from the Meadowlands Media Relations Department

East Rutherford, NJ — The weekend of the Hambletonian festival always provides the best racing the sport of harness racing has to offer and with that, great betting opportunities for the wagering customer. This year, that concept will take on a whole new meaning.

Friday night kicks off the racing for the weekend and it begins with a bang, a carryover in the 50 cent Pick-5 of $29,460.76, covering races one through five on the program. Historically, a Pick-5 carryover of this amount has resulted in well over $100,000 in “new money” into the pool which equates to a negative takeout on the bet.

The Friday program also includes an early Pick-4 with a $25,000 guaranteed pool in races three through six and a late Pick-4 with a $50,000 guaranteed pool in races seven through 10. Both Pick-4 pools are offered at a 50 cent minimum with a 15 percent takeout rate.

The Friday card features one division of the $50,000 Townsend Ackerman for 3-year-old trotters and two divisions of the $30,000 Duenna for 3-year-old filly trotters.

There will not be a Jackpot Super Hi-5 offered on the Friday program, that $231,403.14 carryover will be rolled over to the Saturday program, Hambletonian Day. The carryover pool on Saturday will be a “must-pay” or mandatory payout situation. The entire carryover pool plus the net pool of new money will all be paid out. This pool will be offered at a takeout rate of just eight percent. This guarantees a negative takeout on the wager on Saturday.

For example, if $1 million of new money was wagered into the pool, the eight percent takeout would leave a net pool of $920,000 added to the carryover of $231,403.14, yielding a total pool of $1,151,403 despite only $1 million of new money being wagered into the pool. The scenario results in a net takeout of negative 15 percent.

Historically, a carryover pool of this size in harness racing has resulted in anywhere from $1 million to $3 million in new money wagered on the day of the mandatory payout.

On Hambletonian Day, the Jackpot Super Hi-Five will be offered on the 16th and last race, a 12-horse field at 1-1/8th miles. The minimum wager is 20 cents.

Post time for Friday is 7:15 p.m., while Saturday’s post time for Hambletonian Day is 12 p.m.