Not sure if anyone mentioned this in all of the above stuff, but races are far too easy to fix. From risk managment perspective, there is no way you could have traditional odds. It is one thing to get a sports team to collude .. or even a real world-class athlete who spent his life to get where he is to take a dive. It is another thing to get a jockey the public doesn't know to lay off on the big favorite. If horse-tracks used straight odds like normal sports, they'd be hammered by this sort of crap far too often.