New York State Gaming Commission spokesman Lee Park confirmed to harnessracing.com Wednesday morning that the commission is "investigating the matter” concerning the exacta payout on the seventh race on Friday, Nov. 29, at Yonkers Raceway. The race was won by the 33-1 Fort Valley As, with the 9-1 Elin finishing second, with the 8-3 exacta returning $85.
Fort Valley As and Elin were listed at 8-1 and 5-1, respectively, on the morning line. As the horses were lined up behind the gate and headed to the start, the 8-3 exacta payoff was $646. Those two horses got away first and second and the order remained unchanged. The resulting $85 payoff—the total pool exceeded $22,000—was approximately an 86-percent reduction from the "will-pay price” shown on the TV monitors seconds before the race started. With the 15-1 Just Rebel third, the $2 trifecta payoff was $5,702.
Social media blew up immediately after the race. Some of the speculation on Twitter and Facebook centered on the possibility of the mutuel windows not being locked at post time, which allowed bettors to past-post bet on the race. Some posters wondered if tracks that took C-Band feeds, which are the direct feeds from racetracks and are viewed with just a two-second delay as opposed to the approximate seven-second delay that is normal on the simulcast feeds, allowed bettors to have an advantage, especially those that wager on the "off,” making plays on horses that leave fastest off the gate.--By Gordon Waterstone
