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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)

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Upcoming Belmont Meet To Offer Traditional Pick 6 Wager With 15 Percent Takeout

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced a return to the traditional Pick 6 wager, featuring a $1 bet minimum, at the upcoming 48-day Belmont Park spring/summer meet.

The Pick 6 will launch on Thursday, April 22, Opening Day of the lucrative Belmont spring/summer meet which will feature 59 stakes races worth $16.95 million in total purse money.

The implementation of a retail-only $1 Pick 6 is part of a pilot program in response to horseplayer interest in wagers that reward the daily player with the opportunity for impressive payouts.

“Our community of horseplayers have expressed interest in a traditional Pick 6 wager that will provide a challenging sequence and significant payouts,” said Joe Longo, NYRA General Manager of Content Services. “By raising the bet's base minimum to $1, the Pick 6 remains an accessible multi-race wager for players of varying bankrolls while maintaining the possibility for a lucrative carryover day.”

Featuring a $1 bet minimum and 15 percent takeout, the Pick 6 wager requires bettors to select the first-place finisher of six designated races on the card. A total of 75 percent of the full pool, minus takeout, will be distributed to bettors who select the first-place finisher of all six races. A consolation payout of 25 percent of the net pool will be distributed to tickets selecting 5-of-6 winners. In the event there are no tickets with six winners, there will be a carryover of 75 percent of the net pool into the next day of the meet with the remaining 25 percent of the net pool distributed as a consolation payout to tickets selecting the first-place finisher in the greatest number of races on the card. On carryover days, the Pick 6 is offered with a 24 percent takeout.

The Pick 6 replaces the Empire 6, a jackpot style wager featuring a $0.20 bet minimum first offered in August 2019 at Saratoga Race Course.

For more information, please visit www.NYRA.com.

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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.

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Cross Country Pick 5 Features Stakes From Aqueduct, Oaklawn, Keeneland

The New York Racing Association, Inc. [NYRA] will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday, April 10, featuring racing action from Aqueduct Racetrack, Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas and Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky.

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.

The Big A will kick off the sequence with a one-mile allowance contest for 3-year-olds and up on the main track in Race 7 at 4:42 p.m. Eastern. An eight-horse field will see the Rudy Rodriguez-trained Yankee Division, who was third in the Alex M. Robb in December at the same track, take on challengers including Arham, a Todd Pletcher trainee making just his third career start after a debut win and a runner-up effort last out.

Keeneland will open the Cross Country Pick 5's stakes action with the $100,000 Giant's Causeway for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going 5 ½ furlongs on the Haggin turf course in Race 8 at 4:57 p.m. Into Mystic, trained by Brendan Walsh, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite and boasts a record of 17-5-4-3 with purse earnings of $340,273.

Aqueduct will feature the first turf stakes of the year on the NYRA circuit when three-time graded stakes-winner Decorated Invader will take aim of the $100,000 Danger's Hour for 4-year-olds and up going one mile in Race 8 at 5:19 p.m. Decorated Invader, trained by Christophe Clement, enters his 4-year-old year after posting three victories in six starts as a sophomore, including back-to-back Grade 2 scores in the one-mile Pennine Ridge by 4 3/4 lengths in June at Belmont Park and following with a 1 1/4-length victory in the Hall of Fame in July at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Chad Brown will send out two in the Danger's Hour with Analyze It and the British-bred Delaware. Analyze It is also a three-time graded stakes-winner, including the Grade 3 Red Bank going one mile in September at Monmouth Park.

Action shifts back to Keeneland for the Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington for 3-year-olds competing at 1 1/16 miles in a qualifier for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby with 20-8-4-2 points on the line to the top-four finishers. The Lexington, slated for Race 9 at 5:30 p.m., will see Proxy look to add to the 34 Derby points he has already accumulated after runner-up finishes in the Grade 3 Lecomte and the Grade 2 Risen Star before running fourth in last month's Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. Hall of Famer John Velazquez has the mount and will break from post position seven aboard the Michael Stidham trainee. Bezos, a maiden winner last out on March 26 at Santa Anita, will make his first stakes appearance for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

Oaklawn will get in on the stakes action with an exciting conclusion, hosting the $400,000 Oaklawn Mile for 4-year-olds and up in Race 9 at 5:49 p.m. By My Standards, who earned more than $1 million as a 4-year-old in 2020, will make his first start as a 5-year-old when trainer Bret Calhoun sends the multiple Grade 2-winner out to face an accomplished field that includes fellow Grade 2-winner Rushie, who is also Grade 1-placed. Wells Bayou, who won the 2020 Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, will also be in the mix for reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, April 10:
Leg A: Aqueduct– Race 7 (4:42 p.m.)
Leg B: Keeneland – Race 8 Giant's Causeway (4:57 p.m.)
Leg C: Aqueduct – Race 8 Danger's Hour (5:19 p.m.)
Leg D: Keeneland – Race 9 G3 Lexington (5:30 p.m.)
Leg E: Oaklawn – Race 9 Oaklawn Mile (5:49 p.m.)

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