Tuesday Notes

Good morning folks!

The Big M, for 2016, will be running dual cards next September. Harness racing and Thoroughbred racing will both take the track.

Politics sullies just about everything we do, or see nowadays, and I expect the state of Indiana and horse racing is not dissimilar.

• The firing of Gorajec “for focusing too much on regulating the industry, the commission made an unethical decision,” she wrote. “As a lifelong Hoosier who loves Indiana, I find myself, once again, disappointed and angered by the lack of ethics exhibited by too many public officials in our state. We can do better.”
• “Any ethicist worth his or her salt will tell you good promoters do not make good regulators. Giving the promotion responsibility to the regulator is a bad idea.

That's a fair point from the congresswoman. Horse racing is a hodgepodge of regulation, and unlike other gambling games or sports, has unique opposing supply and demand forces that can run afoul of each other. Because of that, keeping basic things at arm's length from others is paramount. How does being in charge of testing and promotion of a sport conflict? Let me count the ways.

Speaking of that, Draft Kings announced recently (as did FanDuel) that they would be conducting an independent audit of some of the issues asked about recently, namely the question regarding who knows whose lineups internally and when. Although the full gist of the now completed audit is not known, Draftkings did announce that the employee who mistakenly posted lineup information on the web the day of an NFL game had and used no edge in that instance.

Quite frankly, with the knives out, and agendas fully entrenched for the long haul, none of the above really matters. DraftKings and FanDuel could've announced an external audit done by God and the states, the regulators and everyone else with an added incentive to see the game changed would not for a second back off. In a perfect world things would be done for the customer in an unbiased fashion. It's not a perfect world.

There are some parallels in DFS with horse racing policy - new and old - of course. Lasix, exchange wagering, ADW policy, take your pick.


Also in the DFS space, they are pulling out the Uber playbook.

• DraftKings and FanDuel, the No. 1 and No. 2 daily fantasy sports sites, have teamed up for a decidedly political and grassroots effort opposing any measures to ban online fantasy sports.
  FanDuel emailed a petition over the weekend to Nevada-based customers asking them to sign a “pledge” that opposes any measure that would ban online fantasy sports. DraftKings plans to follow suit this week.

Beholder has spiked a fever. As a horse owner who followed the blood taking, and fevers, and sickness ten days out or so with my horses, this certainly has me worried. The worst part of such things is that the horse seems perfectly fine on race day, but sometimes ends up throwing a huge clunker.

With Nevada out of DFS and some states' players wavering, we would normally see some value in GPP's this weekend. But that won't happen because they will adjust. Horse racing, still the best betting game around if the powers would help make it better, has no such issue. This Saturday night for the Breeders' Crown the $500,000 plus in the super high five pool will be mandatorily paid out.

Have a nice Tuesday everyone.