The rumor was that the racing office was trying its best to fill the five Grade 1 stakes, making them as competitive and bettable as possible. The old line from back in the day came to mind: “You can’t make a suit without the material.“
At approximately 3 PM, I was handed an overnight. There were 11 races on the Saturday program, giving me flashbacks to a Saratoga meeting recently passed. That didn’t make the day any better.
But it wasn’t the 11 races so much that distressed. Rather, it was the 31 betting interests in five Grade 1 races worth an aggregate $2,950,000. That comes to a bit more than $95,161 per entrant.
The three dirt races, including a competitive seven horse field for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, attracted 17 runners, 16 betting interests.
One didn’t need the New York Racing Assn. executive entry of Charlie Hayward and Hal Handel to tell the assembled press what the problem was. Anyone who read David Grening’s DRF online report already had an inkling.
When Grening asked Marty Wolfson why Icon Project, a 13-½ length winner of the G1 Personal Ensign last time out, was skipping the $600,000 Beldame in favor of Keeneland’s $500,000 Spinster a week from Sunday, Wolfson said: “It’s probably the synthetic issue.”
Which really is a Breeders’ Cup-at-Santa Anita issue.
Again.
No one can argue with Hayward on that. Three G1s for fillies and mares, starting at 10 furlongs, followed by two at nine furlongs, all within 34 days, doesn’t make sense on any level. Consequently, Music Note will be the prohibitive Beldame choice.
The Vosburgh took a hit, too, in all probability due to the presence of the uber fast Belmont Park lover, Fabulous Strike. He tops a field of five.
Somewhat surprising is the fact that Gio Ponti, his stablemate notwithstanding, will face as many as seven challengers despite his domination of the older-horse turf division. Perhaps it’s his lack of experience at a mile and a half.
The centerpiece JCGC attracted seven, the big three of Summer Bird, Quality Road and 4-year-old Macho Again, plus specialist Dry Martini, 2-for-3 over the track and 1-for-2 at 10 furlongs.
But the Gold Cup will go through Summer Bird, the 2-1 early line favorite from post 3, bidding to become the first three-year-old since Easy Goer and 10th in history to win Belmont, Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Local coverage includes a live telecast on MSG Plus, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Post time for the JCGC is scheduled for 5:43 p.m., EDT.
PUNISHMENT FITS THE CRIME: When NYRA placing judges posted the number of the 10-horse, Dontquityourdayjob, as the fourth-place finisher in the ninth race on September 24 at Belmont Park, when indeed it was the number 13, Everybodywantsone, that finished fourth, the error cost the association an extra $82,500 for paying off on both superfecta combinations, the correct 8-14-5-13 and the incorrect 8-15-5-10.
The mistake cost the three placing judges a one-week without-pay suspension. I know the officials personally. Sentell Taylor, Stephen Foster and Ralph Theroux Jr. are life-long racetrackers and good men. They screwed up, causing the track to pay off on the wrong result for almost three minutes.
The wrong ticket was paid because it had to be by law tracks. It’s curious how three sets of eyes could have missed the fact that the fourth finisher was #13, not #10, in a race that didn’t require photo scrutiny.
But the real question is whether placing judges should be the last line of defense.
It is their responsibility to post the official result after first calling the tote room to with the order of finish. That done, they await a call from the stewards who review the running of all races. At that point, the stewards call the judges and tell them to either post an inquiry or put up the official sign.
Since stewards at all tracks serve as judge, jury and executioners, shouldn’t double checking the placing judges be part of their responsibilities? It’s not like asking anyone to work on a rock pile.
A fail-safe measure has been added, however, to prevent a mistake like this from happening again. The placing judges will now take an added step, reviewing charts of all orders of finish with photo-finish technician, Don Morehouse, before making a race official.
HANA GETTING SOME RESPECT: The efforts of the Horseplayers of North America are beginning to bear fruit. Current race-day scratches and program changes from racetracks throughout North America have been made available throughout the day in a dedicated section on the web-site Equibase.com.
Last spring at Keeneland, HANA members met with Keeneland track officials and a line of communication was established with racing’s official data collection company. After a series of subsequent meetings, Equibase gave its chartcallers the responsibility of entering updates into a dedicated section of the Equibase site.
Horseplayers now will have access to the latest scratches, surface switches, distance and jockey changes, as well as amended wagering options. Players can also register to receive an RSS updates feed for each track, information deliverable to desktops and/or mobile devices.
Progress, even when made at a glacial pace, is always welcome.
02 Oct 2009 at 02:01 am | #
The placing judges have been “reviewing” charts of the order of finish with the photo finish people for years, at least in California, before making the order official. Its a miracle that more mistakes haven’t been made with the incomplete system that was in pace in New York.
The stewards shouldn’t have to go over the order, especially for the last race, because they might not beat the traffic if they have to work 15 seconds longer.
02 Oct 2009 at 02:51 am | #
eddie,
What traffic? Apparently you haven’t been to Belmont or Aqueduct in a long time.
02 Oct 2009 at 04:52 am | #
The Breeders Cup used to be a day,I always looked forward to. As is the case with most things in racing,the powers that be have made the Cup a waste of time for most of the players who play NYRA and other dirt tracks. This year,I’ll play the Aqueduct card and not bother with the fake racing on the West Coast.As for the error by the placing judges,having the stewards check the finish is like having the blind leading the blind.
02 Oct 2009 at 07:53 am | #
Hedley,
Good line!!
Interest in Horseracing in NY is at an all time low. And for good reason!! Aside from six weeks at Saratoga, the day to day product is awful. The net result: Empty stands and a tomb like atmosphere at Aqueduct and Belmont. Empty OTB parlors, many of which will soon be shuttered by the bankrupt corporation. The sport is on life support and will at some point likely be dramatically consolidated. Or states will just shrug their shoulders rather than prop the game up and the sport will live or die on it’s own merits or lack thereof.
02 Oct 2009 at 10:11 am | #
John, as you are aware Arlington Park also posted an incorrect order of finish on last year’s Arc de Triomphe. In that case the error wasn’t acknowledged and reported for 2 days, and received very, very little media attention.
I have to believe (eternal optimist) that a $13 billion industry can develop a fool proof system to accommodate the potential for human error and correctly report the order of finish...at least from 1 to 5!
EP
02 Oct 2009 at 12:30 pm | #
John,
Can I give you a shout tomorrow at Belmont Park?
03 Oct 2009 at 02:51 am | #
Super Saturday, a show put on by NYRA that flaunts any and all aspects of financial responsibility; they do have accountants, don’t they? Mr. Pricci, you should wear waders as the red ink is going to flow big time.
As I asked yesterday, where is the money coming from for the purses, which total $3,159,000? Any idea what the handle must be to cover the purses? Giving NYRA 20% on-track handle, the attendance will have to be 45,000, with each bettor wagering $200; and off-track handle must total $36,000,000.
A few of the races are worse than what Philly is offering today. The Beldame, with a purse of $600,000, has four betting interests - less interesting than a claiming race at Charlestown. The Vosburg, with a purse of $400,000, has five entrants - Wow! And the Jockey Club Gold Cup, with a purse of $750,000 has seven entrants - how thrilling! Purses range from $19,000 to $750,000 - absurd!
It is incomprehensible how NYRA blows money; money obviously derived from the state loan, not from prior profitable operations.
When the day is over, a handful of owners, trainers, and jockeys will have made some serious money, while NYRA takes another huge hit financially bring it closer to another bankruptcy filing.
What is mind-boggling to me is that turf writers make no effort whatsoever to question NYRA’s actions, particularly when today’s purses range from $19,000 to $750,000; a better distribution of purse money would put more money in more owner’s pockets, which would keep more owners in the ‘game’ and give them the means to survive and purchase more yearlings.
I know that NYRA would have a more attractive race card for bettors today if all eleven races had a purse of $50,000 - NYRA would have saved $2,609,000 of purse money which would allow for 52 races with a purse of $50,000.
Visualize what the purses will total once NYRA’s management gets their hands on the slot revenue.
And, today’s race card at Belmont was approved by the Board of Directors of NYRA - aren’t they primarily wealthy horse owners?