Monday Notes

Some news, notes and other stuff on a late Monday.

It seems Deweycheatumnhowe, the big horse from the Schnittker stable is on form to return on time. Amazingly, a 154 training tune-up before qualifying met Riggins, the big son of Art Major. He was a bit of an enigma last year. He looked great, poor, great, poor. I really do not know what to make of him. He is a beautiful horse, though. Here's the update from Ray.

Pennsylvania breeders make some good coin from slots. Good for them. But I must say it makes me wonder. Why are horseplayers still paying 30%+ rakes at Penn National with all this money from slots?

Roberthebruce and Anderlecht, two North America Cup hopefuls qualified today. Robert is a speedy son of Real Desire. He seems a little bit high strung, as witnessed in a couple starts last year, but he is very fast. Anderlecht is doing well, touch wood, and qualified nicely. He looks to make his debut next week.

John Pricci comments on Lone Star Park's new low rake Pick 5. The takeout stands at 12%.

“Our players have asked us for a lower takeout wager and we have responded to their requests,” said Lone Star president and general manager Drew Shubeck in a prepared statement. “We think Lone Star Park’s new Pick 5 wager is an exciting new bet that will return more money to our loyal customers.”

Not bad. However for Canadians I assume the rake will be 25% or more when betting through HPI. I will check on that and letcha know. When I called to see if the Ellis Park pick 4 was being offered at 4% at HPI for Canadians I got an answer that can only be described as incredulous.

I am going to the Canadian Gaming Summit in Montreal at the end of the month. Should be fun. If any blog readers or contributers are going to be there, shoot me an email. Maybe we can have an ale and lose some cash betting :)

What I would like sometime in the next week is ask a few questions about some of the topics to see what people think of standardbred racing wagering in Canada. Maybe we can learn something.