A Pick Five carryover of $18,653 awaits handicappers when live racing returns to the Meadowlands Racetrack this Friday (February 6).
The Pick Five begins on Race 3 and features a 50-cent base wager and low 15 per cent takeout. To further entice horseplayers, the Meadowlands has increased the guaranteed pool amount to $50,000 and the sequence will be featured as part of the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Program.
“Friday is a value player’s dream because the Pick Five is certain to attract a lot of new investors with a carryover of $18,653,” said Meadowlands CEO/GM Jason Settlemoir. “A negative takeout scenario is possible because of the lower takeout. The Pick Five winners will actually collect more money than the bet takes in on Friday if the final pool is under $124,000. Combine the investment opportunities with only 35 per cent of the favourites winning and you can see why the Meadowlands is anticipating giant betting pools this weekend.”
The last Pick Five carryover at the Meadowlands was on August 7, 2015 for $29,460. A total of $131,164 in new money was wagered that night for a total pool of $160,624. After takeout, horseplayers were returned a total of $140,949 which actually represents a negative takeout situation. The horseplayers’ advantage was 7.4 per cent, a very rare occurrence in pari-mutuel wagering and most worthy of investment.
In addition to the increased guarantee on the Pick Five wager, the Meadowlands also offers a $25,000 guaranteed pool in the Early Pick Four wager (Races 5 – 8) and a $50,000 guaranteed pool in the Late Pick Four (Races 9 – 12).
“The Meadowlands has always been an industry leader in regards to giving more money back to the players,” said Settlemoir. “Instead of going with a 25 percent rake on the guaranteed pool wagers, The Meadowlands offers the three guaranteed pools at 15 percent, a substantial takeout reduction of 40 percent.”
Free deluxe past performance pages provided by TrackMaster will be available for both the Pick Five and late Pick Four wagers on the USTA’s Strategic Wagering page and the Meadowlands website.
Friday also marks the first race date of February, coming on the heels of a robust January that saw average nightly handle of more than $3 million. The large wagering pools and low percentage of winning favourites helped trigger generous payoffs. For example, last weekend, the average $2 win price was nearly $13 while the average $2 exacta paid almost $94 and the average $2 trifecta returned more than $566.
Live racing takes place Friday and Saturday nights at the Meadowlands with 14-race programs beginning at 6:35 p.m.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)