Tag: Horseplayers

The New York Racing Association Inc. will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Sunday featuring stakes action from Ellis Park in Kentucky and Saratoga Race Course.

The Cross Country Pick 5 requires bettors to pick the winner of five select races from tracks across the country. The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country with each week featuring a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5, boasting a low 15 percent takeout, offers sequences with races from Saratoga Race Course and partner tracks across the country.

Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence will be available for download at https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Sunday, Aug. 6

Leg A: Ellis Park – Race 6, KY Downs Preview Turf Sprint (3:18 p.m. Eastern)

Leg B: Ellis Park – Race 7, KY Downs Preview Ladies Turf Mile (3:50 p.m.)

Leg C: Ellis Park – Race 9, KY Downs Preview Turf Cup (4:55 p.m.)

Leg D: Saratoga Race Course – Race 8, G3 Adirondack (5:10 p.m.)

Leg E: Saratoga Race Course – Race 9, Starter Allowance (5:44 p.m.)

Saratoga Live will present daily coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the best way to bet every race of the Belmont spring/summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

The post Ellis Park Stakes, Saratoga Focus Of NYRA’s Cross Country Pick 5 On Sunday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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As horseplayers become more and more frustrated with last-minute odds changes, there is more discussion than ever around the challenges of computer-assisted wagering.

According to panelists presenting at the 71^st Annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this week, computer players are driving out more traditional horseplayers – but they're probably here to stay.

Data presented by Thoroughbred Idea Foundation executive director Pat Cummings shows that in 2003, computer-assisted wagering accounted for $1.2 billion in parimutuel handle (or $1.93 billion when adjusted for inflation). At that time other players were responsible for $13.98 billion in handle (or $22.51 billion when adjusted for inflation). By 2022, computer-assisted wagering was up 109% to $4 billion, while other wagering was down 64 percent to $8.1 billion.

Combined, the two sources of wagering are down 50 percent when adjusted for inflation.

Computer-assisted players are often multi-owner syndicates, and the assistance of computer programming allows them to create highly complex formulas weighing different factors, including current odds, and to make huge volumes of wagers quickly. Some computer-assisted wagering (CAW) teams are given back-end access to tote systems, allowing them to get in even more bets more quickly, up until the last possible second. Additionally, large-volume players (whether computer-driven or not) are often given increasing rebates as they wager more, which reduces financial risk and encourages them to bet even more.

These factors combine to allow a large volume of late wagers that end up changing the odds significantly nfor parimutuel players.

Dr. Marshall Gramm, economics professor at Rhodes College, said rebates had a big impact on his wagering activity.

In 1991, he made his first bet on a racehorse and won at odds of 7-2. In 2010, he wagered $49,000 and made $52,000, and claimed his first horse at Philadelphia Park.

“Suddenly, I was a winning horseplayer and I was an owner; I was on top of the world,” Gramm recalled. “In 2011, I got rebates for the first time. It allowed me to be a winning player. By 2015, I bet $25 million in one year. So it was a 500-fold increase (with a betting partner) for me as the result of having an opportunity to win and the pricing being different.

“And, I went from one racehorse to now I have 113 racehorses in partnership or outright.”

Gramm is part of a partnership that does use computer programming to guide wagering choices, but doesn't have back-end access to ADWs. He estimates that his system could, at its quickest, place three bets per second, which makes him much slower than the large CAW teams with back-end access to the tote.

This year, Gramm expects he'll be betting a little less than he has before.

“Prices have become a more accurate representation of a horse's true chance of winning,” he said.

That means it's harder for him – and other players in the middle market not using CAW – to see the upside.

“I've talked to many of them and they're betting a lot less,” Gramm said. “They're getting squeezed out as a result of the shark-eat-shark environment.”

The proliferation of CAWs in horse racing has come at the same time that many casual players are leaving for sports wagering.

The New York Racing Association has worked to reduce the impact of CAWs on traditional players. Two years ago, NYRA decided to cut off CAW players from the win pool two minutes before the race began, and later cut them out of the late Pick 5.

NYRA has also become a minority owner in Elite Turf Club, a betting services provider that works with a number of computer-assisted teams.

Joe Longo, general manager of NYRA content management solutions, said the organization had changed its policies after receiving numerous complaints about late odds changes in the win pool, which are confusing and discouraging, particularly to new horseplayers.

“In our view, there's nothing wrong with having some of those pools that the everyday retail player can participate in and hopefully have a good result in the end,” he said. “We've seen in the win pool itself, the percentage of our handle prior to the restriction is the same exact number it is after. More retail people have moved in there, so it's been very positive.”

Other racetracks have changed the way they handle rebates to reduce the impact of CAWs on the retail player. Longo believes that eventually, NYRA's approach to the problem may become more common across other tracks.

“I think as an industry as a whole, we come up with one industry-wide CAW policy whether it's the win pool or any other pool, and allow customers to know you can bet with confidence, that will eliminate some of the boogeyman in the room,” said Longo. “Know that we're working on that in the background. Hopefully we'll see more about that in the next couple months.”

Cummings and Gramm agree that CAWs aren't inherently bad – they're simply taking advantage of the technology available to them. And that technology isn't going away.

“People are price-sensitive,” said Gramm. “Our future horseplayer is very tech-savvy.

“This is our future – giving people the tools to do computer-assisted wagering; helping out current horseplayers bet more efficiently is I think the way to go. Because the competition is fierce and there's no walking back from it.”

The post Round Table: Restrictions On Computer-Assisted Wagering Groups Do Work appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Cody's Wish leads the field in this Saturday's Grade 1 $1 million Whitney Stakes, having won six straight races, including five Grade 1 stakes, most recently the G1 Metropolitan Handicap. Last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Stakes winner, Cody's Wish could earn an automatic berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic with a win.

Five are lined up with a different opinion, that group led by G2 Suburban Stakes winner Charge It. Another horse whose connections are hoping to post the upset is Giant Game, who won the G3 Cornhusker Handicap at the distance of the Whitney in his most recent race. Metropolitan Handicap runner-up Zandon and third place finisher White Abarrio hope to turn the tables on Cody's Wish, while Last Samurai may round out the field but is no slouch, having captured the G3 Razorback Handicap and G3 Essex Handicap in succession earlier this year.

Analysis & Contenders:

In a field of six, there is potential for a horse to control the tempo on the front end and get away with soft fractions which allow for a big finish, potentially holding on for the win in spite of the logically oncoming rush of a horse like Cody's Wish, and that horse may be Giant Game. This 4-year-old didn't do much after winning in the fall of 2021 in his second career start and first route, losing seven straight. However, as often happens in the spring of a horse's 4-year-old campaign, something switched on with this colt starting two races back on May 11. He's won both races since, on May 11 and July 11, earning a 100 Equibase® Speed Figure followed by a new career-best 105 figure.

What caused Giant Game to mature and become a force to be reckoned with appears to be that he was allowed to roll from the start in both those recent races, his only two-turn races of the year. In the most recent of the pair, Giant Game controlled the pace in the Cornhusker Handicap four weeks ago and handled the field of 10 with relative ease. That was his first ever try at the nine-furlong distance of the Whitney. With a jockey change to Luis Saez, who can be appropriately aggressive in the early stages, it is very likely Giant Game will have the lead shortly after the start. With no other horse in the field having shown a liking for leading early, Saez and Giant Game could get into a steady rhythm, and not only can a lone front running horse like this colt get very brave on the front end, as a 4-year-old with room to improve we might see a big improvement in his speed figure, good enough to post the upset and win.

Cody's Wish still may be very tough to beat even if the lone front running trip of Giant Game materializes, as he's an “ALPHA” horse who just does whatever it takes to win, and often in dominant fashion. Since returning from six months off following his career-best effort winning the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall with a career-best 116 figure, Cody's Wish has been more dominant. In the Churchill Downs Stakes on May 6, Cody's Wish blew past six horses on the far turn to win by nearly five lengths with a 110 figure as if he had never been away. Then on June 10 in the Metropolitan Handicap, Cody's wish swept from eighth of nine to the lead while going five paths wide and propelled himself to be in front by four lengths when the field hit the stretch, easily coasting home to victory. That effort equaled his Breeders' Cup figure of 116 and in his third start of the year even better may be forthcoming. Although bred to handle this nine-furlong trip with as much ease as the mile of the Metropolitan, it is important to note that Cody's Wish has most of his work around one turn, and has never won at a distance past one mile. Granted, Hall-of-Fame trainer Bill Mott has had no reason to run the horse longer distances because there have been enough graded stakes he could run in, but just the same this two-turn, mile and one-eighth trip, is not yet proven to be one he is as good at.

If he can repeat his best effort of 2023, Last Samurai may have a shot to post the upset win, or at least run better than his odds suggest he will. That effort came in the Razorback Handicap in February where Last Samurai earned a career-best 119 figure, higher than the pair of 116 figures likely prohibitive betting favorite Cody's Wish earned in the Metropolitan Handicap and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Last Samurai followed up his Razorback victory winning the Essex Handicap in March with a 111 figure, before a head defeat in the Oaklawn Handicap at the distance of the Whitney. Since then, Last Samurai finished fourth on two occasions, but it must be noted his Razorback win came on the heels of a fourth place effort as well. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has won the Whitney twice. In 1986 he won with the filly Lady's Secret and in 1990 with Criminal Type, and it just might be fitting to win it again after three decades have passed since that last win.

The three above are my top three win contenders, but I would not argue with anyone considering any of the remaining trio as contenders. Zandon finished second in the Metropolitan Handicap with a career-best 110 figure but was no match whatsoever for Cody's Wish. Similarly, White Abarrio was a head behind Zandon when third but it must be noted he did stumble at the start. That effort earned the same 110 figure, and his best came when third and beaten a half-length last December in the Cigar Mile Handicap, but it must be noted both those efforts came at a mile around one turn, not the two-turn nine furlongs trip of the Whitney. Charge It ran the fastest race if his career 13 months ago when winning the Dwyer Stakes by 23 lengths with a 114 figure, but that was also a one-turn mile. He cuts back in distance following a win at a mile and one-quarter in the Suburban Stakes with a 108 figure, following a fourth place finish in the Metropolitan Handicap behind Cody's Wish, Zandon and White Abarrio.

Win Contenders, in preference order:
Giant Game
Cody's Wish
Last Samurai

Whitney Stakes – Grade 1
Race 10 at Saratoga
Saturday, August 5 – Post Time 5:42 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Eighth
Four Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $1 Million

The post Equibase Analysis: Giant Game Could Get Easy Lead, Post Upset In Whitney appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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For the first time in over a decade, The Hambletonian will be shown to a widespread national television audience, as FOX SPORTS (FOX 5 NEW YORK) will show the 98^th edition of “America's Classic Trotting Race” as part of the New York Racing Association's “FOX Saratoga Saturday”, a three-hour presentation of live action from Saratoga Race Course on Saturday (Aug. 5). The show kicks off at 3 p.m.

“We are pleased and proud to have partnered up with the TV team at the NYRA,” said Big M Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. “It's been great to have our races shown on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) and Fox Sports 2 (FS2), but having harness racing's biggest event available to an even bigger television audience is very exciting for all of us here at The Meadowlands, as well as the Hambletonian Society, and, of course, the fans who will be unable to be here on track.”

The show will feature the Whitney Stakes from the Spa, which has a post time of 5:42 p.m. The Hambo will serve as an appetizer for that major stake, as the field of 10 will get behind the starter car at 4:45 p.m.

Big M TV's Jessica Otten and Gabe Prewitt will provide commentary and interviews for the harness racing portion of the program.

CROSS COUNTRY PICK-5: The Meadowlands and Saratoga will combine forces on TV, and they will team up at the windows as well. The “Cross Country Cross Breed Pick-5” will be made up of two races at The Big M and three at The Spa. The bet will start with The Hambletonian Oaks at 3:35 p.m. and conclude with the Whitney at 5:42 p.m.

IMPRESSIVE STAKES MENU: While you enjoy the food that will be available at food trucks on the apron, feast on these stakes events that will take place during the card: the $97,900 Shady Daisy, $131,250 Dr. John R. Steele Memorial, $240,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final for 2-year-old colt and gelding trotters, $171,400 Lady Liberty, $128,750 Sam McKee Memorial (Division I), $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks, $278,000 John Cashman Memorial, $1,000,000 Hambletonian, $240,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final for 2-year-old filly trotters, $315,750 Cane Pace and $130,000 Sam McKee Memorial (Division II).

THE BIG ONES: These are the fields for the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks, with post position, horse, driver, trainer and morning-line odds:

$1-MILLION HAMBLETONIAN – Post time: 4:45 p.m.
PP – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Morning Line

1 – Celebrity Bambino – Yannick Gingras – Ron Burke – 2-1
2 – Oh Well – Tim Tetrick – Marcus Melander – 7-2
3 – Osceola – Doug McNair – Gregg McNair – 12-1
4 – Winner's Bet – Dexter Dunn – Domenico Cecere – 4-1
5 – Point Of Perfect – David Miller – Ron Burke – 6-1
6 – Up Your Deo – Ake Svanstedt – Ake Svanstedt – 15-1
7 – Southwind Coors – James MacDonald – Matt Bax – 20-1
8 – French Wine – Andy Miller – Julie Miller – 12-1
9 – Ghostly Casper – Brian Sears – Benoit Baillargeon – 10-1
10 – Tactical Approach – Scott Zeron – Nancy Takter – 15-1

$500,000 HAMBLETONIAN OAKS – Post time: 3:35 p.m.
PP – Horse – Driver – Trainer – Morning Line
1 – Walner Payton – Dexter Dunn – Chris Ryder – 3-1
2 – Heart On Fire – Todd McCarthy – Tony Alagna – 5-1
3 – Bond – Ake Svanstedt – Ake Svanstedt – 9-2
4 – Righteous Resolve – James MacDonald – Matt Bax – 8-1
5 – Railee Something – Yannick Gingras – Ron Burke – 7-2
6 – Mambacita – Scott Zeron – Tony Alagna – 20-1
7 – Instagram Model – Andrew McCarthy – Annie Stoebe – 8-1
8 – Kayleigh S – David Miller – Marcus Melander – 20-1
9 – Secret Volo – Brian Sears – Marcus Melander – 6-1
10 – Heaven Hanover – Tim Tetrick – Marcus Melander – 12-1

“We feel that with the help of FOX and NYRA,” said Settlemoir. “The Hambletonian tradition is ready for the public recognition it richly deserves. This year, the Hambletonian will have an earlier post, which is expected to increase business not only in North America and Canada, but also in Europe, where the race will be shown late in the evening.

“With the race shown live on FOX, we expect the pool for the Hambletonian to break the $1-million barrier, which is uncharted territory. The $1-million plateau moves the sport, The Meadowlands and the Hambletonian to the next level. It's a magical moment for the sport.”

BOUNTIFUL BETTING: The Hambletonian program will have extraordinary wagering opportunities for value-conscious horseplayers around the world. Low minimums and low takeouts are always in place at The Big M to help keep the players in action.

On Hambo Day, there will be $350,000 in guaranteed pools and eight wagers that sport a low takeout of 15 percent, all of which have a mandatory payout. Here is the list:

• Race 1: 20-cent Pick-6 ($50,000 guarantee)
• Race 3: 20-cent Pick-5 ($75,000 guarantee)
• Race 5: Early 50-cent Pick-4
• Race 6: 20-cent Survivor Pick-7
• Race 7: Early 10-cent Hi-5
• Race 9: Middle 50-cent Pick-4 ($100,000 guarantee)
• Race 12: Late 50-cent Pick-4 ($125,000 guarantee)
• Race 16: Late 10-cent Hi-5

PICK-6 CARRYOVER: While Saturday is harness racing's biggest day, bettors can go for their biggest score on Friday.

After no winning tickets were sold for a second consecutive night last Saturday, the Pick-6 sported a double carryover of $47,167. The Pick-6 begins on race eight and concludes in race 13. The bet has a low 15 percent takeout along with a low 20-cent minimum wager.

If the final pool – including the carryover – is under $350,000, players would be shooting for a rare treat: a negative takeout. This is why play is expected to be huge.

In the event that the wager carries over again, the Saturday Pick-6 would turn into the wager of the year. The Saturday Pick-6 on Hambletonian Day starts with the first race, which gets underway at noon. With or without a carryover, the Saturday Pick-6 will have a mandatory payout.

IT'S FREE: Free past performances for every race of every Meadowlands card are available by going to playmeadowlands.com.

The post ‘America’s Classic Trotting Race’: The Hambletonian Joins NYRA’s FOX Saratoga Saturday Broadcast appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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