California board eyes bet snafu

The California Horse Racing Board launched an investigation on Wednesday after betting was conducted on that day’s first race at Turf Paradise in Phoenix for five minutes after the race started.

In a statement, the racing board described the incident as “a communications failure” and said that 84 tickets purchased after the start of the race were refunded. The statement said that $3,896 of bets placed at California racetracks and simulcast facilities were not merged with the Turf Paradise pools, and that the pools at that Arizona track were not affected by the discrepancy. Bets placed through account-wagering systems via telephone and the Internet were not affected, the racing board said.

Winning bets placed before post time will be honored.

Turf Paradise was made aware of the situation, according to general manager Vince Francia. "It should be clear that Turf Paradise's first race mutuel pools on Jan. 26 were at no time contaminated or jeopardized by this incident," he said.

There was no live racing in California on Wednesday but some simulcast locations were open accepting wagers on selected tracks in other states.