Is Fairgrounds rigged?

[lansdale]

I bet on yet another race at FG with a bizarre (to me) result, and have begun to wonder about what's going on at this track. There truly seems to me to be no correlation betwwen the PPs for some of the races here and what happens on track. Since I seem to be whining here, let put my experience at FG in perspective: I play mostly grass at many of the available tracks, and generally, the results are within a fairly predictable range. But almost never when it comes to the FG turf course.

Possibly there is something unique about this turf course which eludes me. But the unusual outcome of today's 9th gave me a deja vu feeling of human manipulation. The three favorites finished in the bottom three slots. The winner hadn't won a race in about 18 months, and the other two ITM horses hadn't won in a comparably long period. I've seen more than a few races with bizarro outcomes like this in the past couple of months there , in which none of the ITM horses had hit the board in awhile, with PPs to match. And the one explanation that might work for such results, that these were cheap races with formless animals, doesn't hold. In fact, today's 9th was an OC 40k, with some fairly formful contenders - or so I thought. The only explanation for these races which seems to fit is that this race was a Christmas present for the barns of the ITM horses.

BTW, I had the 1 horse, who I thought was pulled up by the jock after beginning to make a move at about the 1/2 mile point, but continued to run behind the pack. Would like to know if it looks this way to anyone else who played this race or watches the replay.
If I'm really off on this, would appreciate some feedback, and I'd especially like to hear from those who play FG regularly, or anyone who takes a look at the running of the race.

Cheers,

lansdale

[CincyHorseplayer]

Your guess is as good as mine but I think the fact that they had a snowstorm a week ago might have something to do with the results.There is no designation for a drying out turf course but they surely aren't the same.I haven't done last week's results but from 12/4 to 12/18 there were only 4 horses that won at 5/2 or less in routes and there were 3 off-turf designations.And they have such an affinity for Filly Turf sprints it's sick.

Sometimes I have to go back and look at weather reports on some tracks to get an idea what's going on when the results make no sense.I have to do it at Turfway because they think that because it's titled an "All Weather Surface" it's exempt from rain and snow.It's "Magic Dirt" or something.

[GaryG]

The winner was a Malcolm Pierce Woodbine shipper that had finished 2nd last out. Pierce has won with a lot of these in recent years. The 2nd horse just missed by two lengths under the same conditions. Matzoh Toga dropped the rider in his only recent start and previously liked this course. I didn't bet the race but I don't see this result as bizarre or evidence of a "fix"..

[ArlJim78]

in my view the race was loaded with uncertainty to begin with, given that horses were shipping in and coming off of layoffs. a 6/1 winner and a 9/1 place horse doesn't scream foul play to me. it looks like the winner was coming off of a pretty nice grass race at Woodbine.

Cobrador was overbet and had been dusted earlier in the year by the place horse.

the public was also uncertain, with 3/1 lukewarm co-favorites and seven horses in single digit odds.
its just racing.

[onefast99]

The turf course is like a sponge, we ran there last year in December and I couldnt believe after three days of rain it wasnt taken off the turf. Makes no sense to me. The main track has a very long stretch and that helps out the closers immensely.

[point given]

I played the race and saw it as pretty wideopen. Originally I had the 1 horse in but saw that he had never won a turf race. I used the 6 for the reasons someone else posted about the trainer and the horses last race, Must admit i spread in here though in p3 and got nosed in the finale having the 2 and 9. I like the FG turf course and don't find it fixed, but there are trainers who point to it and the form sometimes doesnot point to the winner but the connections do and past history. What I do find though are some short priced exactas when there are longshots involved where i figure it should pay 5-600 but comes 250=300.

[Hank]

Nothing fishy about that result. My (CJ's) figs had the 6 horse rated as the strongest finisher in the field.And as others have noted Pierce comes to FG with horses ready to fire.

[kenwoodallpromos]

"the public was also uncertain, with 3/1 lukewarm co-favorites and seven horses in single digit odds."

Higher odds on the top favs is one way I have to consider a race "unpredictable".

[highnote]

Originally Posted by kenwoodallpromos

"the public was also uncertain, with 3/1 lukewarm co-favorites and seven horses in single digit odds."

Higher odds on the top favs is one way I have to consider a race "unpredictable".

Dick Mitchell taught me a good method for playing those types of races. Find 5 or 6 contenders and then bet all exacta combinations with those contenders that are paying over $100.

[David-LV]

A lot of strange results appear to be coming up since the introduction of the 10 cent supers.

______
David

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by David-LV

A lot of strange results appear to be coming up since the introduction of the 10 cent supers.

______
David

Yeah, that's what did it. The race fixers didn't have enough to play for dollars.....but once they went to dimes it was OFF TO THE RACES!

[JohnGalt1]

FG turf course is slower than most.

A 1:38 run at FG can be faster than a 1:36 at Belmont or Gulfstream.

I use Cynthia's par book to compare tracks.

[stu]

Racing should do everything it can to attack any perception of 'rigged' events.

On a somewhat related note -- I used to be a fan of boxing until the questionable outcome of the Evander Holyfield - Lennox Lewis fight that ended in a draw (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_r...eld/296539.stm)

Hundreds of people walking out the same Santa Monica sports bar as I did were shaking their heads in disbelief. From that point I slowly became indifferent towards boxing.

I couldn't even tell you the name of one title holder, but I can sure tell you the UFC 92 has 10 nice mixed martial arts matches tonight.

The integrity issue is key to preserving the sport.

That said I didn't get to see the race in question and will give the participants the benefit of the doubt.

[point given]

Originally Posted by stu

Racing should do everything it can to attack any perception of 'rigged' events.

On a somewhat related note -- I used to be a fan of boxing until the questionable outcome of the Evander Holyfield - Lennox Lewis fight that ended in a draw (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_r...eld/296539.stm)

Hundreds of people walking out the same Santa Monica sports bar as I did were shaking their heads in disbelief. From that point I slowly became indifferent towards boxing.

I couldn't even tell you the name of one title holder, but I can sure tell you the UFC 92 has 10 nice mixed martial arts matches tonight.

The integrity issue is key to preserving the sport.

That said I didn't get to see the race in question and will give the participants the benefit of the doubt.

Yes sir. If you don't have that everyone walks. What I'd like to see is a racing czar, as has been mentioned more this year. And thinking about it now, since Bill Nader (ex NYRA head ) has gone to Hong Kong and been involved in an organzation with zero tolerance; he might be the best choice to head up the effort here if it ever could come to fruition.

[David-LV]

Originally Posted by the little guy

Yeah, that's what did it. The race fixers didn't have enough to play for dollars.....but once they went to dimes it was OFF TO THE RACES!

Well, let's examine your statement above.

If you hit a 10 cent super 20 times that pays $500 that means you collected $10,000 without any signning or any tax implications or sharing with the owners.

Believe me there are trainers running those chalks out of the top 4 spots daily and are taking down some nice payouts.

Yes my friend it was OFF TO THE RACES when they went to the dime supers, just another way among the many to screw us suckers.

_______
David