the red mile | Horse Racing Free Tips

United Tote Fined for Penny Breakage Miscalculations

After failing to properly calculate Kentucky's newly implemented penny breakage at two Standardbred race meets in July, the totalizator services provider United Tote Company has been fined and ordered to “seed” a future exotic wagering pool with $4,445.77, which equals the amount that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) determined should have been paid out to bettors had the calculations been correct.

According to an administrative ruling dated Sept. 12 and signed by Waqas Ahmed, the KHRC's director of pari-mutuel wagering and compliance, United Tote “provided improper totalizator services” on races conducted at Oak Grove (July 17-19) and The Red Mile (July 31).

The first of those violations occurred two days after Kentucky first rolled out its mandate that dime breakage be replaced by bettor-friendly penny breakage.

According to the ruling, the mistakes also occurred despite the fact that United Tote “completed pre-meet totalizator tests with KHRC personnel using the correct breaks.”

The ruling stated that on July 20, United Tote submitted an Oak Grove incident report “showing that prices were calculated with ten-cent breaks instead of the required penny breaks, with a $1,916.56 liability owed to the public.”

Then on July 31, a separate incident report from The Red Mile stated “that prices were calculated with ten-cent breaks instead of the required penny breaks” but only for “remote sources outside of Kentucky that wagered on Race 2 onward on that date.” The liability owed to the public was $2.529.21, according to the KHRC.

According to the ruling, “ordinarily, the fine would total $1,000 for each day of violation; however, due to mitigating factors, that amount is reduced to $500 from July 17 through July 19 and July 31. According to the KHRC, those factors were:

“Oak Grove Racetrack has been conducting pari-mutuel wagering before the new breakage requirement that went into effect on July 14. The above events only impact the last three race dates of this track's 2022 race meet.

“[United Tote] calculated and paid the correct prices for all Kentucky sources for the wagering conducted on Red Mile Racetrack's meet. However, the penny break was not applied to Race 2 onward for all other sources due to a software defect.

“The violations were not intentional [and] the [United Tote] fully cooperated with the KHRC on determining the liability due,” the ruling stated.

Bettors will theoretically get repaid through the mandated pool seeding, which must occur “at a harness racetrack in the calendar year 2022 [with] all details…approved by the KHRC.”

In addition, United Tote “must submit its process for complying with regulatory requirements related to providing totalizator services,” the ruling stated.

It was unclear at deadline for this story whether United Tote is appealing the penalties.

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Kentucky Proud: What Fairs Mean To State’s Harness Industry

Harness racing's county fairs are a colorful component of the standardbred industry's past, but they also are an integral part of Kentucky's present.

The Kentucky Proud Series was created around harness racing at the state's county fairs, with the Corbin at The Red Mile meet hosting Tuesday's eight $25,000 series finals. Those follow seven weeks of fair meets that serve as qualifying legs, with the highest point-earners making the divisional finals.

This is where Kentucky's young standardbred horses get started. Currently, all the racing for 2- and 3-year-old trotters and pacers is on the state's fair circuit (which includes the Mercer County racing staged last week at The Red Mile) until this week when overnight races and the Kentucky Sires Stakes series preps begin.

“That's the start of our foundation with our 2- and 3-year-olds,” said trainer Marna Shehan of Hopkinsville, Ky. “They don't have to go as fast in the beginning. They get their gate schooling, they learn how to sit in a hole and about passing and getting beat. It's the same thing as kids playing sports – competitiveness. They learn to get better. They learn to try harder.

“When you raised the horse, it's like sending a kid off to first grade. That's our pride. Yes, we don't have million-dollar horses. For us, it's OK to race at the fairs and actually make a living at it…. Back in the day, we'd split $4,000 three ways and go for $1,300. Now we split and still go for $4,000 or $5,000” for each race.

In addition to Tuesday's Kentucky Proud finals, $15,000 prep races were carded Monday for the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship and Commonwealth Series that are part of The Red Mile's regular meet in August and September. Horses targeting the Grand Circuit — the industry's prestigious series of big-money stakes — should start showing up.

To be eligible for the fair and the sire stakes series, a horse must have been sired by a stallion that stood in Kentucky in the year of conception or whose dam resided at least 180 days in the commonwealth in the offspring's year of conception. Those looser requirements have brought horses back to the state and made it more desirable to board or keep a standardbred mare in the state for at least half of the year.

“For 2- and 3-year-olds, that's all I do,” trainer-driver Randy Jerrell of Kevil, Ky., said at The Red Mile. “They get a chance to learn how to race around the fairs at the half-mile track. Then it's always great to get to come here. A lot of these Grand Circuit horses, they're on farm tracks and put on their toes. I look at it as we're doing the same thing.”

Purses for Kentucky's fair racing used to be funded by uncashed pari-mutuel tickets, which have dramatically declined with the advent on online wagering. Now it's funded in part by revenue from play on historical horse racing. That has resulted in substantial increase to the fair purses, including more than $780,000 this year.

One of the fair finals' heaviest favorites figures to be the Jerrell-trained and driven 3-year-old pacing filly Single Girl, who is 7 for 7 this season after her 4 1/2-length victory last week and 15 for 21 for her career.

Though by the Indiana stallion Always A Virgin, Single Girl is the epitome of Kentucky Proud. The filly was bred by and born at owner Missy Robertson's Copper Cap Farm in Paris, Ky., where in addition to her one standardbred mare (My Best Girl), she also has three thoroughbred and two warm-blood mares. Single Girl is leased for racing to Janet Banks of Lexington.

“She's an unbelievable filly,” Banks said. “We had no idea we'd do this good this year as a 3-year-old. We love the fair racing. It's more of a family atmosphere. We look for Kentucky horses that can race at the fair.”

Normally Robertson sells her babies but wanted to keep a daughter of My Best Girl for eventually breeding, hence the leasing arrangement. She remains very much a part of the pacer.

“Kentucky has taken a hit in harness racing, so this is kind of pumping it back up and making local breeders have something to shoot for,” Robertson said. “We spend so much energy and money raising these things here in this state. And it's a darn shame to have to send them to New York, New Jersey and all these other places to make a living. It's great to be able to get them started off well here. We like to watch our horses races. We're breeders and sportsmen and we love the game.”

Jerrell also won last week with 4-for-5 Senor Sharpsburg, a 2-year-old pacer bred by Red Mile track announcer Gabe Prewitt, and with the 3-year-old trotter Timo Kemp, who paid $55.60 to win. Timo Kemp is owned by Jerrell and his sister, Joni Jordan.

“I think we're getting a lot more interest back,” Jordan said of the Kentucky Proud Series. “I've had people ask me about getting into the business. It's good for the state, and I'm glad they're building a track at Corbin. I'm really excited about it.”

The fairs also give Kentucky harness horsemen eight weeks of racing that they otherwise wouldn't have.

“This is very much 'Kentucky proud' racing,” said trainer Jackie Gray of Lebanon, Ky. “We're proud of it.”

Also Tuesday, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is honoring staff members who died in recent years. They are: former executive directors Lisa Underwood and John Ward, licensing administrator Allen Slayback, state veterinarians Dr. John Taormina and Dr. Jennifer Kaak, enforcement investigator Don Kolioutas, detention barn assistant John Asbury and veterinary technician Burnis Caudill.

The Corbin at The Red Mile meet runs Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays in July and is part of the collaboration between Kentucky Downs' ownership and Keeneland to build a harness track in Corbin, Ky., and a historical horse racing track extension in nearby Williamsburg. First post is 1 p.m. ET.

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Kentucky’s Harness Horsemen Embracing New ‘Corbin At The Red Mile’ Dates

The reaction from standardbred horsemen to Kentucky gaining an additional harness meet has been overwhelming. Now the problem facing racing secretary Kevin Mack is trying to accommodate as many stables as possible for The Red Mile meet that will serve as a prelude to Kentucky's third harness track. The 12-date meet runs Sunday July 4 through July 27, with racing on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays over the famed Red Mile's red-clay oval in Lexington. Post time will be 1 p.m. EDT.

“I couldn't be more pleased with the response,” Mack said. “We have an overwhelming number of stalls applied for — more than we have stalls. We're delighted with the response for a new meet. Looking forward to seeing all the horsemen and to hit the ground running coming July 4.”

Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone, Kentucky Downs' majority owners and managing partners, are building a harness track in Corbin in southeastern Kentucky in partnership with Keeneland Race Course. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission granted the owners dates at The Red Mile while the Corbin facility is being constructed. A satellite Historical Horse Racing gaming operation also will be built in nearby Williamsburg to create money for purses as well as jobs in the region.

“Marc and Ron believe in this industry and really want to make a big difference,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' vice president for racing who will oversee the Corbin at The Red Mile meet. “This is the first step. We thank the racing commission for granting us the dates until Corbin can be up and running and can't say enough about The Red Mile for working with us.”

Winchell said that he believes harness racing can mirror the growth that Kentucky Thoroughbred racing has experienced since Kentucky Downs introduced Historical Horse Racing into the state in 2011.

“That includes expanding entertainment and job options in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth,” Winchell said. “We so believe in this project and its bright future that we didn't want to sit out a year while building the track. By funding a 2021 Corbin meet at The Red Mile, we are showing our commitment to harness racing.”

The meet will include two days showcasing Kentucky's county-fair circuit, offering racing for 2- and 3-year-old trotters and pacers. The Mercer County Fair races will be conducted at the meet on July 13. The highest point-earners from the seven-stop fair circuit will face off in the $200,000 series finals on July 20.

The Corbin at Red Mile meet also will include prep races for the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship and the Commonwealth Series. Both series are for Kentucky-sired horses, as well as the foals of mares who spent at least 180 days in Kentucky in the year of the foal's conception.

The meet's regular races, not counting those funded by the Kentucky Sire Stakes program, is scheduled to average about $45,000 a card while being underwritten by the owners of the Corbin track.

“This is a much-needed boost to harness racing in Kentucky,” Mack said. “We were down at one point to having only one track, The Red Mile, after some of the others closed. Then we added Oak Grove last year and now the new Corbin meet. It's giving Kentucky-sired horses better money to go for, and it's going to provide more days of racing in the state, which was desperately needed.”

Entries for the July 4 opening card will be taken July 1.

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AmTote, PariMAX Sign Multi-Year Agreement With Red Mile

PariMAX Holdings and AmTote International, key divisions of leading North American technology provider 1/ST TECHNOLOGY, have entered into a multi-year agreement with KRM Wagering, LLC (“Red Mile”), a gaming joint venture between Keeneland and The Red Mile racing associations.

This strategic partnership sees both parties put their combined shoulders to the wheel around KRM Wagering's progressive historical horse racing (HHR) wagering terminals at its Red Mile Gaming & Racing facility in Lexington, Kentucky. The new agreement continues a longstanding relationship with KRM that started with its successful launch of HHR operations back in 2015 to improve fan engagement and return value to horse racing stakeholders in an increasingly competitive wagering and entertainment market.

Since then, the Red Mile facility has become popular with racegoers for both its historical racing terminals, as well as traditional live and simulcast wagering solutions. Customers can choose to play on terminals which draw from a deep well of historical racing data, statistics and archive video footage to produce pre-recorded races in a format appealing to gaming-oriented consumers while corresponding with the fair and familiar pari-mutuel betting model.

Before and during the pandemic, by delivering these quick-fire on-demand betting opportunities, HHR proved pivotal to maintaining local employment and sustaining revenues for increased purse levels to help keep Kentucky horse racing competitive with other major racing states. Red Mile remains the iconic home of the Kentucky Futurity, one of the three jewels in Trotting's Triple Crown, fusing a proud racing heritage with state-of-the-art simulcasting and pari-mutuel HHR gaming terminals which have bolstered this venue as a premier retail and entertainment destination throughout the year.

PariMAX and AmTote are market-leading products from 1/ST TECHNOLOGY, racing's largest and most innovative gaming technology company, and the leading wagering technology force in North America.

Keith Johnson, Chief Revenue Officer at 1/ST TECHNOLOGY – PariMAX & AmTote, said: “1/ST TECHNOLOGY, with its PariMAX and AmTote business units, is thrilled to extend its relationship with Red Mile. This new agreement allows PariMAX to provide its continuing evolution of HHR products, delivering even more appealing and fully pari-mutuel innovative wagering experiences on HHR content, for the benefit of Red Mile, the Kentucky horse racing industry, and the US horse racing industry as a whole.”

Shannon Cobb, Chief Financial & Operating Officer at Red Mile Gaming & Racing, added: “The Red Mile is happy to enter into the next phase of its relationship with PariMAX and AmTote with this latest agreement. PariMAX continues to deliver unique and innovative HHR products and features that our patrons demonstrably enjoy, and this agreement will just expand upon that for the years to come.”

1/ST TECHNOLOGY's world-class products, led by AmTote and PariMAX, rank among the most trusted names across gaming, technology, horse and greyhound racing. AmTote's technology and services already play host to the majority of racetrack operators in North America – and are currently in operation at Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park, Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Woodbine, alongside many others, processing more than $18 billion in pari-mutuel and fixed-odds wagering around the world each year.

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