Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., has canceled its quinella wager, effective immediately, after evidence emerged that one of the bet’s pools was manipulated in the first race on Nov. 11, the track’s parent company said on Tuesday. In the race, a seven-horse maiden-claiming field, the quinella had total handle of $24,280, according to the chart. Typically at Gulfstream, the quinella draws only several thousand dollars of wagers. 1/ST Racing and Gaming, the owner of Gulfstream, said in a statement that the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau and “other agencies” are conducting an investigation into the incident. The TRPB is an investigative agency owned by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, a racetrack trade group that includes a wagering integrity unit. Curtis Linnell, the head of the wagering integrity unit, declined to comment on the particulars of the manipulation but he said in a statement released by 1/ST that “there is no indication at this time of malfeasance by any participants in the race itself.” The 1/ST statement said that an “account” from which the bets were made was closed and that they have identified the player who made the bets. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. “Integrity and safety are the two cornerstones of 1/ST’s foundation, and we are continuing to thoroughly review all actions associated with this incident,” said Aidan Butler, the chief executive officer of the company. Patrick Cummings, the head of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, said in an interview on Tuesday that he alerted Gulfstream to the unusual pool last weekend. Cummings frequently monitors betting activity at many tracks in search of unusual betting activity. Cummings said he believed that a player or syndicate of players placed large wagers on quinellas using the longest shot in the race in order to drive up the price on a specific combination in the pool that did not use the longshot. The player or players then bet the favored combination at bookmakers in foreign markets, which typically pay out at the posted price. In the race, the 11-10 favorite, Glass Star, led wire to wire and posted a 2 3/4-length victory. The 4-1 second choice finished second. The longest-priced horse in the win pool, Miss Grand Slam, who was 43-1, finished fourth. The irony of such a strategy is that the scheme ends up driving up payouts to the pari-mutuel players who bet the favored combination. In this case, the quinella paid $42.40 on a $2 bet, for merely putting the first choice and the second choice together. Cummings said he had information that showed that the player or players bet $18,000 in the quinella pool to drive up the prices. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures “Basically, they’re sacrificing $18,000,” Cummings said. For the manipulation to be profitable, the bettors would probably have had to spread bets among multiple offshore bookmakers, which generally cap payouts and often refuse to pay out on races where there is evidence of pool manipulation. In the past year, several huge betting exchanges have reopened in Asia. The strategy of pumping money into pools to boost the payout on a favored horse or combination has several precedents over the past decade, including two instances at Thistledown racetrack in Ohio in 2012 and 2014 in which a player or players pumped up the win prices on every horse in a race but the favorite. Typically, bettors who use the strategy need small pools to make the scheme work. Technically, the scheme is not illegal. Cummings said that the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation would release an analysis of the manipulation later on Tuesday and call for all tracks to cancel their quinella wagers. The New York Racing Association and Del Mar are two racing companies that offer quinellas. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.