FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT LOS ALAMITOS PUBLICITY
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FREAKY CREATES RARE MINUS WIN POOL IN TRIAL VICTORY
CYPRESS, CA. - JANUARY 31, 2010 - World Champion Freaky was such an overwhelming
favorite to win his 2010 debut his Saturday's trial to the Grade 1 $228,450 Los
Alamitos Winter Championship that he created an ultra rare Quarter Horse minus
win pool of approximately $67 in the race. A minus pool is caused when one horse
is so heavily played that, after deductions of state tax and commission, there
is not enough money left to pay the legally prescribed minimum on each winning
bet. The racing association, in this case Los Alamitos, had to make up the
difference. Place and show wagering was not offered in the Freaky race.
Many longtime observers of Los Alamitos racing were left scratching their heads
trying to recall the last time a minus win pool occurred at the Orange County
track. It could be that Freaky's race might be the first minus win pool at Los
Alamitos. Freaky was the 1-9 favorite in his trial race. He will be back in
action on Saturday, February 20 to compete in the Los Alamitos Winter
Championship final.
Minus win pools are rare but do occur every so often in Thoroughbred racing,
almost always by a legendary runner. Some of breed's greatest and most famous
horses have created minus win pools. Early in her 3-year-old year, eventual
Eclipse Award winner Rachel Alexandra caused a $3,382 minus win pool in the
Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park on April of 2009. Rachel Alexandra, the Horse of
the Year last year, also created a minus win pool of $18,698 in the Mother Goose
held at Belmont Park last June. Other runners to have created minus win pools
over the years at Belmont Park are Count Fleet ($15,912) in 1943, Arts And
Letters ($5,783) in 1969, Spectacular Bid ($19,500) in 1979, and Serena's Song
($25,923) in 1995.
On June 30, 1973 and three weeks after he won the Triple Crown, Secretariat
scored a nine-length win in the Arlington Invitational Stakes at Arlington Park,
where he was sent off at the shortest odds in his career, 1-20. With no place or
show wagering on the four-horse race, which was run with a three-horse field
against Secretariat, the track had a minus win pool of $17,941.
Other famous minus win pools include Ruffian's victory in the April 30, 1975
Comely Stakes at Aqueduct. In the 1968 Whitney, Dr. Fager gave up 18 pounds to
each of the horses in the field and breezed home victorious. This was the first
minus win pool in the history of racing at Saratoga. On April 22, 1976, Florida
Derby winner Honest Pleasure created a minus win pool of $41,876 in the Blue
Grass Stakes as the 1-10 favorite at Keeneland. In the 2005 Golden Bear
Breeder's Cup at Golden Gate Fields, Lost In The Fog created a minus win pool of
$20,761.
In harness racing, Park Avenue Joe and Probe produced the only minus win pool in
the Hambletonia when they dead-heated for the win in the 1989 Hambletonian. Both
horses paid $2.10 to win.
***
Gianni Samaja's Good Reason SA, the PCQHRA Champion 2-Year-Old and the winner of
the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in 2009, underwent on Saturday what AQHA
Champion Trainer Paul Jones described as "very minor, clean up surgery" to take
care of bone chips. Good Reason SA's victory in the "Deuce" gave him the honor
of winning the nation's richest Quarter Horse in 2009.
The colt by Favorite Trick will be out of action for a couple of months before
returning to action later in the year according to Jones.
***
TVG will air the new "Los Alamitos Weekend Preview Show" on Friday mornings with
host Ed Burgart and the Dr. Les Onaka. Check your TVG program listing for the
start time for this new show.
Ed and Les will preview the Friday Los Alamitos card and will analyze the Pick 4
races. Plus there'll be interviews with top horsemen, stakes previews, and
statistical analysis. The "Los Alamitos Big Weekend Preview Show" will play in
place of the customary "Los Alamitos Replay Show" that would have featured
Thursday's replays. Los Alamitos is currently dark on Thursday nights until the
2-year-olds are ready to race in April.
The "Los Alamitos Weekend Preview Show" will also be available at
www.losalamitos.com.