John Pricci wonders why silence has greeted Ellis Park’s decision to lower takeout to 4% on its pick four wager:
I’m no math genius, far from it. But a wager that puts the odds in our favor over the long term, one where track executives and horsemen and legislators from the Commonwealth of Kentucky came together and took a risk for our gain and, ultimately, theirs?
This is a very big deal, and nobody seems to care.
Reaction, any reaction, yeah or nay, was anticipated. It would have been a welcome start to meaningful dialogue between racing’s considerable uncounted majority and the industry (simulcastors and OTBs don’t take attendance). Instead, reaction was next to nothing.
My guess? Because it’s Ellis Park, and it’s one wager. If Del Mar announced lower takeout on the pick six or NYRA on all exotic plays, there’d probably be more buzz.
Pricci’s right though that Ellis took a big step, and that lowered takeout, along with expanded wagering options, are necessary for the industry to climb past the $15 billion handle plateau it’s been stuck at since 2000. T.D. Thornton briefly mentioned P2P platforms and betting exchanges in his Blood-Horse chat last month, only two weeks after an article applying “The Long Tail” to racing appeared in the magazine. The ideas are percolating; their implementation will be slow. That’s the way of things in racing, where any innovations, particularly those that are technology-based, are approached gingerly, considered threatening to the business models that have stood largely unchanged for 80 years, rather than embraced as opportunities for tremendous, exciting growth. Other industries, such as music and print media, have been just as wary, but they haven’t had the luxury of ignoring technology’s disruptive effects and doling out changes on their terms to customers. What racing needs is a similar sort of pressure, a few good start-ups shaking up content and wagering models. That’s when horseplayers and racing fans will start to get what they want, at the prices they’re looking for.
More on the Ellis Park Pick 4: “For the first time ever, horseplayers now have a positive expectation on their investment” (MSNBC).
Posted by JC in Betting, Racing & Technology on 07/10/2007 @ 6:00 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
“If the initial reports prove to be true,” writes Andrew Beyer, “the cosmopolitan Biancone could be to horse racing what Floyd Landis, the disgraced Tour de France winner, is to professional cycling: the symbol of the sport’s cancerous drug problem.” Perhaps the one good thing that might come out of this is that with a scandal on that scale we’ll get the vigorous debate about drugs and supplements that the sport sorely needs, as painful as that would be for all, and new regulations and penalties to seriously curb the problem.
Posted by JC in Misdeeds & Wrongdoing on 07/10/2007 @ 8:30 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Prepping for the August 5 Haskell, Preakness winner Curlin worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 at Churchill Downs this morning in company with stablemate Tiz Wonderful (Blood-Horse). Curlin will ship to Saratoga on Thursday, enjoy the Spa for a couple of weeks, then head to Monmouth.
Hard Spun, another likely Haskell contender, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.20 at Delaware Park, also in company, with an unnamed filly stablemate. When the son of Danzig starts next, he’ll have rider Mario Pino, dumped for Garret Gomez in the Belmont, back aboard. “I had a discussion with Mr. Porter and he said it’s OK with him to have Mario back on the horse,” said trainer Larry Jones. “So, I have given Mr. Pino certain dates to keep open. I feel good about this decision. It keeps everything on our team. Mario is part of our team and it’s good to have him back” (News Journal).
On Sunday, Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense took to the Churchill track, working five furlongs in 1:00.40 with regular rider Calvin Borel up, and Belmont winner Rags to Riches did an easy five furlongs in 1:04.20 at Belmont. It was a slow work, but trainer Todd Pletcher was unconcerned. “It was very good,” Pletcher said. “It was almost identical to what she did before the Belmont. She was nice and relaxed and galloped out real strong” (DRF). Rags to Riches will start next in the July 21 Coaching Club American Oaks; 23 fillies have been nominated to the race, six by Pletcher. “I don’t mind a walkover, but I nominated enough horses to ensure they’d use the race,” said the supertrainer.
Posted by JC in Horses on 07/09/2007 @ 11:00 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
