East Rutherford (August 4, 2015) – The weekend of the
Hambletonian festival always provides the best racing the sport of harness
racing has to offer and with that, great betting opportunities for the wagering
customer. This year, that concept will take on a whole new meaning.
Friday night kicks off the racing for the weekend and it
begins with a bang, a carryover in the $.50 cent pick five of $29,460.76,
covering races one through five on the program. Historically, a pick five
carryover of this amount has resulted in well over $100,000 in “new money” into
the pool which equates to a negative takeout on the bet.
The Friday program also includes an early pick four with a
$25,000 guaranteed pool in races three through six (3-6) and a late pick four
with a $50,000 guaranteed pool in races seven through 10 (7-10). Both
pick four pools are offered at a $.50 cent minimum with a 15-percent takeout
rate.
The Friday card features one division of the $50,000
Townsend Ackerman for three year old trotters and two division of the $30,000
Duenna for three year old filly trotters.
There will not be a Jackpot Super Hi-5 offered on the Friday
program, that $231,403.14 carryover will be rolled over to the Saturday
program, Hambletonian Day. The carryover pool on Saturday will be a
“must-pay” or mandatory payout situation. The entire carryover pool plus
the net pool of new money will all be paid out. This pool will be offered
at a takeout rate of just 8-percent (8%). This guarantees a
negative-takeout on the wager on Saturday. For example, if $1 Million of
new money were wagered into the pool, the 8-percent takeout would leave a net
pool of $920,000 added to the carryover of $231,403.14, yielding a total pool
of $1,151,403 despite only $1 Million of new money being wagered into the
pool. The scenario results in a net takeout of negative 15-percent
(-15%). Historically, a carryover pool of this size in harness racing has
resulted in anywhere from $1 Million to $3 Million in new money wagered on the
day of the mandatory payout. On Hambletonian Day, the Jackpot Super
Hi-Five will be offered on the 16th and last race, a 12-horse field
at 1 1/8th miles. The minimum wager is $.20 cents.
Post time for Friday is 7:15 P.M., while Saturday’s post
time for Hambletonian Day is 12:00 P.M.
