Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf 1-2 paid out as winners after pre-race 'debacle'

Punters who had backed either Modern Games or Tiz The Bomb in the controversial Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Friday have been paid out on both as winners by a number of bookmakers, with one layer saying anything else "would be grossly unfair."

Modern Games, trained by Charlie Appleby, was withdrawn by vets at Del Mar after being released from his stall while handlers attended to his stricken stablemate Albahr in the neighbouring gate. Albahr and jockey Frankie Dettori were reported to be fine afterwards.

However, Modern Games was swiftly reinstated by Breeders’ Cup officials after it was clarified he had been voluntarily allowed to exit his gate by the attendant stalls handler rather than breaking out himself.

Full result of the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf

More confusion followed with Californian racing rules stating Modern Games could compete only for prize-money and would not be included in the result when it came to settling bets on the contest, an issue that was magnified when he went on to win the race.

However, it had been noted that he was live on the pools board after that announcement. On Saturday afternoon, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) duly confirmed that Modern Games had been erroneously put back into the pool for a period of time.

A statement read: "Due to a miscommunication between the stewards and the Del Mar mutuels department, Modern Games was reinserted into the pari-mutuel wagering pools at 17:37:01 PT.

"At 17:43:49 PT, after it was made clear to the mutuels department that Modern Games was competing for purse money only, the horse was again removed from the wagering pools. The race went off at 17:47:34 PT."

While the Del Mar crowd booed the result of the race - with those on track and domestically missing out on a winner - punters backing the first and second past the post were paid out by firms including Betfair Sportsbook, Paddy Power, Sky Bet, William Hill, Coral and Ladbrokes.

Paul Binfield, spokesman for Paddy Power, said: "As a goodwill gesture Paddy Power paid out on both Modern Games and Tiz the Bomb last night following Modern Games being withdrawn in error and removed from the betting.

"As we were paying an extra place we settled each-way bets on the first five horses. We also waived the rule 4 on the second past the post. This applied to both ante-post bets and day of race books."

Betfair Sportsbook and Sky Bet, who are owned by the same parent company as Paddy Power, also settled on the same terms. Betfair Exchange deemed Modern Games a non-runner.

Modern Games defied the pre-race drama to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile TurfCredit: Edward Whitaker

Coral and Ladbrokes customers received payouts on Modern Games and Tiz The Bomb, and Simon Clare, PR director for Entain, owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, said: "Coral and Ladbrokes are paying out on the official result, with Tiz The Bomb the winner, but we are also paying out all winning bets on Modern Games. To treat him as a non-runner would be grossly unfair.

"We are not applying rule 4 deductions to winning bets on Tiz The Bomb (or each-way bets on placed horses) in the spirit of resolving this debacle in the most customer-friendly way possible. No-one loses out."

Punters betting on bet365 were paid out in a different manner, with bets placed before Modern Games’ withdrawal and reinstatement settled with him as the winner and bets placed after his withdrawal and reinstatement settled without Modern Games.

An online statement said: "Bets placed before 00:36:05 that include Modern Games will be settled: 1st – Modern Games 2nd – Tiz The Bomb 3rd – Mackinnon. Bets placed at 00:36:05 to 00:46:56 will be settled on without Modern Games: 1st – Tiz The Bomb 2nd –Mackinnon 3rd – Grafton Street."

Read more from Friday at the Breeders' Cup . . .

Drama and confusion as Charlie Appleby wins Juvenile Turf after 'surreal' start

Bob Baffert on target at the Breeders' Cup amid doping controversies

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