Aqueduct Rings in New Year With Higher Purses, “Lower” Takeout

As the New Year approaches, horsemen in New York are going to have $100,000 extra a day in purses to shoot for, and horseplayers are going to get a small break as takeout on exotic wagers are being reduced.

With the opening of the Aqueduct casino in October, the hum of those slot machines have been fast and furious, and the New York Racing Association hopes that the added purse monies will keep some trainers from shipping their entire stock to warmer climates for the winter.

There are 88 horses entered for Wednesday’s card, but just 74 were entered for Thursday’s nine race card.

While the takeout on exotic bets including the Trifecta, Superfecta, Grand Slam, Pick 3, Pick 4, and Pick 6 wagers are being reduced two points from 26% to 24%, there really is no reason to send the NYRA an Edible Arrangement as a thank you.

Back in Sept. of 2008, the takeout was increased from 25% to 26%, and was supposed to revert back to 25% when the racing law statute expired in Sept. of 2010.

Oops!

It turned out the fine folks at the NYRA forgot to reduce the takeout, and overcharged bettors a total of $8.6 million between Sept. 2010 and this month when the error was finally discovered.

According to a NYRA press release, “When this provision expired in September 2010, the takeout on exotics should have reverted to 25 percent to conform to the pre-existing statute, but this change was unintentionally overlooked due to the complexity of the takeout provisions in the Racing Law.”

Complexity of the takeout provisions? Really? I wonder how complex it would have been if it needed to be raised back up?

The NYRA is also required to pay back the $8.6 million and pay a $50,000 fine in the form of a donation to a racing related charity.

For those of us that wager on New York racing online, we have betting records available through our ADW, and eventually should be reimbursed.

For those that wager at the track and do not save their tickets, they may be out of luck, unless they wager at a track with a rewards program that tracks their wagers.

While a 2% takeout reduction sounds good, let’s not forget it really is just a 1% reduction, because we were only supposed to be paying a 25% tax.

With the huge windfall coming from the Aqueduct casino, I was hoping the NYRA would reduce takeout, but this is not exactly what I had in mind.

While horsemen are going to see a 30-40% increase in purses, all the horseplayer is seeing is a temporally reduction of 1% on some of our wagers.

And the industry wonders why overall handle continues to fall off the cliff.

CVel Top Jock: Cornelio Velasquez is sitting atop the jockey standings are racing resumes on Wednesday, with 21 winners from his 98 mounts. Junior Alvarado is having a solid meeting and is in second with 18 winners from 95 starters. Last year’s leading jockey Ramon Dominguez is fourth in the standings with 15 winners. The jockey missed the first week of the meeting with a three day suspension and a trip to Japan and will give the rest of the jockey colony a break this winter as he will be heading out of town on a regular basis on the weekends to ride in stakes at Gulfstream Park or Santa Anita.

RRod Top Trainer: Rudy Rodriguez is off to a hot start at the meeting, with nine winners from 25 starts with eight runner up finishes. Other trainers off to a good start include Dominic Galluscio (7 for 17), David Jacobson (7 for 28), and Linda Rice (6 for 25). Rick Dutrow, who came into the meeting blazing as cooled off a bit, but is still hitting at a 23% clip, winning with 5 of 22 starters.

Michael Dempsey provides his full card report for Aqueduct each racing day. Mike’s full card report includes his selections, analysis, fair odds line, and wagering recommendations. Mike’s Best Plays Report is available each weekend, with his strongest plays and selections including the top stakes races.