by Michael Antoniades, Balmoral Park racing analyst

Crete, IL — The latest model of Strategic Wagering got off to a roaring start last weekend at Balmoral Park. The idea that began four years ago with guaranteed pools of $400,000 a month in 2011 have been increased fivefold in 2015.

Strategic Wagering will now offer at least one guaranteed trifecta pool, Pick-4 pool and High Five pool every night for 31 straight days. The addition of the trifecta pools in August will see Strategic Wagering offer guaranteed pools in excess of $2 million this month.

The success of the three guaranteed pools last weekend is very encouraging and it appears that Strategic Wagering is on the right path. Bigger pools will most certainly bring bigger players. The weekend averages of the guaranteed pools at Balmoral Park were $54,206 on the trifecta, $36,001 on the Pick-4 and $35,456 on the ten cent High Five. Players will like the fast paced action of four races and three guaranteed pools in a little more than an hour.

The debut of the three nightly guaranteed pools model at Balmoral Park saw total handle for the two days clock in at $2,171,438 for an average of $98,701 per race with a nightly average of $1,085,719. The final four races featuring the three guaranteed pools did extraordinary business. Handle on the last four races Saturday was $490,700. The Sunday final four sequence clocked in at $514,972. The handle for those eight races totaled $1,005,672, or $125,709 per race. The Sunday Pick-5 paid $11,717.30 for 50 cents.

The guaranteed trifecta pools seemingly have the same effect as the guaranteed High Five pools that began in July. The low 10 or 20 cent guaranteed High Five has proven to be extremely popular. The low minimum allows the small player to be a part of the game. Last Friday the Maywood Park High Five pool totaled $26,671, second in the country behind the Del Mar High Five pool of $55,888. Saturday Del Mar had the top High Five pool in the country at $44,301 with Balmoral a close second with $39,214. Pretty admirable figures considering Del Mar averaged $12,087,844 per day during their 2014 summer meet.

The pilot program kicked off with three tracks, Balmoral Park, Northfield Park and Maywood Park. During the month of August, Balmoral will offer $70,000 in nightly guarantees comprised of a guaranteed Pick-4 pool, a High Five pool and a trifecta pool every Saturday and Sunday. Northfield Park will offer three guaranteed pools every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Maywood Park will follow with three guaranteed pools each Thursday and Friday.

Free deluxe 12 line program pages for all Strategic Wagering guaranteed pools are available courtesy of TrackMaster at www.ustrotting.com. The entire August calendar is also available on the USTA website.