Very little has been written about actual horse race RESULT manipulation. Conversely a lot has been written about individuals accused of manipulating an individual race horse, normally in an effort to improve the horses performance.. Over or illegal medications get most of the press. These are two very different subjects. What follows is what I know to be truths regarding race result manipulation and manipulation of individual horses.

Are horse race’s fixed? Yes some are.
How many are fixed? More than you may think!
As a horseplayers, how can we wager and expect to win if the race is fixed? You can not win a race that is “fixed”.

I have been very fortunate to have spent many hours on the subject of race result fixing with some of the best “minds” in the horse wagering business. I have had the privilege of discussing the issue of result fixing with them. Here is what I have learned from them as well as my personal experiences with race result “fixing”. Trainers, jockeys, horse owners,and track personnel, are understandably unwilling to discuss the topic.

How are race results fixed? Jockeys fix most races.

Here is how it is done… The jockey colony at most race tracks is a very close knit group. Smaller and mid size tracks are the most often victims of race result manipulation. Large tracks are not immune however.

Often as many as 5 or more jockeys in a given race will agree, long before the race, that the favorite and the second choice will not “hit the board” in a particular race. Jockeys normally make two wagers. They purchase win tickets on the horse, or sometimes two horses that they know will be “allowed ‘ to win the race. The reason two horses are bet to win is because they realize something could go wrong with one horse or the other. One may “take a bad step” and not be able to complete the race, unseat the jockey, etc. Jockeys as you know, are not allowed to make wagers themselves. Family or friends make the wagers for them. Again this is a very close group. Sometimes they place their wagers at OTB’s or thru the internet but most often in person, at the track, at the wagering machines located thru out the track. Most are $20.00-$50.00 win wagers placed many times over. You maybe able to spot this type of race result manipulation in the inequities on the odds board with the morning line estimate. A horse listed as 10=1 on the ML that is sitting at 5-2 may be jockey money. It may not be. I will tell you how to tell the difference a bit later.

They also place trifecta wagers on the same race. Again using the auto machines, the trifecta ticket is often “boxed” leaving the favorite and the second choice off the ticket. Occasionally the horse(s) that have been bet to win are keyed in the trifecta but the preferred wager is the trifecta box. With the favorite and second choice OFF of the trifecta tickets. In normal wagering pools, 90% of the trifecta tickets will have the 1st and/or 2nd choice horses on the trifecta ticket. The other 10% of the trifecta tickets that do not include the favorite or second choice are the people betting favorite numbers, birthdays, zip codes, etc. and sometimes, jockeys!

A $2.00 trifecta that pays $200.00 with the favorite and second choice “out” is simply, race result manipulation.

Exacta “will pays” as well as daily double will pays are shown on the monitors at the track. Trifecta “will pays” are not shown on the track monitors,, More recently the superfecta has also become a victim of result manipulation as the superfecta will pays are not available on the track monitors. The post time favorite and second choice are often boxed in or stuck behind horses and do not hit the board. We at the Whitley Group watch dozens of replays daily, not for the troubled start or bad trip that’s available to anyone that purchases the Form, but for the trifecta that pays much less than it should with the favorite out. It is time consuming but we believe worth the effort. We wait anxiously for the horse or horses that were very short price at post time and were not allowed to run. We bet these horse next time out and make our clients aware the race they are exiting is suspect.

This is how we do it. Loran, a valued Whitley Group partner, may find three to five races per week that the trifecta payouts are out of line! After watching the replays Loran then brings the suspect race to my attention for my evaluation. An average of four races each week are “red flagged” as race result manipulation. This is a large number of races possibly being fixed. A lot of people lost a lot of money! There is no way I know of to be privy to this race result scandal prior to post time. If you happen to bet one of theses races your probably going to lose. We at The Whitley Group will let you know what race was suspect, which horses were not allowed to run, and when they are going to run again.

Next time I will tell you how, when, and where individual horses performances are manipulated and how we can profit from it.

Sorry its not in DRF “FORMULATOR” trainer stats.