Ralph Siraco's horse racing notes

The Southern California racing scene takes an extra day off Wednesday as Hollywood Park braces for a six-day run, beginning Thursday, through the Fourth of July holiday racing program on Tuesday. As a result of the holiday falling on Tuesday this year, next Wednesday, July 5, will also be a dark day at the Inglewood oval. The Wednesday-through-Sunday racing schedule for Hollywood Park will not resume until the week of July 12.

The popular Win-Quinn contest at Arizona Charlie's takes a two-week sabbatical with the dark Wednesdays in Southern California. The combination contest is a Wednesday staple at the Decatur race book and is based on the Southern California racing card. Hence, with Hollywood Park not running on the next two Wednesdays, the contest that combines win payoffs with quinella payoffs will return on July 12 with a three-week bonus carryover pot.

Each week, Mary Sapp peppers the pot with $800, in addition to the $10 entry fees that players pay to enter the contest. Winners are determined by a mythical $2 win mutuel and an additional $2 quinella mutuel when the alternate horse completes the combo. Payoffs are distributed to the top three finishers each week.

Since there will not be a contest for the next two weeks, Arizona Charlie's will take the usual $800 seeding and pile it on for the pot on July 12. So the starting jackpot -- before the additional monies from entry fees -- will be a triple bonus of $2,400. I guess patience is a virtue for horse players at Charlie's.

Robert 'Muggsy' Muniz has his staff gearing up for the opening of the new Sun Coast race book in Summerlin. The race & sports book, which is said to be on the scale of the Orleans, will be ready for action when the entire gaming complex opens sometime in September. However, until then, Muggsy plans to bring back the popular 'Toast of the Coast' Del Mar handicapping contest.

Each year during the seaside racing season, the Orleans race book hosts a rotation of public handicappers for weekly seminars on the Del Mar races. The seminars, conducted on Saturdays, highlight different handicapping styles and systems and uses the contest handicappers to go over each Saturday Del Mar card.

However, it is the unique handicappers daily picks contest that makes this event fun for the players. Each day during the entire 43-day Del Mar meeting the handicappers must select five plays per day on the card. Each play goes on a grid tallying the picks of all the handicappers. The picks are awarded the equivalent of a $20 win bet and are deducted or added as the handicappers' plays are tracked each day throughout the meet.

The handicappers' selections are available each day at all three Coast Resorts race books so players can keep track and chart the bankrolls of their favorite handicappers. The handicappers selection sheet, which is free of charge, is available at the books daily. The sheet gives players a chance to compare possible hot horses or plays from the public handicappers for the often-difficult Del Mar meeting.

Whether you want to poke fun or take the selections to heart, the competition makes for great entertainment during the dog days of summer at the Coast Resorts property books. And it dishes out a dose of humble pie to most of the handicappers as well. Take it from me, I finished sixth of eight last year.

Stations Casinos continues with its popular 'Twin-Q' offerings at least five times per week. Each day, Stations Casinos race book staff members select two races for the 'Twin Q' that is created and booked by the Stations race books.

The pot starts at $5,000 per day with bonus carryovers to the next day if the proposition bet is not hit. 'Twin Q' races are broadcast each racing day on the 'Race Day Las Vegas' radio show on TalkRadio 1340-AM Las Vegas. The show airs daily from 9-10 a.m.

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