$1M Meadowlands Pace Elims Drawn

Saturday's Meadowlands Pace eliminations have been drawn, Just like the North America Cup, this looks totally wide open. Who shows up? Who is sharp? We'll do some digging this week and see if we can find out.

Race 4
PP - Horse - Driver - Trainer
1 - Delmarvalous - Brian Sears - Brenda Teague
2 - Superbad Hanover - George Brennan - Kostas Tsanakos
3 - One More Laugh - Tim Tetrick - Ray Schnittker
4 - Kyle Major - Jody Jamieson - Shawn Robinson
5 - Jo Pas Fod - John Campbell - Jim Campbell
6 - Rock N Roll Heaven John Campbell - Bruce Saunders
7 - All Speed Hanover - Ron Pierce - Noel Daley
8 - World Of Rocknroll - Ron Pierce - Richard Norman

Race 5
PP - Horse - Driver - Trainer
1 - Razzle Dazzle - John Campbell - Jerry Silverman
2 - Rockin Image - Yannick Gingras - Jimmy Takter
3 - Ideal Matters - Brian Sears - Noel Daley
4 - Nova Artist - Brian Sears - Lou Pena
5 - Tobago Cays - John Campbell - Jeff Webster
6 - Im Gorgeous - Brian Sears - George Teague Jr.
7 - Shoobees Place - David Miller - Richard Norman

Race 6
PP - Horse - Driver - Trainer
1 - OK Commander - Brian Sears - Gregg Mcnair
2 - Foreign Officer - Yannick Gingras - Tony Alagna
3 - Valentino - George Brennan - Lou Pena
4 - We Will See - Brett Miller - Sam De Pinto
5 - Sportswriter - Mark Macdonald - Casie Coleman
6 - Iam Bonasera - Jody Jamieson - Erv Miller
7 - Fred And Ginger - Dave Palone - Ron Burke
8 - Windfall Blue Chip - Andy Miller - George Teague Jr.

New Bets - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It was announced this weekend that the $30,000 seeded Metro 6 Shooter has been cancelled. The bet, which required you to pick 6 winners at two racetracks, was fairly successful, but not successful enough to continue, according to the organizers.

New bets - especially hard to hit bets - are extremely difficult to make work. I figured I would give my opine on what went well, and what did not with this new bet.

The Good:

First up, they attracted about $40K a week on this bet. In harness racing this is very good. The $30k seeded was a good idea as well. I do not think we realize just how hard it is to get $40k bet into any harness pool, from scratch nowadays. Western Fair could offer a $10k guaranteed pick 6 tomorrow and would be lucky to have $300 bet into it. It's just the way it is. They got some punch.

Second, they marketed it correctly. They spent some money. They took the attitude racing has had for years (offer something out and expect players to run to it) and flipped that on its head. There were some smart people behind this, and it showed.

The Bad:

The first couple of weeks it was virtually impossible to find results. I found it personally hard to bet, and hard to follow. I remember the first night having no idea what it paid. Twinspires did not show the result, neither did HPI. It was like the bet was marketed mainstream, but the results were in a vacuum.

As well, having it at two tracks is very hard to make work. They did their best, but it is something that has long been difficult. Even the Magna Five, with only five races (all usually stakes races) which was marketed wildly to thoroughbred players, had difficulties. We're talking two harness tracks here, not Stronach-ville.

Last, while the bet was going on, and after it began, I missed not seeing a couple of things - pool size, and number of live tickets. Hollywood Park does a good job of this with their pick 6 branding.

The Ugly:

Two words, "no" and "carryover". If this thing gets a carryover or two, we are not having this discussion. With only $70k in the pools, with two tracks, there were three weeks that had one winner. The mathematics, with less than $100k bet at a one dollar increment, says that this should have carried over; but it is what it is.

Regardless, kudos to the people who put it on and tried. New bets are hard to make work, and you need to catch some breaks. At the very least, we learned something. Trial and error works for Amazon and Wal Mart. There is no reason to think it should not work in racing.

In my view, this is not the end, it is only the beginning. If we want to survive in the betting markets we should look for ways to improve this bet, and go to it.

Those Track Handicappers Sure Are Trouble

The G20 Summit was in Toronto last weekend. The summit had the usual assortment of characteristics - protests,  high price tags,, politicos, etc. But in an interesting twist, we had a track handicapper bring us a headline.

On Sunday, as part of the G20, Mike Hamilton of WEG was arrested.

Let's have a pop quiz. Mike was arrested for:

a) Protesting the 28% Woodbine Tri takeout
b) Holding a sign that said "Free Walter Case"
or
c) Walking around his neighbourhood

If you chose c) you are pretty much correct.

For the full story, click here.

Trot, and Standardbred Canada, due to people like Darryl Kaplan and Kim Fisher, have been doing some good things. The story above is one example. For another, how about the behind the scenes story on trainer Riina Rekela? Nice job folks. This is not your grandfather's Trot Magazine.