TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017 THE WEEK IN REVIEW: EQUESTRICON DAY ONE BRINGS PLENTY OF SUBSTANCE by Joe Bianca WILL PLAYERS TAKE A HIKE SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - A good crowd, lots of smiling faces and healthy debate over a host of hot-button issues comprised OVER HIKE IN TAKEOUT? the effective beginning of Equestricon, the first-ever national horse racing convention, Monday in Saratoga Springs. Though Equestricon hosted a number of events around town and at the racetrack Sunday, Monday morning was the opening bell of a jam-packed two days hosted at the Saratoga Springs City Center. There were panels, seminars, giveaways and dozens of booths ranging from industry stalwarts to upstarts. Topics covered in panel discussions ran the gamut from Thoroughbred aftercare to handicapping tournaments. This is a slice of my experience at this decidedly new venture in horse racing networking and promotion. (Click here to continue p6) IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Keeneland | Horsephotos ALMANZOR RETURNS AT DEAUVILLE Tom Peacock has another edition of The Weekly Wrap, with by T.D. Thornton all the latest views from the past week’s European results. Imagine if management at a racetrack asked horse owners and Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. trainers to accept an up-front purse cut, in the form of a lower contractual slice of wagering revenue, so that the betting takeout could remain low enough to retain quality horseplayers. The reasoning behind the move would be that the track wanted to remain competitive as a top-tier wagering option in a shrinking marketplace, and the upside would be that if enough horseplayers embraced the low-takeout track, overall betting handle would rise, and so would purses. If everything worked out as planned, the larger theoretical pie would more than make up for the smaller-percentage slice. It=s unlikely any track management would ever initiate such a conversation in today=s pari-mutuel marketplace. It=s also difficult to think that owners and trainers would embrace any proposition that involved trading up-front money for a non-guaranteed future benefit. Yet if you think of the economic model of North American racing as a simplified triangle (whose three sides are comprised of owners/trainers, track managements, and bettors), and then switch around the above-referenced proposition so that the bettors and owners/trainers are on opposite sides of the equation, that pretty much sums up the argument that Keeneland Association offered to horseplayers last week when it came to light that the track would be increasing betting takeouts (story here). Cont. p3 LEADING TWO-YEAR-OLD SIRE BY NUMBER OF WINNERS, ABOVE SCAT DADDY AND INTO MISCHIEF INTO MISCHIEF 11 SCAT DADDY 13 OVERANALYZE 14 LEADING FIRST-CROP SIRE DIXIE UNION - UNACLOUD, by UNACCOUNTED FOR 859.873.1717 | www.winstarfarm.com Source: BloodHorse.com 8/14/17 PRESIDENT & CO-PUBLISHER Barry Weisbord @barryweisbord [email protected] SR. V.P. & CO-PUBLISHER Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] Tuesday, August 15, 2017 EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Assistant Editor Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Juddmonte Farms’ Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) cruised four furlongs in :47.60 Monday Alexa Reisfield Michelle Benson morning at Del Mar in preparation for this Saturday’s GI TVG Pacific Classic S. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:00, then continued on steadily for a “double gallop out” Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution time the track’s clockers registered at 1:14.20.“He just cruised around there,” said Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] trainer Bob Baffert, who watched the move from the Del Mar grandstand. “We’re set [for Saturday].” | Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Social Media Strategist Justina Severni Director of Customer Service STRIKE THE TIGER STILL HELPING WARD 9 Vicki Forbes Eight years ago, Strike the Tiger (Tiger Ridge) gave Wesley Ward [email protected] his first winner at Royal Ascot. Now 10, the veteran runner Marketing Manager is still helping Ward win in the U.K., this time as the shipping-mate Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen of the brilliant filly Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy). Director of Information Technology Ray Villa [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES EST Race WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 10:00a Prix Gontaut-Biron Hong Kong Jockey Club-G3, DEA International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 10:45a Prix Guillaume D’Ornano-G2, DEA [email protected] 11:30a Prix de Lieurey-G3, DEA European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 11 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • AUGUST 15, 2017 The Week in Review (cont. from p1) In an attempt to represent views from all three sides of the triangle, I also left an Aug. 7 voicemail for Rick Hiles, the Starting with the upcoming fall meet, Keeneland intends to president of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and hike the take on straight wagers from 16 to 17.5%, and the take Protective Association, asking what owners and trainers thought on most exotic wagers will go up from 19 to 22%. about the long-term implications of boosting purses via takeout AI think at the end of the day when the handicappers see the hikes, but have not received a call back as of press time. quality of racing we put on, [and] have a great experience when I wasn=t surprised there was immediate outcry from they come to the track, and know how we=re spending those horseplayers, including threats of organized betting boycotts monies back to promote the sport at the very highest level, I against Keeneland. But I was surprised at the volume and believe that they=re going to continue to support our racing,@ intensity of those protests. Bob Elliston, Keeneland=s vice president of racing and sales, told me in an Aug. 7 interview. That=s quite a leap of faith--not just the part about believing that the Keeneland product will be so irresistibly attractive that bettors will ignore the increased costs of playing it, but the implied belief that horseplayers will feel good about footing the bill to ensure a (theoretically) upgraded product. AI guess my first reaction is that I am extremely disappointed that Keeneland would do this to horseplayers,@ Jeff Platt, the president of the Horseplayers Association of North America, told me. AMy second reaction and prediction is that this is actually going to cause purse money to go down, that they=re actually going to have purse cuts as a result of this, not purse increasesY. Players are going to bet less as a result of this. There=s no question in my mind.@ Keeneland | Horsephotos TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 11 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • AUGUST 15, 2017 The level of immediate horseplayer pushback directed at " While individual players might gripe about the takeout Keeneland, at least anecdotally, seems to exceed the ire aimed situation, will they really walk away from betting Keeneland in at Churchill Downs, Inc., when that corporation used the same favor of C-level tracks whose takeouts are slightly lower? Kentucky law to raise takeouts in 2014 at its Louisville flagship Keeneland does have a point--quality, nationally prominent track. horses and outfits are a big part of the equation. So, if handle That=s notable in and of itself, because--as we all know--it=s does end up increasing at Keeneland as a result of the takeout easy to rail and spew vitriol at hike, expect lower-tier tracks to assume corporate entities when we don=t they too can follow suit with takeout like the decisions they make. increases--even if they don=t have the But venerable Keeneland has top-notch product to similarly ensure always been different, enjoying a that customers will stick around. uniquely trustworthy position in " Well-respected Las Vegas oddsmaker the pari-mutuel marketplace. For Roxy Roxborough needed only 140 decades, that association has characters to pinpoint the industry=s largely been recognized as a most ominous long-range problem on non-profit entity that does right by Twitter: A>Lower horse racing takeout the horses, the sport, its traditions, train= has left the station. Fiddling at the and horseplayers. margins is akin to rearranging deck As I was reporting on this story Dacita | Four Footed Fotos chairs [.] Non competitive structure [.]@ last Tuesday, I kept several internet Roxborough=s post left me with the browser windows open to monitor social media feeds and image of racing standing on the tracks looking forlornly after racing-related message boards that had quickly spiraling threads that departing takeout train, oblivious that the much-lower-take devoted to the takeout topic. As the anti-Keeneland backlash Sports Betting Express will be barreling in sooner than expected mounted, I was struck by the repeated AHow could they?@ tone from the opposite direction. of horseplayers expressing betrayal by a trusted source. Culling through the myriad complaints yielded three cogent >Brown on green= double at Arlington points that are likely to remain relevant long after the initial Trainer Chad Brown scored an unprecedented Grade I double anger has subsided: on Saturday, becoming the first conditioner to sweep Arlington " The boycott, if one occurs, might take a bite out of Keeneland=s Park=s two signature grass races on the same afternoon.