Looks to me like
HP - 105
David G. Patent - 100
HP
I think I had 115 points - didn\'t check anyone else\'s.
Looking at everyone\'s picks, seems like everyone should have done well with Gilded Emperor in the 7th. I wasn\'t sharp enough to use Marhoob, but several others were. The second race was my big one today. I couldn\'t believe how they were betting the entry as I didn\'t have either in my top 4 (in a seven-horse race).
I readily admit to being totally perplexed with the 6th race today. I congratulate you guys that had horses in the top two there.
Jerry, JR.
140 I think
6th race: I had the second and third horses picked first and second. I wrote in my form to watch the board on the 7 because I loved the long distance breeding on the dam side. When I saw the odds, I stuck with my original choices, and lost. Somebody should stick five lbs on Victor quickly, it\'s not fair.
Congrats again to HP for pulling another one out.
It was a thrilling contest, and for those who care (sound of crickets chirping), here\'s the blow by blow:
David \"cheap speed\" Patent opened up a long early lead, bursting from the gate and snaring a 55 to 15 advantage after just three races. Did HP panic? No sir. Sitting chilly, he began reeling DP in slowly but surely, and by the end of the 7th race had taken the lead 95 to 85.
Having been inhaled by the fitter HP, would DP spit the bit? Not hardly. He battled back to within 5 -- 100 to 95 -- going into the 9th and final race.
As it turned out, this epic battle of handicapping titans would be decided by the show spot in an utterly forgettable maiden filly race. Since both HP and DP picked the same horses for the top two spots, the results hinged on the show horse. The best DP could hope for was an AL/NL tie.
DP had an 11:1 horse in the third spot and HP had a hopeless 30:1. DP\'s horse, the 8, rushed up to the lead, fell back and then came on to grab 2nd inside the 16th pole. But the 2-move effort was too much and she was passed by the 3 and then nipped right on the wire by the 7. Oh, the humanity!
Don\'t know about you, HP, but I had fun. As it was, I ended up only betting 2 races at Bel.
Congrats again and I\'ll pay you out of the $73,000 Super that I hit at Belmont. Wink.
Seriously, I\'ll see if I can authorize Jake to charge my credit card $100 and give you cash. If not, I can mail a check to their office for you, though I might need more than \'HP\' for the name.
A couple of notes on our selections. For the nine races, we picked different winners in 6 races and there was overlap in only 11 of our 27 selections. I don\'t know if that was a reflection of the different products we used, the perplexing nature of the card, different approaches to evaluating the horses\' chances or some combination of all three. I wonder what those numbers would look like over a span of 100+ races.
I hope everybody enjoyed their days.
HP,
Congrats, Island Guide ran like he
was hungover !
Nunzio
David,
You can just make a check out to Thoro-Graph and mail it to Thoro-Graph Attn: Jerry Brown 180 Varick St. 4th floor NY, NY 10014. This should be easier.
On Island Guide, to me he looked like a one number horse guaranteed to lose every bit of ground with a trainer who is very suspect in NY. Parisella used to be a world beater here. Be wary in the future.
I loved Gilded Emperor but figured he\'d be pretty short. The only \'real\' play that I thought would be worth anything was Whitmore\'s Conn to win. I thought others were a little faster going in, but from the \'value\' perspective this was about it...except for the ninth where my \'scratch\' horse Carson Grove won and paid $39.40. Worth noting from the handicapping perspective is that the late double was a horrible payoff for a combo of 15-1 and 18-1, and this is often the case with longer priced horses in the daily double. You\'re almost always better off going straight win.
We certainly did have different plays. I didn\'t like either of the winners in the first two. Ballet Critic in particular must have looked much better on Rags. Soverign Kit was also too slow on TG.
I though Nonnegotiable had a shot, but I didn\'t care for New Paradigm (could have improved, but others figured to improve and NP carried 124) and Baryshnikov\'s Song was about the same story. This may be more about the interpetation of the figures than the figures themselves. I assume the younger lightly raced ones will improve in these kinds of races, and the older ones have pretty much showed you what they\'ve got.
In the fifth, I thought Little Lori Lu and Begateful were total throwouts. My only real regret was switching Chimney Slew for Pretty Wild at the last minute.
It was fun, and again a more positive and useful experience than what usually transpires here. Certainly considering the card! Also worth noting that David and I had two of the worst scores. Regards to David and all the other participants.
HP
115
just taking the first 3 favorites in order(using no entries). no sheets. no form. no program.
priceless.
Mike,
Yes, but if you do that every day, even with a \'115\' you will lose money, so except for this contest it\'s pretty much worthless. HP
HP,
I\'ll mail the check out first thing this week. Hey, 9 more wins at $100 and TG will -- in at least a kindred sense -- be even with Ragozin for the Preakness # challenge.
Regarding the selections, Above the Crowd was almost a default selection. Several horses in Race 1 had just horrific patterns. ATC at least had some very good back numbers and a recovery line (although admittedly not the strongest one).
The 6th race was my ultimate nightmare. Three horses coming off tops that they figured to react to but who were still faster than Sharps \'n Flats and Run up the Flag. Pocket Knife had one fast number and a bad reaction. Just a horrible race to have to make a selection and I obviously chose wrongly as I scored a big \'0\' in that race.
My biggest mistake was Gilded Emperor. He actually was the fastest on the Rag. Sheets too but I guess I was wary about the layoff. Every other horse looked basically the same so it was virtually a coin toss in selecting the top two that I chose.
Task today -- beat Came Home and Sky Jack.
I\'m way ahead on the Preakness # challenge.
Sky Jack will be third or fourth favorite.
Hey, went away for a few days. Didn\'t mean to ignore this. I must add that I am not \'TG\' but HP, and I am exactly $100 and two contests ahead. Don\'t confuse me with the whole Preakness thing, which I have less than nothing to do with
I think Lewis trained Gilded Emperor but whoever it was had strong layoff numbers in the TG trainer stats and I think the Racing Form noted it as well. Fastest on TG too. HP
That was the point.