Page 3 - January 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
The Game, January 2005 3
2004 Woodbine Live Thoroughbred Season Recap
Woodbine Entertainment Group announced that the total wagering handle on Woodbine's 2004 167-day live Thoroughbred meet, which concluded Sunday, December 12, showed a slight decrease over the 2003 campaign.
A total of $338,349,988 was wagered in 2004, compared to the $347,433,630 recorded in 2003, a decrease of 2.61%.
The company noted that 33 less races were run in 2004 (1,522 in '04 compared to 1,555 in '03), making the year-on-year handle comparison nearly level (a 0.049% decrease).
"The live Woodbine Thoroughbred average per race wagering numbers in 2004 were virtually even compared to last year," said Hugh Mitchell, Senior Vice-President of Racing for Woodbine Entertainment Group. "The good news is, our export sales into the United States were up slightly over last year despite a stronger Canadian dollar. However, off-setting this increase was a softening of our Canadian sales due in large part to the poaching of some of our customers by the illegal on-line gaming operators."
Average field size at Woodbine rose to 8.6 horses this year from 8.1 horses per race in both 2002 and 2003.
Purses paid out in 2004 totaled just under $93 million versus $96 million paid last year.
In January, HorsePlayer Interactive launched HPIBET.com, the compa- ny's Internet wagering site.
The organization is buoyed by the success of the service, as wagering on Woodbine's live and simulcast Thoroughbred product through the HPIBET website and telephone account wagering totalled approximately $66 million, up from $55 million through the same period last year.
On track, several performances both equine and human were notable. Sam-Son Farm's Eye Of The Sphynx kicked off the major stakes
season with a 4 1/4-length victory over Touchnow in the Labatt Woodbine Oaks, Canada's top three- year-old filly race, on June 13.
Two weeks later, with Kentucky Derby winning jockey Stewart Elliott in town to ride Long Pond in the Queen's Plate, Chiefswood Stable's Niigon stole the show, hanging on to defeat The Two Bit Racing Stable's A Bit O'Gold in the 145th running of the storied race on June 27.
A Bit O'Gold turned the tables on Niigon, upsetting the Plate winner in the Prince of Wales, second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, at Fort Erie on July 20.
The Catherine Day Phillips-trainee went on to become the first horse since Runaway Groom in 1982 to win the Prince of Wales and Breeders' Stakes, the second and third jewel of three-races series, after missing out on the Plate.
Sam-Son Farm's Soaring Free continued his domination of Woodbine turf horses and finished off a few American invaders in the process, when he won the eighth edi- tion of the Atto Mile on September 14. The top five finishers in the key
turf mile were locally-based horses. Perhaps the finest Thoroughbred to set hoof at Woodbine in years landed at Woodbine in mid-October for a start in the 2004 edition of the Pattison Canadian International. Godolphin's Sulamani took the 1 1/2- mile turf event by 1 1/2-lengths over Simonas on October 19 in what, arguably, was the best performance by a turf horse in North America all
year.
Jockey Todd Kabel, trainer Sid
Attard, owner Sam-Son Farm and Soaring Free were Woodbine's meet leaders in 2004.
Kabel equaled a 38-year-old record with his 36th stakes victory of the season by guiding Enough Is Enough home first in the $134,875 Kingarvie Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday, the final day of the eight-month long meet.
The mark, number of stakes wins in a season by a jockey, was estab- lished by Avelino Gomez in 1966.
The 2005 live Thoroughbred racing season launches on Saturday, April 16.
Information provide by WEG’s Media Relations Department
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