Tag: Horseplayers

Kentucky Downs is again staging the online, live-money King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge at the late-summer all-turf meet that attracts the largest purses and field sizes in America. Back for the third year will be the instantly-iconic Global Tote King of the Turf Championship Belt trophy to the overall winner.

Kentucky Downs races Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, 3, 7, 9, 10 and 13 over North America's only European-style course.

The King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge again will feature three stand-alone, one-day betting contests, this year on opening-day Thursday Aug. 31 with a $400 buy-in, Sunday Sept. 3 ($500 buy-in) and Saturday Sept. 9 ($800 buy-in). Half of competitors' buy-ins are earmarked for their live bankrolls with the remainder going toward purses and prizes, which include 2024 National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) packages and $10,000 buy-in berths for the 2023 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge.

The cumulative winner, who must compete in all three tournaments, will be feted as King of the Turf: National Turf Handicapping Champion, receiving a 2023 BCBC seat and the Global Tote belt at the 2024 NHC awards dinner in Las Vegas.

“The format of three one-day contests proved very popular with horseplayers last year, and we think they'll be even more thrilled that one of the tournaments will be on our big Saturday featuring at least five graded stakes,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' Vice President for Racing. “We wanted to get the word out ahead of the 2023 NHC on March 10-12, where the Global Tote championship belt will be on display and presented to our 2022 winner, Tom Rapps of Cleveland.”

Qualifiers to win fees-paid spots in King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge will begin this summer on horsetourneys.com.

While still offering the lowest overall rates of any major American track, significant increases in the cost of conducting its live race meet and market forces led Kentucky Downs to bump its takeout rates 1 percent for the 2023 meet.

With its average field size of around 11 horses a race, Kentucky Downs will continue to offer the most betting value of any racing product in North America, Nicholson said. Kentucky Downs' takeout blend will be 18.2 percent, still the lowest of all major racetracks by as much as 2 percentage points.

“This is not something we did lightly,” Nicholson said. “The fact is that the fixed costs of putting on a world-class meet are prohibitive with only a handful of dates to recoup the myriad of expenses. That is exacerbated when the weather forces postponement, as we had twice last year. We're confident that horseplayers will continue to find Kentucky Downs the premier betting product with our large fields, quality and what remains a low takeout.”

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The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) has announced the official partners and sponsors for the 24th NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC), presented by Caesars Entertainment, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and Racetrack Television Network (RTN), to be held March 10-12, 2023.

The NHC, the world's richest and most prestigious handicapping contest, features more than 600 top horseplayers competing for an estimated $3.2 million in cash prizes and more than $1 million in travel awards. The winner will be awarded a $750,000 (est.) grand prize and will be named the 2023 Horseplayer of the Year which will be honored at the 2024 Eclipse Awards. The complete field and total prize breakdown will be finalized following the Last Chance/First Chance Contest on the eve of the NHC.

In addition to its three presenting sponsors ― Caesars Entertainment, Horseshoe Las Vegas and RTN ― the NHC is supported by official partners Daily Racing Form, EquinEdge, Four Roses Bourbon and Race Lens.

Outlets that held qualifiers to the 2023 NHC included At the Races with Steve Byk, Bally's Las Vegas, Breeders' Cup, Canterbury Park, Colonial Downs, Del Mar, FanDuel TV, FTHA, Gulfstream Park, Hawthorne, Hialeah, Horseplayers.com, Horsetourneys.com, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Keeneland, Kentucky Downs, Laurel Park, Little Red Feather, Lone Star Park, Los Alamitos, Meadowlands, Monmouth Park, NTRA, Race Lens, Sam Houston Race Park, Santa Anita Park, Saratoga Bets, Sport of Kings, Tampa Bay Downs, Treasure Island, The Big One, and Xpressbet.

“Our partners and sponsors help make the NHC such a worthwhile, successful, and valuable event,” said Tom Rooney, President and CEO of the NTRA. “With their engagement, along with all the tracks that host qualifiers year-round, horseplayers are able to fully capitalize on the excitement of the sport and play in highly competitive contests, that lead to the NHC. We thank them for their ongoing support.”

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. NHC players qualified via contests hosted by 34 racetracks, casino race books, handicapping contest websites, Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) platforms, simulcast distribution networks, horse owner associations, media outlets, and other Thoroughbred racing organizations.

To sign up for the NHC Tour, go to www.ntra.com/membership.

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Jockey Manny Jimenez' cool head under pressure helped to avoid a major incident at Tampa Bay Downs on Friday, Feb. 24, when an alligator made its way onto the track mid-race.

Aboard Papa Jimmy, Jimenez was forced to take evasive action when he spotted the alligator about 20 seconds into the 1 1/16-mile race. According to The Mirror, Jimenez said the alligator was crossing from a pond by the seven-furlong chute to the infield pond, with its head facing the inside rail.

“By the time I see the gator we were pretty close to each other and his head was looking at us in the path my horse is running,” Jimenez told The Mirror. “I knew right away that I was not going to be able to make it around the gator and I didn't want to run the risk of leaving it easy to the gator to bite my horse.

“So I just took my horse wider by the hind body and the tail of the gator, and put him straight so he can see the gator. Horses are smart enough that they know how to avoid problems and if he sees where he is stepping, he is going to step hard on the ground and I knew he would not step on the gator.

“So I prayed to God, trusted my horse and we made it to the other side. We won the race of life in that race.”

The Equibase chart explains that Jimenez and Papa Jimmy went wide around the gator and eventually finished fourth in the race. Trailing horses Mapache G and Macho Real may also have been forced to avoid the alligator's presence on the track, but the camera angles do not allow that to be seen in the race replay.

Read more at The Mirror, and check out the video clip below:

From video it looks a trailing horse hit the alligator. pic.twitter.com/eY1nz9nLuC

— Ray Paulick (@raypaulick) February 25, 2023

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World Pool's first meeting in Saudi Arabia on Saturday was greeted by globally commingled turnover of HK$197,800,886 (approx. $25.2 million) across the six Group races offered via pari-mutuel organizations from over 20 countries.

The world's most valuable race, The Saudi Cup (G1), plundered by Japan's Dubai Turf winner Panthalassa, was the most bet on contest at HK$48,388,160 (approx. $6.2m), higher than any race commingled at either of the first two World Pool race days of the year in South Africa and Australia.

The fourth World Pool race of the night, the Saudi Derby (G3), was won by the locally-trained King Commissioner and saw $HK34,632,172 (approx. $4.1m) bet, the second highest turnover race of the night, while the Red Sea Turf Handicap was the other race to come in over HK$30million at HK$30,448,420 (approx. $3.9m).

Newly-announced World Pool ambassador Frankie Dettori rode Elite Power to victory in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3), where turnover hit HK$29,332,759 (approx. $3.7m).

Panthalassa's wire-to-wire victory in the US$20million feature, his first success on dirt, was also chosen as the World Pool Moment of the Day, meaning groom, Yasuhiro Ikeda, will receive a check for HK$40,000 (approx. $5,100).

Ikeda will now have the chance to win a VIP trip to Hong Kong next year should Panthalassa's Saudi Cup triumph be named World Pool Moment of the Year.

Sam Nati, Head of Comminging at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “Hitting almost HK$200million on a six-race card is really positive, particularly with The Saudi Cup itself generating the highest single-race turnover of 2023 so far. The combination of good field sizes, competitive races and a great mix of horses and jockeys from across the globe made the meeting a real spectacle for punters.”

World Pool's next stop is Meydan Racecourse for the Dubai Super Saturday meeting on Saturday, March 4.

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