3 March 2009

Bad Accident Last Night At Woodbine Harness

Luckily, it looks much worse than it was:
Accident Marred Ontario Boys Final yesterday at Woodbine (the video is 10 minutes, but there is little in the last 6:00 other than an inquiry sign):

No horses were put down. For an update click here.
I just have one question though. There was at least one horse that could have crossed the wire third. I'm not sure if he did, but why didn't he get a third placing? They wound up paying the triactor off using the first two finishers with an all. And since it was a $55,400 purse, the third horse would have stood to make at least $5,500 (I'm not sure what the jugheads payout to the third finishers exactly).


Bill Finley Chimes In On California Anti-Rebate Rule Change

Bill Finley has a great article out called It's About Time, where he, like me, points out that one of the stupidest restrictions ever appears that it will be history in California very soon: the banning of rebates:

"Horse racing needs to find ways to build its business and needs to take a harder look at things like exchange betting, proposition betting and rebates. Times have changed and they are tough. The game needs every betting dollar it can get its hands on. Rebating works, and it needs to be supported."




HANA has published the 21st to 65th ranked tracks:

Woodbine came in higher than I would have liked. Going by takeout alone, they wouldn't have cracked 50, but because they offer all sorts of wagers, and their field size is on the high side, they wound up in the middle of the pack.
Fort Erie, mostly thanks to their ridiculously high takeout on exactors (over 25%), wound up next to last. Their field size last year wasn't the greatest either. If availability was factored in, Fort Erie could have scored higher. Also, Fort Erie is one of the only tracks that makes their live videos free to everyone.

HANA also has pins available for members:

Donate a minimum of $20 here and you'll get a pin sent to your home, or you can send a check here:
Horseplayers Association of North America
1926 Abbey Rd, #95
Charlottesville, VA 22911

Make all checks payable to: "Horseplayers Association of North America"

'Money is needed for basic necessities such as having a website hosted, printing business cards and letterhead, postal services, and applying to the .I.R.S. for 501(c) tax exempt status.'


No shocker as Magna Entertainment gets delisted from Toronto Stock Exchange.



Jockey Club Fact Book for 2009 is now available
on-line. The parimutuel handle chart is really ugly. Take whales and rebate shops out of the ball game, and horse race betting is lucky to be on life support.


Hats off to CDI for implementing a whole slew of safety and welfare policies.


Horse Racing Unsolved Mystery: Who Killed Randy Rankin
Rankin was a potential whistle blower who was threatening to bring down the Ontario harness game when he was shot dead at his home 2 years ago. A $50,000 reward has now been offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
Watch the CTV story here.


FORT ERIE UPDATE-nothing new
It is less than 2 weeks before the official sign goes up on no racing at Fort Erie in 2009. Hopefully, the government will not let it happen. They can easily stop it by changing the amount that Fort Erie gets from slot revenues if a sale can't be worked out.

1 comment:

jengersnap said...

With the STB race at Woodbine, I don't see a driver with either of the two horses vying for 3rd but I only saw the video so I could be mistaken. It also appeared the one in a proper lane was galloping at times.