Free Data Friday

From the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Saratoga, Gulfstream and Kentucky Downs have all run races over wrong distances within the last six weeks - at least one half-furlong longer than the races were scheduled. This 50th volume of #FreeDataFriday is not an explanation of some obscure method of timing races, it offers merely a sobering fact, easily exposed BECAUSE of the way in which America times horse races. First, understand that nearly every distance of a race run in North America is not the actual distance traveled, but the distance which...

Our sport can, and should, always seek continuous improvement. Take last Saturday, [May 23]'s first race at Churchill Downs as an example. Trainer Thomas Drury Jr. had two starters in the race--Step Ten, making his career debut and Baby White Sox, who would make his first start for Drury, but his third start overall, having run twice for Joe Sharp in 2019, the last of those starts coming in mid-September. While Step Ten is shown as having five published works, one most recently at Churchill and four at the Skylight...

The following is an abridged version of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's #FreeDataFriday entry for this week. The full version can be read at this link. Here is a simple question: How much revenue does a horse race produce for the horsemen running horses in that race? The answer is incredibly complex, and in many jurisdictions, almost impossible to discern. A publication from the Thoroughbred Owners of California in 2016 offers a glimpse into an answer, at least for races run in that state. While these numbers are likely to have...

The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation issued a paper last week showing just how much of the pie goes to ADWs, and how little to purses, in California. Pat Cummings of the TIF joins us to talk about it.

The general lack of racing around America in light of local restrictions due to the impact of COVID-19 has focused the attention of customers on a select number of races at any one time. A natural byproduct has been collective social media outrage at a pair of stewards' decisions which demoted winners, once Sunday at Oaklawn Park and another on Tuesday at Fonner Park. This is not a story about the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's suggestion that North America should shift its rules philosophy to the international standard--known as Category 1....

Editor's Note: the following is part of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's weekly `Free-Data Friday' series. New Jersey moved first. Again. Continuing a trend that has seen the Garden State lead the way forward on sports betting and evolving the nation's wagering landscape, Tuesday's announcement was a potential positive volley in that evolution as Monmouth Park and their operator, Darby Development LLC, entered a 10-year exclusive agreement with The BetMakers to manage and distribute a fixed odds signal. This is the first such deal in North America for North American customers....

Editor's Note: the following is part of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's weekly `Free-Data Friday' series. #FreeDataFriday-VOLUME 18: GRAMM: THE ONE WAY TO ENSURE RACING'S LONG-TERM SURVIVAL While this weekly feature has routinely covered issues related to data horseplayers consume or are offered at outrageous price points, the economist inside of this horseplayer, horse owner and breeder is left to ponder how the greater racing industry has collectively ignored years of troubling trends in the data the industry reports itself. After a modest uptick in annual wagering on Thoroughbred races from...

Editor's Note: the following is part of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's weekly 'Free-Data Friday' series. #FreeDataFriday--VOLUME 17: DATA, WAGERING AND THE FUTURE OF RACING At some point the horse racing industry--owners, racetracks and industry organizations--stopped caring about gambling on live horse racing. If gambling on horse racing was any sort of priority, distributing free data would be one of the first things the industry would do. Get data into the hands of customers. Despite their massive contribution to racing, horse owners are required to relinquish any rights to data, even...