Bettors' Paradise Tonight at Cal Expo

Bettors across North America will put the spotlight on California harness racing on Sunday with a diverse menu of wagering opportunities. There will be mandatory payouts, big pools, low takeouts and one big carryover. 
 

Cal Expo offers four wagers with a low 16% takeout. Those bets are the 20 cent Pick Four, 50 cent Pick Five, 10 cent High Five and the marquee wager of the night, the 10 cent Pick Six. The Sunday Pick Six has a carryover of $22,655 and most importantly a mandatory payout. The ten cent wager begins on race three with a post time of 8:20 Eastern and 5:20 Pacific .The tickets with the most winners share the entire pool and with the increased interest, the 10 cent Pick Six pool is guaranteed at $50,000 tonight. 

The Sunday Pick Four starts on race seven. The guaranteed pool is $20,000 and the minimum wager is twenty cents. The Saturday Pick Four pool reached $40,318 and the twenty cent payout was $2,820.20. Free program pages for the Pick Six and Pick Four are now available courtesy of the USTA and Track Master at www.ustrotting.com. Twenty cent trifecta and ten cent superfecta wagering are offered every night.

(Cal Expo release)

Churchill Downs 2014 Handle Is Decimated

As reported by Greg Hall, Churchill Downs fall handle, like that in the September and spring meets, was down by double digits.

"Betting on Churchill Downs' fall meet that ended Sunday fell 15.68 percent per day, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.The declines mean all three of this year's meets saw double-digit drops in wagering"

Earlier this year, mainly in the turf press, field size was blamed for most of Churchill's handle woes. This most recent 15.68% average handle drop was accompanied by a relatively minor 2.8% drop in field size to 8.56 (about 0.2 horses per race). 

You told us in a survey in April, when Churchill raised the takeout, that you were upset and planning not to play their track any longer. It appears a lot of you followed through. With national handles down about 2%, there is no other way to describe Churchill's 2014 handle other than pure decimation.