Players love to chase lottery size pots. It doesn’t matter where they are running, or how much they run for in purse money. A player loves the thrill of the action.

The “Super-High Five” is a wager that shows the chase in full bloom.

This wager began at a track in the Caribbean, and was never really heard of in the United States. I used to love to surf the web and look for lottery size wagers that attract interest.

I once told a colleague about this when I first proposed this idea to a track president. He laughed until he saw the Word document that was dated. It then became clear that maybe I was lucky enough to stumble upon a new idea from a sunny place. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I still have it in my documents, and tracks are doing well with the wager. That was the whole idea.

Another small addition to the wagering menu came from an idea that patrons used to complain about only picking losers. I first used the idea in an on-track promotion to try and select the loser of a race. They had to finish, no pull-ups, etc. If they did survive, they moved on to the next week. A race was chosen, and the same took place. I even gave you a second and third chance. The beginning wager was $10. All you had to do was select the last place finisher. If nobody did this, we went to who had the next to last. This contest took place each Saturday, and would last a month. If you were put out, you could buy in on week #2 at $20, and $30 for week #3. All of the money was non-parimutuel, and everything was paid back to the “losers.”

The bets part of the promotion was that there was fun back into the game. The fans enjoyed the idea, and things went on as usual. The idea is to never let things get stale. I think sometimes we forget that players love the action as much winning. So for those who have a hand in a track’s promotion or wagering menu, don’t get stale. Keep it lively. Be on the lookout, and listen to what the players want. Be creative, and never say no to an idea. It may be the next big thing to draw attention to racing.