Parlay card set for the Cup

Ralph Siraco

Thursday, Sept. 24, 1998 | 10:21 a.m.

If you're looking for a new twist to participate in the upcoming Breeders' Cup day races and you don't want to take short prices on some of the main contenders in future book action on the Nov. 7 series of races, then the new Breeders' Cup advance match-up parlay card at the Poker Palace may peak your interest.

The advance match-up parlay card allows players to lock in prices on their favorite horses for the Breeders' Cup day competition.

The Breeders' Cup advance parlay card is a spinoff of the new Marion Card horse race parlay card that is offered at the North Las Vegas race book five days a week.

The Marion Card, named after the creator's father, is a parlay card pitting as many as a dozen horse-for-horse match-ups daily on selected races from the book's menu of tracks. The card is structured on the popular football parlay cards and uses horses matched against each other in place of teams in games.

The cards pay off with similar odds as the football versions and are based on the same principal. Each horse matched up against the other must beat the matched opponent to be a winner.

The beauty of the horse parlay card versus the football cards is that all a matched horse has to do to be a winner is beat the opponent and does not have to win the race. Just beat the horse in the match up, that's it.

The parlay card was a project in the works for Poker Palace race book director Mark Marion. Having spent his entire life with a deep affection for the Sport of Kings, Marion decided that it was time to launch the Marion Card concept.

From the time he bet his aunt a dollar on who would beat who in a horse-for-horse proposition each year in the Kentucky Derby, the race book director has been fine-tuning the idea. And that was when he was 5 years old.

After serving as assistant to trainer Tom Skiffington through most of the '70s and early '80s, Mark headed to this gaming capital and soon migrated to the race books for work.

After a stint as race book director at the Frontier Hotel and a stopover at the Orleans, Marion pursued his idea with the help of the Poker Palace. Soon after he started his new position there, he was granted the go-ahead to institute the Marion Card from Nevada Gaming and the idea became a reality in late July.

The card is designed to capitalize on the popular football card framework to introduce many players of the sports card to racing by giving them a bet in horse racing they can easily understand.

The card goes back to the grassroots of racing with the old "My horse can beat your horse" concept. It's simple to understand and can give players a chance to learn the game of racing with a 50-50 chance to win.

At least four match-up winners, the more the payoffs. The Advance Breeders' Cup future parlay cards are offered each week and can change each week as the Cup draws closer.

But once your card is in, then all the horses have to do is run against each other on Breeders' Cup day to have action. Otherwise there will be no action or refunds on the plays.