Tag: Horseplayers

The final huge weekend of racing during 2022 at The Meadowlands will kick off the day after Thanksgiving, Friday (Nov. 25), as 20-cent Pick-6 players will pump plenty of green into the pot that features a double carryover with a total pool guarantee of $100,000, which is offered in conjunction with the United States Trotting Association.

As if that weren't enough, Saturday's (Nov. 26) extraordinary racing program will showcase many of the sport's biggest stars on “Fall Final Four/TVG Championships Night.”

The Pick-6 failed to yield a winning ticket on both Friday (Nov. 18) and Saturday (Nov. 19) last week, resulting in a carryover of $32,429, motivating Big M management to guarantee the six-figure Pick-6 pool. The wager will be offered beginning on race eight and free past performances for all Meadowlands' races are always available by going to playmeadowlands.com.

“Last weekend, our Pick-4 carryover resulted in a total pool of over $300,000,” said track Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. “So, we know how popular our multi-leg wagers – which have a low 15 percent takeout to begin with – can be when they have carryovers. All of us at The Meadowlands are looking forward to a big weekend, and what better way to get it going than with a big Pick-6 pool.”

When Friday's 14-race card concludes, it will then be time for the main event.

Saturday's program will also have 14 races, and the Fall Final Four/TVG Championships Night eight-pack – with purses totaling $2.7 million – will be contested one race after the other:

• Race 4 – $475,400 Goldsmith Maid (2-year-old filly trot): Bond, the Kindergarten and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion, will try to extend her winning streak to six for trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt.
• Race 5 – $416,200 Valley Victory (2-year-old colt and gelding trot): A fabulous threesome will go at it, as Garden State winner Celebrity Bambino, Peter Haughton Memorial champ Kilmister and Kindergarten valedictorian Volume Eight will try for a victory that could provide a divisional trophy.
• Race 6 – $140,000 TVG Mares Trot: Division leader Bella Bellini will faceoff with Atlanta, the 37-time winner who has earnings of over $3.5 million. At race's end, Atlanta, the co-fastest female trotter in history with a clocking of 1:49, will be retired in a winner's circle ceremony.
• Race 7 – $428,400 Three Diamonds (2-year-old filly pace): Kindergarten winner Bellisima Hanover will try to up her winning streak to three in an evenly-matched event.
• Race 8 – $330,000 TVG Open Trot: Cutler Memorial and Breeders Crown winner Ecurie D DK will try to claim divisional honors by taking down the red-hot It's Academic, who has won the Meadowlands' overnight feature the last two weeks in a row.
• Race 9 – $158,000 TVG Mares Pace: Defending Horse of the Year, the 4-year-old Test Of Faith, takes on a pair of top notch 3-year-olds, Treacherous Dragon and Niki Hill.
• Race 10 – $345,000 TVG Open Pace: Bulldog Hanover, likely to be the unanimous winner of the Horse of the Year trophy, will look to go out a winner at the track where he established the mark for the fastest mile in the history of the sport of 1:45.4. After the race, 'Bulldog' will be retired in a ceremony in The Big M winner's circle.
• Race 11 – $430,000 Governor's Cup (2-year-old colt and gelding pace): Stormalong and Combustion were the winners of last week's eliminations. They take on Breeders Crown champ Ammo in a wide-open race.

VIDEOS AND SWAG: There will be commemorative videos played during both Atlanta's and Bulldog Hanover's retirement ceremonies, and for those who come to the track early, they can grab a souvenir mug for both horses who will be heading for the breeding shed. Supplies are limited.

YOU WANNA BET FIVE GRAND? There will be a huge promotion offered on Saturday's eight stakes events. For each race, there will be one winner of a free $5,000 win wager. You must be 18 or older to enter, and there is only one entry per person. You must enter online! Go to https://www.cognitoforms.com/MeadowlandsRacetrack1/TVGFallFinalFourNight2022

THE SCHEDULE: Racing at The Big M will be conducted on a Friday-Saturday basis through the end of the year, with a first-race post time of 6:20 p.m. There are several exceptions on the schedule, as there will be no live racing on Dec. 23-24, and there is one Thursday night card on the sked, which will take place Dec. 1.

Every live racing night, the “Racing from The Meadowlands” pregame show begins at 5:45 p.m. with news, notes and previews of the upcoming card.

WHERE TO BET: It's always best to experience Meadowlands races live at the track, but if you can't make it out to the mile oval, you'd be hard-pressed to find a simulcast parlor in a racetrack or an off-track wagering facility that did not offer the No. 1 harness product in the world.

Another way to watch and wager on the action is through tvg.com (the Television Games Network), where one can place a wager on Big M action and watch the races in the same place.

FREE PROGRAMS: Free past performances for every race for every Meadowlands program are available 48 hours before a given card. To access the no-cost official program pages, go to playmeadowlands.com.

GET ON TWITTER: Everything Meadowlands is available by going on Twitter. You can check in with the Big M team for early changes, racing information and staff selections by going to @themeadowlands or #playbigm.

On race nights, stay in touch with Jessica Otten (@JessicaOtten1), Dave Little (@DaveLittleBigM), Ken Warkentin (@kenvoiceover) and Edison Hatter (@Edison_1999_).

UPPING THE ANTE: The Meadowlands offers plenty of value to the bettor with six wagers nightly that offer low 15 percent take outs, plus two that offer a guaranteed pool of $50,000. As a bonus for Saturday night's high-octane program, both Pick-4s will have an increased pool guarantee of $75,000, which means that this weekend, Big M players will be swimming in multi-leg pools that will offer $350,000 in guaranteed green when you add in Friday's Pick-6 promise:

Friday's menu:

• Race 1: 20-cent Pick-5
• Race 3: 20-cent Survivor Pick-7
• Race 6: 50-cent Pick-4 ($50,000 guaranteed pool)
• Race 8: 20-cent Pick-6 ($100,000 guaranteed pool)
• Race 10: 50-cent Pick-4 ($50,000 guaranteed pool)
• Race 14: 10-cent Hi-5

Saturday's menu:

• Race 1: 20-cent Pick-5
• Race 4: 20-cent Pick-6
• Race 6: 50-cent Pick-4 ($75,000 guaranteed pool)
• Race 8: 20-cent Survivor Pick-7
• Race 10: 50-cent Pick-4 ($75,000 guaranteed pool)
• Race 14: 10-cent Hi-5

The post $100,000 Guaranteed Pick 6 Awaits Meadowlands Bettors On Friday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Fans will have their second of six opportunities to bet on the 149^th running of the Kentucky Derby (Grade 1) Thursday-Sunday where Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Forte was made the 10-1 individual betting favorite while the pari-mutuel field of “All Other Colts and Geldings” from the 2020 foal crop not listed within the 38 individual betting interests was tabbed as the heavy 3-5 choice.

The four-day pool, which features $2 Win and Exacta wagering, will open Thursday at noon (all times Eastern) and close Sunday at 6 p.m. Pool 2 will run concurrent with the lone Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager, where fans can bet horses sired by 39 individual sires and an option for “All Others” that were not listed. Horses from the 2020 foal crop sired by Uncle Mo are the 4-1 morning line favorite followed by Violence (6-1), Arrogate (8-1) and Into Mischief (8-1). All Other Sires is listed at 6-1.

In the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, Forte, trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, has won four of five career starts and is a three-time Grade 1 winner with his other victories coming in the Breeders' Futurity and the Hopeful (G1). The talented son of Violence has already banked $1,595,150 and is the heavy favorite to become champion 2-year-old.

Other intriguing prospects that were included in the second pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager are Winchell Thoroughbreds' dazzling maiden special weight winner Extra Anejo (15-1); Spendthrift Farm, Steve Landers Racing, Martin Schwartz, Michael Dubb, Ten Strike Racing, Jim Bakke, Titletown Racing Stables, Kueber Racing, Big Easy Racing and Winners Win's undefeated allowance winner Giant Mischief (25-1); Breeders' Futurity narrow runner-up Loggins (40-1); and Rodeo Creek Racing's Champagne (G1) winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) fourth-place runner Blazing Sevens.

As was the case last year, Pool 2 will assume that horses under the care of trainers suspended from competing in the 2023 Kentucky Derby will not be under consideration. Instead, they are included within the pari-mutuel field.

In total, there are 14 new entrants in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager: Bromley, Capture the Flag, Cascais, Champions Dream, Corona Bolt, Denington, Disarm, Expect More, Giant Mischief, Hal, Litigate, Navy Man, Practical Move and Recruiter.

Here is the complete field with morning line odds: #1 Awesome Strong (80-1); #2 Blazing Sevens (30-1); #3 Bromley (99-1); #4 Capture the Flag (99-1); #5 Cascais (99-1); #6 Champions Dream (99-1); #7 Corona Bolt (80-1); #8 Curly Jack (80-1); #9 Cyclone Mischief (99-1); #10 Denington (99-1); #11 Disarm (80-1); #12 Echo Again (50-1); #13 Expect More (99-1); #14 Extra Anejo (15-1); #15 Forbidden Secret (99-1); #16 Forte (10-1); #17 Frank's Honor (99-1); #18 Full Moon Madness (99-1); #19 General Jim (80-1); #20 Giant Mischief (25-1); #21 Gulfport (75-1); #22 Hal (99-1); #23 Hit Show (80-1); #24 Instant Coffee (80-1); #25 Joking Way (99-1); #26 Litigate (99-1); #27 Loggins (40-1); #28 Mr. Ripple (99-1); #29 Navy Man (99-1); #30 Practical Move (99-1); #31 Recruiter (99-1); #32 Rocket Can (99-1); #33 Signator (60-1); #34 Tapit's Conquest (99-1); #35 Ten Days Later (60-1); #36 Tuskegee Airmen (99-1); #37 Verifying (80-1); #38 Victory Formation (80-1); #39 “All Fillies from the 2020 Foal Crop (80-1); and #40 All Other Colts and Geldings from the 2020 Foal Crop (3-5).

Fans will have the opportunity to see some of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2 entrants run Saturday at Churchill Downs for Stars of Tomorrow II which features exclusively 2-year-old races. The featured event is the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), worth 10 points to the winning horse on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

In the Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager, horses sired by Uncle Mo were made favorite. To date, some of Uncle Mo's top earners (through Nov. 17) are Gulfport ($336,530), Mo Strike ($183,710) and Arabian Knight ($86,025).

In last year's Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager, “All Other Sires,” which included eventual Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice), closed as the 7-2 favorite.

Here is the complete field for the Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager with morning line odds: #1 American Pharoah (80-1); #2 Arrogate (8-1); #3 Bernardini (50-1); #4 Bolt d'Oro (60-1); #5 Cairo Prince (80-1); #6 Candy Ride (ARG) (80-1); #7 City of Light (80-1); #8 Classic Empire (80-1); #9 Cloud Computing (80-1); #10 Constitution (80-1); #11 Curlin (60-1); #12 Empire Maker (80-1); #13 Flatter (80-1); #14 Ghostzapper (60-1); #15 Girvin (60-1); #16 Good Magic (60-1); #17 Gun Runner (10-1); #18 Hard Spun (80-1); #19 Into Mischief (8-1); #20 Justify (40-1); #21 Malibu Moon (60-1); #22 Medaglia d'Oro (80-1); #23 Mendelssohn (80-1); #24 More Than Ready (80-1); #25 Not This Time (80-1); #26 Nyquist (80-1); #27 Pioneerof the Nile (99-1); #28 Practical Joke (80-1); #29 Quality Road (20-1); #30 Runhappy (50-1); #31 Sharp Azteca (80-1); #32 Speightstown (60-1); #33 Street Sense (80-1); #34 Tapit (40-1); #35 Uncle Mo (4-1); #36 Union Rags (99-1); #37 Violence (6-1); #38 War Front (80-1); #39 West Coast (80-1); #40 All Other Sires (6-1).

All told, there are six Future Wager pools scheduled in advance of the 2023 Kentucky Derby: Pool 1 ran Nov. 1-3; Nov. 24-27 (Pool 2); Jan. 20-22 (Pool 3); Feb. 10-12 (Pool 4); March 10-12 (Pool 5); and March 30-April 1 (Pool 6). The lone Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will coincide with Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 5 on March 10-12.

A record total of $2,060,691 was bet on future wagers for the 2022 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks.

There are no refunds in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager or Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager. Should Churchill Downs officials determine during the duration of this week's four-day pool that one of the wagering interests has experienced an injury, illness or other circumstance that would prevent the horse from participating in the Kentucky Derby or Oaks, betting on the individual horse will be suspended immediately.

More information, Brisnet.com past performances and real-time odds on the Kentucky Derby Future Wager will be available before the pool opens Thursday online at https://www.kentuckyderby.com/wager/future-wager.

The post Kentucky Derby Future Wager: Breeders’ Cup Winner Forte Installed As 10-1 Individual Favorite For Pool 2 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Since the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation published its piece on pool manipulation at Gulfstream Park, TIF has received a plethora of questions and comments about it. We have summarized them into eight questions below and, hopefully, provided some additional insight and context with your answers.

If you have more, don't hesitate to contact TIF using this form.

1. How often has pool manipulation occurred?

TIF has recorded dozens of manipulation incidents in recent months. Another incident occurred Saturday, November 19th, after the publishing of our story, in the second race at Laurel.

It appears about $5,000 was bet to show on a 17-1 longshot who finished last in a field of five, and all in the 30 seconds before the race. The total pool ended up at $9,248, the longshot finished last and the show payouts were likely twice the anticipated return.

Races with smaller pools and uncompetitive entrants invite manipulation.

2. Why do you hate the quinella? I loved betting it and now it's gone. Thanks a lot.

TIF does not hate quinellas.

The horse racing public simply does not embrace them.

On November 11, Gulfstream's exacta pools averaged $93,000. The quinella pools for the eight unmanipulated races that day averaged just over $4,000.

Small pools are ripe for manipulation. TIF's call to eliminate the quinella at Del Mar and NYRA is all about pool size and not some aversion to the quinella. These are not popular bets at American horse tracks no matter how long they have been around.

3. I understand something strange happened, but can you explain it simpler? Give us a step-by-step of what the bettor who did this was doing?

Here is a generic re-creation of what may have happened.

Step 1: One or more bettors place a series of quinella bets across various offshore sites covering a range of logical outcomes. The eventual winning 2-6 quinella combination would have been one that was covered since these two horses were first and second-favorite.

The offshore sites take these bets and book them, that is, the bets do not go into the parimutuel pools. Instead, the offshore site(s) accept the risk if the bet is successful and keep the proceeds if the bets lose. These sites share no revenue with racetracks or horsemen.

Given their risk, the sites often limit the amount a customer can win from any one bet. As a result, to maximize the value of the manipulation, one would want to place bets across many different accounts.

Step 2: Once the offshore bets are placed, one or more bettors then prepare to place the bets that will manipulate the pools. These are bets intended to lose and are placed on one or more combinations involving overmatched horses.

In this case, the bettor/s chose to focus on eventual 43-1 longshot Miss Grand Slam, placing a series of bets using Miss Grand Slam with every other horse in the race. These bets are usually placed through an ADW account. In TIF's series “Wagering Insecurity,” we wrote about multiple incidents of quinella pools at Will Rogers Downs being manipulated in the spring of 2021. An investigation by the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission found that the manipulating bets originated at both TVG and Xpressbet.

4. Is this illegal?

Mostly not.

Customers participating in the legal, regulated pari-mutuel pools can bet as they see fit. ADWs often monitor accounts for unusual or suspicious activity and retain the right to close accounts for any reason, per their terms and conditions.

For an American, transmitting funds to an offshore entity for the purpose of betting is likely illegal. Most laws governing this are seldom enforced, but of course, could be.

However, for residents of some jurisdictions around the world, the entire act is legal, including the bet with an offshore site booking bets and paying based on the pari-mutuel outcomes.

5. How does it get stopped?

Offshore or unregulated betting will almost never be stopped, but it can be slowed. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) helped that by making it difficult for the offshore sites to send money to customers.

A robust, attractive legal market is the best option for combatting this behavior.

TIF believes the best path forward for racing is to ensure legalization of ADW betting in as many states as possible, and for track operators to only offer bet types with pools large enough to discourage manipulation.

That ADW betting is not a legal option for residents of Georgia and Texas, amongst others, remains a failure and encourages residents of those states to use offshore options.

6. So, who was harmed? The 2-6 quinella paid far more than anyone would have expected.

The situation seems almost victimless, except for the offshore sites that may have had to pay winners. But these wagers' success relies on a horse losing, not winning. This may well give participants incentives to co-opt participants in the race to help ensure that outcome.

Manipulated pools undermine confidence in the integrity of the betting product.

Each additional “successful” incident serves as an advertisement for more manipulation in the future. That's bad for racing.

7. What happened with the final pool update? Why did the prices change so late?

According to officials with 1/ST Racing and Gaming, there is no evidence the pools closed late for this race.

They attributed the delay in posting prices to a “communications network issue that started before this race that caused multiple guest hubs, foreign and domestic, to be delayed by as much as 81.37 seconds to receive final pools.”

This happens on occasion, and while such a delay is not past-posting, the appearance is terrible.

American racing bettors are accustomed to late changes normally given the proliferation of computerized robotic wagering (CRW) – that is, algorithms used by professional betting syndicates which place massive batch bets in the final seconds of betting. Most often, those bets do not get reflected publicly until the after the start of the race.

What was unusual about this incident was the combination of the manipulation with a delay in reporting the final prices. It appears that among the last cycle of bets included a legitimate 2-6 quinella, which dropped the overall payout from $81 to $42. This bet likely came from a CRW-entity.

8. If pool manipulation has been on the rise lately, what do you think is really driving that?

One of the places you can reliably spend cryptocurrency is an offshore, unregulated betting site. Many of them incentivize customers to use cryptocurrencies to make deposits and take withdrawals.

Dr. Nicholas Weaver, a researcher at Cal-Berkeley's International Computer Science Institute and expert on cryptocurrency, does a fabulous job of explaining cryptocurrency in a February 2022 lecture:

“Cryptocurrencies don't work as a currency unless you are a criminal. The entire space is a self-assembled Ponzi scheme.”

A Q&A with Weaver from Current Affairs offers more insight.

As it relates to wagering, a May 2021 report from the Asian Racing Federation's Council on Anti-Illegal Betting & Related Financial Crime (ARF Council) noted the rise in such funding methods to facilitate betting.

“As a measure of the growth of cryptocurrency in betting, Bitcoin is now accepted on at least 127 offshore sports betting websites and 284 online casinos, which is a seven- and 13-fold increase respectively since 2018…In addition to Bitcoin, at least 780 offshore websites accept one or more of the five largest cryptocurrencies.”

Tutorials explaining how to open crypto accounts and use them on the offshore interfaces simplify the process.

“All of these features are attractive to bettors and operators in jurisdictions where online betting is illegal and/or restricted,” wrote the ARF Council.

“Regulators in many jurisdictions have also been slow to keep up with the growth of blockchain, creating loopholes exploited by organized crime. International law enforcement and anti-money laundering bodies have highlighted that blockchain and cryptocurrencies facilitate illicit activities including illegal betting and money laundering.”

The post TIF: ‘Races With Smaller Pools And Uncompetitive Entrants Invite Manipulation’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Woodbine Entertainment canceled races 3-10 of Sunday's card of live racing due to inclement weather conditions in the Toronto area.

At mid-afternoon, Weather.com reported snow in the area that was to continue for the next several hours.

Among the races canceled was the $175,000 Kennedy Road (G2), a six-furlong main track race for 3-year-olds and up. A Woodbine press release did not address when or if the race would be rescheduled.

Live racing will resume at Woodbine on Thursday, post time 4:50 p.m. (ET).

The post Winter Weather Forces Woodbine To Cancel Portion Of Sunday Card appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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