Golden Gate | Horse Racing Free Tips

2022 CA Race Dates Include April Break at Santa Anita, Del Mar Racing Past Labor Day

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Wednesday unanimously approved a 2022 race dates schedule that looks similar to this year's version, with two significant tweaks: 1) Santa Anita Park will take a mid-April break in the midst of its six-month meet; 2) Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) will have a summer-meet closing date of Sept. 11, a departure from tradition that will extend the meet six days beyond Labor Day.

The dates allotment was unanimously approved at the Sept. 15 CHRB meeting. The process itself was surprisingly streamlined and without controversy compared to the contentious annual calendars put together in the back half of the 2010s decade, when both commercial and county fair tracks routinely battled each other and the CHRB over choice dates while the arguing often dragged on for months.

Nate Newby, Santa Anita's senior vice president and general manager, said his track is a willing participant in the CHRB's proposal for it to go dark for the three racing dates on the weekend that follows the GI Santa Anita Derby.

Santa Anita (32 weeks of racing, the same as in 2021) will also have the option of staying closed for another “flex week” after that that will be dependent on weather, the condition of the turf course, and field sizes.

“We're hearing the [positive] feedback from basically all of the stakeholders and we support [the scheduled time off], not only to give the horses and horsemen a little bit of a break during a six-month meet, [but to] reset the horse population,” Newby said. “It also gives us a chance to do our turf course maintenance, which our team really needs to do.”

Given Santa Anita's now-customary Friday-through-Sunday race week, that would mean scheduling a dark weekend Apr. 15-17 with the flex week option involving Apr. 22-24. Including the in-between weekdays that are normally dark dates anyway, that could mean a gap in the racing schedule that extends from Monday, Apr. 11 through Thursday, Apr. 28.

“Our thought there is if we had quite a bit of rain in February and had to cancel some days and the horse population was built up and horsemen needed opportunities to run and the turf course was in good shape, then we'd look at running [Apr. 22-24],” Newby said. “But if it was a dry winter/spring we'd probably look at taking two weekends off.”

Del Mar will still be running an eight-week meet in 2022. But even though its dates allocation begins July 13, opening day won't be until July 22 because of a calendar quirk related to the San Diego County Fair, which annually precedes the race meet at the same venue.

The CHRB awards race dates in Wednesday-Tuesday weekly blocks to determine simulcasting privileges, so Del Mar will take that first week as “dark,” thus creating a 10-day cushion of no SoCal racing leading into its meet.

In a letter to the CHRB that was included in the meeting packet, Del Mar president Josh Rubinstein wrote that, “Due to the way the calendar falls in 2022, the timeline of the San Diego County Fair and track maintenance scheduling to provide for the safest racing and training environment, DMTC will need to begin racing a week later as compared to 2021. This also will result in our summer meet running the week after Labor Day.”

The 2022 SoCal schedule will be as follows (again, the dates allocations are in blocks, with actual race dates to be approved by the CHRB just prior to each meet):

Santa Anita–Dec. 15, 2021 to June 21, 2022
Los Alamitos–June 22 to July 12
Del Mar–July 13 to Sept. 13
Los Alamitos–Sept. 14 to 27
Santa Anita–Sept. 28 to Nov. 8
Del Mar–Nov. 9 to Dec. 6
Los Alamitos–Dec. 7 to 20

The 2022 NorCal schedule will be as follows:

Golden Gate–Dec. 22, 2021 to June 7, 2022
Pleasanton–June 8 to July 5
Cal Expo–July 6 to 26
Santa Rosa–July 27 to Aug. 9
Ferndale–Aug. 10 to 23 (week overlap with Golden Gate)
Golden Gate–Aug. 17 to Oct. 4
Fresno–Oct. 5 to 18
Golden Gate–Oct. 19 to Dec. 20

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Golden Gate Fields Schedules Mandatory Payouts For Sunday Card

Mandatory payouts in the Golden Pick Six jackpot wager, the Rolling Super High Five and Pick 5 bets highlight the wagering menu this Sunday, August 1 at Golden Gate Fields. First post on the 9-race program is 1:45 PM PT.

The Golden Pick Six, a 20-cent minimum bet, goes as Races 4 through 9 on the Sunday program. Among the races in the sequence: a 2-year-old maiden special weight, an allowance for colts and geldings, and a pair of turf routes. Heading into the Golden Pick Six wager on Friday, there is a small carryover of $2,270. If there is not a single ticket “jackpot” winner on Friday and or Saturday, the carryover will increase by Sunday.

The Rolling Super High Five is offered in any race in which there are seven or more starters. For horseplayers to hit this $1 minimum bet, they must correctly tab the first five finishers in a race. The mandatory payout for this wager comes in the last race in which the 'High Five is offered.

The Early Pick 5 (Races 1-5), popular amongst horseplayers nationwide, is a low 14% takeout bet every day. The Late Pick 5 (Races 5-9), like the early wager, is a 50-cent minimum bet.

Next Friday, the two-week Wine Country Racing meet begins at Golden Gate. The Wine Country meet offers live racing three days a week, Friday through Sunday. At the conclusion of the Wine Country meet on Sunday, August 15, Golden Gate takes one week off before returning for the remainder of the summer racing season, with live racing scheduled from Friday, August 27 through Sunday, October 3. For more information, please visit goldengatefields.com.

The post Golden Gate Fields Schedules Mandatory Payouts For Sunday Card appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Seven Racetracks Selected For 2021 National Horseplayers Championship

Seven North American racetracks, including premier summer-time race meetings Del Mar, Saratoga and Monmouth Park, make up a menu from which all mandatory and optional races will be selected when the world's richest and most prestigious handicapping tournament – the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC), presented by Racetrack Television Network, Caesars Entertainment and Bally's Las Vegas – is contested Aug. 27-29. The official NHC 2021 racetracks are Del Mar, Ellis Park, Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, Saratoga Race Course and Woodbine Racetrack.

This year's NHC, which includes more than 600 entries, was originally scheduled to be held February 9-11, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and was rescheduled for late August. The total cash and prizes to be awarded at the 2021 NHC are estimated to be nearly $3.8 million, including an estimated $3 million in prize money.

“The menu of racetracks represents the best possible mix of quality racing and geographical diversity,” said NTRA Chief Operating Officer and NHC Tournament Director Keith Chamblin. “Del Mar and Saratoga, which on Saturday, Aug. 27, will feature six Grade 1 events headed by the Runhappy Travers Stakes, highlight the racing, but it will be great to introduce Ellis Park, Monmouth Park and Woodbine to NHC contest play.”

The three-day NHC requires players to make mythical $2 win and place wagers on eight mandatory races and 10 optional races on each of the first two days. The top 10 percent of players achieving the highest bankroll at the conclusion of the first two days will advance to Sunday morning's Semi-Final round which will consist of 10 optional plays. The top 10 players following the Semi-Final round will advance to Sunday's Final Table where they will compete in seven mandatory races to determine the National Champion. The winner will receive $800,000 and an Eclipse Award as the Horseplayer of the Year.

The NHC is the most important tournament of the year for horseplayers and is the culmination of a year-long series of NTRA-sanctioned local tournaments conducted by racetracks, casino race books, off-track betting facilities and horse racing and handicapping websites, each of which sends its top qualifiers to the national finals. There are no buy-ins to the NHC. Each year, the NHC winner joins other human and equine champions as an honoree at the Eclipse Awards. The NHC is presented by Racetrack Television Network, Caesars Entertainment and Bally's Las Vegas.

For more information on the NHC Tour and a complete contest schedule, visit NTRA.com/nhc.

The post Seven Racetracks Selected For 2021 National Horseplayers Championship appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Report: Stronach Group Fielding Interest In Several Assets

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the racing and media company the Stronach Group is “exploring options for parts of its portfolio after fielding interest from special purpose acquisition companies and other suitors,” according to unnamed sources.

No specific assets were listed to be under consideration.

The company's portfolio, estimated to be worth $1.5 billion, includes six racetracks in the U.S. (Santa Anita, Gulfstream, Pimlico, Laurel, Golden Gate, and Rosecroft Raceway), multiple training centers, wagering platform Xpressbet, tote company AmTote, a racetrack in Austria, and other real estate holdings. It also co-owns TrackNet Media, a horse racing content provider, with Churchill Downs.

Founded by Canadian Frank Stronach, the Stronach Group's racing and gaming businesses are now operated by his daughter Belinda Stronach following a public court battle, which ended last year.