For the first time, show jumping enthusiasts have the opportunity to bet on the FEI Longines World Cup qualifier class at Toronto’s Royal Winter Fair. Bookmaking firm Fitzdares, which offers odds on everything from snooker to ski jumping, is running the book at https://www.fitzdares.ca/sportsbook/SPECIALS/. Click on “equestrian” to see who’s in the running.
The only hitch is that you have to be in the Canadian province of Ontario to open an account and place a bet. Fitzdares has been operating there since the beginning of the year. The Saturday night feature at the final competition on the North American Fall Indoor Circuit offers an obvious favorite in Kent Farrington of the USA, who has been a big winner at the Royal on Creedance and seems likely to wind up as Leading Rider. But he will be aboard Greya for the World Cup, so that’s something different in the equation. The second favorite and Kent’s longtime rival is his countryman, McLain Ward on Callas.
I asked Bobby Burns, Fitzdares’ director of clubs and partnerships, how the decision to offer odds on the Royal came about.
He said that after taking bets on a pickleball tournament, the people in his office thought, “Why don’t we try it for the Royal?”
As Bobby explained it, “All we needed from the Royal was the name of the contestants and a sort of vague idea of their ability and we were able to sort of draw a book up on it.”
On the website, it’s a different style of betting than I am familiar with, but I’m not a big gambler. It’s what they call “American odds,” which means Kent was at plus 188 this afternoon, while McLain was at plus 225. The top Canadian, Tiffany Foster is at plus 400, which translates to 4-1 in the style most people in the U.S. would know. This website–https://theallstar.io/betting-odds-converter/–can translate the odds into whatever style you’re comfortable with. There’s also a way to do that on the Fitzdares site, though you have to join to use it.
I wondered if there will be more show jumping to bet on with Fitzdares, and Bobby said of the Royal, “I can’t imagine it will be the last one. It will be definitely interesting to see an appetite for the market.” By Saturday afternoon, more than $20,000 had been wagered on the class.
Kent Farrington and Creedance on their way to victory at the Royal. (Ben Radvanyi Photography)
The U.S. Equestrian Federation this year came out with a formal policy on sports betting and preventing manipulation of competition to regulate athletes when betting is involved in their discipline. Last month, I wrote about how betting is being considered for 2024 for the MARS Maryland 5-star.
Reader Sam Campbell, a native of Australia, spotted that and asked, “Does anyone remember what happened the first day the Brits introduced betting on show jumping?”
He explained, “It is ‘rumored’ a handful of top British riders got together (at Hickstead) and beat the bookies. Betting on showjumping lasted 24 hours. Circa 1969, to the best of my memory.”
I had no luck looking up this incident, so I queried Bobby about it.
He had never heard that story, but chuckled and noted, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that was completely true.”
