Market Gap

Horse Racing is not, as regular readers will know, a sport that interests me too much, but I did have an interest in yesterday's Kentucky Derby. A friend of a friend in California, who follows the racing there, told me that California Chrome would win, and as it happened, he did. The problem with being given these 'tips' is that the pain of missing a winner is more than the pain of losing a few quid, although I had my concerns that the source was being swayed by the underdog California connection (no California horse has won the Derby since 1962, and only three all-time) as well as by the copious amount of alcohol he consumes every day. However, when I came to place my "for-interest-only'" bet, (persuaded by the Guardian's excellent article on the selection) the Kentucky Derby market was nowhere to be found on Betfair.

Not being familiar with the Horse Racing pages, I searched under USA, Special Bets, Ante-Post, even as a last resort typing 'California' into the search box, (I couldn't remember the second word in the name), but all to no avail. A look at the forum revealed a thread titled "Why no Kentucky Derby?" which made me feel better (if I am to look an idiot, I prefer company). 

Fortunately BETDAQ had the race covered, (possibly the only time that a market has been available there, but not on Betfair) but it is pretty lame that the world's number one exchange didn't have a market for the, or one of the, biggest races in the US. Someone (gm11) on the thread suggested:

I think it has to do with the deals that Betfair were trying to do in the USA, I vaguely remember that one of the conditions was that they couldn't offer the Kentucky Derby market any more - could be wrong on the details, but I think it's in the the right direction.

Sounds plausible, and I suppose the remaining legs of the Triple Crown will be similarly unavailable on Betfair.