent on leading ADW companies TVG, TwinSpires, Xpressbet and NYRA Bets to stay in business. Those companies, the “big four” among ADWs, handled nearly $6.5 billion through the Oregon Racing Commission wagering hub, about 60% of the $10.9 billion bet on U.S. races in 2020, according to Equibase.

Some caveats: NYRA Bets totals do not include wagers made by New York residents on in-state races. Also, the ADW totals include a relatively small percentage that is wagered on Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing and international races. The totals for TwinSpires and Xpressbet may include “white label” ADWs created by various racetracks that use the aforementioned companies' technology.

Another $160 million was wagered through the Oregon hub by six smaller ADW companies.

Also, keep in mind that a significant portion of wagering dollars (though the details are not available) is bet through a hub in North Dakota. Elite Turf Club, Lien Games Racing, WatchAndWager.com and several others are registered in North Dakota, which is not as transparent with wagering totals as is Oregon. Among those companies, Elite Turf Club is probably the largest, with a number of high volume customers employing computer assisted wagering programs.

The growth in wagering through the Oregon hub by the “big four” from 2019 to 2020 was 52%. From a percentage standpoint, NYRA Bets – the smallest of the four and the latest to launch its business in 2016 – had the biggest gain of 104%. From a dollars standpoint, TVG was the leader, gaining over $1.2 billion in wagers from 2019 to 2020.

Perhaps not surprisingly, those two companies are affiliated with television throughout the year: NYRA Bets through programming on Fox Sports and TVG with its long-established racing network.

TVG's growth was so dramatic in 2020 that it overtook TwinSpires as the largest volume ADW company using the Oregon hub, ending a long run at the top by TwinSpires. In 2019, TwinSpires handled over $640 million more than TVG.

From a percentage standpoint, TwinSpires showed the slowest growth of the “big four” during the pandemic, gaining 30%. Xpressbet gained 34% from 2019-'20 topping $1 billion for the second consecutive year.

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The Friday Show Presented By PHBA Stallion Seasons Auction: The Optimists Club

For the last three years as the calendar pages turned from December to January, the Paulick Report took the pulse of its readers, asking how they felt about the future health of the Thoroughbred industry: Were they optimistic or pessimistic?

In January 2019, 43% expressed optimism. In January 2020, that number fell to 30%. Currently, 54% of our readers said they are optimistic heading into 2021 – a significant shift in just 12 months.

While this online poll is not a scientific survey, its results are revealing, if not head scratching, considering all that society has been through the last 10 months since the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus was a pandemic.

In this week's episode of the Friday Show, presented by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's stallion season auction, Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills search for reasons why the “optimists club” may have so many new members. What is there to be optimistic or pessimistic about when it comes to the Thoroughbred industry?

They also discuss the long comeback road by this week's “star of the week,” Grade 3 Tropical Turf winner Ride a Comet.

Watch the Friday Show below.

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NYRA Reports 19 Percent Increase In Daily Average Wagering During Pandemic-Shortened Year

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has announced that its 2020 race meets conducted at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course generated all-sources handle of more than $1.8 billion.

Total handle over the 157 race days contested in 2020 was $1,813,935,091 for an average daily handle of $11,553,727, a 19 percent increase over 2019. Average field size for the 1,507 races completed in 2020 was 7.82, a six percent increase over 2019.

Since the resumption of live racing on June 3 through the end of 2020, all-sources handle totaled $1,586,344,888, a $7,059,402 increase over the same period in 2019. Average daily handle from June 3 through the end of 2020 was $13,443,601, marking a 16 percent increase over the same period in 2019.

Despite the loss of 43 race days to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in 27 percent fewer race days and 25 percent fewer races than in 2019, all-sources handle declined year-over-year by just 14 percent compared to the $2,108,126,369 generated in 2019.

At the outset of the pandemic, NYRA voluntarily suspended live racing operations on March 19 to devote all resources, energy and attention to maintaining the health and welfare of the backstretch community. Live racing resumed June 3 when NYRA opened the Belmont Park spring/summer meet to mark the return of professional sports in New York. Since June 3, all NYRA tracks have been operated without spectators and with only a limited number of essential personnel, horsemen and owners on-site.

The abbreviated 25-day Belmont spring/summer meet generated $15,466,198 in average daily handle from all sources, a 42 percent increase over the 2019 spring/summer meet. Despite running 23 fewer days than in 2019, a 48 percent decrease, all sources handle during the spring/summer meet declined by just 26 percent for a total of $386,654,955.

The June 20 Belmont Stakes Day card, which featured 12 races and six graded stakes, highlighted by Tiz the Law's victory in the 152nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, generated all sources handle of $67,753,336.

NYRA held its 2020 summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course as scheduled and without interruption. All-sources handle for the 2020 summer meet totaled $702,535,468 compared to $705,343,949 wagered from all sources on Saratoga in 2019. Average daily handle for the 40-day meet was $17,563,387.

The 2020 fall meet at Belmont Park generated $9,923,813 in average daily handle from all sources, marking a 33.6 percent increase over the 2019 fall meet.

Despite running 10 fewer days than in 2019, the all sources handle for the Belmont fall meet totaled $267,942,961, just 2.5 percent lower than in 2019. Due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, NYRA adjusted the fall schedule by adding a one-week break following the conclusion of the summer meet at Saratoga. Consequently, the 2020 fall meet was contested over 27 days compared to 37 days in 2019, a 27 percent decrease in race dates.

The recently concluded Big A fall meet, which ran from November 6 through December 6, generated $9,261,276 in average daily handle from all sources for a 12.8 percent increase over 2019. Conducted over 18 race days, the Aqueduct fall meet generated all sources handle of $166,702,976. The 2019 fall meet, which was conducted over 25 race days, generated all sources handle of $205,249,710. A total of 175 races were run during the Aqueduct fall meet in 2020, equating to 58 fewer than the number of races run in 2019.

NYRA conducted a total of 127 stakes races in 2020, not including New York-bred and NYSSS races, accounting for 25 percent of all stakes run in the United States. Of the 127 stakes, 95 were of the graded variety, representing 25 percent of all graded stakes run in the United States. NYRA hosted 33 Grade 1 stakes in 2020, or 35 percent of all Grade 1 races run in the United States. Due to the myriad impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the reorganization of the stakes calendar, 36 stakes races scheduled for 2020 were not run, with 17 of them graded.

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‘We Have Managed This Crisis’: Hong Kong Successfully Stages International Races

Hong Kong Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges saluted Hong Kong's “unique spirit and resilience” after a successful staging of the Longines Hong Kong International Races featuring G1 glory across four world-class features shared between Japan, Ireland and Hong Kong at Sha Tin on Sunday, Dec. 13.

“It is important to have these global events. We are very proud that as a team, we pulled this off,” he said.

“There were some anxious moments and discussions about 'How can we do this?' but in the end, we focused on the result and the results speak for themselves.

“The tracks were in outstanding condition, if you look at the way the horses were handled in quarantine and how the jockeys were brought into isolation facilities, everything went perfectly in challenging times.

“But this is the 'can-do' spirit of Hong Kong and the playing-to-win spirit of the Jockey Club.”

Engelbrecht-Bresges said challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic contrived to make the latest staging of the “Turf World Championships” the most difficult in the history of the Club.

“But the system we created was extremely robust. It all passed all the tough questions of health officials and I would like to thank the government for trusting us,” he said.

“You can have all the processes but, in the end, are you able to pull this off? And people say 'If there's one organization in Hong Kong to pull this off, that's the Jockey Club.”

“And we hope that this gives an example of how maybe other sports can do this.”

Acknowledging the success of Japan with Normcore in the HK$28 million Hong Kong Cup, Danon Smash in the HK$22 million Hong Kong Sprint and Ireland with Mogul in the HK$20 million Hong Kong Vase, Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges paid tribute to the enterprise and support shown by visiting international horsemen.

“I want to give special credit to our overseas friends because it's about trust to send your people, to send your horses on such a journey,” he said.

“To have such an exquisite assembly of equine talent – be it horse, be it jockeys – to come to Hong Kong, we would like to really thank our friends overseas to enable us to stage such a global event.

“If you look at the event today, it went to absolute perfection.

“I think it was absolutely a global sporting event of the highest quality. It showed Hong Kong is one of the fairest places to bring a horse.

“The support we get from Ballydoyle, which is really the leading global racing operation, and that they have success winning with a horse like Mogul and a really good performance by Magical.

“Our Japanese friends must be very happy and there were some people saying you cannot win from barrier 14 on Danon Smash but if you have Ryan Moore on board, he can make it happen.”

Referring to local hero Golden Sixty's devastating HK$25 million LONGINES Hong Kong Mile win, Engelbrecht-Bresges paid tribute to winning rider Vincent Ho.

“Vincent Ho was a shining example of investment in the future,” he said of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Apprentice Jockeys' School graduate, who has risen to global recognition as a world-class rider.

“Vincent has definitely arrived today on the global stage as one of the really top-class jockeys,” he said.

“I'm definitely really pleased to see Golden Sixty show a tremendous performance and he's definitely one of the best milers in the world.

Engelbrecht-Bresges emphasised the Club's determination that “none of our activities should pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of our fans and customers” was unshakeable.

“We have clear guiding principles and with daily assessment, practically from the start of the year, we have managed this crisis and created a Racing Bubble,” he said.

“Everybody bought into this and I want to give credit to the whole team for pulling this off.”

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