All-sources wagering on races at the Pimlico Race Course meet that ended Sunday plummeted 17.9 percent compared with last year, according to figures provided by Pimlico on Tuesday.
Average daily all-sources wagering on the track's races for the 31-day meet was $4,380,645, compared with $5,338,710 during the 31-day meet last year. Total wagering fell from $165.5 million to $135.8 million.
Churchill Downs planned to offer an experimental betting format using fractional pricing to ontrack customers beginning Wednesday in what is being described as a test, the company said Monday.
The bet, called the Matrix, will allow patrons to select three horses for a minimum of $9. The bet will pay off if one of the selections wins, if two of the selections fill out the exacta, and if the three selections fill out the trifecta, in any order.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When a good horse runs as badly as Champs Elysees ran Saturday in the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Handicap, usually there is an explanation. Favored at 4-5 in the 1 1/4-mile turf race at Hollywood Park, Champs Elysees failed to reach contention and finished sixth of seven runners. It did not take long to discover the reason why.
"I hate to make excuses, but he was sick," trainer Bobby Frankel said. A
postrace endoscopic exam revealed excessive mucus. Blood tests revealed a high white count. Frankel was both disappointed and relieved.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - With a victory on Saturday at Arlington Park, Earlie Fires became the ninth-leading rider in racing history in terms of wins. More surprising is the fact that through Sunday's racing, Fires was tied for fourth in the jockey standings at the current Arlington Park meet.
AUBURN, Wash. - Victorina was very much as advertised in Sunday's $50,000 Washington State Legislators Handicap, which is to say she was classy and fast.
Though trainer Greg Gilchrist, watching via simulcast at Golden Gate, professed to be concerned when Victorina fell 3 1/2 lengths behind pacesetters She's All Silk and Private Dreams after a quarter-mile in 22 seconds, there was little doubt that Victorina would win once rider Kevin Radke asked her to run on the turn. And win she did, scoring by more than a length over the fast-finishing Beaulena in 1:15.40 for 6 1/2 furlongs.
Trainer Eric Heitzmann has come to Louisiana Downs by way of Dubai, and in his first season at the Bossier City, La., track he is sitting second in the standings to Jerry Cart. Heitzmann is 5 for 11 with his starters this meet and had a double Sunday with Exciting Empress ($4.20) and Autobeacat ($19.60).
"We had a good day," he said.
Heitzmann, 39, is a Louisiana native who has spent a good deal of his racing career in Dubai. He returned to North America in late 2006 after spending seven years working as an assistant to French trainer Erwan Charpy in Dubai.
MIAMI - The 2006 Preakness will forever be remembered as the race during which Barbaro suffered his ultimately fatal injury and Bernardini emerged as a future champion. Few will remember the horse who finished second that day, Sweetnorthernsaint - the same Sweetnorthernsaint who two weeks earlier had gone postward as the tepid favorite over Barbaro in the Kentucky Derby.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Perhaps the best 2-year-old colt to come out of the Lone Star Park meet this year ran here on Saturday. Lyin' Heart encountered much trouble yet won the $100,000 colts-and-geldings division of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity, and he could see graded stakes action next, said his trainer, Steve Asmussen.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - With the Woodbine Oaks now in the books, all eyes will be on the final buildup to the June 22 Queen's Plate.
On Tuesday morning, Shadowless and Niagara Thunder both tuned up for their expected appearances in the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate with workouts over the main track.
Shadowless, trained by David Bell, went five furlongs in 1:00.80 under his expected Queen's Plate rider, Emma-Jayne Wilson.
"It worked out real well," said Bell. "He galloped out strong."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Curlin had what would be his final prep for the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap - if indeed owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen decide to run - when he breezed a half-mile in 49 seconds early Monday over a fast Churchill Downs racetrack.
With regular exercise rider Carmen Rosas aboard, Curlin went to the track at about 6:20 a.m. Working without company, and after getting a full head of steam to the half-mile pole, he went through fractions of 12.60 seconds, 24.60, 37, and 49, galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.80.