Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Magna 5 bet expands horse racing betting
Posted on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
Magna 5 expands betting horizons
While Maryland racing grows more chauvinistic, betting at the state tracks has begun to reward horseplayers here for their knowledge of out-of-town personalities and horses.
That’s the Magna 5 bet, started at Laurel Park each Saturday at about 4:45 p.m. and continuing on for an hour or so for fans who can handicap at such places as Santa Anita and Gulfstream Parks, plus Golden Gate Fields. Generally, it’s run in February and March when Santa Anita and Gulfstream are at their height of publicity. Laurel kicks it off each week about 5 p.m. and before 6, it’s all been decided.
You’ve got to pick five winners in succession but the rewards are greater than the challenge. There’s a $500,000 guaranteed pool, to be divided among all $2 tickets which carry the five winners. There are provisions for the occasional Saturday when upsets will cause havoc and there will be only three or four first-place finishers. But that’s not the goal. We’re looking to share in that $500,000 pot. That’s what brings out the gamblers; when the prize guarantees are higher than they should be based on the pari-mutuel system. Winners are supposed to get shares of the total pool after deductions. When promotional guarantees such as this one arise, then all sorts of possibilities can surface. In theory, the payoffs are out of kilter. The money actually bet should produce lower payoffs.
So on Feb. 19, last year, there was plenty of excitement when one winning ticket was determined to be worth $406,985. Three weeks ago, each of 14 winning tickets were worth $29,104. Many times, you’ll note 200 or so winners out of a single pool. The reason that many tickets become good ones seems to be because horseplayers know more about stakes races, or top allowance runners, than they do the cheaper events. There’s been more written about them in the newspapers. Additionally, Florida and California tracks abound with superstar horses and jockeys.
That’s why we need to become knowledgeable for racing on a national basis. We all know about the great reputations here of trainers such as Dale Capuano, Ben Feliciano Jr., Tony Dutrow, Scott Lake and Ferris Allen. No matter about their place in the standings - and it"s usually high - you can never ignore them in standard bets, especially in exotics like exacta or trifecta boxes. The same goes for the riders. Always give careful consideration top the mounts of Rosie Napravnik, Eric Rodriguez, Luis Garcia, Mario Pino and the ever-prominent Ryan Fogelsonger. There are others that will trigger regrets for ignoring one of them in the past at Laurel or Pimlico. Those named are ones that jump out at me.
But what about the two areas of California racing, Santa Anita near Los Angeles and Golden Gate Fields near San Francisco? What’s a successful scenario there? And Florida? The same trainers are there most of the time but how do we rate them?
The edge in Magna 5 gambling probably goes to simulcast bettors who can tell you when and where to bet Russell Baze’s mounts (Golden Gate Fields) and what trainer he works for when at Santa Anita.
John Velazquez, the all-everything rider on the East Coast, is knocking them dead again this year. In addition to riding more winners than anyone else, Velazquez excels in winning percentage. The other day, he had won with 27 per cent of his mounts. None of the other busy regulars had more than 16 per cent.
The Gulfstream trainer’s standings reveal a disparity. Todd Pletcher has started the most horses, won the most races, and has won with them 29 percent of the time. Stanley Hough, famous for his work with young horses, is the only one near the top.
Southern California traditionally has the nation’s finest racing colony each winter and 2006 is no exception. Garrett Gomez, Victory Espinoza, Kent Desormeaux and Alex Solis are all hovering around the 19-20 percent mark. The trainers there also are the greatest. Neil Drysdale, Bob Baffert, Bobby Frankel, Jeff Mullins, Doug O’Neil, and Melvin and Gary Stute all got off to great starts.
Golden Gate Fields? Russell Baze is the name. He’s been the leading percentage rider in the nation so often that the Isaac Murphy award should be his for life. When you’re handicapping the San Francisco tracks, never skip his mount in the Magna 5 horse bets.
Free Magna 5 horse racing tips - Laurel, Gulfstream, Santa Anita Park, Golden Gate Fields
"Magna 5 bet expands horse racing betting" was posted on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 at 8:03 am and is filed under Gulfstream Park, Horse Racing Industry, Laurel Park, Santa Anita Track, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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