Horses Betting

Despite an afternoon cloud cover and midday and early evening traffic jams, it was a glorious day in Arcadia on Sunday. It was an opening day at Santa Anita Park that truly was grand. Optimism is often in abundance around a racetrack. So even though the numbers are not exactly encouraging on the opening day at Santa Anita’s annual winter meet, the numbers improved during the next couple of days.

The numbers were not healthy, when Santa Anita opened Sunday. A 21.5 percent decline from the previous year as it was bet $11,707,276 on the first day, and it was the lowest opening-day handle since 1992. On the Santa Anita event the following day, $5,529,285 was bet and there was not a comparable Monday, second-day-of-the-meet card in 2009. There was a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, however on the third day of the meet. A Wednesday card in 2010 versus the same sort of Wednesday card a year earlier. However, the results were almost the same as they were on opening day. A $1,578,842 decline from 2009 as it was bet just $4,038,175. From a year earlier, that’s a 28.1 percent drop off. The figures are even less than Tampa Bay Downs handled on the same day.

Why Santa Anita has gotten off to such a wretched start, there can be only one reason – the increase in the takeout. The horseplayers actually can be pushed too far, it seems like. It’s more likely the answer is anywhere bettors can get a better chance to win. Serious horse betting enthusiasts are learning to shop for pools offering value via lower takeout rates, regardless of bankroll size. It ought to be at Santa Anita, America’s classiest track, if horse racing deserves to thrive anywhere.

To run in a race named after Zenyatta, she won’t get a chance.

In tribute to the 6-year-old mare’s popular 2008 and 2009 wins at the race, the Lady’s Secret Stakes, which had briefly been renamed the Zenyatta Stakes, has reverted back to its original name, due largely to the fact that Zenyatta will be appearing in the race.

Zenyatta had been retired, at the time of the renaming; however, with the news that Zenyatta would continue to race and not be bred, her owners and trainer preferred that the race name be switched back.

The Oak Tree Racing Association will be holding their meeting at Hollywood Park for the first time since the race’s inception. The Oak Tree Racing Association operates the Lady’s Secret Stakes. This year features 22 days of racing, the meeting had previously been held at Santa Anita, who had hosted it since 1969, which.

However, about Santa Anita’s degrading synthetic track, both the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the California Thoroughbred Trainers expressed worries, concerns that are causing Santa Anita to install a dirt track in time for next year’s meeting. Race officials are considering holding the 2011 meeting at Del Mar, it still might not be enough to return the meeting to Santa Anita though.