The Flaws of Eliminations Illustrated, Track Pack PA

This weekend at Freehold Raceway, there will be one elimination race for the $300,000 Cane Pace Final. Vintage Master and Mr Wiggles received byes into the Cane Pace final. With eight horses entered this week, they will be racing for the six remaining spots in the final.

The conditions of the Cane Pace allow for byes if the number of horses entered for the eliminations would result in less than six betting interests in each elimination race. With ten horses dropping in the box, the two highest money earners get to skip the eliminations and move directly to the final. My preference is to avoid eliminations all together and determine the finalists by earnings (and possibly having consolations determined the same way) but this method is preferable to having races with only five entrants.

Now, after arguing the Hambletonian conditions need to be changed in the future to determine the field based on money earned, you may be wondering why I didn’t have an objection to having an elimination race this week. It is because the purse of the elimination race is meaningful enough to ensure all horses will be trying to win. The single elimination this week will be racing for a purse of $108,300. The purse for the elimination race is 36.1% of the final’s purse (the conditions call for 25% of the total purse being used for elimination races). On the other hand, the purse for an elimination of the Hambletonian was equal to 4.67% percent of the final (each elimination race was raced for $70,000 with the final worth $1,500,000); for the Meadowlands Pace each elimination race was worth 5% of the final ($50,000 eliminations for a $1,000,000 final).

There is a big difference when you are racing the following week for the $150,000 winner’s share and you can win $54,150 this week compared to racing the following week for $750,000 and you can win this week $35,000. While race sponsors won’t admit it, there is a reason why stake races like the Hambletonian and Meadowlands Pace let elimination winners choose their post positions; they know some trainers would be more concerned with qualifying for the far more lucrative final instead of winning their elimination. Being the purse this week is significant no doubt everyone will be trying to win. This year we are lucky that only one elimination race is needed; next year if more than one race is necessary we would be facing the same concerns I expressed with the Meadowlands Pace and the Hambletonian.

If we need to use eliminations, each race should have a purse equal to no less than 25% of the final. We don’t need the betting public wondering if horses are trying in the elimination and the following week wondering if a horse’s lackluster effort in an elimination race was due to the horse tailing off or just the trainer saving the horse for this week. If we can’t race each race for a minimum purse of 25% of the final, racing would be better served if the fields were determined by money earned. We should never be carding races which invite questions regarding the effort of the participants before the race is ever run. If we can’t fund elimination races right let’s get rid of them.

Track Pack PA - In an effort to attract younger people to the racetrack, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture have introduced a website Track Pack PA. The message is horseracing is hip. On this website, the Department of Agriculture promotes racing at all six Pennsylvania tracks, thoroughbred and standardbred. Explore the website and see what you think. It is nice to see a racino state actually promote racing instead of the slots.