Equibase

Jockey Carlos Eduardo Lopez, currently third in earnings and fourth in wins at Charles Town Races this year, was fined $1,000 by the track's stewards for losing a win at the wire after his mount was clear by five lengths at the sixteenth pole and he apparently thought he could coast to victory without additional effort. "Jockey Lopez eased his mount, Stylish Paint, coming to the wire in the ninth race on Saturday, Apr. 8, 2023, causing his horse to get beat on the wire," stated the Apr. 14 stewards'...

After wagering dropped by a troubling 6.22% through the first two months of the year, the sport rebounded in March. According to figures released Thursday by Equibase, handle was up 2.14% during the month when compared to 2022. A total of $962,703,949 was wagered in March. In the category of average wagering per race day, there was an increase of 1.10%. Handle is still down by 3.40% for the year. The advances reversed a trend that began in October of last year. Handle fell by 4.93% in October and continued...

After reviewing the race, Equibase has adjusted the final time for Saturday's GI Florida Derby, won by Forte (Violence). The original time of 1:48.51 has been changed to 1:49.37. In a statement released Sunday by Equibase, the company said that the finish line beam may have been tripped before the horses reached the finish line. Prior to Equibase recognizing the mistake, the error was caught by the Beyer speed figure team. Initially, Forte was credited with a 98 Beyer figure. That number was lowered to a 95. "The time is...

Figures released last week by Equibase showed that U.S. handle declined by 5.21% in February. This comes after handle declined by 7.19% in January. For the year, that's a drop off of 6.22% and, if those numbers hold up throughout the year, total handle will be off by $750 million and the year-over-year percentage decline will be the worst the sport has suffered since 2010. And it's not just that racing has gotten off to a slow, reversible start this year when it comes to wagering. Whatever is going on,...

Six years ago, Landon Jones and Dawson Guhle got connected through the sport of horse racing. Now, they're preparing to launch a platform that they hope can do the same for others. In 2021, Jones and Guhle formed the idea for Agri/Gate Management, an app and web-based platform that could be used to simplify communication and streamline the flow of data in the racing industry. They envisioned that through their software, they could remove the barriers to entry for new participants through education, improve the traceability of horses on and...

On Monday Equibase released its January figures for the Thoroughbred industry's economic indicators, which showed increases in purses and number of races but downturns in total daily wagering, average wagering per race day on U.S. races, and field size. Overall, total purses of $90,069,945  in the first month of 2023 increased by 9.7% over the figure of $82,102,162 reported a year ago. However, January's $874,180,855 in worldwide commingled wagering on U.S. races showed a 7.19% drop in total wagering, and the average wagering per race day number of $3,298,796 represented...

Right now within TDN's Top 12 rankings for the GI Kentucky Derby, seven horses are owned by multiple-entity partnerships. One syndicate maxes out at 10 individual owners, another at eight. If the horses from those larger partnerships (or other syndicates-there are plenty of them and they are growing in number worldwide) make it into the Derby field, they won't have to worry about getting the satisfaction and distinction of seeing their names in print as owners. But that's only because as a courtesy, Churchill Downs takes the extra step of...

According to figures released Thursday by Equibase, a robust $1,309,837,841 in purse money was paid out during the year in the U.S., an increase of 10.92% and an all-time record for the sport. Total handle on U.S. racing in 2022 was $12,108,807,335, a decrease of 0.87% when compared to 2021 numbers. The total bet in 2021 was $12,215,598,838. "Thoroughbred racing purses and pari-mutuel handle continued to exhibit strength in 2022," NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney said in a statement. "Purses were up double-digits year-over year and reached an all-time...

Godolphin, LLC, which campaigned 14 North American graded stakes winners, was the country's leading owner by earnings for the second year in a row, while jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. established single-season earnings and stakes wins records and Chad Brown was the leading trainer by earnings for the first time since 2019, according to figures released Tuesday by Equibase Company LLC. Godolphin had 88 North American wins from 438 starts for earnings of $16,343,067, down from its single-season earnings record of $17.4 million set in 2021. The operation was followed on...

Trakus, the timing and tracking system introduced to the racing industry at Keeneland in 2006, will cease domestic operations Dec. 31, the company's chairman Barry Weisbord confirmed Wednesday. "Trakus is closing its domestic operations on 12-31, the tracks have all been informed," Weisbord said. "We have some international contracts and some of those are going to continue for a period of time, but not a significant amount of time." Several tracks which had been utilizing Trakus, including the New York Racing Association tracks, are expected to switch to the Equibase's...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) announced that a team led by Brendan Kumagai has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Big Data Derby competition, beating out 105 other submissions for first prize. Kumagai, together with Gurashish Bagga, Kimberly Kroetch, Tyrel Stokes, and Liam Welsh, took the $20,000 first prize with the submission, "Bayesian Velocity Models for Horse Race Simulation." Kumagai's team created a dynamic model that focused on horses' forward versus lateral speed and examined the results of...

Purses for U.S. races continued their positive trend in November, while wagering handle ticked down to essentially put the year's betting numbers on par with 2021's figures heading into 2022's final month, according to economic indicator figures released by Equibase Monday. A total of $918,196,787 was bet on U.S. races in November, a 4.47% decrease from the $961,166,113 wagered in November 2021. For the year, $11,360,902,118 has been bet, just a .4% drop from the $11,406,643,956 wagered through 11 months in 2021. This year's total still represents an 11.7% increase...