Horse Racing: - Saratoga ($600,000 Alabama), Woodbine (opening leg of the Canadian Triple Crown) and Laurel (Sunday's 13-race meet finale) highlight weekend cards (2024)

John Price said:

Sierra Leone did well as the #2 which is traditionally hard to race from

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Yup. I made the note earlier that while the 1-slot gets bashed annually (no winners since 1986), the 2 hasn't had a victory since 1978 (Affirmed) and the 17 (the favorite this year) has never had a winner. Those pieces of trivia remain. That said, a longtime handicapper-friend laid it in with a 1-2-3 exacta box. Odd choice I thought at the time. The exacta finished 3-2. He got $258 for every deuce he invested.

NYRA and Monmouth Park (NJ) are teaming with FOX Sports to broadcast from New Jersey. It appears NYRA's betting app will be used for wagering purposes which will include cross-track bets.

Very interesting and another good move for the sport.

Monmouth may not be Keeneland. Saratoga or Del Mar but its scenery pops.

Monmouth Park/NYRA Bets/Fox Sports sign contract;

$3.5 billion bet on U.S. races through April in 2024, down 6% from 2023. I expect the next quarter to see gains considering the significant numbers registered on the Kentucky Derby card but also last year during summer months there were many cancellations ranging from rainy conditions in key spots such as Saratoga and forest fires emanating from Canada which was critical to 2023's downturn.

Monmouth Park Opening Day: May 11

GKJ said:

The Belmont is at Saratoga, so if mystik dan loses, why not both?

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it's only a 4 day meet

Woodbine (ON) Friday preview:

CHRDANHUTCH said:

thank you Nest FOR your outstanding career.... Nest is being retired

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uncle mo is waiting and chomping on his bit.

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Parx (Pennsylvania):

• Handle: $3.5 million. Parx was probably the biggest track running this day.
• Race 10: The $.50 Pick 5 was an enormous $160,000+.
• Race 7: The $.50 Pick 4 paid over $11,000.

Thursday, May 9, 2024

• Tampa Bay Downs: The meet handle of $361.4 million exceeded last year's total more 2.6%. Good showing despite the catastrophic misadventure due to technological issues during the Tampa Bay Derby, the track's signature event, which resulted in an abandonment of wagering opportunities and canceled races that night.
• Oaklawn Park (AR): $450,263,230 handled for the meet. Daily handle averaged $7,147,035 over 63 racing days. This represents a 7.1% increase from last season's 68-day meet. Oaklawn has become a top 10 track in North America and is rising steadily.

Pimlico (Maryland):

• Opening Day: Pimlico runs 5/9/2024-5/27/2024.
• Laurel Runs: 5/31/2024-8/18/2024
• Timonium (state fair) runs: 8/23/2024-9/2/2024.

Horseshoe Indianapolis (Indiana):

• Race 7: Nine of the 11 horses were scratched. The winner of the unintended match-race romped by nine lengths.

Friday previews;

Maryland's governor officially signed the $400 million bond bill which means the state will take control of Pimlico beginning July 1.

The 2025 Preakness will be run at Pimlico despite the redevelopment of the track to a modernized facility.

The 2026 Preakness will be run at Laurel.

Laurel is expected to be closed by owners The Stronach Group possibly in 2027.

Oaklawn may be a top five track in America and if not is making buzz annually. The 2024-25 schedule was released today with December 6 the opener. The track will concentrate even more so on weekend racing, its strength and familiarity, but a quote from an exec that other tracks may follow suit is intriguing. Racing is one of the few sports operating midweek daily in some places, will more tracks on three days lead to a glut? Maybe it will increase handles? Will smaller tracks opt to be the star attraction early in the week as part of a limited product?

Also, the Smarty Jones may move to December which would mean 2-year-olds battle for Kentucky Derby points.

Keep an eye on Oaklawn as I have stated often the past handful of years. It is a vibrant scene.

Cumberland Saturday preview/ Friday post/pics;

Friday, May 10, 2024

Belterra (Ohio):

• Age is Just a Number: Among the winning jockeys were 69-year-old Perry Ouzts and 61-year-old Vernon Bush. Ouzts turns 70 in July.

Gulfstream (Florida):

• Race 5: Marshamarshamarsha (Edgar Perez/Nolan Ramsey) gave the trainer his first lifetime win since departing the camp of Michael Maker. Ramsey is the grandson of Maker's longtime ownership-partnership Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey.

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Aqueduct (New York):

• Handle: $15.1 million.
• Card: Four graded stakes.
• Chalk: Favorites lost nine of the 11 races.
• Race 2: Neecie Marie (Joel Rosario/Butch Reid) won the $185,000 Grade 2 Beaugay Stakes at 7-to-1. The winner 4-for-5 at Park (PA) was 0-for-4 outside Parx (PA)...until today. Since 2020, Philadelphia-based Reid has won nine graded stakes with five coming in New York.

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• Race 4: Joey Freshwater (Jose Lezcano/Linda Rice) won the $175.000 Grade 3 Runhappy Stakes at 5-to-2.

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• Race 6: Antiquarian (John Velazquez/Todd Pletcher) won the $200,000 Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at 5-to-1.

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• Race 7: Silver Knott (Flavien Prat/Charlie Appleby) won the $400,000 Grade 2 Man o' War Stakes at 4-to-1 in convincing style.

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• Race 8: Carol T (Eric Cancel/Jose Jimenez) won the $75,000 MSW at 23-to-1, the shocker of the day.
• Race 11: The $.50 Pick 5 returned more than $111,000.

Monmouth Park (New Jersey):

• Opening Day: The track by the Jersey Shore opened today. The closing song played on the simulcast feed was local boy Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind." Sinatra remains the greatest musical talent from the state. I digress.
• Race 7: Sea Streak (Jairo Rendon/Eddie Owens), the only New Jersey-bred in a race with horses born in range from Florida to Washington state, won the $100,000 Long Branch Stakes by more than seven lengths.

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Pimlico (Maryland):

• Favorites: While there were no victorious bombs except a 9-to-1 shot as the longest odds in one race, favorites won just once.