Triple Crown hopeful's injury leads to fewer winning tickets in race
A worst-case race scenario for Barbaro resulted in a dark day for a lot of bettors when the dust settled after the Preakness.
Barbaro, the runaway winner of the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, went off as the heavy 1-2 favorite but never made it to the first turn Saturday.
The 3-year-old colt suffered two life-threatening fractures above and below the ankle of his right rear leg.
Surgery is scheduled for today.
A majority of bettors played Barbaro in some sort of wager because he seemed to be a near-lock to finish in the money.
"The whole race was based around Barbaro, and there were a lot of wagers with him in the mix," Wynn Las Vegas race book director John Avello said. "How can you not? The horse never lost a race.
"If he doesn't win the race, he finishes second easily. But we'll never know. There were not a lot of people cashing on this race."
Bernardini, with 12-1 odds at post time, won the Preakness as Sweetnorthernsaint finished second. A $2 exacta ticket paid $171.60.
Barbaro was touted as a legitimate Triple Crown threat, and Avello said that type of hype always increases the handle on a race.
"The conversation keeps the bettors coming out, and they were out today. This is what a horse like this does, it brings people out," Avello said. "It wasn't the Derby, but it was good."
But as a fan of the sport, Avello said it was "depressing" to see Barbaro leave the track with his life in danger.
"You hate to see that happen in any horse race, nevertheless with a horse running toward the Triple Crown," he said. "The horse never had a chance to prove if he could do it or couldn't do it."
Avello said his book made out reasonably well on proposition betting, and he was seeing heavy two-way action on whether Barbaro would win the Triple Crown.
The second-biggest surprise from the race was Hemingway's Key, a 29-1 shot, finishing third.
"It was a difficult race to bet because you had two horses that looked like they shouldn't be in there at all, and one of them finished third," Avello said.
The next big race of the year -- the Belmont Stakes on June 10 -- could feature a favorite at 3-1 or higher.
"The Belmont is going to be such a wide-open betting race," Avello said. "It could be an excellent betting race. I don't expect to see any horse at a real short price."
source : Las Vegas Review-Journal
