Kentucky commission finds nothing amiss with low exacta payout

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky racing officials have concluded that an exacta payoff in the last race at Churchill Downs on July 4 was not affected by any illegal wagers, the executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Lisa Underwood, said on Thursday.

The commission investigated the $243.40 exacta payout after the price triggered a flag in a monitoring system used by the industry to identify suspicious payoffs. The price was considered by the system and bettors to be far lower than what would be expected from the result of the race, a maiden special weight that was won by an 8-1 shot, followed by a horse who was 60-1.

Underwood confirmed that a large exacta bet placed at an OTB in South Dakota had triggered the low price. In the investigation, Underwood said that regulators determined that the bet was placed before the race started, and that no other abnormalities surrounded the betting.