From what Im reading-harness tracks at Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceway used to have great handle. Then along came the Casino and Joe Faraldo and his cronies—and things changed. Joe worked out a great deal for horsemen-but at the detriment for gambling and its core base of punters who liked to come to the track and wager— as the incentive to offer a bet able racing product was greatly diminished.
The core reason Yonkers Raceway’s wagering handle now is so staggeringly low—even with an open pipeline for Computer-Assisted Wagering (CAW)—is that systemic structural issues actively prevent massive volume from algorithmic syndicates and human bettors The most critical thing to understand about Yonkers is that its massive purses have absolutely nothing to do with betting interest.
The Slot Subsidy: Thanks to Empire City Casino's incredibly lucrative Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) located on the property, over 70% of the racing purses are entirely funded by slot machines.
The Payout Disconnect: This creates a bizarre ecosystem where Yonkers offers the richest harness purses in the country, yet the nightly wagering handle is frequently smaller or nearly equal to the actual prize money being paid out to the horsemen. The track is essentially operated as an uncompetitive "television studio" to legally fulfill state casino requirements, rather than a thriving betting marketplace.
2. The Half-Mile Track Problem (Procession Racing)
Algorithms require unpredictable data, fluid movements, and variable outcomes to gain a statistical edge. Yonkers is an old-school, tight half-mile track that creates highly predictable, unbettable races.
Extreme Post-Position Bias: Horses drawing the inside posts (1 through 3) have an overwhelming statistical advantage, while horses on the outside (posts 7 and
are virtually mathematically eliminated before the race even starts.
Lineup-Style Racing: Because the track has small, tight turns, it is incredibly difficult for horses to make a sweeping move from the back of the pack on the outside. Once the gate leaves, the horses quickly fall into single-file order and rarely change positions.
Unbettable Odds: Because the outcome is largely determined by the luck of the post-position draw rather than handicapping, the favorite frequently wins at heavily unplayable, micro-minus odds (like 1-5 or 2-5). CAW syndicates cannot make a profit on horses hammered down to 40 cents on the dollar.
3. Driver Pace Manipulation (The 30-Second Quarter)
Historically, the leading drivers at Yonkers have been heavily criticized for controlling the front of the pack and intentionally dropping the anchor during the second quarter of the race to preserve their horses' energy.
To combat this "procession-style" racing that completely kills public betting interest, track management resorted to desperate measures—including issuing formal memos threatening drivers with fines and suspensions if their second-quarter times are slower than 30 seconds.
When a track has to legally mandate how fast its drivers must go just to prevent a race from becoming a boring parade, human horseplayers abandon the product, and CAW algorithms find zero statistical variance to exploit.Instead of making races longer-like in the Yonkers International Trot-races are kept at the same distance and conditions. Einstein would be laughing as doing the same thing over and expecting a different result-is the definition of stupidity.
4. Punitive Exotic Betting Structures
To make matters worse for the retail public, Yonkers has bucked the industry trend of cheap wagering. While most harness tracks implemented "low-minimum mania" by offering 10-cent or 20-cent exotic base wagers to keep players in the game, Yonkers aggressively raised their Pick 4 and Pick 5 minimum wagers to a steep $1.00 and $2.00 base.
This pricing move effectively priced out casual, small-bankroll retail players. Because a pari-mutuel pool requires a healthy foundation of "dumb retail money" for CAW syndicates to feed on, the lack of everyday human players means the syndicates have no incentive to pump their own millions into a dry, stagnant pool.
