Showing posts with label wager. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wager. Show all posts

  • The parlay savant

    POSTED Jul 19, 2013 By Unknown
    He did it again.

    Just ten days after turning $16 into $1,000 in Let 8 Ride, Ryan Yokoyama turned $10 into $1,551 in TwinSpires.com's Summer Showdown promotion by going eight-for-eight on $10 show bets Thursday at Del Mar. Also scoring a perfecto for his show wagering was "TPB", whose octet paid $65 in show winnings plus $1,500 from Summer Showdown.

    There were six players live going into the last race on Thursday. Yokoyama chose eventual winner Te Rapa as his show play while "TPB" went with favored Tamarack Smarty, who just did surge past pacesetter Beachcombing to nab third and an extra $1,514 for "TBP."

    "I give more preference to stalkers/pressers in the show contest unless I feel a speed horse will get a favorable scenario and/or has the best numbers," Yokoyama said of his Summer Showdown strategy.

     The first race was the biggest score for Yokomama, as 5.2-to-1 Minds Eyes paid $5 to show. "TPB" had 5.8-to-1 winner Tasty Treat in that race for a $5.20 show payoff, but his biggest score was in race 5 when 10-to-1 Plus One finished second and paid $5.40 to show.

     "I really don't have a secret," Yokomama said. "I love playing the contests, so they get a little more attention. I'm looking forward to the VIP contest [on Saturday]."

     The jackpot for Thursday's card was $3,000 instead of $1,500 because nobody successfully navigated Wednesday's (opening day's) ten-race sequence. If no one is perfect, then that day's $1,500 carries over to the next day. I.e., if no one had showed 8 on Thursday, then today's pot would have been $4,500. Instead, it's $1,500 for the eight-race card that begins at 7 p.m. EDT, 4p PT.

    The only day the perfection provision is not in place is on Sundays when those who last the longest split the pot. The action remains at one track each week, so the contest is at Del Mar through Sunday before shifting to Saratoga on Wednesday, July 24.

  • Did new points system increase handle?

    POSTED Mar 25, 2013 By Unknown
    Sunland Park generated handle of $3,818,878 for its Sunland Derby day card on Sunday, March 24. The Eastern New Mexico track called it an all-sources record--a fitting coda on the first leg of the inaugural Kentucky Derby Championship Series presented by TwinSpires.com that saw all-sources handle on the eight race dates involving the so-called "50-point" races jump 5.79% versus last year.

    And in a sign that a rising tide lifts all boats, all-sources handle on the eight days in particular increased 3.64% for all North American Thoroughbred tracks those days. Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider that handle for the entire leg 1 period of the Derby Championship Series was flat. I.e., handle from February 23-March 24 decreased except for the bump on DCS cards. As for the year, handle January 1-March 24 is down .7%.

    Determining how much the new points system has to do with increased wagering interest will require more than eight races of overall wagering data within one Derby prep season, but this is definitely a good first sign that the system is achieving its mission of getting people more excited about these races, and ultimately, the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands.

    Leg two of the Derby Championship Series begins this weekend with the U.A.E., Florida, and Louisiana Derbys, continues with the Wood Memorial Stakes and Santa Anita Derby on April 6, and concludes with the Blue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby on April 13. In particular, the two domestic races each weekend will provide an additional measuring stick regarding interest in the series, but the early returns are certainly positive.