Gulfstream Park’s Racing Week; Kentucky Derby Stats

Gulfstream Park will start its 4 day race week Thursday, with an 8 race agenda, and a 1:05 PM first post time. Last post is about 4:55 PM at the Hallandale, Fla. race track.

In Sunday’s racing action – the last live racing day – 76 starters competed for $405,000 in purse money in 10 races.

Bettors wagered $5.94 million in total handle from all-sources.

Five favorites won their races, three of them in the Rainbow 6 races (the last 6 races each day). The Rainbow 6 wager garnered $110,443 in bets, with a payout of $319.76 to each of 193 bettors.

Since no single winner emerged, the Rainbow 6 will have a carryover Thursday of $135,184

Gulfstream is seeding the existing carryover with a $200,000 minimum guarantee gross (before takeout) pool for Thursday’s Rainbow 6 wager. The Super Hi-5 wager has a carryover of $4,358. That is a $1.00 wager to be run in the first race with 7 or more starters.

We did not post last weekend due to our travel schedule to South Florida to attend the Gulfstream Park racing venue with friends.

The Kentucky Derby certainly did not disappoint from an entertainment aspect. Many bettors felt differently no doubt, with the major upset win by Rich Strike.  Wagering was up from the 2021 contest. Win-Place-Show handle was up 9% or $6.17 million to $75.6 million. Two other popular wagers; the Exacta and Trifecta were also ahead in wagering dollars by +16% to $25.8 million, and +8% to $32.8 million respectively over the 2021 betting.

The 2020 Kentucky Derby handle was seriously lower due to the Covid-19 restrictions and perhaps the change of racing date from May to September that year. If you use 2019 for a fairer comparison to 2022, then Derby handle increased just a little; by aboyut $8 million including Win-Place-Show, Exacta and Trifecta wagering. That’s about a 6% increase.

What’s that tell us? Probably that there is a loyal “core” of Kentucky Derby bettors that show up every year, while the new wagering public is fairly static or non-committed. If you see it differently, give us a shout by posting a comment.

Thanks for reading!

 

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