What Was Your Favorite Moment Of 2023: Pat Cummings

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to suefinley@thetdn.com

“The best moment from 2023 was the confirmation that the state of New York would be loaning NYRA nearly half a billion dollars to build a modern Belmont Park. I'd rate this occurrence as possibly the most positive development in the sport since the founding of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. The seeds of this were planted in the years before VLT revenue started flowing in New York and it was decided NYRA wanted a slice of that revenue to go to a capital expenditure fund instead of just diverting it all to purses. That foresight was so very necessary. The future of the sport in New York is bright and that's monumentally important for every other stakeholder in the sport.”
-Pat Cummings, National Thoroughbred Alliance

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TIF Reports Prairie Meadows Hit By Pool Manipulations

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is investigating a spate of pool manipulation incidents which seem to have occurred on three races run at Prairie Meadows in the last eight race days, the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) said in a release Friday morning.

Daily double pools on Sept. 4 (Races 2/3), Sept. 1 (Races 6/7) and Aug. 25 (Races 5/6) were subject to massive bets on combinations the manipulator(s) expected to lose. In each case, the bets were made in the final betting cycle when projected payouts for each combination are not updated until the race was underway.

TIF has drawn attention to such incidents, and the problems they create, at other U.S. tracks in the past. Most notably, Gulfstream Park eliminated its quinella pools after a significant manipulation event was detected in November 2022.

“These incidents at Prairie Meadows have all the hallmarks of pool manipulation based on TIF's multi-year focus and every time they occur, it calls into question the outcomes of the races involved,” said TIF executive director Patrick Cummings. “Integrity is paramount and when pools are manipulated like this, bettors are rightly confused and can lose confidence that races are run fairly and the betting pools are operated fairly.”

Click here for more on this story.

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More Than $1 Million in Breakage Returned to Winning Bettors Across Oaks and Derby Days

Courtesy Thoroughbred Idea Foundation

Winning horseplayers at Churchill Downs and around the world betting into the pools across Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby days enjoyed more than an additional $1 million in winnings thanks to an amendment to Kentucky law which now rounds winning bets to the penny.

The practice, known as breakage, has been in effect across all of American racing, relatively unchanged, for more than a century. But Kentucky's legislature passed an amendment to existing laws in March 2022. The measure took effect in July of last year, making Saturday's Kentucky Derby won by Mage the first in modern history to pay winning bettors to the penny.

Mage returned $32.42 to win, $14.58 to place and $9.08 to show for every $2 bet.

A $100 place bet on Mage this year returned bettors an additional $9 in 2023 compared to what would have been paid to them under the old breakage calculation.

For the Derby itself, more than an additional $318,000 was paid back from just the win, place and show pools thanks to penny breakage. The total amount across all pools is even higher. Traditionally, winnings have been rounded down to the dime and that amount was retained by bet-takers, either on-track or by account wagering operators.

“This amended law puts the entirety of a winning bet back in the hands and accounts of horseplayers, where it has always belonged,” said Patrick Cummings, executive director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, which first advocated for the shift to penny breakage in a 2018 white paper.

“Breakage has skimmed billions of dollars off the top of winnings that should have been paid to horseplayers. Decades ago, it might have been slightly more understandable why such a law existed, but not today, and Kentucky's legislators recognized that and made a meaningful change that will benefit those that support racing through wagering.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, total wagering on the 2023 Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby days were both record highs, as was all wagering across the entirety of Derby week.

“Breaking to the penny, enabling customers to churn those additional winnings ,undoubtedly played a role, no matter how small it might seem. Kentucky's continued success should serve as an example for other states, tracks and horsemen to advocate for penny breakage, following Kentucky's lead.”

Click fo read this story on the TIF website.

The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation advocates for sustainable improvements to the Thoroughbred racing industry for all stakeholders, especially its primary customers–horseplayers and horse owners–through the exchange, curation and advocacy of sound, data-driven ideas, shared with and implemented by the sport's existing entities.

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TIF Hosting Derby Prop Contest For Racing Charities

With 20 questions and a tiebreaker facing contest participants, entries are now open for the 2023 Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Derby Prop Contest, the organization said in a release Wednesday.

The entry portal closes at 11:00 a.m. E.T. this Saturday, May 6. Players should keep track of their answers as you will not be able to revisit the survey portal once you submit your entry. Should a horse named directly in a prop be scratched, all answers to that prop may be counted as correct.

Winners will be notified by email late on Saturday evening to identify how to direct charitable donations. The top finishers will get to direct $20,000 in donations to four racing charities, which are: Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs, New Vocations, Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and Second Stride. Click here, for more information.

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