By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Live racing returned to Turfway Park in Florence Wednesday and the 2018 holiday meet kicked off with a bang.
Horses prepare to come on to the track for Race 1 at Turfway Park in Florence Wednesday to kick off the holiday meet (photos by Mark Hansel).
Da Mrs., a 23-1 shot ridden by Rafael Mojica, Jr., blew up the tote board to pay $88.00 for a $2 win bet in the meet’s first race. The 3yo filly, trained by Zachary Short, triggered an opening race exacta of $328.50 for a $1 bet and a trifecta that paid $4,329.85 for a 50-cent wager.
With horses coming in to Turfway from all over the country, it’s not unusual to see a mix of favorites and longshots hit the board at the holiday meet.
Turfway Park General Manager Daniel “Chip” Bach says exciting racing and big payoffs are just part of the experience at Northern Kentucky’s race track.
“We’re going to put some acoustic music up on Saturdays, we’re going to do a Ladies Night to improve the experience,” Bach said. “We’re still working hard on our HHR (instant racing) project and hopefully we’ll have some news on that very soon.”
The popular “Dollar Friday” program returns, with live music, one-dollar draft beer, soda, hot dogs and win, place and show bets.
The first “Dollar Friday” is this week and is billed as “Welcome Back Night.”
The Menus provide the musical entertainment and the Budweiser Clydesdales will make an appearance. There will also be a drawing for a 55-inch Insignia LED HDTV.
“We’ve got the Menus and the Clydesdales and a couple of other fan favorites coming in Friday,” Bach said. “It should be a good time.”
Naked Karate Girls, Doghouse, DV8 and other area bands will provide the Friday soundtrack in the coming weeks.
For more information on Welcome Back Night, and other holiday meet activities and events, click here.
Turfway has also instituted some changes to make the racing experience more appealing to those who come to the track primarily to wager.
An initiative that many simulcast bettors might appreciate is an attempt by tracks that run at similar times in the evening to space out races. Simulcasting allows patrons at one race track to place bets other tracks as well.
Da Mrs. ridden by Rafael Mojica Jr., blew up the tote board in winning the first race of the holiday meet at Turfway Park. The 3yo filly paid $88.00 and triggered a trifecta that paid more than $4,300 for a 50-cent wager.
“We’re working with the other race tracks at night, we’ve had several conference calls and meetings to space our races appropriately on the night circuit,” Bach said. “Our goal is that every seven minutes you’ll see a race on the night circuit (at one of the tracks in the simulcast rotation), through collaboration and cooperation with everybody else.”
Spacing out the races will allow those who bet on more than one track to handicap, wager on, and watch the races more easily.
Turfway also plans to institute a steward’s description of a race that results in a disqualification. If an objection or inquiry results in the disqualification of a horse, a replay of the infraction will be shown and a steward will explain where the incident occurred and why the horse was taken down.
A steward can call for an inquiry and a jockey, trainer, or owner can lodge an objection, if they believe an action during the course of a race, such as one horse bumping another, influenced the outcome.
“We just haven’t started because of constraints with technology, but that should be resolved tomorrow or Friday,” Bach said. “As soon as the technology is there, we will do that.”
A disqualification means those who bet on the horse no longer get paid for that placing. For example, if a horse wins, but is disqualified to second, people who bet on the horse to win do not collect, even though it crossed the line first.
Turfway Park General Manager Chip Bach
The thinking is that allowing the stewards to explain why a horse was disqualified, using a replay, might help those who wagered better understand the decision.
An explanation will not be provided for races where an objection or inquiry does not result in a disqualification.
Toward the end of the live racing season, Turfway has a “Diversity of Pride” weekend planned.
“We want to reach out to different folks and let ‘em all know horse racing welcomes everyone,” Bach said. “We’re also working to move the Jeff Ruby steaks up a week to try to stay a month out of Keeneland’s Bluegrass Stakes weekend.
Turfway Park, in conjunction with Master Provisions, is also collecting canned goods and other non-perishable food items for its neighbors in need during the holiday season.
Turfway will match every item donated at the track between November 28 – December 22, pack it all up and deliver it to Master Provisions.
First race post time for the holiday meet is 6:10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with a special New Years Eve card on Monday, Dec. 31, that kicks of at 1:10 p.m.
The holiday meet is followed by the winter/spring meet, which begins on January 1 and runs through March 30.
For more information on Turfway Park, click here.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
