Bookies Kicked at Cheltenham
Kicking King's triumph in the Totesport Gold Cup last week at the Cheltenham Festival was not the result U.K. bookmakers were hoping for.
"Ante-post, Kicking King wasn't damaging but it was a terrible result on the day," said Simon Clare, spokesman for Coral. "We couldn't lay Beef Or Salmon or Strong Flow, but everyone wanted to be with Kicking King. Industry-wide, Best Mate would have cost punters nearly £1 million, but Kicking King more than compensated it. He was unbelievably well backed."
David Hood of William Hill said Friday's race was a "small loser" for his firm as well.
Ladbrokes' spokesman Balthazar Fabricius said that Kicking King's win was the exclamation point on a "wonderful four days" worth of results for punters at the Festival.
Totesport fared better. Damian Walker, a spokesman for the group, said they were winners thanks to an early shift on their odds for Kicking King.
"Overall, we won on the race," Walker said, "with ante-post punters losing out, except those on Kicking King."
Bookmakers' estimates put turnover for the four-day festival at between £300 and £400 million. Fabricius said turnover on the meeting was up 12 percent over last year with the industry estimated to have turned over in excess of £300 million. Hood put turnover closer to £400 million.
Kicking King a 999-1 Long Shot on Betfair
Seventeen days before the Cheltenham Gold Cup was scheduled to start, Kicking King was installed as a 999-1 long shot to win the Totesport Gold Cup after the horse's owner announced plans to scratch it in the big event.
Owner Conor Clarkson relayed the disappointing news from a work assignment in Spain after discussing the situation with trainer Tom Taaffe. Kicking King was inspected by a veterinarian after a workout and was discovered to have an infection. The result meant the horse would have to undergo a week's worth of antibiotics and would be unable to run in the Gold Cup.
Digesting the news, one Betfair punter laid Kicking King £15 at 1,000, thus forfeiting £15,000 on Friday's race. It was the second time the punter had laid at 1,000 only for the bet to lose out.
According to Betfair, only around 10 horses in the exchange's lifetime have traded in running at 1,000. The last was Mini Sensation, driven to an incredible victory by Tony McCoy at Exeter in December.
Broadcasters Suffer Blackout Due to Technological Glitch
A loss of power ended the Cheltenham Festival earlier than scheduled for Racing UK subscribers on Friday when pictures were lost as the field turned for home in the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle.
Calatagan had a clear lead at the time, with several rivals poised in behind, but viewers were kept in suspense for several minutes before Fontanesi was announced as the winner of the last race of the four-day meeting.
David Bellin, Racing UK's director of broadcast, said the blackout was caused by a problem with British Telecom in the Cheltenham area.
Upgraded Virtual Racing Program Expected to Increase Turnover
Inspired Broadcast Networks is set to roll out the newest version of its virtual horseracing program. Since the first version was launched in May 2002, the group's virtual racing system has experienced year-on-year growth of 40 percent. Its current annual turnover is £717 million.
Virtual horse and greyhound racing now accounts for between 2.5 percent and 3 percent of an average betting shop's business, with an average weekly turnover of £1,500 per shop.
For the upgraded game, designers returned to the starting paddocks, using the latest motion-capturing technology to create a realistic look for the horses as they run.
The new version also includes an additional "sprint" course, with races contested over 30 seconds, instead of the regular 60.
End of Levy Board In Sight
U.K. Sports Minister Richard Caborn is expected to tell Parliament soon that the life of the Levy Board will be extended to September 2009, but that it will cease on March 31 of that year.
It will mean racing's major funding source through the bookmakers for over 40 years will finally end after years of speculation of its impending end.
A review group chaired by Lord Donoughue recommended a levy extension of three years from the latest DCMS deadline, which proposed September 2006 as the date for the Levy Board doors to close for the final time. The British Horseracing Board, the Levy Board's Bookmakers' Committee and independent members of the Levy Board collectively support the review group's findings.
MEC Announces Appointment
Magna Entertainment Corp. has announced the appointment of former Massachusetts governor and United States ambassador Paul Cellucci as its executive vice president of corporate development effective May 1, 2005. Cellucci recently completed his term as Ambassador of the United States to Canada, a post he has held since April 10, 2001. Prior to his appointment as ambassador, Cellucci served as governor of Massachusetts from July 1997 to April 2001.
New Pari-mutuel Deals for Sci Games
Scientific Games Corporation has announced three pari-mutuel agreements estimated to be worth a combined $6.2 million. Scientific Games Worldwide Limited and The Racing Network International have agreed to use SGW's worldwide tote hub in Ireland to commingle wagers from the United Kingdom, Ireland and mainland Europe back to U.S. host racetrack wagering pools that are TRNI customers. Over the last couple of years, TRNI has established U.S. racing as a commingled product in the United Kingdom and Ireland--markets that are predominantly served by bookmaking systems with fixed odds. TRNI provides the software and information systems that interface between the fixed-odds bookmaking systems and the tote interface enabling all bets to be commingled.
Sci Games also announced a deal with the U.K. Horserace Totalisator Board, which is purchasing 800 mini-terminals for racetracks, and with Denmark-based Dansk Tipstjeneste, which is purchasing a new central totalisator system.