Churchill Downs Boycott May be Taking Hold as Kentucky Oaks Handle Dips

Written by :

Aaron Goldstein

Published on :

3 May, 2014

This year’s Kentucky Oaks handle fell nearly 6% as revealed by Churchill Downs Saturday, making some wonder if a much publicized call to boycott Churchill Downs is starting to have some negative impact.

The company that owns Churchill Downs claims they are in the poor house.

As such wagers on Win, Place, and Show were raised from 16% takeout to 17.5% takeout in recent days, this as executive compensations were raised.

Gambling911.com’s own Thomas Somach spoke to famed trainer Roger Stein who also echoed the sentiment for a boycott.

"These greedy fucks are ruining our game," Stein told Somach.

And this may have been demonstrated with the drop in handle at Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, which featured the most dominant horse (and now champion), Untapable.

Wagering from all-sources on the full 12-race Kentucky Oaks Day race card fell 5.7 percent to $43.2 million.

The track lost some business part of the week because of a lack of a simulcasting agreement with the company that represents Nevada casinos. Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher said the deal with the Nevada casinos was done in time for the entire Friday Kentucky Oaks Day card.

2014 Kentucky Derby Post Positions Odds 3:15 pm EDT May 3, 2014
Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
1	VACANT
2	Vicar's In Trouble	Rosie Napravnik	Mike Maker	31-1
3	Harry's Holiday	Corey Lanerie	Mike Maker	61-1
4	Uncle Sigh	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Gary Contessa	41-1
5	Danza	Joe Bravo	Todd Pletcher	10-1
6	California Chrome	Victor Espinoza	Art Sherman	+225
7	Samraat	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	12-1
8	We Miss Artie	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	52-1
9	General A Rod	Joel Rosario	Mike Maker	23-1
10	Vinceremos	Joe Rocco Jr.	Todd Pletecher	50-1
11	Wildcat Red	Luis Saez	Jose Garoffalo	23-1
12	Dance With Fate	Corey Nakatani	Peter Eurton	26-1
13	Chitu	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	31-1
14	Medal Count	Robby Albarado	Dale Romans	18-1
15	Tapiture	Ricardo Santana Jr.	Steve Asmussen	16-1
16	Intense Holiday	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	8-1
17	Commanding Curve	Shaun Bridgmohan	Dallas Stewart	31-1
18	Candy Boy	Gary Stevens	John Sadler	21-1
19	Ride On Curlin	Calvin Borel	William G. Gowan	15-1
20	Wicked Strong	Rajiv Maragh	James A. Jerkens	8-1

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com

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