While everyone is talking about the NEW Gulfstream, one thing has remained the same for this player. I play year-round, and without exception, every year, two meets stand out as being the ABSOLUTE WORST for me. Gulfstream and Saratoga.
I should really know better by now, but EVERY YEAR it\'s tempting, and EVERY YEAR it sucks. I guess other people must do well at these joints. Anybody have a similar experience or can anyone shed some light on how they do well (if they do well)?
I\'ve read a lot of comments here about Turfway. So what if it looks like \"Lawrence of Arabia,\" I\'d rather play Turfway than Gulfstream any day! Gulfstream is just the proverbial dartboard for me. I\'d rather play Penn National on a Friday night than Saratoga. Give me Beulah and Philly. Out of all the major circuits, NY, Fla. and Cali are absolutely at the bottom of my list. Based on my results over the past three years, I think for the rest of this year I\'m just going to cut these three circuits out altogther... Thank God there\'s Oaklawn.
HP
you can add keenland to your list. whenever someone(from either sheet maker) talks to me about using the sheets,they invariably ask what tracks i bet w/them.
years ago fiedman stated that there was only one,maybe two good plays a day at the major trax using the sheets.
DavidRX,
You mean I\'m not going to get a chance at your money when I\'m betting Kee this year?
NC Tony
i\'m the reason your living such a rich,full life
i don\'t know who pix the rotw but if they were to put an entire card together and sell it as a package....i\'d be first in line....don\'t mean the pic-a-trac gizmo either
thats what this country needs...a hand picked competitive card to be sold at a premium,yet save the customer ALOT of time in weeding thru the junk.
David,
I think you are on to something here. The days of just betting one track and bet what they dish to you are over. You have a \"smogasboard\" to choose from daily so why not pic and bet the best 10 which could yeild a profit or in fact has a combination of an overlay and underlay in it, for the customer base. TG does the weeding out for you. (Sort of like a weedeater of unbetable races) It\'s worth a lot of time to us hunt and \"pecker\" types. Included would be analysis. For a premium JB might find a new Niche. First toss would be field size of less than 9 or 10 (my opinion).
I\'ve been working on an algorythm and testing a theory but I need more data to prove it\'s metal. My work is all manual so anyone with access to a huge amount of data could do it much faster than I can.
NC Tony
How about this....500 of us join a club and pony up $1000.00 a year. Like a delux ROTW........
You\'re not alone, man. Gulfstream can be rough. How about this past weekend, with the rain and sloppy tracks? That was the strangest sloppy track I ever saw,some would run on it and others not a step, and impossible to decipher any bias. I was playing all day and getting crushed, and in the Donn I loved that horse who won the race (I\'ve now blocked out the memory of the day!), but I bailed out by then because I had no clue whether or not he would handle the track -- ugggghh, he paid like 18 bucks! I only (mostly) play SO Cal for many years because mostly the weather\'s consistent and that\'s really the key for me, and I know all the trainers there. I think AQU isn\'t bad either though it\'s not my kind of racing -- I\'m too into grass races!
My best tracks for making money:
1-Santa Anita
2-Del Mar
3-Hollywood (when they have a grass course!)
4-Churchill
5-Lousiana/Fairgrounds
Tracks I don\'t usually favor:
1-Turfway (I\'ve not grasped that polytrack thing yet)
2-Gulfstream can be rough (even when it looks so promising)
3-Keeneland I often find that a rough place to cash much.
4-Arlington: I should love this place, but it usually doesn\'t pan out.
5-Hawthorne: Another tough go for me!
Picking where to play is just so important. The Create-A-Card is a great innovation... I rely on it totally.
I thought the rain made GP a little more digestible on Donn day...
I would agree Keeneland is not one of my favorites either, although the big fields on turf are worth a shot sometimes.
In contrast to some of the other posts here...I just ignore the whole Polyturf issue and play Turfway straight up. At first I thought it really favored the frontrunners with that duststorm effect...but if there\'s enough pace in the race, the ones coming from off the pace have a shot...like most everyplace else.
Also, Arlington and Hawthorne have become real mainstays for me... Too many short fields in Cali for me.
HP
I\'ve been to almost every track, large, small and defunct on the east side of the Mississippi, and I can honestly say my favorite venue is the inner tube season at the Big A.
An early start at 12:30, you are outta there by 4:30. Amenities include a great vantage point for watching the races and viewing the paddock live, no lines at the mutuel windows. After NYRA reshuffled the parking area, the general parking($1) is right next to the Grandstand. For $4.50, they will serve up a bowl of clam chowder which, given a proper dose of tabasco sauce, is rather palatable.
The inner tube itself is very quirky. I like to wait for horses who have shown an affinity for the surface in the past but are currently off form. These animals tend to reawaken once returned to the \"squared circle\" at generous mutuels.
Belmont during the Fall and Spring used to be so peaceful. I remember sitting at Belmont in the 70s, handicapping, thinking about life, the huge sprinklers watering the turf courses the only real sound; it was among the most peaceful and beautiful places in the entire city. Now, unfortunately, NYRA insists on turning on its \"wall of sound\" at about 11:15, and the sound of (empty) NYRA talking heads echoes through the (basically empty) facility.
Saratoga is still OK on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Fort Erie is one track I\'ve heard nice things about that I haven\'t gotten to yet.
Its all about familiarity, feeling confident that you know the trainers and the games they like to play. Yes, create a card is wonderful, but why do battle on multiple fronts?
Ah Fort Erie, been there 5-10 times between 1985-1990, it is a great place, the only thing I didn\'t care for was the fact that you could not buy or drink a beer anywhere but one room in the place. Now that was wierd, does anyone know if that is still the case.
Rich
SPA,
I think Jerry should seriously look into a contest/club like this. It would be good for business and players alike.I assume there is a legal way to do it.
davidrex Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i\'m the reason your living such a rich,full life
> i don\'t know who pix the rotw but if they were to
> put an entire card together and sell it as a
> package....i\'d be first in line....don\'t mean the
> pic-a-trac gizmo either
> thats what this country needs...a hand picked
> competitive card to be sold at a premium,yet save
> the customer ALOT of time in weeding thru the
> junk.
Agree that on most cards you are usually fortunate to isolate 1 solid play. I\'d go further to say you may get 1 juicy opportunity a week at your track.
I\'m all in to try and stay on top of NYRA, Churchill Downs and Calder/Gulfstream. Thats it for me, any more than that is just not feasible. So if you don\'t have the time to find that one play a day at various tracks the theory of someone else identifying that play is interesting.
Don\'t know though, is cashing the only reason you wager? Isnt\' there a sense of satisfaction in predicting the future through your own efforts? I\'d probably let someone else do the groundwork if it was purely profitable, but it sure would take a lot of the fun out of it.
My impression is that the logical TG horses in the ROTW tend to get hammered at the windows, in both the win and exotic pools. Don\'t you think that would happen if a number of TG customers were all focusing on the same small set of races?
Honestly- knowing this bunch of independent thinkers I would think that they all do not come up with the same conclusion, and come up with different variation upon a them. I don\'t think it would be like the Rev James Jones and Kool Aid with this bunch.
NC Tony
s long as everyone stays away from the analysis, we\'d be OK...figs only!
I did say we sometimes have different opions, i was trying to help myself out...Its just good to see one very good handicappers point of view.
NC Tony
start a hedge fund.
ok..here we go
$50 bucks a card..available weekends,holidays etc.
let go of traditional 9 race availability...make it 8 to 16,17 18 races..the # of races offered is irrelevant.
this would be a time saving convenience item for those of us that don\'t have enough time and/or are willing to pay for someone in the office to trim the fat.
big bettors would still need the full package to pursue rolling exotics..p3..p4..p6
analysis could be long winded or restricted to specific reason race was selected.
alan,jerry,anything to add or de-rail?
how about the rest of you law abiding horse degenerates?!
There should be no limits on TG. I really think this can happen.....
Email me
NC Tony