Santa Anita Will Seek Fix for Will-Pay Confusion
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Santa Anita Park will work toward resolving an issue regarding inaccurate multi-race "will-pays" that came up before the last race of its opening-day card Dec. 26, according to Tim Ritvo, The Stronach Group's chief operating officer.
The source of confusion regarding the will-pays was the late scratch of Midnight Pleasure, who was 10-1 on the morning line. Money from scratched horses in the Pick 4 and Pick 5 automatically moves to the final favorite in the win pool. The way Santa Anita's tote system is set up, however, the money from the scratched horse is put on each horse in the will-pays to reflect what the payout would be if that horse ended up the favorite. The Pick 3 that ended with the final race Tuesday was not impacted the same way, because money on scratched horses for that wager brings back consolation payouts instead of being moved to the win-pool favorite.
Because the favorite, Spanish Hombre, won the race, the payout was accurate to the will-pay that was displayed for that horse. If any other horse would have won, the actual payout would have exceeded what was displayed in the will-pays, because the money from the scratched horse moved to the favorite.
BALAN: Santa Anita to Investigate Irregular Will-Pays
Ritvo said that conclusion was reached after talks with his own staff and consulting with the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau.
Ritvo said the current policy at Santa Anita was a shift from past practice, which didn't factor scratched money into the will-pays at all and created its own problems, when favorites won and payouts were less than what was displayed in posted will-pays.
The executive said he will seek a solution through the tote system that allows the scratched money to be put on whichever horse is favored in the win pool, and have it change live, should the favorite change.
"We need to figure something out, and the technology should allow us to figure something out," Ritvo said.
But that type of change could take time, so the short-term salve—although Ritvo said he "didn't like it"—would be to have the track announcer explain the will-pays should the same issue arise.
"The right thing to do, if it happened tomorrow, would be to have the announcer go on and explain how the will-pays would work," Ritvo said.
The Stronach Group owns AmTote International, the tote operator at Santa Anita and throughout California.