Stronach 5: 16 Winning Tickets Each Return $6,382

There were 16 winning tickets in Friday's popular Stronach 5, each returning $6,382.70.

The largest payoff in the five-race sequence featuring races from Laurel Park, Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park and an industry-low 12-percent takeout was $9.20.

Friday's sequence kicked off with Wonderwall, a 3-year-old filly from the barn of leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez, winning Laurel's eighth race followed by Candygramformongo winning Laurel's ninth race.

The Stronach 5 moved to Santa Anita Park for its third race. Reddam Racing LLC's That Corey, a 3-year-old son of Square Eddie who finished second at Del Mar last time out, ran away from nine others on a mile turf course to break his maiden.

The last two legs were both contested at Gulfstream over the turf. Star Weaver, a lightly-raced 4-year-old by Dialed In, led gate-to-wire to win the ninth race for his second victory in his last three starts. The sequence concluded with Gulfstream's 10th race and Golovkin holding off Lord of War by a nose.

Friday's races and sequence

· Leg One – Laurel Park 8th Race: Wonderwall $9

· Leg Two –Laurel Park 9th Race: Candygramformongo $9

· Leg Three –Santa Anita 3rd Race: That Corey $6.20

· Leg Four –Gulfstream Park 9th Race: Star Weaver $9.20

· Leg Five –Gulfstream West 10th Race: Golovkin $9

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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Meadowlands: Saturday Night Card Features 15 Races With Full 10-Horse Fields

After The Meadowlands takes a break for the holiday – there is no racing or simulcasting on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day – live action will return to The Big M with a bang this Saturday (Dec. 26) night with a gigantic 15-race program that will begin at the track's new early post time of 6 p.m.

Like a true holiday feast, the card comes with all the trimmings. All 15 races have full 10-horse fields and the track's betting menu offers all the goodies Big M players have grown accustomed to, with a 20-cent Pick-5 (race one), 20-cent Survivor Pick-7 (race three), 20-cent Pick-6 (race eight), 10-cent Pentafecta (race 15) and a pair of 50-cent Pick-4s (beginning in races six and 10). Both Pick-4s will have guaranteed pools of $50,000 and all the wagers offer a low 15 percent takeout.

The wagering on the card figures to be fast and furious since the last two Saturday programs were compromised: Two weeks ago by heavy fog – which left all of who watched a limited view of the first eight races – and last week by an electrical malfunction that caused the cancelation of the entire 13-race card.

“The Saturday card features 15 full 10-horse fields,” said Big M Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Jason Settlemoir. “Which will give horseplayers many chances for the big score. The one-mile oval makes it possible for all vertical and horizontal players to shoot for the moon.

“We think our product will do extraordinarily well this winter with our new 6 p.m. post time, which will be in effect through mid-March. We are hopeful that The Meadowlands with full fields and low takeout can cultivate even more horseplayers from around the world to wager on our signal.”

Not only will harness fans get to overindulge on the races from the mile oval, but Thoroughbred fans will get an excellent nosh as well, as the day after Christmas The Big M will offer simulcasting of the Opening Day card from Arcadia, Calif.'s Santa Anita Park. The 11-race program – which features five graded stakes events – has a post time of 2 p.m.

FREE PPs: For free past performances of Meadowlands races, courtesy of the United States Trotting Association and TrackMaster, go to playmeadowlands.com.

Races 10 through 13 – the entire Late 50-cent Pick-4 – will be available for Saturday's card.

TWEET THE TEAM: Stay in touch on Twitter with the Big M's Dave Brower (@eedoogie), Dave Little (@DaveLittleBigM), Ken Warkentin (@kenvoiceover), Shades Demsky (@shadesonracing) and Jessica Otten (@JessicaOtten1). Check in everyday for Meadowlands news and updates at those handles, as well as @TheMeadowlands and #playbigm.

CHECK OUT THE PICKS: For those who need to get a leg up on the action, go to playmeadowlands.com to see track oddsmaker and analyst Brower's selections and commentary. Click on the “handicapping” tab and go to “race reviews”.

Additionally, track announcer Warkentin's blog is available on the site and offers his picks and analysis.

On race nights, access picks and plays from the Big M TV team at #playbigm or at @TheMeadowlands.

CHECK OUT THE SHOW: Be sure to watch the live “Racing from The Meadowlands” pre-game show, which will now begin on race nights at 5:27 p.m.

On Saturday night, The Big M's “A” team of Brower and Little will talk about what's going on in harness racing and take a look at that evening's featured races from the Sam McKee Memorial Broadcast Set while Demsky will be the featured handicapper on the live presentation on the Television Games Network (tvg.com) all night long.

CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE TRACK? There are several options for those who would rather catch the action from The Big M at home.

Racing fans can watch all the races live on the Roberts Television Network (rtn.tv). In addition, they can watch and wager by going to the Television Games Network (tvg.com) or their favorite Advance-deposit Wagering site (ADW).

THE MEADOWLANDS SCHEDULE: There is no live racing on Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25.

There will be live racing Saturday, Dec. 26, with a post time of 6 p.m.

In addition, The Big M will be closed for simulcasting on both Dec. 24 and 25.

HOLIDAY AT FANDUEL: Football fans can get their fill at the FanDuel Sportsbook, located just inside the main entrance at The Meadowlands.

On Saturday (Dec. 26), there will be four college football games that handicappers can play, and, in addition, the National Football League will have three contests: At 1 p.m., Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-9½) travel to Detroit to take on the Lions; Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals (-5½) host the San Francisco 49ers at 4:30 p.m. before the final game of the day kicks off at 8:15 p.m. when Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins (-3) travel to Sin City to take on the Las Vegas Raiders.

This week for the Christmas holiday, there will be some changes to the schedule at the FanDuel Sports Book.

On Dec. 24, bets will be taken until 6 p.m. The book will be closed on Christmas Day, Dec. 25.

During a normal week, hours in the track's FanDuel Sports Book are from 10 a.m. – midnight Sunday through Friday and from 10 a.m. – 2 a.m. on Saturday.

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Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Raises Jackpot Bet Concerns To Ohio Commission

Speaking during the public comment period of Wednesday's Ohio State Racing Commission (OSRC) meeting, Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) Executive Director Patrick Cummings raised concerns regarding changes to the provisions of the jackpot pick six wager at the state's Mahoning Valley Race Course.

“Seemingly without public notice, Mahoning Valley has flipped the terms of the jackpot pick six from where it was in March to where it is through its current meet,” Cummings said after the meeting, “and we wanted to ensure the Commission was made aware through the proper channels as it seems the Ohio Racing Rules require, and to investigate the measures the track took to make the public aware of the change.”

When racing closed for the season at the eastern Ohio track, the jackpot pick six wager had a 20 percent takeout with 30 percent of the daily pool withheld if there was no single ticket winner – yielding an effective daily hold of 44 percent. A total of 70 percent of the net pool was paid to the multiple winners on a given day should no single ticket winner exist.

A carryover of $2,620 was held from the end of the meet in March and offered, per Ohio rules, at the start of the next meet, which opened on Oct. 23. Written approval is required to change elements of the bet.

“The difference is that while the actual takeout remained the same, at 20 percent, the track has changed the daily withholding for the carryover to 70 percent, which is what they had been paying out back in March. Combining this takeout and withholding rate yields an effective daily hold of an astounding 76 percent, which we believe to be the highest such rate in North America for this bet type in Thoroughbred racing.”

“This is not a category where Ohio wants to be at the top of the pack,” Cummings told the Commission.

TIF has been critical of racing operators for allowing jackpot bets to proliferate across racing in the last decade.

“Jackpot bets are the opposite of what racing needs,” Cummings added after the meeting.

“These bets limit customer churn, which limits the opportunity for horsemen to earn purses from racing wagering. It defies all conventional logic to offer jackpot bets and limit the opportunity to grow wagering on racing, a metric in our business which has declined by nearly 50 percent when adjusted for inflation over the last 20 years,” added Cummings.

“Some tracks have paid greater attention to this in recent times, either eliminating jackpot bets or offering them on far more favorable terms.”

On a very positive note, several tracks have recently removed jackpot provisions from some wager types, while others carry more favorable terms on returning a large chunk of daily wagering which limits the daily hold.

Fair Grounds removed the jackpot provision from its pick five pools when its 2020-21 season launched in November, while Century Mile in Alberta abandoned the jackpot provision in its super high five midway through its 2020 meet. ​​​​​​​Today's card at Fair Grounds features a $27,704 carryover on its late pick five, paid to any number of winning tickets with all five winners.

Churchill Downs, whose “Single 6” bet pays 90 percent of the daily pool with just a 15 percent takeout, yielding an effective daily hold of just 23.5%, is among the most player – and horsemen – friendly jackpot wagers given the substantial daily payout provision.

Scott Borgemenke, Chairman of the OSRC, indicated his appreciation that the topic was raised and that, at least to his knowledge, the remarks from the TIF included new information to him. Chairman Borgemenke requested a copy of the remarks for review so that the issue could be examined further.

The entirety of the Cummings remarks to the OSRC are printed below:

Thank you, Chairman, for the opportunity to offer a public comment on behalf of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation once again.

I wanted to raise your attention to a situation at Mahoning Valley as it relates to that track's jackpot pick six wager.

When the Mahoning Valley season concluded in March, it was operating a jackpot pick six bet type with a 20% takeout. When no single ticket winner existed for a particular day, 30% of the net pool (after takeout) goes to the carryover jackpot with 70% of the net pool paid to all winning tickets with the highest number of winners that day.

This sort of division yielded a daily, “effective takeout” of 44%, meaning that if there was no single ticket winner, 44% of the daily amount bet was withheld, combining the takeout and the carryover.

Obviously, a 44% effective takeout is quite high, but in the nationwide landscape of jackpot bets, falls in about the mid-range of pricing for such a bet.

When racing resumed at Mahoning Valley in October, and without seemingly any public notice to the change, the terms of the jackpot withholding were altered. While takeout remained at 20%, if there was no single ticket winner, Mahoning Valley transferred 70% of the net pool to the jackpot and paid 30% of the net pool to the multiple ticketholders with the most winners that day.

So, the numbers were flipped – in March, 70% of the daily pool was paid and 30% withheld. In October, and every race day since with a carryover, 70% of the net pool is withheld and 30% paid.

This is troubling for a few reasons, but most notably, the impact to the bet's daily effective takeout has changed substantially with this adjustment, going from being in middle of the pack at 44% in March, to where it is now, with a daily effective takeout of an astounding 76%.

The Mahoning Valley Jackpot Pick Six now has, to our knowledge, the highest daily effective takeout on ANY bet offered to Thoroughbred horse racing customers in North America.

This is not a category where Ohio wants to be at the top of the pack.

For some comparison, in recent months, the daily, effective takeout from others with similar bets types include Churchill at 23.5%, Charles Town at 34%, Aqueduct at 40%, Laurel at 52%, Indiana at 60.75% and the California Fairs at 70%.

Turning horse racing wagering into lottery-type bets is bad for horse racing. Sustainable wagering from horse racing emanates from supporting high churn bets, not lottery-type bets such as this. Racing benefits from continued customer wagering – but on days when the bet is not hit by a single ticket (which has been 25 of 27 race days to date this meet), 76% of the daily pool is withheld.

So besides offering this comment, we wished to submit two items for your consideration upon further examination – has Mahoning Valley received written permission by the Commission to make this change, and why was it not better communicated to the public?

There was a carryover when racing stopped in March – a total of $2,620 – that money was available in a revised Jackpot Pick 6 bet with these new withholding terms when racing there resumed in October.

By changing the terms of the jackpot withholding – from 30% in March to 70% in October and every day since, there has been a substantive change in the wager, which based on a reading of the Ohio Racing Rules, specifically, Chapter 3769-3-40-J-2, should have required written approval.

It's entirely possible this was received.

Less understandable, however, is the lack of transparency regarding the change.

So, while we are unarguably against the proliferation of these bets, especially ones which carry an outrageous daily effective takeout, almost no communication about the change from Mahoning Valley is a poor experience for customers.

We would greatly appreciate the Commission's attention to this matter.

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Stronach 5: Three Different Tracks Highlighted In Friday Wager

Five competitive races from Laurel Park, Gulfstream Park West and Golden Gate Fields, including two maiden events, highlight Friday's Stronach 5.

The popular Stronach 5, with an industry-low 12-percent takeout, begins with a scheduled turf event at Laurel Park at 3:28 p.m. Three-year-old maidens take to the turf in Gulfstream West's eighth race, the second leg of the sequence. The third leg, Laurel's eighth race, is an allowance event at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds and up. The field of 11 is wide-open with the 7-2 morning-line favorite Moose Lodge, a son of Munnings making his third start. The Ben Perkins-trained colt broke his maiden at first asking at Monmouth Park Aug. 2 before finishing third in an allowance optional claimer Sept. 26 at Monmouth.

Laurel's ninth race, the fourth leg in the sequence, features 2-year-old maidens for a $40,000 tag. The field includes Big Cypress, making his debut for St. Elias Stable and ARM Racing LLC, Colts Neck Stables LLC's Stimulus Maker, McCarthy Racing's Doubleoseven, and BTR Racing, Inc. and Dark Horse Racing LLC's Hello Hot Rod.

The Stronach 5 concludes with nine filly and mare claimers going six furlongs at Golden Gate. Tippy Top is the 5-2 favorite dropping in from allowance company.

Friday's races and sequence

· Leg One – Laurel Park 7th Race: (10 entries, 5 ½ furlongs turf) 3:28 ET, 12:28 PT

· Leg Two –Gulfstream West 8th Race: (10 entries, 1 1/16 mile turf) 3:41 ET, 3:41 PT

· Leg Three –Laurel Park 8th Race (11 entries, 7 furlongs) 4 ET, 1 PT

· Leg Four –Laurel Park 9th Race: (8 entries, 6 furlongs) 5:08 ET, 2:08 PT

· Leg Five –Golden Gate Fields 3rd Race: (9 entries, 6 furlongs) 5:15 ET, 2:15 PT

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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