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(Published a day
earlier this week to bring you the latest on Florida
common-pooling.)
History will
be made tomorrow 11:25 a.m., folks! Just over three years ago, U.S. President
George Bush signed into law a bill that effectively opened U.S. racetrack pools to Canadians by removing the
requirement that Canadians be taxed on winnings. Balmoral Park in Chicago was the first to welcome Canadian wagers on June 5, 2005. Tomorrow,
when Calder's first race goes to post at 11:25 a.m., the last hold-out state, Florida, will make the sweep complete. Whaddya say? Worth celebrating, don't you
think? Here's how you can join
in:
•
SOUVENIR TICKETS: Come out tomorrow thru Saturday and
save a souvenir Calder ticket as a memento! Tampa Bay Downs will also be
available Saturday.
Tickets will be marked with a special celebratory
line: FLORIDA COMMON
POOLING BEGINS!
• FREE PROGRAMS: Come out
Saturday for "Common-Pool Celebration Day,"
where you'll receive free Florida racing programs.
• FREE $5 WAGERS: If you come down
to the Finish Line party room at 11
a.m.
Saturday for a seminar on Florida racing,
you'll receive a glass of Champagne to
toast the special day and receive a free $5 wagering voucher
to bet Florida!
It
took tireless efforts by dedicated Canadians and Americans to bring
common-pooling to a successful conclusion. A look at the fascinating
ups and downs follows. Bottom
line: Horseplayers have never
had it so good!
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Calder Racecourse
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Tampa Bay Downs
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UPS AND DOWNS: The feds were first obstacle
Two
huge obstacles initially stood in the path of making it possible for
Canadians to bet into U.S. pools: a U.S. law that
required U.S. authorities
to tax winning bets leaving the country. That law
would have to be repealed. The
other obstacle was Ottawa and its good
intentions to protect Canadian bettors.
Some tracks in the U.S. don't close
their betting windows when the a race starts so sellers are able to
cancel wrongly-punched tickets and not be stuck with them. Ottawa agricultural
officials didn't like that. The
infamous "fix-six" case three years ago also worried
them. You may recall the
Breeders' Cup at Arlington Park when several
fraternity brothers won a pick-6 after one frat brother altered
computer-housed information.
Canadian authorities wanted safeguards in place to guard against
anything like that happening again.
How
to overcome those difficulties?
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association comprising North
American
tracks lobbied congressmen to introduce legislation to repeal the law that
taxed all foreign money. And
Woodbine Entertainment took on Ottawa's extreme
caution by asking racing fans across the country to add their names to
a petition telling Ottawa that they
wouldn't mind betting tracks that weren't safeguarded by Canadian rules. In the end, Ottawa relented but
issued a "buyer beware" warning. With both federal governments giving
their okay, attention turned to winning over individual states.
WINNING OVER U.S. STATES: Some easy, others tough
U.S. racetracks,
of course, always wanted to add Canadian bets to their pools. It was
good for business. But state
bureaucrats often stood in the way.
California insisted
Canadians contribute 1/2 per cent of their bets to the state's workers'
compensation fund. Although
Woodbine negotiators held out for months, saying they didn't want to
establish a precedent by paying into the fund, they eventually had to
give in because California stood
firm. New York tracks
didn't like the undervalued Canadian dollar and only agreed to permit
bets into their pools when Canadians agreed to pay $3 instead of $2 for
pick-6 tickets (since dropped because the Canadian dollar increased in
value).
New Jersey, home of the
Meadowlands and Monmouth, refused to budge on anything until two months
ago when the Breeders' Cup at Monmouth motivated them to move on the
issue. Florida was also
stuck in neutral. It took the
persistence of the general manager of Tampa Bay Downs to get them to
change a rule. "They got
tired of seeing me and my lawyers and lobbyists," general manager Peter Berube said. Florida bureaucrats
were gun-shy about changing anything because they had been papered with
lawsuits on many fronts, he said, and were afraid that someone would
find a reason to sue them over a change to the existing betting
rule. The old rule seemed to
forbid tracks from accepting bets that weren't uniform in value, which
appeared to negate Canadian bets because of fluctuating value in the
currency.
CALDER BETTING EDGE: Watch out for droppers
 Is
Calder Race Course in Florida unfamiliar
territory? Here's the book on
it: I've always liked it. It
plays fair. Speed carries well
in sprint races. But there is
one aberration that makes it play differently from most other
tracks. Horses dropping in value,
even if they look terrible and out of form at higher levels, often beat
lower-valued horses--especially in maiden claiming races. So beware of a $25,000 horse dropping
to $12,000, for example, regardless of form. And beware of first-time starters, regardless
of odds or workouts.
"Hidden" horses often win at fat prices.
SALUTING WINNERS: Final poker/parlay winners of 2007
Playing
in the final poker game of the year last Friday, Pat Carroll collected $100 in betting vouchers, defeating
this summer's top tournament player and blogger, Glen Sirkis. Barrie Outar was the best show
parlay player of the weekend, turning his imaginary $10 into $170.85 in
only three races. He picked up $25 in betting vouchers. Starting in January: Death
by Golden Gate. And be sure
to get your card for Tour
d'Champs, your ticket to accumulating chances to go to next fall's
Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita.
HORSEPLAY TIP OF THE WEEK:
Race of the year?
Go
here and watch
what the trailing horse in the race does. No wonder this race, which
took place during the Downs' live
season, is posted on YouTube. Do
you think it deserves "race of the year" honours? Email me your opinion theinsider@assiniboiadowns.com
IT'S HERE! MONGOLIAN
BBQ. Chef
Cheryl
added this exotic Taste the World cuisine to tomorrow's (Thursday's)
theme night in the Terrace Dining Room after falling in love with
Mongolian food at a U.S. restaurant--and
she says you'll love it, too.
Check out the menu here. Served from
5 to 8 p.m. in a festive
atmosphere. $14.95. Next Thursday's theme: Hawaiian.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Fastest horses featured
If
you love quarter-pounders, as quarter horses are fondly called among
its fans, then you'll love the fact that the Downs has started
carrying the world's main quarter horse track, Los Alamitos in Southern Cal: Fridays at 9:15
p.m.,
Saturdays at 9 p.m. and Sundays
at 7:30 p.m.
$1
MILLION PURSE: The most valuable stakes race of
December (I'm sure you'll email me if I'm wrong), the $1 million Delta
Jackpot, a 1 1/16 mile race for 2-year-olds, goes this Friday
from--where else?--Delta Downs and is well worth watching for. The undercard features a $300,000
stake.
FINAL
WOODBINE WEEKEND: Sunday marks the last day of
Woodbine's thoroughbred meet.
See you Saturday for a toast!
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