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The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: Sports Betting And Fixed Odds On Horses

Sports betting has shown steady growth across the United States in the three years since the Supreme Court overturned a federal ban on the activity, with more than $53 billion legally wagered on sports since June 2018.

More and more states are authorizing sports betting, with Canada close to approval as well. New Jersey lawmakers have recently passed legislation that would permit fixed odds wagering on horse racing, allowing bookmakers there to set betting prices on horses as they do on baseball, football and other sports.

Are there opportunities for horse racing to grow, even though the amount already being wagered on sports far exceeds horse racing's annual betting handle? While fixed odds wagering opens up new types of bets and guaranteed payoffs, could it have unintended consequences on racing's traditional pari-mutuel pools or on the computer-assisted “whales” who get rebates in return for their betting volume?

To discuss these and other issues, Pat Cummings, executive director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (www.racingthinktank.com), joins Ray Paulick and Joe Nevills in this week's edition of the Friday Show. Ray and Joe also review Woodbine's Star of the Week, LNJ Foxwoods' Boardwalk, a Constitution filly who won her first graded stakes last week in the Whimsical Stakes.

Watch this week's show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: Sports Betting And Fixed Odds On Horses appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Toner Has High Expectations For Seasons Ahead Of Saturday’s Boiling Springs Stakes

Jimmy Toner thought enough of Seasons as a 2-year-old last year that he tried the Tapit filly in a Grade 1 race in just her second career start. And that was Plan B, said the veteran trainer.

Plan A was the Breeders' Cup, a goal that never materialized.

Now he has the Kentucky-bred filly embarking on her second start at 3, still convinced that her potential and talent could lead to something special. Seasons, who has only raced on turf in her three career starts, will be on the grass again for Saturday's $75,000 Boiling Springs Handicap, the feature race on Monmouth Park's 12-race card.

The Boiling Springs, at a mile and a sixteenth, has attracted a field of seven 3-year-old fillies.

“After she broke her maiden in her first start at Saratoga last year (in a Maiden Special Weight race at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf on Aug. 9) we were trying to make the Breeders' Cup with her,” said Toner. “The way it turned out the options that were there left us with option B. There was another race at Saratoga but it was too close to her first one. So we sent her to Woodbine for the (Grade 1) Natalma. She ran a bang-up third.

“After that she came up with some minor issues and we just couldn't make it to the Breeders' Cup. So we gave her time off. Next thing you know we look up and it's May, so we had to get started on her again.”

Seasons, out of the multiple Grade 1-winning turf mare Winter Memories, returned with an impressive second-place finish in the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico on May 14, beaten a neck after stumbling badly at the start and rallying from 10th.

“She ran a huge race that day,” said Toner. “She went down to her nose at the break and finished well. She just missed. It really was a big race.

“She's a quality filly. We're trying to get black type with her and hopefully we can in this race.”

Owned by LNJ Foxwoods and Phipps Racing Partnership (her breeder as well), Seasons has trained sharply at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. for this start. Paco Lopez has the mount.

“She came out of her last race good and she has been working great,” said Toner. “She has a presence about her. Most good horses do. It's their awareness about everything. And she has done everything right.

“We wanted to make sure she had enough time between races and this was the perfect spot to come back in. We're looking for a good effort and hopefully she runs well.”

Toner has started just three horses at the meet so far but has won with one, with Traffic Song prevailing in a Maiden Special Weight race. Two years ago, the veteran conditioner won the Grade 1 United Nations with Hunter O'Riley and the Cliffhanger Stakes with Hawkish at Monmouth Park.

Miss Leslie, Orbs Baby Girl, Shantisara, Ravir, Marlborough Road and Por Que No round out the field for the 42nd edition of the Boiling Springs. Shantisara, trained by Chad Brown, will be making her U.S. debut.

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Caravel Using Friday’s Goldwood As Springboard To Ambitious Summer Schedule

Elizabeth Merryman isn't convinced she has seen the best from Caravel, a 4-year-old filly she bred, owns and trains.

But she's hoping Friday's inaugural $75,000 Goldwood Stakes at Monmouth Park is another step toward finding out where the ceiling is for a turf specialist she feels will be the best horse she has ever had.

“This race will tell me a lot,” said Merryman. “A month from now there are four filly and mare turf sprints within a five-day period. There's one at Colonial (the Andy Guest on July 26), one at Saratoga (the Grade 3 Caress on July 24), one at Woodbine (the Grade 2 Royal North on Aug. 1) and one at Pimlico. This will give me an indication (of where to go next).

“There's a really good filly in this race (Miss Auramet) who has done nothing wrong that she has not run against yet. So we'll see.”

The Goldwood, set for five furlongs on the grass, has attracted a field of eight and headlines a six-race twilight card. Miss Aurament, trained by Kathleen O'Connell, comes off an impressive win in the slop in the Politely Stakes on May 30 at Monmouth Park. That race was originally scheduled for the turf.

Caravel's credentials, though, stack up with any of the fillies or mares in the race. She is 5-for-7 lifetime with two thirds, with her only defeats coming on a yielding turf and a good turf.

The Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Mizzen Mast-ZeeZee ZoomZoom by Congrats was set to go in Tuesday's Power By Far Stakes at Parx until the race was taken off the turf.

“Her training hasn't been smooth to this race since we were supposed to go Tuesday,” said Merryman, whose 14-horse stable is based at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. “We'll see how she handles the adversity, with everything not being quite right.”

Merryman was convinced there was something special about Caravel from the outset and chose not to rush her as a 2-year-old, allowing her to go through a series of growth spurts before hitting the racetrack.

Her anticipated debut hardly went as planned, however. She broke 10th and last in a five-furlong Maiden Special Weight turf dash at Penn National on June 20 last year. And then something remarkable happened. She rallied from last for most of the race to win going away by 1¼ lengths.

“Not only did she break last, she was steadily dropping back,” said Merryman. “I was watching the race thinking `My gosh, I really like this filly. How can she be this bad? How can I be so wrong?' And then it just clicked for her. It was amazing to see.

“The thing is, she has always been good from the gate. I think she was just caught off guard.”

Caravel went on to win four of her five starts at 3 and is coming off a victory in the The Very One Stakes at Pimlico on May 14 in her second start at 4.

“She has come back a little bigger and stronger,” said Merryman, who has been training since 2004. “She carries a bit more weight now and looks a little more robust.”

A winner of $212,872 from her seven career starts, Caravel drew post position 1 for the Goldwood Stakes.

“The post is not a big deal with her. She kind of dictates what she wants to do,” said Merryman. “You don't have to send her and you don't have to take her back. You just have to sit as chilly as possible and let her tell you where she wants to be.”

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Fixed-Odds Wagering Bill Passes in NJ, Expected to Begin Haskell Day

A bill legalizing fixed-odds wagering on horse races was passed unanimously by both houses in New Jersey and will now go to Governor Phil Murphy, who is expected to sign it. Expectations are that fixed odds betting will begin July 17, the day of the GI TVG.com Haskell S. at Monmouth Park.

“We've been pushing hard to get it up and running by the Haskell,” said Dallas Baker, the head of international operations for the Australian firm BetMakers, which will operate the fixed- odds betting. “That's always been our goal. We've got a lot of work to do, which is great. We've ve always been aiming for the Haskell and we're all confident that's when we can begin. It's go time.”

Monmouth Park has been a long-time advocate of fixed-odds wagering, hoping that it can do for U.S. racing what it did in Australia. Once legalized, fixed-odds betting exploded in Australia, leading to a sharp increase in total handle on racing and healthy purse increases.

“Our ultimate goal is to have what happened in Australia over the last 10 years or so and after online betting was deregulated happen here,” Baker said. “In that time, the handle has doubled and purse money doubled as well. That's what we want to see here, too. The opportunity exists in the U.S. to have that happen here and on a quicker time line than 10 years.”

With just 24.6 million residents, $25 billion is wagered annually on racing in Australia, or about $15 billion more than what is bet each year in the U.S.

Fixed-odds betting could also go a long way towards fixing what has become a serious problem for U.S. racing. Because large gamblers using computer programs to make their bets are allowed to bet at the very last second, it is common for odds to plunge on a horse during the running of the race. That, for obvious reasons, leaves a bad taste in the bettors' mouths.

With Monmouth long ago committed to the fixed-odds wagering, BetMakers has been looking to sign up other tracks to add to its betting menu. Baker would not say exactly how many have come on, but said he was pleased by the response.

“We've got quite a few tracks signed up and ready to go. Maybe a dozen,” Baker said. “What the bill allows is it provides the legalities to take fixed-odds bets as long as there are commercial terms in place with the other tracks. Quite a few signed up now and, hopefully, in next few weeks, we will get some more. We will also have a full menu of international racing.”

As of now, only New Jersey residents will be allowed to have fixed-odds accounts, but Baker said it should not take long for other states to come on board.

“We have spoken to a lot of other states and they have shown good interest in it,” he said. “But they were waiting to see the bill passed in New Jersey first. We see the roll out going very similar to what happened with PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act). The obvious ones to take fixed- odds wagering on horses are the ones that already have sports betting.”

Once fixed-odds betting is widely available, the hope, Baker said, is that sports bettors who are now ignoring horse racing will be enticed to give the horses a try. That a fixed-odds wager closely resembles a typical sports bet is seen as a major selling point.

“The important thing is to zone in on the phenomenon that is sports betting in the U.S.,” he said. “We want to get those punters betting on racing and right now they don't have an easy in when it comes to racing.”

According to playnj.com, the takeout on the fixed-odds betting will be 12.5%, which is considerably lower than the typical takeout on pari-mutuel win wagers.

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