by Keith Gisser
BIG BUCKS – Northfield Park hosted simulcast wagering on the entire Belmont Stakes card for the first time Saturday and it was a profitable day for the track’s patrons. A very lucky Northfield Village resident won $37,026 for his simple dollar wager. Cedar Downs, the track’s Sandusky off-track wagering facility, paid off a single winning Pick-4 ticket on the four-race bet which ended with the Belmont. When longshot Ruler On Ice prevailed, the winning handicapper’s $700 total investment yielded one 50-cent ticket worth $35,524.25… Wednesday, June 8, Northfield hosted the first “instant guarantee” offered as part of the U.S. Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Initiative. A $6,000-plus carryover resulted in a $20,000 guarantee on the Pick-5 Wednesday. $34,125 was wagered on the Pick-5 and each $1 winning ticket kicked back $310.80 despite featuring a 1-9 favorite and three second choices among the winners… Northfield will host one leg of the $25,000 Guaranteed National Pick-4 on Saturday, July 16 as part of the U.S.T.A.’s Back to the Track promotion… The $10,000 Guaranteed Pick-4 Pools, with a 14% takeout, continue every Monday and Wednesday in June.
I NEED A PROMOTION – Weekend handicapping and free stuff are on tap Saturdays and Sundays at Northfield. Free-to-enter Saturday Belmont contests continue through June, while the Sunday Churchill Downs contests roll through the end of the Louisville track’s meet. Last weekend, Raymond Mehalko of Brooklyn Heights took the Belmont contest’s $500 first prize, while Chet Arthur of Cuyahoga Falls reigned victorious in the Churchill event. Saturdays also feature $5 match-play bets, free programs, and $3 concession vouchers for patrons arriving before 12:50 PM. Live Saturday evening racing resumes July 2 at 7 PM with the same offers available from 6-8 PM. And, as is the case with all Fridays through July 30, admission is free on all five live-racing Saturdays in July in exchange for a non-winning Ohio Lottery ticket.
YOU WATCH YOUR PHRASEOLOGY– KP has detailed the harness racing references in The Music Man before, most notably in Ya Got Trouble (Right Here in River City) when Harold Hill sings, “Not a wholesome trottin’ race, no! But a race where they set down right on the horse! Like to see some stuck-up jockey boy Sittin’ on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil?” What this humble scribe did not know earlier is that The Music Man takes place in 1912, but Dan Patch, the Crazy Good pacing superstar, was retired in 1910. No surprise that a con man like “Professor” Hill would pull that stunt… In a bit of an unusual twist, in both film versions of the musical, when the “Wells Fargo Wagon is a comin’ down the street,” it is being pulled by a brace of standardbred trotters. And, the 2003 version of the song features a youth baseball team called the Ponies.
For information on items in Keeping Pace, email info@northfieldpark.com or contact Keith Gisser at klgisser@earthlink.net.