Pat Cummings

The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (OHRC) has suspended the Sooner 6ix wager until further notice and all wagers on the Sooner 6ix placed Friday were to be refunded, according to a tweet from Remington Park. The decision stems from Remington's failure to pay out the Sooner 6ix jackpot Apr. 10 to horseplayer Jeff Arthur, who constructed what appeared to be a unique winning sequence using 2,016 combinations ($403.20 ticket cost) Apr. 10. Remington Park claimed that a dead-heat created a second winning ticket, thus nullifying the jackpot. Arthur instead was...

From the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation: Oklahoma-based Remington Park has failed to pay its single-ticket jackpot to a winning customer, claiming a dead-heat created a second winning ticket, negating the player's unique win. Horseplayer Jeff Arthur structured several non-overlapping tickets playing Remington's Sooner 6ix bet Friday, Apr. 10, 2020. One ticket, costing him $403.20 and including 2,016 combinations, was entered via Arthur's ADW account. An image of the ticket can be found here. Arthur received consolation payouts totaling $8,920, which was the total amount of that night's minor pool, and which...

'What happened to the organization once called "the FBI of racing?" TIF Note: We hope you are staying healthy during these challenging times for our world. Over the past months, we have published a series of reports questioning the state of transparency and integrity measures in North American racing. We have made some suggestions that, if implemented, would yield more open reporting in the hopes of creating a sport in which well-intentioned participants have more confidence. The following is another submission in this series. What questions might you have about...

Editor's Note: the following is part of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's weekly `Free-Data Friday' series. by Pat Cummings The federal indictments handed down on Monday, March 9 have rippled through the American racing industry, with every indication more are on the way. The results confirmed details which American horseplayers have accounted-for in their analysis over a long period. The veritable dean of those, Andy Beyer, used his platform in the Washington Post as the nation's horseplayer/columnist of record for decades to share his insights informed by observations and data. In...

Pat Cummings is Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation "Oh, the places you'll go," hoped Dr. Seuss. There are reasons to be optimistic about the future of Thoroughbred racing in North America. Our future could be far brighter than the present, but it is all very conditional. A massive effort to modernize the sport is needed. "Modernization" does not just imply technological or other sorts of novel innovation, but rather, change to long-standing practices that will improve the outcomes of our sport for all stakeholders--horses, owners, bettors, fans, etc....

Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Pat Cummings's comment on Pa. Governor Tom Wolf's plan to divert the bulk of funding from the Race Horse Development fund (representing about 90% of all purse monies in the state) was both courageous and spot on. For too long Pennsylvania racetracks and horsemen's organizations alike have focused their efforts almost exclusively on procuring annual revenues from slot machine proceeds, while doing little or nothing to build the racing business or promote the sport. In the long run, no state is going to prop up a dying...

This week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN's Writers' Room Podcast, Thoroughbred Idea Foundation Executive Director Pat Cummings, implored the racing industry to learn from what has happened in Pennsylvania and to end what he sees as decades of complacency. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has submitted a budget that calls for $204 million to be diverted from the state's Race Horse Development Fund and used for a program that would provide college scholarships for Pennsylvania residents. Should the money, which comes from slot machines proceeds, be taken...

The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation was formed to cultivate and put forth independent ideas to help Thoroughbred racing. Pat Cummings, the TIF's executive director, joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast this week, where the timely discussion centered on how the racing industry can sustain itself--the subject of the group's new white paper, and a particularly timely topic given this week's news from Pennsylvania. The writers discuss the Pa. situation and review last weekend's three-year-old preps. Listen to those topics and more, on this week's Writers' Room podcast by clicking here.

The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation was formed to cultivate and put forth independent ideas for the benefit of Thoroughbred racing. In this edition of the TDN Writers' Room podcast, TIF Executive Director Pat Cummings talks to Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, Jon Green and Alan Carasso about their new white paper on the sustainability of racing.

Editor's Note: the following is part of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's weekly `Free-Data Friday' series. #FreeDataFriday-VOLUME 16: CONFESSIONS OF A MILLENNIAL BETTOR AND DATA HOUND TIF Note: To those who control the keys to data in American racing--The Jockey Club, Equibase, Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America--and to the owners of Thoroughbreds who wish to continue racing, enjoying prize money and a more sustainable sport, we suggest you read this first-person account carefully, considering how these organizations can create a better future for engaging customers with vastly improved data offerings...

It's no secret that racing had a tough year in 2019. We asked a cross-section of participants what their number one goal is to make racing better in 2020. (Want to participate? Email suefinley@thetdn.com) PATRICK CUMMINGS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THOROUGHBRED IDEA FOUNDATION Despite the raft of negativity that has surrounded the sport in North America, racing on this continent suffers from a general malaise that can best be described as follows--we simply don't take our sport seriously enough. If we did, many of our smaller problems, head-scratching status-quo situations or even...