• Ahead of the upcoming film – 2Pac: The Great Escape From UMC, a brand-new survey asked people whether they believed Tupac is still alive
• 5.3% of the U.K. believed the conspiracy theory. Extrapolated, that’s 2.8 million people in the U.K.
• The survey also found strong support for the flat earth theory among millennials
To tie in with the upcoming film, 2Pac: The Great Escape from UMC, a brand new U.K. survey sought to find out just how many Brits believe the theory that Tupac never died.
Industry stakeholders urge fellow horseman to come together for a common goal.
The Belmont Stakes (G1) will indeed take place June 20. Not even the COVID-19 pandemic could stop it.
Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal’s River Boyne was retired from racing June 18 due to a sesamoid injury. The Irish-bred multiple graded stakes winner earned a total of $1,229,918 from a record of 9-5-4 in 25 starts.
Eye of Heaven will face off with The Lir Jet in the Norfolk Stakes (G2) for juveniles June 19 at Royal Ascot, while trainer Roger Varian has a strong hand in the Albany Stakes (G3) for 2-year-old fillies on the same card.
Horse owners will be allowed on grounds for racing at the Alameda County Fairgrounds for racing at Pleasanton.
Seeking the Soul, a grade 1 winner with earnings of more than $3.4 million, has been retired with a tendon injury, owner Charles Fipke said.
Gaining Ground Racing’s three-time stakes winner Factor This leads a field of 11 older horses in the $200,000 Wise Dan Stakes Presented by Ford (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Fasig-Tipton will offer online bidding for the first time at its upcoming Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Online bidding registration is now open.
Anthony Van Dyck has raced exclusively at group 1 level since winning the Investec Derby (G1) 12 months ago and the June 19 Hardwicke Stakes (G2) will be the first time he has competed away from the top echelon since Epsom.
California’s sports bettors have been given another week in which to sweat the fate of the legislature’s proposed mobile wagering bill.
Late Wednesday, the California state Senate Appropriations Committee canceled its Thursday hearing of Senate Constitutional Amendment 6 (SCA-6), which seeks a November ballot question on whether to authorize land-based and mobile sports betting via tribal casinos and state racetracks. The hearing was canceled “at the request of author” Sen. Bill Dodd.
A hearing on SCA-6 has been rescheduled for Tuesday, and if it receives a favorable vote from the Committee it will head to the Senate floor for a vote. Assuming that vote is positive, SCA-6 would then head to the state Assembly, although the Assembly’s last sitting day ahead of its summer recess is this Friday.
There’s a chance the Assembly might agree to reconvene for the purpose of approving SCA-6 and other bills currently dwelling in the Senate’s ‘Suspense File.’ There are a few other procedural arrows left in the quiver should the Assembly prefer to spend the summer lounging by the pool and avoiding COVID-19.
Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables, and Allen Racing’s Midnight Bisou completed her most serious preparation for the June 27, $200,000 Fleur de Lis Presented by Coca-Cola (G2) with a swift six-furlong breeze in 1:12 at Churchill Downs June 15.
Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables, and Allen Racing’s Midnight Bisou completed her most serious preparation for the June 27, $200,000 Fleur de Lis Presented by Coca-Cola (G2) with a swift six-furlong breeze in 1:12 at Churchill Downs June 15.
Trainers can receive up to $100 per Thoroughbred at Prairie Meadows, plus help to cover expenses incurred during the pandemic.
Illinois sports bettors finally have a locally licensed digital wagering option after Rush Street Interactive (RSI) launched its BetRivers.com online sportsbook.
On Thursday at 10am local time, BetRivers became the first online sportsbook to launch in Illinois, a little over one year after the state approved its sports betting legislation. The product is available via desktop computer, Android and iOS devices, although the bespoke iOS app has yet to be released.
RSI president Richard Schwartz said his group was “excited to make history” in Illinois just as some of the major sports leagues are returning following their COVID-19 suspension of play. Illinois is now the 11th US state (plus the District of Columbia) to launch some form of digital wagering.
RSI has teamed with Rivers Casino Des Plaines, which is owned by Churchill Downs Inc although gaming operations are managed by RSI’s parent firm Rush Street Gaming. Des Plaines was also the first Illinois casino to launch a retail sportsbook in March that lasted all of a week before Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered the state’s gaming venues to close their doors to minimize COVID-19 transmission.
Aidan O’Brien became the most successful trainer in the history of the Chesham Stakes June 18 at Royal Ascot, as the regally bred Battleground opened his account in listed company as the 11-4 favorite.
The Maryland Jockey Club announced June 18 that it informed the Maryland Racing Commission of its plans to prohibit the raceday usage of Lasix in races for 2-year-olds, the MJC said in a release.
Arlington International Racecourse and horsemen were unable to finalize a tentative contract agreement June 18, and the Illinois Racing Board gave them one more day to come to terms and salvage a summer racing season.
With the TVG.Com Haskell Stakes (G1) already offering a $1 million purse, points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, and a Breeders’ Cup Challenge berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), Monmouth Park is sweetening the pot even more.
Switzerland’s regulated online casino market isn’t yet a year old and it already has its first payment processing scandal.
On Wednesday, Swiss media reported that some customers of two locally licensed online casinos who funded their online accounts via PostFinance – the financial services unit of SwissPost – had woken up to the discovery that their PostFinance account balances were dramatically lower than the night before, some to the tune of “several tens of thousands of francs.”
The gamblers in question were customers of online casino sites Jackpots.ch and Casino777.ch, both of which are operated by Stadtcasino Baden Group and were among the first sites to launch in the country’s new regulated online gambling market. PostFinance is considered a socially responsible payment option with Swiss online casinos because accounts can’t be overdrawn.
It seems that a software update at PostFinance on March 17 meant that customers who transferred sums from PostFinance to the online casinos saw their funds deposited into the casino accounts without being debited from their PostFinance accounts. The technical hiccup reportedly lasted until the end of May.