Horse Racing

Tapping the track ends a cautionary tale for all races


Includes the first race night at Pompano Park, which took place on February 4, 1964, Earl Straight of the Fort Lauderdale News had this to say: “The Harness Race has arrived in Broward County and it’s going to be with us for a long time.”

He doesn’t step out on one limb. There was almost no competition for gambling dollars, all forms of horse racing were thriving at the time and there is no reason to believe Pompano would be an exception. It is supposed to exploit what the Gulfstream and Hialeah racing are for Purebred racing, the sport’s winter capital. And, for a while, it was. A record was set in 1980 when a crowd of 18,451 filled the stands as Pompano overcame dog racing and jai alai to become a favorite nightlife spot for action-hungry South Florida gamblers. motion.

Straight does not misunderstand exactly. Pompano lasted for 58 years, but it is highly unlikely that in 1964 he could have envisioned the Florida harness race going to the finish line in 2022. In a place like Pompano, racing already unimportant for many years. It’s all about casinos and when a bill was passed in May 2021 to separate casino gaming and pari-mutuel betting at Pompano, the fate of the track was closed. Soon after, the owner, Caesars Entertainment, announced that racing would stop at the end of 2022. The last night of the race was Sunday.

“I wouldn’t call it disheartening talking about the end of the race in Pompano, it’s more like a funeral,” said mining legend and Hall of Famer Wally Hennessey, who has attempted at Pompano each year. since 1986, told harnesslink.com. “That’s how I feel. And that you cannot control”.

So what does this have to do with Purebred racing? A lot of. If it can happen to Pompano Park, it can happen to any track that runs any breed. The threat of separation is real and it’s not going away. It is a huge and ominous threat.

Almost every casino company that owns a racecourse doesn’t want to be in the equestrian business and most don’t bother to hide their disdain for the sport. But current law in most states still requires casinos that hold pari-mutuel races to maintain their casino license.

That is not exactly the case in Florida. First, we see Churchill Downs Inc. found a loophole in the law that would allow them to replace racing at Calder/Gulfstream Park West with a jai alai operation and still keep their casino. Other casino companies in the state continued to lobby for separation and last spring they won the game. A bill was passed that no longer requires non-breed pari-mutuel operations in the state to conduct racing in order to have casinos.

It is important, of course, that the state’s two Thoroughbred races, Gulfstream and Tampa Bay Downs, are not allowed to be separated. But no track is a threat to do so. Tampa Bay Downs doesn’t have a casino, and Gulfstream’s casinos aren’t big money. Plus, Gulfstream remains one of the most successful tracks in the sport and is not a candidate for closure. But you can be sure that racino operators outside of Florida watched the Pompano story unfold. Caesars Entertainment has provided a guide on how to book when it comes to getting rid of any racing organizing obligations, and it’s a blueprint that others will no doubt try to follow. Which state will be next?

The irony of Pompano’s story is that from a handlebars perspective, the rails have never done better. Broadcaster and racing director Gabe Prewitt won’t let Pompano go without a fight. Primarily through social media channels, he started promoting the racing product at Pompano non-stop. He created #sendItInArmy, calling on fans to mine betting on Pompano. Based on Mining Racing Update, from the race’s founding in 1964 to 2014, there were only three instances where Pompano had a race pass exceeding $1 million. In 2021, settlements exceed $1 million 21 times and a record $1.7 million are staked on the night card ending in 2021.

Pompano pulled all stops on Sunday, finishing with a guaranteed 19-race card and groups for its Pick-4 bet. Hennessey was listed to drive in 14 races. At 65, he’s notably the lead driver on the track, entering the night with 100 wins for the season.

Sunday was the last night of the mining race in Pompano Park, but the casino was ahead. It’s going nowhere and in time, belt racing will be forgotten at a track that was once one of the sport’s crowning jewels.

Shame on how.

Quick start at Keeneland

In the column March 6, I questioned why Flavien Prat wanted to leave Southern California, where he was the dominant racer in the colony. The thinking is that the competition is so stiff in New York and in Keeneland that Prat will drop to fourth or fifth in the leaderboard at his new tracks behind stars like the Ortiz brothers, Luis Saez and Joel Rosario.

Seven days after the Keeneland meeting, I can see that I got this wrong. Prat will never dominate the charts in Kentucky and in New York like he did in California, but he has made it clear that he will not give up the back seat to anyone. With nine winners from 37 mounts (24%) at the Keeneland meeting, he’s behind to meet frontman Tyler Gaffalione and second with Irad Ortiz, Jr. He has three graded equity wins at the meeting, including GI Madison S. and GI Toyota Blue Grass S. on the GI Kentucky Derby Zandon premier league (Start up).

He won three races for Brad Cox, two for Chad Brown and one for Todd Pletcher. One of the keys to whether Prat has flourished in New York is how often he is given a mount by Brown. Brown has started 29 horses at Keeneland and nine have been ridden by Prat.

There are more race days in New York than in California, and the purses are significantly higher. That’s one of the reasons he decided to come winter. He also believes it will put him in a better position to win the Eclipse Award. He’s had a big chance to get out of his comfort zone in California, but, so far, it looks like a good move.

A great day in Keeneland

According to Equibase, bets on races in the US were up 1.09% on the year and down 2.37% in March. It looks like it’s going to be a year where the controller is relatively stable, which is somewhat disappointing news after the controller jumped 11.9% and hit $12 billion for the first time since 2009.

However, the top tracks are consistently generating big numbers. On Saturday, Keeneland set new records for handles in Pick 4 and Pick 5. Round 4 handles $1,357,298 and $1,539,098 were set for Pick 5. Previous points were set on Blue days. Grass top card. And all-source betting on the 11-race card totaled $27,304,001, the second-highest in a single day in Keeneland history. A record single-day processing of $28,137,728 was set during Green Grass Day last Saturday.

Yes, Keeneland was supposed to make those numbers on Green Grass Day, but not on any other day of the meeting. It just shows you that when you combine good races, big playing fields, creative bets like All Turf Pick 3 and reasonable draws, the customer responds.





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