Jerardi: Breeders’ Cup betting explosion – and Ken Kirchner lit the fuse

It was 1995, and Ken Kirchner was a finalist for the presidency of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. He did not get that job, but he noted that Ted Bassett and D.G. Van Clief from the Breeders’ Cup were on the selection committee.

“I wrote a proposal to them on why they should hire me to run their simulcasting operations,’’ Kirchner said. “They liked it.’’

They hired him as a consultant in 1996 to oversee simulcasting and wagering beginning with the Woodbine Breeders’ Cup.

“It was a little bit of self-promotion and a little bit of being in the right place at the right time,’’ Kirchner said.

Kirchner will be in place at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Oct. 30-31, working his 20th Breeders’ Cup and his first “home game.’’

Kirchner, who lives in Lexington, has seen the event change and evolve while overseeing incredible wagering growth, a betting-menu explosion, and the creation of the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge in 2009.

In 2002, when the Breeders’ Cup and National Thoroughbred Racing Association merged, Kirchner was appointed senior vice president for product development. That lasted five years before “the two parties divorced,’’ he said. Since 2007, Kirchner has been back as a consultant doing what was he hired to do at the start.

Go back 20 years, and there was no international betting, almost no online betting, and, of course, no two-day Breeders’ Cup, which began in 2007. The advance-deposit betting, which now accounts for 25 percent of the Breeders’ Cup handle, has exploded along with the overall wagering. Total betting was $64 million in 1995 at Belmont Park and $159 million last year at Santa Anita.

Given the hype leading into this year’s BC Classic and the “American Pharoah effect,’’ which has to be at least partially responsible for some giant numbers this summer (the $50 million handle on Travers Day kind of stands out) and early fall, wagering records, even with a smaller crowd at Keeneland, could be in jeopardy.

The Breeders’ Cup record is $173.5 million in 2010, when the event was at Churchill Downs, with Zenyatta trying to finish her career a perfect 20 for 20 as the star attraction at the end of the show.

“Potentially, if we get the matchup with American Pharoah, we’re certainly optimistic that hopefully we’ll bust through some new record levels,’’ Kirchner said. “It makes for a tremendous story to tell that week.’’

And you will be able to bet on it, any way you want to bet on it. If you have an opinion, you will have no shortage of ways to leverage it.

“What we’ve done over these 20 years is greatly expand the betting menu,’’ Kirchner said.

The pick four was introduced at the Breeders’ Cup in 2000. Players everywhere are thankful.

“It’s now basically the most popular bet in the country at most tracks,’’ Kirchner said.

The pick four made my day in 2005 at Belmont Park, where I singled Saint Liam in the Classic, which allowed me to spread, get some bombs in the preceding races, and sign an IRS form at the end of the day.

They have gone to a 50-cent minimum on trifectas as well as on the pick three, pick four, and pick five. The pick six is going to a $1 minimum this year.

The Breeders’ Cup, Kirchner said, “can be a great laboratory for the industry.’’

The idea is to create handle, however you can do it.

“One of the biggest things we did in 1998 was uncouple all entries,’’ Kirchner said. Churchill Downs got rid of coupled entries in the Kentucky Derby a few years later.

The Breeders’ Cup is an irresistible final exam for players who can’t wager enough to affect the pools, numbers that have certainly been aided by the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. The $10,000 buy-in BCBC live-money contest began with 75 players and a $200,000 prize pool. This year, Kirchner expects 350 players and an $800,000 prize pool.

“That’s been one of the key innovations in the last half-dozen years from a betting standpoint,’’ Kirchner said.

Last year, 287 BCBC players bet $4 million on the BC races – $3.5 million at Santa Anita and $500,000 at two satellite locations, Keeneland and Aqueduct.

“The per-capita is about $15,000 per player,’’ Kirchner said. “It clearly has a positive measurable impact on the overall wagering handle.’’

Ontrack handle was $20 million in 2014, with $3.5 million bet by BCBC players. That would qualify as an impact that Kirchner has been in the middle of for the last 20 years.