Coupled Ramsey trio detrimental to betting
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These days
it seems like every time I turn around someone is complaining about the quality
of the fields entered in top tier races. The race itself is listed as a Grade 1
(or two or three), but when you start analyzing the field, you realize that
with the exception of maybe one or two entrants, the field itself looks more
like something you would see in a high dollar optional claimer or overnight
stakes. Such is not the case with this weekend’s G1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Stakes, but I have a different
bone to pick in regards to this one.
With no
overarching regulating board in American horse racing, each state is free to
make its own rules and regulations. I have addressed this issue once already
this year, so I won’t get back into that other than to say, once again, that
this needs to change. For it is not just drug infractions and punishments that
vary from state to state but also how horses in a race must be entered. In some
states horses entered by the same connections must be listed as a coupled entry, but in other states it is
optional.
It just so
happens that in the state of New York, “all horses in common ownership must be
coupled and run as an entry” and “all horses trained by the same trainer must
be coupled and run as an entry.” There is, however, an exception to the rule.
The New York Gaming Commission made an allowance so that “no entry shall be
coupled by reason of common ownership or training in any race in which the
gross purse is $1,000,000 or more.”
With a gross
purse of “just” $600,000, the Joe Hirsch does not fall into the allowed
exception category of the coupled entry rule. Because of this, half of the ten
horse field is running as a coupled entry. Boisterous and Imagining, owned by
Phipps Stable and trained by Shug McGaughey, constitute one coupled entry; and Big Blue Kitten, Real Solution, and
Joes Blazing Aaron, all owned by the Ramseys, comprise the second coupled
entry. Despite the fact that Boisterous is not likely to run Saturday, that
still leaves one-third of the Joe Hirsch field running as one entry. From a
betting stand point, that means that even though the Joe Hirsch drew a solid
field of Grade 1 winners and Grade 1 placed runners, instead of having 10
betting choices, bettors will only have 7 choices.
Because of
the nature of the rules by which NYRA has to abide, what should have been a
golden betting opportunity has been turned into a farce. I could make a case
for at least half the field to win, a fact that would have played to the
bettors’ favor because the odds would have been good across the board rather
than having one heavily bet favorite. Instead, the coupled entry that includes Real Solution and Big Blue Kitten will
be fiercely pounded, lessening the payout for them both should either win.
Additionally, should Joes Blazing Aaron pull off the shocking upset, his payout
would be greatly diminished, too. All this because the Joe Hirsch’s purse isn’t
$1 million.
Now I don’t
really expect Joes Blazing Aaron to
pull off an upset since he is merely in the race as a rabbit, expected to
prompt and pull King Kreesa and Little Mike along to set things up for his
stablemates. I do believe that both Real Solution and Big Blue Kitten stand a
really good chance of winning, and it is this belief that really fuels my disappointment
in how the rules are currently set up. In this field, I would not expect any of
the entrants to go off as odds-on favorites if they all were running as
separate betting interests; however, since the two Grade 1 winners are
considered one entry, they likely will be sent off as odds-on favorites, or
close to it, even with Joes Blazing Aaron coupled with them. Not an attractive
betting possibility at all.
There is a
touch of irony in this whole situation, though. There is a clause in the rules
that states “the board steward may require any horses entered in a race to be
coupled for betting purposes prior to the commencement of wagering on-track and
off-track, if he finds it necessary in the public interest.” You would think that
would work in reverse, too, but since it doesn’t, the only logical conclusion
to be drawn is that the rules are the way they are in order to minimize the
amount of winnings paid out to the bettors. I understand the logic behind
having coupled entries, but the New York Gaming Commission should really
reevaluate their rules here. Rather than the exception to the coupled entry
rule being the amount of the purse, it should be the grade of the race, with
emphasis on the Grade 1 races. Doing so would be both beneficial to bettors,
who would get better odds in cases like this, and to the track, who would see
the handle go up because of the more attractive betting opportunities.
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