Penn National has teamed up with the Meadows harness track on a weekly Pick 4 that will be among the first wagers to combine Standardbred and Thoroughbred racing. Both Pennsylvania tracks are owned by PENN Entertainment.
The experiment will kick off Friday and will run through Aug. 25. The bet will be available on Fridays only.
“My counterpart, Scott Lishia from the Meadows, reached out to me in early May with the idea of a cross-breed Pick 4, in an effort to get our respective fans interested in each other's live racing product,” said Eric Johnston, Director of Racing Operations at Penn National Race Course. “I thought it was a great idea and with a little team work, we could gather some attention for both Penn Entertainment and Pennsylvania racing.”
The takeout on the bet will be 12%.
“The goal is to create some interest in our products and to try something a little different,” Lishia said. “With Penn National and the Meadows both doing Friday evenings in the summer it seemed like it may be worth a shot and Eric was on board. We wanted to keep the takeout low and Eric suggested the 12%, which, hopefully entices players to take a shot.”
Horizontal wagers combining more than one racetrack is not something that is new. NYRA's Cross Country Pick 5 combines NYRA races with those from other tracks. But using two breeds is relatively rare. On occasion, NYRA has used harness races from the Meadowlands in the Cross Country Pick 5 and Monmouth and the Meadowlands used to offers bets that involved both the Hambletonian and the GI Haskell S.
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