Beyer: The worst bad-beat story of all time

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by Cardus

Your track posted a will pay for Tsavo winning the race that was incorrect, regardless of the reason.

Sure you did something wrong, Travis. How could you say otherwise?

It was correct data at the time of the posting and calculation of the probables. It's technically not a will pay... it's a probable. An additional scratch of any other horse live to the Jackpot between its initial cycle and race time would have had the same impact.

[Travis Stone]

Just one more note... this was all a nasty set of circumstances that I wish never would have happened. I know of partners who have six figures worth of reasons to agree and another who might not because he/she backed into a $12k payoff. That said, because it happened, we can now look to make adjustments going forward.

I do think there is a general public perception that those who run racing don't care. We see it all the time with the endless barrage of jabs toward NYRA and other racing entities. In reality, I have never met anyone who works at a racetrack that doesn't care about the sport or wants it to succeed, and the same applies here.

I promise you that everyone in my office, in our racing office and beyond would have rather seen the Jackpot get distributed versus having to deal with what happened. But like I said, hopefully we can figure out the right solution and get it implemented as soon as possible.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by Travis Stone

I do think there is a general public perception that those who run racing don't care. We see it all the time with the endless barrage of jabs toward NYRA and other racing entities. In reality, I have never met anyone who works at a racetrack that doesn't care about the sport or wants it to succeed, and the same applies here.

Are there criticisms of racing entities that are without foundation? Absolutely. However, there are critiques of racing operations, customer service, etc., that are completely valid and are never addressed. That they are never addressed can probably be attributed to one of two factors: indifference or incompetence. I'm not sure which is worse.

That said, in this case, I don't attribute the result to either: it's one of the unintended consequences of these relatively new jackpot-type wagers.

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by Cardus

I'd like to believe what I highlighted above is true, but then there is this paragraph from the column:

"Kennedy phoned Louisiana Downs and was told that another ticket had been sold on the combination at Arlington Park, but he couldn’t get a clear explanation. "Everybody was blowing me off and telling me to grin and bear it," he said."

A quote like this -- I have no idea if it is accurate or not -- certainly adds to that perception.

He called my office before I even made it downstairs after the last race. I was on the phone with him within an hour, and at least three or four times after that. Same with our Dir. of Operations. I then followed-up the next day.

I do think he was sort of stuck in "switchboard" land at one point... sometimes they have a hard time figuring out where to send racing guests. But everyone here knows... I like to play the races too and so I totally understood what he was going through and promised him I would find the answer.

[3kings]

Originally Posted by Cardus

I'd like to believe what I highlighted above is true, but then there is this paragraph from the column:

"Kennedy phoned Louisiana Downs and was told that another ticket had been sold on the combination at Arlington Park, but he couldn’t get a clear explanation. "Everybody was blowing me off and telling me to grin and bear it," he said."

A quote like this -- I have no idea if it is accurate or not -- certainly adds to that perception.

His perception of how he was dealt with was certainly skewed by him being miffed at his percieved shortage. I'm sure this was compounded by no one being able to give him a definitive answer.

I'm not sure anyone's feelings at that time could be an accurate depiction of what happened.