Monmouth Park officials have announced that the track will partner with the Colonial Downs thoroughbred racetrack in Virginia over the next six Mondays to offer a Monday “Mid-Atlantic Pick 4” — a 50-cent wager that will link two races from both tracks.
Monmouth Park also is adding Monday racing starting with an Aug. 1 card, and will be on a four-day Friday-through-Monday racing schedule through Labor Day, Sept. 5.
The Monday Mid-Atlantic Pick 4 race sequence will alternate Monmouth Park, Colonial, Monmouth Park, Colonial. Monmouth Park will always have the first race in the sequence and Colonial will always have the last race.
The takeout will be a relatively modest 15%, and the races will take place between 3:30-5:30 p.m.
“Monmouth Park has never been afraid to try new things and we’re thankful for Colonial Downs’ partnership in this new Pick 4,” Monmouth Park Racing Secretary John Heims said in a statement. “Our goal is to make the Monday Mid-Atlantic Pick 4 the featured bet of the day nationwide. With a low 15 percent takeout and big-field turf races to choose from, we’re excited to see how the betting public reacts to this new wager.”
Each week there will be a special Monday Mid-Atlantic Pick 4 betting/handicapping segment on the In the Money podcast featuring Peter Fornatale, Nick Tammaro, and Colonial’s Jessica Paquette. The segment will be released each Monday morning, and can be viewed on the In the Money Media Youtube channel or at InTheMoneyPodcast.com.
The Monday Mid-Atlantic Pick 4 wager is a separate pool, and will be listed on self-service machines as “MIDATLANTP4.”
The Monmouth Park-Colonial Downs alliance is not the only multi-state Pick-4 available.
This isn’t quite New Jersey news, but reaching into a neighboring state, Saratoga Race Course plans to offer multi-state Pick 4’s and Pick 5’s throughout its summer meet. Last Saturday, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) offered a Cross Country Pick 5 that featured three graded stakes at Monmouth, including the Grade I Haskell.
Cyberknife’s upset in the Haskell contributed to an $11,140.25 payout on a $0.50 wager. This Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 features three races from Saratoga, including the Grade I Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and the Grade 3 Jim Dandy Stakes.
The Pick 5 features NYRA’s standard $0.50 base bet and a 15% takeout rate.
Playtech, which bills itself as “the world’s leading gambling technology company,” has announced the signing of a new multi-state agreement in the U.S. with 888 Holdings, best-known for such brands as 888, William Hill, Mr. Green, and SI Sportsbook. As part of the deal, Playtech will provide its live casino and random number generator (RNG) games to 888 Casino starting in New Jersey — with other states to follow.
This new deal expands upon previous agreements with 888 Casino where Playtech delivered its live casino and RNG content to the operator in several other legal and regulated markets.
Golden Nugget casino still has up on the Atlantic City Expressway a billboard promoting Dionne Warwick’s May 10 show as well as an April 30 show that was scheduled to feature 1960s pop stars Frankie Avalon, Fabian, and Bobby Rydell.
Sadly, Rydell died on April 5 just weeks shy of his 80th birthday.
But casino officials took to social media this week to explain that they are well aware of the dated billboard.
In a Tuesday post, a casino spokesperson said, “For those who have been wondering, we are aware of our outdated entertainment billboard on the AC expressway. Golden Nugget is doing our part in helping to conserve our local wildlife, the Ospreys.
“The endangered bird is currently nesting on top of our billboard, and we will have to wait until nesting season is over, after September 1, to change the message on this board. Thank you for your understanding!”
It turns out that a group of Jersey Shore birds decided that the billboard was an ideal place to build nests.
Photo: Peter Ackerman/USA TODAY