Gentlemen,
I appreciate everyone\'s responses here as this is a touchy controversial subject. I think it\'s important to ask these types of questions as an industry, similar to every other sport- NFL, Olympic swimming/cycling, MLB, etc. Yes, I can see how people might interpret my respectful style as more gentle, but when you ask hard questions to someone at a high level, you gotta give them respect or the interview will be over and unpublished.  I was not starstruck rather just stating the facts that he is unarguably one of the best to ever train hand down, regardless of how many horses he goes through to get there. I also wanted to know about his superstars out of my own curiosity.

I spoke to Baffert for 3 hours and he was quite forthcoming on-and-off-camera. By nature I\'m polite so take that for what you will. I asked him dozens of other questions off-camera regarding the heart attacks of his horses, to the rate poison, to EPO masking, to Clenbuterol, to nearly everything I\'ve ever heard a horseplayer question. He came across as a stand-up man who trains above board without any shadiness. That\'s my bottom line. He wasn\'t nervous and he showed a lot of confidence and class. Baffert also acknowledged his horses are tested out of performance quite often and none have ever tested positive for anything other than what is public from many years ago.

So let\'s pause for a minute and think out loud. There are many ways to get a horse to develop and perhaps his training techniques, treatments, or supplementation before they reach the track are hinged to his success.  If so, that is all legal and if that\'s his edge, then so be it. Perhaps he is doing something legal that is proprietary based on science but without doping. Perhaps nutrition matters more than people think. I don\'t know how he does it as his win percentage in Triple Crown races appears unfathomable to me, but I\'m going to believe him given how easy it would be for someone to make a million off a book deal if others were involved. Furthermore, to make the claim that he is drugging his horses days or weeks pre-race appears difficult to back up at this time given my discussions with Dr. Arthur and others. I will soon air another video from Dr. Arthur to share the current state of the California industry on drug testing. It\'s first class.

Sorry to disappoint you all (lol) but at least I had the courage to ask him hard questions and at least he had the courage to ask back on-camera. No one has ever had that candid of a conversation with him (or any trainer) on such a tough topic before. Thanks for watching it and stay tuned for more interviews, questions, and opinions to come. I will also be broadcasting some live observations and commentary during Breeders\' Cup this year from my home aka \"The Passion Mansion\" while I compete for a chance to win a $1M bonus. I hope you all look forward to more rugged journalism to come rather than the brown nosing news...bless up.

Very interesting. Thanks for these insights...

Raw or Die Episode 2: Triple Frown?

https://youtu.be/XXbULX3lzbo

Is Justify being given synthetic steroids or performance-enhancing drugs?
What do you think? Comment or email me, yes, no, or unsure.

Is this Triple Crown a bust due to the dodging of top competition?
Email me or comment on the video page.

I\'m curious what people really think about Baffert given the statistical improbability of his successes over the history of the Triple Crown, and in NY, especially considering his 4 for 4 win record last year in stakes races on Belmont Stakes day.

I\'d also like to know what are the exact current industry practices for detecting illegal drugs i.e. how much money does each state spend, what technologies are in place, how many drugs of the total possible are currently being tested using mass spectrometry, why aren\'t surveillance cameras in place year round, and how hard is it to fool the lab technicians?

These tough questions need to be asked on a regular basis as does the NFL and MLB. It\'s time to understand what is really going on. Call me naive or ignorant but I want to know the science and facts and I believe it should be far easier to access this information to provide the utmost transparency to the wagering public. Furthermore, I\'m concerned for the welfare of the horse longterm.

May the horse be with you,
Christian Hellmers aka Gur aka Planet Hellmers

Email: rawordie1@gmail.com
Twitter: rawordie

PS I\'m happy to share any thoughts, insights, or facts you wish to convey in my videos and I will also keep full anonymity if desired.

Nope. If you don\'t watch while holding a selenite sword or some quartz, you\'ll never gain clarity on the cryptic meanings in the future episodes ;-)

Hey horseplayers!

Here\'s a link to my new youtube channel in my attempt to speak out on a variety of issues and to interview gambling experts. I\'m over the biased press coverage by DRF.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLmtpuIF6J8

I hope you enjoy my new channel. I\'ll be conducting interviews with all sorts of experts from mostly horse racing, gambling, mathematicians, poker players, sports bettors, fantasy football aficionados, mentors, coaches, and general badasses from all walks of life that can add value to help gamblers sharpen their minds.

The goal is to give people a look into the lives of professionals like myself. The content will be raw and real, edgy and controversial at times, but original and truthful.

The first episode is an interview with two of the other \"Pick6Boys\" as coined by TVG and we dive into their misrepresentation by DRF Media after the biggest score in tournament history winning over 500k in last year\'s BCBC.

Watch and subscribe! Comment and give me feedback please!

If you would like to be interviewed or if you would like me to read any of your thoughts on a topic on the show, email me at rawordie1@gmail.com

Bless up and keep it raw, or die trying...

~Christian aka Guru aka PlanetHellmers
rawordie1@gmail.com

Gents, Friends, and Enemies,
Deadline is tmrw to sign up.
Yes I\'m investing my soul and brain it.
No I don\'t work for CDI.
This is too delicious not to play imho.
Hundreds of K in prizes.
Team up with friends to cover the pot if it\'s too rich.
Play from home online.
This tournament has the most flexibility in terms of how to bet with most freedom of choice.
Yes discipline is boss and shows who is.
May the sharpest minds win free money on a special weekend of racing.

Bless up,
In collusion with God,
Hellmers

http://kentuckyderbybettingchampionship.com/

Here\'s the link to more on the tournament and you can play from your desk, phone, couch, or several Stronach tracks...

https://www.paulickreport.com/horseplayers-category/xpressbet-exclusive-online-provider-500000-estimated-pegasus-world-cup-championship/

Colin!

I appreciate your enthusiasm. It\'s hard to find healthy passion with many horseplayers these days. Challenge accepted as long as the conditions require either of us must turn our bankroll over 7 times.  That is a minimum requirement to do well in these tournaments and surely you don\'t wish to make a bet between 50th place and 100th place :-) If both of us do well, then it\'s a proper bet. I play to win or go home with zero. I encourage you and others to do the same if you want to live life to its fullest! Either way, let\'s rap live. I\'ll be sitting with Duke Mattias or near him.

C

Jerry,
You can play the Pegasus from your desk. Check the rules. No need to go to the track but you gotta pay an entry fee which doesn\'t make sense to me given the track and ADW are owned by Stronach. You have no excuse for not playing as we argued unless the entry fee is too high for you. But I\'ve seen you play in the BCBC and the BCBC entry fee is way higher so take a swing as the card should be loaded with quality racehorses to choose from or avoid supporting one of the best cash tournaments on the planet because of expenses and time.

As you know , I will do almost anything for this game as I dedicated 4 years of my life lobbying for the betting exchange on behalf of Betfair and leading the TVG-Betfair acquisition along with Greg Nichols for $50M.  Thanks for the kind words and respect. The contests (as we argued) could lure gamblers from other arenas such as fantasy sports and poker IF the tournament structure is simple, televised one way or another to stroke egos, and enjoyable i.e. set up to allow betting with friends. Racing can no longer sit on an island and it must consider making the tournaments more attractive to \'potential\' horseplayers. If that means creating all in moments, then let\'s do it.  If that means creating lineups with your favorite horses on the day like in fantasy football with weighted salaries (ie odds), then let\'s do that too. If the tournament directors start forcing players to bet too many races a day with arbitrary minimums and limiting the social aspect of betting together due to collusion fears, we will be headed for a lonely boring game amongst ourselves. The only way to answer your question Jerry is to experiment over a 3-5 year plan and I will do my best to start capturing the stories when I do attend.

I appreciate your thoughts. Happy to chime in more later.

Yes I believe in more freedom of betting/wagering choice and less rules because I see cash games as a great way to inspire regular players to take advantage of lower takeouts, to attract newcomers to experiment with our game, and to encourage big bettors to show what they are made of publicly. It\'s easier for everyday horseplayers to transition into cash games, not the fake betting arbitrarily assigned mythical games, if the rules mirror everyday betting and options with little interference. Most US horseplayers are skeptical of anything new because of distrust from previous experience with industry officials and a lack of customer service. If introduced in super simple formats, anyone making big bets at the track should shift their dollars into the tournaments to help grow the only segment in racing with any momentum.  

It\'s truly shocking to me that the executives who designed the original fake betting mythical qualifiers elected to remove choice from the races, effectively limiting the horseplayers\' to 10-15 races per contest disregarding any proper money management skills since every bet denomination is identical. I surmise profits were more important to these individuals in charge of these decisions but I can also see lack of vision being a contributing factor.  The fact that the NHC isn\'t pick and pray is another shocker to me.  Those companies and individuals who decided to avoid investing in basic web-based technology to allow players race choice have encouraged horseplayers to be lazy and less savvy imho. This is what separates the profitable from the unprofitable- knowing what races to target on a given day and when to adjust bankroll using Kelly equation or some form of it because the value is straight nectar.  

But back to your point about freedom. The tournament operators insist on an arbitrary bankroll amount and entry fee that feels right based on current feedback and participation from existing players as well as to cover their operating costs. The KDBC chose 20k in year 1 and earned less than 70 players. The following year they shifted the requirement to 12k and roughly doubled their entrants.  In my opinion, the goal of tournaments should be to create a monumental tournament circuit structured such that more players can earn a serious living and play professionally due to the slashed effective takeout of cash games. That is, if you win a cash tournament or finish in the top 5 consistently over time. This could get televised IF the stakes were high enough and the personalities captured all gamblers imaginations. Personally, I believe the entry fees should be greater but that\'s my preference, I\'d like closer to 50-50. The current BCBC is 25% entry fee and 75% bankroll.

Do you have an issue with the fact that a tournament director requires a certain bankroll and do you like the aforementioned entry fee and bankroll splits?  Do share your ideas!

I\'d like the focus of the rules, regulations, and formats to crown the most profitable players and performances in our industry since many of us are in hiding. This could attract hedge fund traders to attempt to outsmart horseplayers because it\'s an intriguing game and betting has always been cool and sexy. It would also invite an audience to watch unique gamblers lose large sums of money. That\'s what people want to see i.e. see reality shows like Survivor and the Bachelor where people are eliminated. People want to their weekly dose of catharsis every now and then- why not on personable horseplayers and their bad beats and disgusting decisions.  If you create a tournament that doesn\'t allow horseplayers to adjust their bet size and bet based on their opinions, you create a game that removes this component and it\'s not about ROI (as much) which isn\'t as interesting in today\'s competitive entertainment landscape to many of those in my generation.  Keep in mind I also won the fake betting Horseplayer World Series for 270k years ago because of my betting style and not luck and watching people throw darts at bombs isn\'t exciting because it\'s not a high enough probability game.  Reflecting on my opinion on the ideal tournament landscape, I believe cash games will eventually need to have 2-3 levels- beginners and advanced leagues based on a point system scored over the years with different bankroll requirements. Unfortunately, I\'ve yet to meet anyone in racing who is willing to invest in technology to solve many tournament issue. I\'ve spoken to TVG and several others who could elevate the tournament space, yet they don\'t do a thing. DRF elects to do a fake betting tournament because they don\'t want to invest in becoming an ADW and their agreement with DRF Bets prevents them from doing cash games is my understanding. That\'s not an excuse to skip out on paying horsemen and stakeholders. It\'s also not encouraging horseplayers to exude money management skills which irritates me deeply. DRF took the easy way out and did another ordinary fake betting mythical tournament. Tournament leadership but I\'ll do everything in my power to shift that this year as I become more vocal and share the views of many passionate horseplayers.

From conversations with people over the years I\'ve gathered that many horseplayers refuse to play cash tournaments due to rules and regs in addition to bankroll sizes and travel logistics.  As it stands today in 2018, I\'m still surprised more regular players don\'t save up and enter these tournaments given that our industry consists of more than 100-150 players regularly betting 2-5k per day. I\'m going to create some incentives of my own this year.  I\'ll do my best to reward you if you do well by interviewing winners on Periscope like I did last weekend at Santa Anita during their first cash game of the tournament. Robert Talstra played superb and has an outstanding record to date. Who knew? Well the world will now.  Take a look at my Twitter by finding me at RaworDie and you\'ll see what I mean. It\'s time the media does a better job of covering tournaments and the unprofessional bias removed. I\'ve lost complete faith in many of the so-called journalists and \"marketeers.\" My goal is to take the cash games to the level of the World Series of Poker which means it\'s time to turn the focus on the actual stars who take the big shots and fall or prevail. Fake betting dart throwers not invited. That\'s what I intend to do on Twitter all year- celebrate the true profitable legendary betting performers of this challenging game and shift attention away from the unprofitable talking heads who get air time with few credentials and refuse to accurately document their recommendations, picks, and ROI. They will get exposed this year. Mark my words.

C

Good to meet you.  This tournament might be too much for a player betting only 10k per year unless you have a very strong opinion that is worth seeking private investors. However, I would invite you to start playing for fun from home to work out that decision-making muscle for small cash games, like the one at Santa Anita this past weekend, $500 ($300 bankroll / $200 entry fee).  

The other option is to team up with 10 friends/investors and put one person in charge of the bets as a syndicate. Wait is that collusion? Nope it is not according to their rules. Rally a crew and do your best to have a life altering weekend! The only way to get profitable as a tournament player or everyday player imho is to master the equilibrium value point between discipline and risk. Most, like me, had to learn the hard way. Bet the hard way in low bankroll cash tournaments until you\'ve mastered your strengths and weaknesses or team up with others.  Those are my initial thoughts off the cuff.

C

Gents,
What are horseplayers\' thoughts on playing in the January Pegasus World Cup Betting Championship cash tournament considering its a first of its kind without an entry fee, if you play on-track?

I\'m very curious why someone would not play in this tournament if a player bets roughly 5k per day on big days, given the high prize structure?

Even small players could bet what they normally bet and see if they hit something early on in the tournament, then pull out if they\'ve reached their bankroll limit.

http://www.gulfstreampark.com/racing/contests/pegasus-world-cup-betting-championship

Sincerely,
Oddball, Headgear lover, Pick6Boy, Guru, Winner of HPWS/DMR/SA tournaments, BCBC two time second place finisher, et al
~Sir Horseplayer Christian Hellmers

PS Compete against me if you dare...