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NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop Joins TDN Writers’ Room

There's plenty to talk about in racing these days, and NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning to dig into a good deal of the sport's most pressing topics. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Waldrop talked about how to capitalize and sustain the positive handle trends of the past year, how to pay for the groundbreaking Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, what movement he expects on H-2B visas with a new administration and more.

“Looking back over the last quarter and even the last half of last year, we were trending five, six, seven percent up over the prior year,” Waldrop said of the increase in handle the sport has seen. “So those trends are very positive. I do think they are related to the fact that new people are coming into the business. They're seeing horse racing as a viable option for the first time. I think that is attributable to a lot of the marketing dollars that were spent in 2020 to get eyeballs on our racing for the first time. And I think that's the way we keep this going. We continue to show our races on television, get more people in front of TV sets, mobile screens, all the distribution channels that we have out there, which are many now and are growing. That's the way to continue to grow.”

“Another way that I think we have to look at in 2021 is to get on more sports betting platforms,” he continued. “Sports betting is spreading across the country. It's a huge and growing business. If we can just get 5% of the number of people who are now betting on these mobile sports betting apps, that would be a huge win for horse racing. And I think in 2021, this is the year to really focus on what we can do to to piggyback on the success of sports betting in this country. To grow our visibility even greater.”

Asked about the tricky issue of funding HISA, Waldrop said that replacing the inefficiencies of racing's current patchwork regulation system will lead to savings on its own.

“HISA and the Authority, is all about centralizing the administration of medication control and racing safety matters. Putting it into one office. There will be significant savings. There'll be efficiencies when you compare costs that we now have for 30 state agencies,” he said. “I think 10 years ago we were spending almost $30 million a year on post race drug testing. That's an astronomical number. I don't think people realized we were spending that much money on drug testing. We're spending more than that now under the 30 state agencies. The second thing to remember is that HISA contemplates a broader-based and more equitable contribution from all industry participants, so not just one group or one tax will be paying for the costs of regulation.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers reacted to a strong weekend of stakes at Fair Grounds, highlighted some key points from last week's exclusive interview with USADA CEO Travis Tygart and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, analyzed the passage of a historical horse racing legalization bill in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Handles $51,099, Pays Out $2,714

Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5, featuring action from Aqueduct Racetrack and Tampa Bay Downs, paid $2,714.25 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager. The sequence's total pool was $51,099.

Aqueduct kicked off the wager when pacesetter Shamrocked had enough racing luck to hold off a late inside rally from Freudian Sip to secure a fifth lifetime victory in a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. The Michael Miceli trainee held on to win by a nose and returned $5.30 on a $2 win wager as the post-time favorite.

Action shifted to Tampa Bay Downs for the second leg, where Zenden battled a stubborn Souper Stonehenge to secure a second lifetime stakes win in the Pelican going six furlongs. Trained by Carlos David, the 5-year-old son of Fed Biz returned $16.40 for the triumph, which was his first stakes win since taking the Buffalo Man in December 2018 at Gulfstream Park.

Aqueduct took the reins for the middle leg of the sequence, where a field of eight went into line for a six-furlong allowance optional claiming tilt. Krakow Racing and America's Pastime Stables' Mi Tres Por Ciento secured command in mid-stretch to notch a 13th lifetime victory. Trained by Mertkan Kantarmaci, the Chilean-bred son of Ocean Terrace paid $13 to win.

Glorious Uncertainty Stable's Tiz Herself made her eighth lifetime start a winning one in the penultimate leg which was initially scheduled for the turf at Tampa Bay Downs before being moved to one mile and 40 yards on the main track. The daughter of 2011 Whitney and Met Mile winner Tizway was won by 1 ½ lengths as the lukewarm favorite and returned $8.40 for the win.

The curtain closed on the sequence in the Aqueduct finale, where Apex Predator maintained his advantage every step of the six-furlong journey to secure a maiden win at 23rd asking for trainer Mitchell Friedman. Guided by jockey Dylan Davis, Apex Predator paid $11.40.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, 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.

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Meadowlands Wagering Surpasses $4 Million For Third Evening Of 2021

Wagering at The Meadowlands continued to bustle Saturday night, as betting blasted past the $4-million barrier for a third time in 2021, the same number of times that was accomplished during all of 2020.

Action was huge from the get-go on the 15-race card as a total of $367,134 was pushed through the windows on the opener, $86,011 of which was bet on the 20-cent Pick-5. Action was at least $330,000 on races six, seven and nine before the 10th race took in the most play of the night, with $370,062.

The sixth race 50-cent Pick-4 saw $105,648 pushed through the windows and resulted in the wager's biggest payout of the meeting. Twenty-to-one long shots won the opening and payoff legs of the bet, resulting in a payoff of $17,959.

In sharp contrast, the 10th race Pick-4, which saw a total pool of $94,171, saw two even-money shots, a 5-2 and a 3-1 combine for a payout of $78.55.

The all-source total wagered on the card was $4,082,528, an average per race of $272,168. Betting has exceeded $7 million for the last three weekends at The Big M. That plateau was reached three times during all of 2020.

THAT'S A HALF-DOZEN COUSIN: Driver Dexter Dunn continued his brilliance in the bike at the current Big M meeting by winning six times on the program.

The 31-year-old native of New Zealand, the two-time defending United States Harness Writers Association Driver of the Year, won a total of eight races over the weekend, upping his Big M driver-colony leading win total to 39.

'JOE' BEATEN, 'JL' CRUISES: A pair of fan favorites sat atop the marquee in the co-featured $22,500 winners-over $11,500 events, one on the pace and the other on the trot.

Tulhurstsantanna A worked out an ideal trip in pulling off a 21-1 upset in the pace. The driver of the 8-year-old gelded son of Santanna Blue Chip-Ballroom Belle had designs on leaving the gate, but Andy McCarthy thought better of it.

“I put his nose on the gate and thought about stepping out,” said McCarthy. “But I aborted that mission when I saw everybody else had the same idea and managed to work out a sweet second-over trip.”

Western Joe, the 4-5 favorite who was seeking his second straight score in the weekly feature, brushed to the lead while parked past the half in :54.2, but was pressured by long shot Points North shortly thereafter, which set it up for a closer.

McCarthy tipped Tulhurstsantanna A off the cover provided by Points North as they straightened up in the stretch but still had one major player to worry about.

“I knew [3-1 second choice] Springsteen was on my back,” said McCarthy. “He's very fast, that horse, but my horse, he keeps horses at bay. He knows what to do.”

In winning a third straight at The Big M, Tulhurstsantanna A returned $44.20 to his backers after completing the mile in a lifetime-best equaling 1:49.4 on a night with a feel-like temperature of 19 degrees. Springsteen finished a half-length back in second, with Italian Delight N third and Western Joe fourth in the eight-horse field.

Trained by Andrew Harris and owned by Douglas Overhiser, Tulhurstsantanna A raised his lifetime stats to 24 wins from 144 starts, good for earnings of $191,454.

In the marquee trot, JL Cruze chalked up his third win in his last four Meadowlands outings, scoring by a half-length over Scirocco Rob in 1:52.4. Rich And Miserable was third.

“He's a classy old horse,” said winning driver Dunn of the 10-year-old gelding by Crazed-Topcat Hall. “And it's a pleasure to sit behind him every week.”

JL Cruze left alertly from post eight in the eight-horse field and opted to race in the five-hole early on. “I got him out of there and we took a seat,” said Dunn. “It's not usually the way he races, but I was pretty confident we would run them down.”

The even-money favorite followed the live tow of 7-1 third choice Scirocco Rob down the backstretch, and once leader Winnerup was done, it was down to those two. Under confident handling from Dunn, JL Cruze reported home an easy winner after tipping off cover, scoring for the 43rd time from 127 career starts for trainer Eric Ell and owners W. Kenneth Wood, J. Dittmar Jr. and S.J. Iaquinta. His lifetime bank account now stands at a gaudy $1,572,392.

A LITTLE MORE: Scott Zeron and Corey Callahan both recorded driving doubles while the red-hot Jeff Cullipher trained a pair of winners. … Shrewd 20-cent Pick-6 players made a big score, as with only one long shot (22-1) winning during the sequence, those with winning tickets walked away with $12,891. Of the other five winning horses, two were favored, while the other three went off at 5-1, 5-2 and 3-1. … Racing resumes Friday at 6 p.m.

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U.S. Handle Up 9.5% in January

With $959,602,269 wagered, total all-sources handle for the sport rose by 9.57% in January, according to figures released Thursday by Equibase.

The January numbers reflected a fairly seamless comparison between January 2021 and January 2020 because the racing schedules for both months were not impacted by the coronavirus.

There were 2,211 races run this year, only a slight drop from the 2020 number of 2,352. Based on the amount wagered per race day, the industry saw an increase of 21.6 %.

Comparing figures during most of 2020 was particularly difficult because of the many adjustments that had to be made to racing schedules due to the pandemic.

But it may be too early to predict what patterns are going to persist for the rest of the year because January, 2021 included five Saturdays and Sundays versus just four the year before.

“I thought the month was better this year than it was last year in part because there were two more racing days on the weekends,” NTRA President and CEO Alex Waldrop said. “While it's always nice to be up 9%, I wouldn't draw any conclusions just yet. It's always good to look at something like this over time. I think we'll need three months of data before anyone can say anything definitive.”

The January numbers also provide some evidence as to whether or not the sport picked up a meaningful amount of new customers while it was “the only gambling game in town” during the first few months of the pandemic. The top ADWs thrived in 2020 and most reported a large increase in terms of new customers. TVG and its sister website, FanDuel Racing, reported that it had signed up 50,000 new customers during the year. But with total handle for the year down by just less than 1%, the numbers weren't conclusive and it was hard to gauge whether or not the sport was enjoying growth or whether or not the same pool of money as normal was being bet, just spread around differently.

The January numbers marked the second straight month that there was a healthy increase in handle. The sport saw a 6.24% jump in betting in December.

Largely due to the fact that there was less racing, purses were down throughout much of 2020, including in December when they fell by 13.24%. But the numbers in that category seem to be evening out as purses dropped by just 1.41% during the month. Average purses per race day were $278,832, for an increase of 9.42%.

Average field size was 8.09, a 1.75% improvement over January 2020.

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