In addition to nine races worth $1 million in purses featuring the top West Virginia-breds in training, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races will also be offering a mandatory payout of the track's Pick 6 carryover on Saturday's West Virginia Breeders' Classics XXXV card.
The Charles Town 6-12 carryover currently stands at $72,345 with 3 cards remaining prior to its distribution. The Charles Town 6-12 is a jackpot style Pick 6 covering the final six races on each Charles Town card and carries a low 12-percent takeout.
Due to the low takeout and size of the carryover, the mandatory payouts of the Charles Town 6-12 have typically resulted in a players' advantage of in upwards of 13 percent paid out on top of the gross pool on the night of the distribution.
The first race on Saturday's West Virginia Breeders' Classics program is slated for 7:00 P.M EST, with the featured $300,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic going off as Race 8 and carrying a tentative post time of 10:32 P.M.
WEST VIRGINIA BREEDERS CLASSICS XXXV PICK 6 SEQUENCE
Keeneland will debut a number of new initiatives for the 2021 Fall Meet, which opens Friday, aimed at broadening coverage and growing viewership among Spanish-speaking fans of Thoroughbred racing. Enhancements include a livestream of Fall Stars Weekend race cards in Spanish, Spanish translation of the Keeneland Race Day App as well as handicapping content and analysis in Spanish on Keeneland.com. Coverage of Keeneland's star-studded Friday, Saturday and Sunday race cards, held Oct. 8-10, will be enhanced with expert analysis and commentary from DRF en Español all three days. Breeders' Cup En Vivo, a series of digital handicapping shows covering Breeders' Cup Challenge races across the country produced by America's Best Racing, will take place Saturday and Sunday.
“Keeneland has seen tremendous interest in recent years from our Spanish-speaking audiences in our traditional racing content,” Keeneland Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Christa Marrillia said. “We are excited to work with our partners at the Breeders' Cup, DRF en Español and America's Best Racing to provide this valuable content to our Spanish-speaking fans. These outreach efforts are key to growing our fan base and strengthening our sport.”
Fall Stars Weekend coverage
Keeneland, in partnership with DRF en Español, will team with Breeders' Cup En Vivo to offer a livestream in Spanish of the track's entire opening Fall Stars Weekend, which features 10 stakes, nine of which are Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” races. Talent for these broadcasts will include Roberto Rodriguez, Carlos Morales, David Merida and Ramon Brito; and
Breeders' Cup En Vivo segments: Annise Montplaisir, Darwin Vizcaya, Roberto Rodriguez, Emanuel Aguilar and Claudia Spadaro.
The livestream will be available on Keeneland and Daily Racing Form's Spanish YouTube channels as well as on Keeneland.com and DRF.com/Espanol.
Fans may watch Breeders' Cup En Vivo through both the Breeders' Cup and ABR's Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels.
The daily schedule for Spanish coverage of Fall Stars weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) includes:
10 a.m. – “Keeneland Hoy!,” a 45-minute preview show;
12:30 p.m. – Full race-day coverage begins with live race calls, analysis and interviews in Spanish;
Saturday at 3:45 p.m. – “Breeders' Cup En Vivo” covers the Thoroughbred Club of America (G2), First Lady (G1) Presented by UK HealthCare, Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) and Keeneland Turf Mile (G1); and
Sunday at 4:45 p.m. – “Breeders' Cup En Vivo” covers the Juddmonte Spinster (G1) and Castle & Key Bourbon (G2).
“In our continuing efforts to reach the widest audience possible with new and innovative content in the digital space, we are proud to partner with Keeneland, America's Best Racing and DRF en Español in promoting 'Breeders' Cup En Vivo' for our Challenge Series races at Keeneland,” said Justin McDonald, Breeders' Cup Senior Vice President of Marketing. “We are sure that our Spanish-language audience will enjoy the comprehensive analysis and commentary of Keeneland's Fall Star races and the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series nationwide.”
Keeneland Race Day App
With nearly 200,000 downloads to date, the hugely popular Keeneland Race Day App will be available in Spanish for the Fall Meet. It is believed to be the first English horse racing app to be translated into Spanish.
Keeneland fans whose native language is set to Spanish on their iPhone or Android devices will soon automatically be able to view and use the Keeneland app in Spanish.
The app includes program details, handicapping selections, live racing, replays and more.
Handicapping analysis
DRF en Español will provide daily handicapping content and analysis in Spanish throughout the Fall Meet via the Expert Picks platform on Keeneland.com.
These Keeneland initiatives extend a partnership that began during the 2020 Fall Meet with the founding of DRF en Español.
Fans again will be able to access Spanish content about Keeneland racing on DRF.com. The fully translated platform will include dedicated Keeneland coverage on DRF.com/Espanol, which features articles and handicapping selections; analysis videos featuring Keeneland racing; and La Referencia and La Guia del Pool of handicapping analysis for Keeneland races during Fall Stars Weekend.
“We are very excited about what Keeneland en Español will be able to offer Spanish-speaking horse racing fans during Fall Stars Weekend. Offering a product as complete as DRF en Español on a platform like Keeneland is a privilege that we embrace with the greatest of responsibilities,” DRF en Español Director Roberto Rodriguez said. “Uniting the Spanish-speaking audience with Keeneland and Daily Racing Form for us represents having the best horse, the best rider and the best trainer ready to fire in the most important race.”
Visit DRF en Espanol or follow on Twitter @DRFenEspanol and Instagram @drfenespanol for more information.
The introduction of racing on Tapeta has presented bettors with new handicapping challenges and, hopefully, an all-weather path to betting riches at Gulfstream Park.
With four racing days in the books since races have been run over the Tapeta surface, it will come as a surprise to no one that horses with experience on turf and with turf pedigrees have been dominant in the vast majority of the 18 races conducted on the new all-weather track that was constructed on the former outer turf course.
How-the-race-was-won stats may be more relevant to handicappers, considering that there has been only one front-running winner thus far. Eleven winners rallied from mid-pack or farther back to win, while six horses prevailed after pressing or stalking the pace.
Amador Sanchez-trained Wow Tapit, who set the pace on his way to capturing a 5 ½-furlong maiden claiming race on Day 1, is also one of only two horses that won on Tapeta with no previous experience on turf (not counting first-time starter Cosmo Paul, who won Sunday's Race 3). Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Strategy Queen graduated a few races later Thursday in a maiden special weight race on Tapeta after running twice on dirt. With a Tapeta-winning sister and a sire who was a multiple winner on all-weather, the daughter of Fed Biz's pedigree suggested that she would relish the going. Strategy Queen is one of four Tapeta winners that had raced on dirt in their previous starts.
Perhaps the most eye-opening development of the Tapeta Era thus far? The first 17 winners on Tapeta were saddled by 17 different trainers before Mark Casse doubled up in Sunday's last race with All Quality, who was racing on an all-weather track for the first time since winning her debut on Woodbine's all-weather track in 2019.
Ron Spatz saddled a veteran turf allowance runner Light Fury for an impressive mile-and-70-yard starter allowance score with his only Tapeta starter thus far.
“It reminds me of the old Calder. You run the same kind of normal fractions down the backside. The further you go, you lose a second. That's the way Calder always was,” Spatz said. “As long as they come back fine, that's great with me.”
Jockeys have done a pretty good job of spreading the wealth on Tapeta as well. Samy Camacho and Edwin Gonzalez lead all jockeys with three wins each. Jesus Rios and Miguel Vasquez each have two wins.
“It's not the same, but Tapeta is a lot like turf. I like the track. You don't have to be on the lead on this track. You can wait for the stretch,” said Camacho, who hadn't ridden in a race on Tapeta during his career prior to Thursday. “I think Gulfstream made a good change to have turf, Tapeta and dirt.”
The temptation to arbitrarily throw out the favorite may be eased somewhat by the fact that 11 favorites have visited the winner's circle after victories on Tapeta for a 60-percent strike rate.
Thursday's Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $450,000
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $450,000 Thursday at Gulfstream Park, where the popular multi-race wager went unsolved Sunday for the 14th racing day since a Sept. 10 mandatory payout produced multiple payoffs of $313,299.84
The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
The fourth race on Sunday, Oct. 3, at Gulfstream Park was just a maiden claiming race with a nondescript field of nine fillies – who'd combined for eight second- and third-place finishes from 48 total starts. The runners carried a $12,500 claiming tag and were racing for a $21,000 purse.
Yet, for reasons unknown, this six-furlong race stood out to some gamblers playing the nine-race Sunday program.
The $193,956 in win, place and show bets exceeded every other race on the card. So did the $198,851 in the exacta pool – fully $54,034 (37%) higher than the second biggest exacta pool on the day. The $127,460 in trifecta bets and $90,433 wagered on the superfecta also were the largest pools of the day for those bet types (the trifecta was higher by 38% and the superfecta by 26%).
Combining straight bets with these three exotic wagering pools, there was $610,700 bet on this maiden claimer, $114,210 (23%) more than the day's feature race, an allowance/optional claiming event with a field of nine.
In fact, of the 177 races run at Gulfstream Park in the previous month, beginning with Sept. 3, only five other races had larger exacta pools and only four trifecta pools were bigger than Sunday's fourth race. Keep in mind that Saturdays almost always out-handle Sunday cards.
The race was won in front-running fashion by Rubysa, a 3-year-old Gone Astray filly making her third start and first since March 26. Rubysa was 15-1 on the morning line and bet down to 2.70-1. First-time starter Sade Purse finished second at 17.90-1 with 1.5-1 favorite J D's Vista third and Princess Tereska, the 4-1 second choice, finishing fourth.
Both the winner and fourth-place finisher were making their first starts for trainer Juan Reviriego, who less than five months earlier returned to training to run his first horse since 2009 and proceeded to win with three of his first five starters. He then lost with his next 12 runners going into Sunday's fourth race.
Rubysa and Princess Teresko are owned by Long Trail Stables LLC, an entity registered in Florida by Felice Iadisernia, the brother of horseman Giuseppe Iadisernia. The latter trained horses for more than a decade, sending out his last runners in 2016, and he and other family members are registered agent for a number of equine-related businesses, including Nelson Jones Farm and Training Center of Ocala, Northwest Stud, and companies that supply shavings and feed to Florida horsemen.
Rubysa was ridden by Jose Morelos, who came to Gulfstream Park earlier this year from Panama and has won with 29 of his first 268 mounts. Carlos Lugo, who had ridden trainer Reviriego's three other winners this year, had been aboard Rubysa in her two previous starts. Lugo rode Princess Tereska in the Oct. 3 race. Breaking from the No. 5 post position, Princess Tereska showed very little from the outset as Rubysa was hustled to the lead from the two post and would draw off by 4 ¾ lengths.
Francisco D'Angelo, a leading conditioner in Venezuela who began training in the U.S. in 2015, had previously trained both Rubysa and Princess Tereska but has not started a horse since Aug. 20, according to Equibase.
Rubysa paid $7.40 to win and combined with 17.90-1 longshot Sade Purse for a $1 exacta payoff of $82.80. The 50-cent trifecta, incorporating the 1.50-1 favorite J D's Vista in third, paid $84, while the 10-cent superfecta paid $111.29 with Princess Tereska in the fourth spot.
