New ‘High Five’ wager might prove problematic

I'm as big a fan of innovation as you'll find in horse racing. That's one reason why I like the current crew guiding the ship at Santa Anita. They've done a lot of good things. Their popular race meet begins on its traditional opening day, Dec. 26, the day after Christmas.

However, this doesn't mean one blindly can gush over new ideas, especially if they don't pass the smell test. One new idea that I totally disagree with is the "Super High Five" wager.

According to a Santa Anita news release, to win the Super High Five you must select the first five finishers in a race in exact order. It's a $1 minimum bet and will be offered only on the last race of the day. There is no consolation payout, so if no one has a perfect ticket, the entire pool carries over to the next day.

I suspect the carry-over pool will grow slowly. With no guarantee or seed money in the pot, you would have to be an idiot to bet into the pool early on.

Interest will increase as the carry-over grows. When the pot gets large, the betting syndicates will jump in, and that's where trouble could occur. For example, the day that an odds-on favorite finishes sixth or worse and a big syndicate wins the entire six-figure pool, horseplayers will be grumbling that the race was fixed. The sport doesn't need that.

The Super High Five would be an easier bet to manipulate than a multi-race wager. That's because you need only one horse, the favorite, to run badly to make a life-changing score.

I know the final race will be run under even more scrutiny of the stewards. However, that leads to another problem: demanding jockeys to ride hard to the wire to finish in the first five places.

It's common knowledge in racing that if a jockey can't win, or run second, there is a tendency to let up and save the horse for the next start. Most owners and trainers don't mind. It's humane to save the horse for another day. Stewards will use their discretion if the connections don't mind and it doesn't affect the betting public.

Now, because of the Super High Five, the betting public will be affected. The stewards now must compel jockeys to ride hard for fourth and fifth place. This is problematic because at the end of any race, all of the horses are exhausted. Just to differing degrees. If I were an owner or trainer, I would not want my horse abused, or possibly injured, just to run fifth.

I hope my concerns are pure Pollyanna. I'm 100 percent behind ideas that cultivate newcomers and keep big horseplayers happy. But in a sport with more troubling issues than a migraine headache, why potentially create even more of them?

Richard Eng's horse racing column is published Friday. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.