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Fan Restriction Forces Oaklawn To Cut Overnight Purses 15 Percent

After Wednesday's announcement that Oaklawn Park will allow a limited number of fans at the 2021 race meet, track president Louis Cella told the Daily Racing Form that overnight purses will be decreased by approximately 15 percent.

“Because we had to restrict our fans, that part of the formula is reduced,” Cella told DRF. “Instead of $700,000 (per day), we'll be at about $600,000. That's still the highest in the nation. No one's close to that.”

Oaklawn's first condition book is being reprinted to reflect the purse changes, but stakes purses won't be changed.

Cella said he hopes wagering numbers from off-track patrons will allow Oaklawn to boost purses early in the meet.

Meadowlands: Saturday Night’s Pick 5 Pool Guaranteed At $100,000

With the stars in perfect alignment, wagering at The Meadowlands has been booming of late. In fact, with the track dark each of the last two holiday-season Fridays, the Saturdays (Dec. 26 and Jan. 2) that followed saw cumulative handle batter the $8-million barrier.

After $3.7 million – the fourth-highest day or night of business during 2020 – was pushed through the windows Dec. 26, an incredible $4.5 million was put in play on Jan. 2, which sets a high bar to leap over on a “non-event” card during 2021.

Last Saturday's program started with a loud bang and the noise kept on coming as players fired away for all 15 races. The first race 20-cent Pick-5 had a well-publicized carryover and $150,000 guaranteed pool that ended up with a total pool of just over $360,000. In addition, because the $46,000 carryover was not subject to the already low 15 percent takeout, bettors got back precisely 99.87 percent of the Pick-5 action, instead of the usual 85 percent.

Given the tremendous success of one week ago, Big M management – along with the Standardbred Owners Association of New Jersey – will provide $25,000 in seed money and a $100,000 guaranteed pool for the Saturday night 20-cent Pick-5 wager.

In addition – on both Friday and Saturday night – each 50-cent Pick-4 (which begin in races six and race 10, respectively) have guaranteed pools of $50,000.

“The Meadowlands is offering horseplayers a challenging and beatable game featuring low takeout and large pools driving the insatiable demand for these wagers,” said Meadowlands' Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. “We thank horseplayers around the world for their increasingly positive response to New Jersey racing at The Meadowlands.”

Big pools were the norm throughout the Saturday card. Four times during the program betting on a single race exceeded the $300,000 mark, with the first-race total of $565,076 representing the evening's most vigorous play on a single dash.

“Historically speaking,” said Settlemoir. “Wagering over $300,000 a race without a stakes event on the program is completely off the charts. We are proud of everyone at The Big M who worked so hard to make a $4.5-million night possible. With no racing either of the last two Fridays, there was obviously a large demand for the Saturday program, and, fortunately for us, the momentum from the last Saturday in December carried over into the first Saturday of January. Another factor was our media relations people helping to fuel a social media fire that burned all night long.”

Other big Saturday pools included the track's two signature Pick-4s, which averaged $111,597 per pool, as well as the mile oval's always popular Exacta, that averaged better than $84,000 a pop. Total Exacta play for the night was better than $1.25 million.

“The Pick-5 carryover of $46,000 brought everyone to the party early,” said Settlemoir. “The Pick-5 pool grew to $360,000 and the first race handle of $565,000 could possibly be a Meadowlands record for an opening race. In addition, now that we are offering free program pages on all Big M races, that provides something else that appeals to our regular customers and may bring us some new clientele as well, and, during the winter months, we have moved our post time to 6 p.m. In essence, we have traded the 11 p.m.-to-midnight hour for the 6-7 p.m. hour. We certainly are happy with the overwhelming response from our racing fans the last two weeks.”

The Big M's six 15 percent takeout wagers accounted for 14 percent of the evening's action on Saturday, with a total of over $650,000. In addition to the Pick-5 and two Pick-4s, players can also choose to get in on the track's 20-cent Survivor Pick-7, 20-cent Pick-6 and 10-cent Hi-Five.

THE SCHEDULE: Live racing at The Meadowlands will be conducted every Friday and Saturday night. First-race post time is 6 p.m.

TUNE IN: Be sure to watch the live “Racing from The Meadowlands” pre-game show, which now begins at 5:27 p.m. every race night.

On Friday, Dave Brower and Dave Little will be at the main desk on the Sam McKee Memorial Broadcast Set while Jessica Otten will be the featured handicapper on the live Television Games Network (tvg.com) presentation. Shades Demsky will provide interviews from the back paddock.

On Saturday night, Demsky will be alongside Brower, Little will shift to TVG and Otten will not only be on interview duty, but will also provide an in-depth look at the 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 after the conclusion of the replay of race two.

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The Jockey Club President Jim Gagliano Joins TDN Writers’ Room

There are few positions more prominent or scrutinized in racing than president of The Jockey Club, and that goes double for years as tumultuous for the sport as 2019 and 2020 were. With a plethora of game-changing topics to discuss, The Jockey Club’s president and chief operations office Jim Gagliano joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday in the show’s first episode of 2021. Appearing as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Gagliano discussed how the industry can potentially pay for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, the rationale behind a 140-mare cap for stallions, racing’s inability to permanently do away with repeat-offender trainers and more.

“I don’t think it should come out of the horseplayers’ pockets,” Gagliano said of the HISA cost. “Every state funds its regulation differently. The problem that we faced when we were considering that matter, is there’s really no one-size-fits-all that we could push down to the states. The most important thing we want to do is make sure we capture first the current expenses, and then that those were brought forward. After that, the Authority will work with each state and through its racing commission to determine what the number is. I suggest the simplest way is to share [the costs] between the tracks and the horsemen. But honestly, there’s a lot of details to be considered.”

Now that the HISA is a reality, Gagliano was asked what else The Jockey Club will focus on in the coming years.

“There’s plenty,” he said. “How we market the sport. The opportunity of television, which thank goodness, during this pandemic, to see the amount of live televised hours of horse racing has been a godsend. We’ve talked about scheduling. We need to put the product in a place where it can have the best showcase. Other areas: HISA is going to put USADA into a role and there are now rules that will be in place that will change the sport, we believe. Investigations, that’s something that racing has not done very well over the last bunch of years. I anticipate The Jockey Club will continue to invest in those kinds of resources to make sure that things we don’t want to happen in our sport, don’t happen.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the crew reacted to some huge performances on the track over the past few weeks and the surprisingly positive handle numbers in 2020, plus host Joe Bianca announces that he and producer Patty Wolfe have won an Eclipse Award. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

The post The Jockey Club President Jim Gagliano Joins TDN Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Turfway Park Posts 34.6 Percent Handle Increase In December Despite Three Fewer Race Dates

Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. delivered positive results in wagering and average field size during its 13-day Holiday Meet, which wrapped up a five-week run on Dec. 31.

Despite three fewer race dates compared to 2019, all-sources wagering at Turfway Park soared to $32.3 million, an $8.3 million jump and 34.6 percent increase from last year's $24.0 million. The average daily handle skyrocketed 65.6 percent from $1.5 million in 2019 to $2.48 million in 2020.

The average starters per race grew from 10.3 horses in 2019 to a strong 10.5 this year, which produced highly competitive racing over the track's newly-installed Tapeta synthetic surface. Installed during the summer of 2020, the new Tapeta surface has received positive reviews from horsemen and jockeys alike and has proven to be a fair and rewarding surface for horseplayers.

Gerardo Corrales (53-15-8-4—$226,928), who has ridden in the U.S. since 2015 after graduating from the Laffit Pincay Jockey Training Academy in his native Panama, earned his first Turfway Park riding title with 15 wins, four more than runner-up Albin Jimenez (56-11-9-4—$199,469). They were followed in the jockey standings by top money-earner Rafael Bejarano (60-10-14-10—$234,511), Chris Landeros (42-9-8-6—$219,045) and Santiago Gonzalez (35-7-5-2—$100,949).

Bill Morey (21-6-3-2—$127,900), who relocated to Kentucky from California last year, was the top trainer with six wins – one more than Wesley Ward (20-5-3-2—$101,169) – and also led all trainers in money-won. There was a five-way tie for third between Mike Maker (37-4-5-5—$97,508), Kenny McPeek (11-4-2-0—$78,879), Brad Cox (11-4-0-2—$78,430), Genaro Garcia (19-4-2-1—$58,045) and John Ortiz (11-4-0-0—$42,844).

Ten owners had two winners, including top money earner Gladys Campos' Campos Family Ventures LLC (8-2-3-0—$44,785).

Two horses won twice during the five-week stand: Prairie Bayou Stakes winner Set Piece (GB) (2-2-0-0—$41,740) and low-level claimer Drink (2-2-0-0—$12,600).

The Winter/Spring Meet at Turfway Park began Jan. 1 and will continue through March 28. Racing is conducted on a Thursday-Saturday schedule, although there is a special Wednesday, Jan. 6 program. The first race is 6:15 p.m. (all times Eastern) and most programs feature eight races. All Turfway Park races can be watched and wagered on TwinSpires.com, the official advance-deposit wagering service for Churchill Downs Incorporated and its family of racetracks.

With increased interest by Kentucky horsemen and Churchill Downs Incorporated's investment and redevelopment of Turfway Park to enhance winter/spring racing on the Kentucky circuit, Turfway Park's Winter/Spring Meet features a nine-race, $1.045 million stakes schedule, including four stakes that will offer points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

The $250,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (Grade 3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles has been repositioned to Saturday, March 27 and will offer 170 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (Top 4 Points: 100-40-20-10). Additionally, the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial at 1 1/16 miles on Friday, Feb. 26 has been added as a “Prep Season” race (Top 4 Points: 10-4-2-1).

The $150,000 Boubonette Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on March 27 will feature 85 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (Top 4 Points: 50-20-10-5) and its prep race, the $65,000 Cincinnati Trophy at 6 ½ furlongs on Friday, Feb. 26 will be worth 17 points (Top 4 Points: 10-4-2-1).

As was the case during the Holiday Meet, Turfway Park's wagering menu will feature a 15 percent takeout 50-cent Pick 5 that starts in Race 1 each night as well as the 15 percent takeout 20-cent Single 6 Jackpot on Races 3-8. There are two 14 percent takeout 50-cent Pick 4 sequences on each card with the first offered on Races 2-5 and the second on Races 5-8.

Established in 1959 as Latonia, Turfway Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Northern Kentucky. The track hosts live racing from late fall through early spring, maintaining the winter dates for Kentucky's year-round live racing circuit, and offers simulcast wagering year-round. Turfway Park recently installed a new all-weather Tapeta synthetic racing surface in 2020 for live racing and has been home to the Jeff Ruby Steaks and Bourbonette Oaks, qualifying races for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively. Turfway Park was purchased by Churchill Downs Incorporated in October 2019.

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