ONLINE BETTING MORE GOOD THAN BAD.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with ARCADIA - Since last weekend, when so-called account wagering finally made its debut here, California horseplayers have learned that betting online or on the telephone can be exhilarating and exasperating. Which is to say it's more like betting at the racetrack than we might have expected. The nation's biggest racing industry had waited years for this era to arrive. It risked a lot of political capital to get Gov. Gray Davis' signature on the required legislation in November. Then the California Horse Racing Board surprised many people last Thursday by approving two companies to handle online and telephone bets starting Saturday. Suddenly, racing fans in California have what their counterparts in some states have enjoyed for decades - the ability to bet legally from our homes or offices on days when we can't or don't want to go to a track or off- track wagering facility. That sounds like a windfall for an industry that has been beaten down by the expansion of more accessible forms of gambling such as state lotteries and by the increasing exposure of major sports on television. The question now is whether account wagering will help racetrack operators and horsemen by converting weekend gamblers to every-day players and producing a significant increase in wagering revenue, or hurt by further eroding racetrack attendance and robbing the sport of more of its atmosphere. If you're trying to turn somebody into a racing fan, the invitation, ``Grab your wallet, let's go to the track!'' offers a certain rakish rak·ish 1 adj. 1. Nautical Having a trim, streamlined appearance: "We were schooner-rigged and rakish, with a long and lissome hull" John Masefield. appeal that's absent from ``Plug in the laptop, let's sit in the den and stare at the numbers on the screen!'' My experience with wagering online has been more positive than negative so far. Signing up and depositing money with XpressBet.com (owned by Magna Entertainment, which runs Santa Anita) and TVGnetwork.com (a division of Television Games) was a quick process last Friday - before the rush began. Calling up the online ``program page'' for a Gulfstream Park race Saturday, and placing the bet with the click of a few buttons, was an efficient process. Checking the race result an hour later, finding that my horse had won and seeing my official account balance rise modestly was deceptively easy. Good news: Both companies reported strong response from new customers. Bad news: At least one company seemed to be overmatched by the response. On Sunday, when, presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. , the rain and the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga conference championship games kept many racing fans home, XpressBet.com's computer system moved so slowly and erratically that it was unusable for much of the afternoon. I clicked all the correct buttons to place a bet on Santa Anita's sixth race, only to discover I had been given a bet on Santa Anita's ninth. I phoned the XpressBet offices in Pennsylvania and was placed on hold for 30 minutes before talking to an operator, then was placed on hold for 20 minutes before being transferred to a supervisor. The supervisor, who had more patience than I did, canceled my unintended bet on race 9 and admitted with a sigh that the XpressBet staff had been fielding complaints all day. He promised things would run more smoothly in the future. Things have. For someone like me, generally a once- or twice-a-week trackgoer, the convenience of online wagering can't help but increase participation and that can't be bad for the industry. Watching races via a jerky jerky see biltong. video stream on the less than two-inch screen is not as easy as watching on television or as much fun as watching in person. And when you win, you aren't rewarded with the congratulatory backslaps - or the resentful sneers - you get at the track. The computer screen just stares back at you. But cashing a bet online beats not being able to play. Time will tell how many fans reach the same conclusion. While XpressBet and TVG TVG TV Guide (magazine) TVG Televisión de Galicia TVG Tierversuchsgegner (German: Antivivisection) TVG Television Games Network TVG Toronto Venture Group TVG Tri Valley Growers TVG Time-Variable Gain officials say they're pleased by early response from customers, Santa Anita officials say it's too early to measure the impact of account wagering on business. --The weekend: Races for Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during and Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. hopefuls are featured Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's Strub Stakes, for 4-year-olds, is headed by Malibu Stakes 1-2-3 finishers Mizzen Mast, Giant Gentleman and I Love Silver and San Fernando 1-2-3 finishers Western Pride, Orientate or·i·en·tate v. To orient. and Fancy As. Sunday's San Antonio Handicap The San Antonio Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Santa Anita Park each year. The race is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt. The Grade II event offers a purse of $250,000. Round Table won this race in 1958. , for older horses, has Lido Palace as the 121-pound highweight. Mizzen Mast and Lido Palace are being trained by Bobby Frankel with an eye on the March 2 Santa Anita Handicap. Saturday's San Vicente is a 7-furlong sprint that serves as the season opener for Hollywood Juvenile Championship and Hopeful Stakes winner Came Home. The field of seven includes San Miguel winner Popular and fast allowance winner Werblin. First-post times are unusual both days - noon Saturday and 11 a.m. Super Bowl Sunday. HOLLYWOOD PARK LEADERS Through Wednesday Jockeys Wins Alex Solis 25 Kent Desormeaux 23 Laffit Pincay 19 Chris McCarron 15 Victor Espinoza 14 Garrett Gomez 13 Trainers Wins Bill Spawr 13 Bob Baffert 9 Bobby Frankel 8 John Sadler 8 Jack Carava 7 Ron McAnally 7 Jeff Mullins 7 ON THE STAKES SCHEDULE Santa Anita Saturday --$400,000 Strub Stakes, 4-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles --$150,000 San Vicente, 3-year-olds, 7 furlongs --$125,000 Pro or Con Handicap, 4-year-olds and up, fillies and mares bred in California, 1 mile on turf Sunday --$250,000 San Antonio Handicap, 4-year-olds and up, 1 1/8 miles Golden Gate Fields Golden Gate Fields is a horse racing track straddling both Albany, California and Berkeley, California along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Saturday --$100,000 Brown Bess Handicap, 4-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 1/16 miles on turf Gulfstream Park Saturday --$150,000 Hutcheson, 3-year-olds, 7 furlongs PINCAY WATCH Laffit Pincay will ride Palmeiro for the first time in more than a year in Saturday's Strub Stakes as Alex Solis switches to Giant Gentleman. Pincay won his first Strub in 1967 aboard Drin. His five Strub winners include Ancient Title (1974) and Affirmed (1979). Pincay's record career-victories total stands at 9,293. A WEEK AT THE RACES At The Races is a British television channel, originally co-founded with Channel 4, but now owned by a partnership between British Sky Broadcasting, Arena Leisure PLC and 28 (out of the 59) UK racecourses. John Henry was reported improving at a Lexington, Ky., clinic after a Jan. 25 operation for colic colic, intense pain caused by spasmodic contractions of one of the hollow organs, e.g., the stomach, intestine, gall bladder, ureter, or oviduct. The cause of colic is irritation and/or obstruction, and the irritant and/or obstruction may be a stone (as in the gall . Now 27, John Henry won two Horse of the Year titles as the quintessential rags-to-riches story. ... After years of controversy over the use and misuse of clenbuterol clenbuterol a long-acting, ß2-adrenergic agonist. Causes bronchodilatation, decreases bronchial secretion and impedes uterine contraction. Used in the treatment of equine COPD. , a regulation change permitting trace levels of the respiratory medication in racehorses has received final approval from California's Office of Administrative Law administrative law, law governing the powers and processes of administrative agencies. The term is sometimes used also of law (i.e., rules, regulations) developed by agencies in the course of their operation. . Clenbuterol is allowed at levels of up to 5 nanograms per milliliter milliliter /mil·li·li·ter/ (mL) (-le?ter) one thousandth (10-3) of a liter. mil·li·li·ter n. Abbr. in official post-race urine tests - a level that research indicates won't affect horses' performances. ... The $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup The Hollywood Gold Cup is a Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions. has been pushed back two weeks and will share the July 14 card with the $500,000 Swaps Stakes for the first time. The Gold Cup now will be run a month after Churchill Downs' Stephen Foster Handicap The Stephen Foster Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run in mid June at the end of the Churchill Downs Spring Meet in Louisville, Kentucky. The Stephen Foster Handicap is run on the dirt at a distance of one and one-eighth miles. , eliminating the conflict for horses who could run in both. It's the richest race in a Hollywood Park-record $9.5 million stakes schedule announced Thursday for the meet that opens April 24. ... Herman Miller, 50, of Oakland, won the $100,000 first prize in the National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas last Friday and Saturday, ringing up $205.30 in payoffs on 30 mythical $2 win and place bets to beat 176 other competitors. - Kevin Modesti CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: no caption (Laffit Pincay) Box: OUT OF THE GATE (see text) |
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