Churchill Downs Schedules Pools for 2013 Kentucky Derby, Oaks Future Wager

Dec 20, 2012 John Asher

Churchill Downs Racetrack has established dates for three wagering pools for its Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”) and a single pool for its Kentucky Oaks Future Wager (“KOFW”) in 2013.

Scheduled dates for the trio of three-day, Friday-through-Sunday wagering pools in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager are:

• KDFW Pool 1: Feb. 8-10 (12 weeks in advance of Derby)
• KDFW Pool 2: March 1-3 (nine weeks in advance of Derby)
• KDFW Pool 3: March 22-24 (six weeks in advance of Derby)

The Kentucky Oaks Future Wager Pool for 2013 will run concurrently to the March 1-3 Derby Future pool.

The Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Future Wagers offer racing fans an opportunity to wager on potential contenders well in advance of those races at odds that could be significantly more attractive than those available on the days on which the classic American races for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds are run. The $2 million guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I) will be run for the 139^th consecutive year at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 4. The $1 million Kentucky Oaks (GI), America’s premier race for 3-year-old fillies, will be run in its traditional calendar location on Friday, May 3 – the eve of the “Run for the Roses.”

Wagering on the Kentucky Derby and Oaks Future bets will be offered at Churchill Downs and racetracks throughout North America; via TwinSpires.com, the official online wagering site of the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs Incorporated (“CDI”), and other advance deposit wagering (“ADW”) sites; and at simulcast centers and off-track wagering sites.

The Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which was launched in 1999, will be offered for the 15^th consecutive year. The Kentucky Oaks Future Wager is entering its 11^th year and for the fifth consecutive year as a single-pool wager. The future bet for the Oaks was introduced in 2003.

The Kentucky Derby Future Wager is coming off one of its most successful years as a combined $1,470,019 was wagered in its three 2012 pools. The 2012 betting total was the fourth largest in KDFW history and reflected a wagering increase of 7.9% over the three-pool total of $1,362,101 in 2011. The total was the largest since the wager shifted to its current three-day, Friday-through-Sunday format in 2010. KDFW pools had been four-day events prior to that change.

Kentucky Oaks fans wagered $92,476 during the three days of 2012 Kentucky Oaks Future betting, which was the third-highest wagering total during the five years that the Oaks wager was conducted in a three-day format.

Churchill Downs Racetrack made adjustments in the scheduling of the Derby and Oaks Futures pools in 2012, establishing its pool schedules a week or two in advance of most of the major preps for the big races at Churchill Downs. The intent was to present KDFW and KOFW pools that were more true to the “future wager” concept and completed before the preps viewed as most significant by fans and Derby owners and trainers.

“We were very encouraged by the strength of our Kentucky Derby Future Wager pools in 2012, and our 2013 Kentucky Derby and Oaks Future bet schedules were formulated along those same lines,” said Churchill Downs President Kevin Flanery. “We think and hope that there will be continued growth in interest in both races as racing fans of all types and skill levels follow the new point systems for the ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’ and ‘Road to the Kentucky Oaks’ that will for the first time determine which horses will compete in those races. We believe that the curiosity about the new Derby and Oaks eligibility systems could shine a brighter-than-usual spotlight on the preps leading up to both races and both Future Wagers could benefit from growing fan interest and expanded media coverage.”

Each pool of the Derby and Oaks wagers feature 24 wagering interests that include 23 individual horses and a mutuel field, known by many fans as the “All Others” bet. The KDFW mutuel field, listed as #24 on the roster of each pool’s respective betting interests, features all 3-year-olds other than the 23 individual Thoroughbreds in the pool. The “All Others” bet in the Oaks pool, also listed as #24, features all 3-year-old fillies other than the 23 individual horses on that pool’s betting roster.

Both wagers offer $2-minimum win betting and exacta wagering, which is available in the form of $2 minimum straight exacta bets or $1-minimum exacta boxes and part-wheels. No scratches or betting refunds are permitted in either wager, but wagering on a Derby or Oaks Future Wager horse will be suspended immediately if Churchill Downs determines that injury, illness or other circumstance revealed during a pool would prevent a horse from competing in their respective race.

The victory by Reddam Racing LLC’s I’ll Have Another in the 2012 Kentucky Derby in KDFW $2 win payouts of $60.20 in Pool 1, $46.20 in Pool 2 and $45.60 in the third and final pool. A $2 win wager on Kentucky Derby Day on I’ll Have Another returned $32.60.

Exacta payouts on the I’ll Have Another-Bodemeister 1-2 finish returned $306.60 on Derby Day, while the KDFW exacta returned $257.80 on Pool 1 (a 13-24 exacta in which Bodemeister was a member of the “All Others” mutuel field), $1,661 in Pool 2 (12-3) and $1,351.40 in Pool 3 (10-2).

Brereton C. Jones’ homebred Believe You Can returned $29.60 for a $2 win bet on the 2012 Kentucky Oaks and the exacta with runner-up Broadway’s Alibi (9-6) paid $173. Believe You Can’s mutuel payout in the lone 2012 Kentucky Oaks Future Wager pool was $74.80 and the 4-24 exacta combination with runner-up Broadway’s Alibi (a member of the KOFW mutuel field) returned $378.40. 

The fields for the three Kentucky Derby Future Wager pools and the single Kentucky Oaks Futures pool will be selected by a panel of racing officials and journalists. Information on the Kentucky Derby is available online at the official event Web site at www.KentuckyDerby.com and real-time odds will be presented on that site throughout each 2013 three-day pool. The Kentucky Oaks’ official event Web site is www.KentuckyOaks.com. Real time odds will be presented on that site throughout the 2013 KOFW pool. 

Churchill Downs, the world’s most legendary racetrack, has conducted Thoroughbred racing and presented America’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, continuously since 1875. Located in Louisville, the flagship racetrack of Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ: CHDN) also operates Trackside at Churchill Downs, which offers year-round simulcast wagering at the historic track. Churchill Downs will conduct the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 4, 2013 and its 2013 Spring Meet is scheduled for April 27-June 30. The track has hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships a record eight times. Information about Churchill Downs can be found on the Internet at www.ChurchillDowns.com.

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