I thought it was a good time to dust off “At the Gate” a column I first wrote for Turf ‘n’ Sport for nearly two decades followed by landing on Vegas Insider daily from 2007 to 2021. Damn, I’m old.
Full transparency, for all of those years I could say whatever I wanted, often critical of many of the movers and shakers of the industry. Today, I have to be a bit more measured when I criticize the industry. (But my DM’s are always open). I didn’t make any friends but was not looking for any. I just wanted a fair shake for myself and my fellow horseplayers. Most of the time, we didn’t get it.
At the Gate with Michael Dempsey
Michael Dempsey is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Iron Bets. A longtime degenerate horseplayer, Michael wrote a daily betting column for Vegas Insider for 15 years, was a featured columnist at Bleacher Report, the horse racing guru at Odds Shark, handicapper at Trackmaster/Equibase and founder and Editor-in-Chief at Turf ‘n’ Sport. Contact Michael by clicking here.
And here we are in 2025, and it is not any better. In fact, by most metrics, it is far worse. It is nearly impossible for an average horseplayer not to get their ass handed to them playing the ponies day in and day out.
In addition, many of the key issues I wrote about 20+ years ago are still with us.
The easiest thing for me to do, and what my better half suggested, was to just buy a six-pack of 30A Beach Blonde Ale beer every day and sit at the beach.
I had collected enough winner’s circle photos, bet enough races, written about the big races while “working” 50-60 hours a week for a few decades. She gave me sage advice. Crack a beer and bury my feet (and head) in the sand. A no brainer, right?
But nah, it’s not in my DNA. So instead, we came up with the crazy idea of starting up a new horse racing betting platform. One where the horseplayer is always first.
Not an easy task in a declining industry where you literally have to rely on your competition to operate. But here we are, in our eighth month, continuing to grow and trying to live up to our mission statement.
We have plenty of enhancements to our betting platform in the pipeline and our goal is to make betting on horses fun and profitable again.
That might be a pipedream, but I am just not ready to crack that beer quite yet.
Mother Nature Wreaks Havoc on Spa
Mother Nature was not kind to the Triple Crown this year, forcing NYRA into some tough decisions on Belmont Stakes Day. The cancelations of two of the G1 turf races eliminated the Pick 6 and late Pick 4 and Pick 5, costing the track millions in handle and frustrating horseplayers.
The biggest problem that needs a quick solution is the antiquated tote system. It can’t just be reracked to create new bets on the fly but should be.
While handle took a big hit on Saturday, down $25 million, NYRA did see increases on Friday and Sunday so it was not as bad as it could have been.
Postponing the two races to Sunday seemed like the best option. Would moving the entire card to Sunday been the right move? Likely some of those turf races would have still needed to be moved to the main track, and moving Sunday’s card to Monday certainly would not have produced the same handle ($9 million).
Mother Nature handed NYRA a shit sandwich, and under the circumstances did the best they could.
It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint
In this age of Tik Tok videos, Reels, and most younger people having the attention span of a gnat, what is the ideal length of a racecard on a big day?
The Belmont Stakes card kicked off with a first post of 10:47am ET and the last race went off at 8:05 pm. That’s nine hours and 18 minutes.
The Preakness Stakes card started at 10:35 am ET and the last race went off at 7:48.
The Kentucky Derby card kicked off at 11:04 am ET and the final race went off at 8:36.
The argument is the three tracks need extra time to avoid long lines of bettors, some inexperienced or new to the track, placing their bets.
Racetracks need to embrace technology, encouraging players to use self-service machines and apps on phones to get their bets in. Then shorten these cards.
Major League Baseball has been successful in shortening games, going from an average of three hours and three minutes before the pitch clock to an average of two hours and 36 minutes in 2024.
Seriously, I could not have been the only one that caught a quick nap between races.
“Commish” Wearing Thin?
Owner Mike Repole, the self-appointed “Commish” of horse racing has taken aim at just about every facet of the industry, insulting everyone from the Jockey Club, Breeders’ Cup, NTRA, horseplayers, other owners, and random dudes on X.
His latest was taking some barbs at Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick. Reading his X feed has become exhausting. He has now been at this for what, 18 months? Other than taking shots at people in the industry, where are the results? What’s the plan?
Where is the fierceness? Too soon?
Royal Ascot Kicks Off June 17
Royal Ascot is one of my favorite meets of the year. I somehow manage to turn a profit just about every year, although I lack the confidence to step up the wagering because I feel like I just don’t have a full grasp of many of the participants.
You can find some great content at the Racing Post, At the Races, and Timeform. And free past performances and data at Racing and Sports.
For each day of the meeting from next Tuesday until Saturday, we are offering a FREE $20 wager if you bet $250 on the card any day of the meeting.
Final Thoughts
And to close out this reboot of At the Gate I would like to repeat something that I have written many, many times over the years:
Jackpot bets suck.
Ah, that felt good.
