The Big Show is drawing near. The NTRA/DRF Handicapping extravaganza. Most of the Best Handicappers in the World are coming in to town ( Vegas). All vying for the opportunity to say they are officially the Best Handicapper in the World for at least one year.

Purse money has now reached the level where even the BIGGEST OF EGO\'S would readily admit, \"You can have the trophy and title, just make sure the check is signed\".

Sunshine Millions Day is also happening and with football being idle perhaps the various news media outlets can pick racing up and piggy back the contest results somewhere in the news. The prestige and participation in the event has grown exponentially every year. The opportunity too catapult horse racing handicappers into celebrity status has arrived. Everything is there, money, tradition, a come one come all event, glitzy location, the only left to do is see who is good enough to step up to the plate and win the damn thing.........

NoCarolinaTony: Well Silver...I going to give it my best shot....Tough competition but I\'ve never shied away from a good game........

NC Tony

Silver Charm: NcTony if I have any advice for you and the other 38 TG Customers who have qualified it is the same thing any great golfer tells himself before hitting a pressure shot with the tournament on the line,

\"Trust your swing\"

Interesting story by MO and the relationship between horse racing and the Beatles. An ex-Dolphin down here in So. Fla (member of the undeafeated team) who does a little radio tells a story of when was traded to the last Super Bowl winning team of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Old Man Rooney who he said was one of the classiest acts you would ever want to meet told him about living in Miami Springs. He would go to Hialeah every day and do book on the fence at the Clubhouse turn. After a while he had piled up a pretty good sized stack and went out and bought himself a football team.

The rest as they say is history...........

fkach: I never entered a handicapping contest.

How does one go about entering and qualifying?

How much does it typically cost to enter?

I don\'t think I would do especially well because my gambling is geared towards high probability low to mid priced horses that I believe have a positive expectation over the long haul.

Aren\'t contests geared toward short term results?  

I would guess that the typical contest winner is someone that just happened to catch a few \"live\" bombs during the short time frame of the contest even if many of the horses used had a negative long term expectation.

Is that correct?

miff: I do not play contest either but I know many that do.I hear the greatest handicapper in the world(if that could be quantified) would have no real advantage to win at these tournaments.I hear a little old lady who never saw a horse has an equal chance of winning.

The guy that just won the Horseplayers at Orleans is playing the racing game for 5 years and won by picking bombs of 29-1, 21-1 and 9-1.He beat 700+ players including the so called top cappers in the game.

A veteran tournament player told me you look for races with weak fav\'s and go after them. I also understand that you must watch the leader board and manage your bets by odds rather than by real handicapping.

NoCarolinaTony: SC thanks for the advice...I can certainly use some.

As for the contest playing. It all depends on the type of contest you are playing in and how many mandatory races there are. in this upcomming contest, I think that with 8 mandatory races and 7 optional races (races you choose to play) over 6 designated tracks (AQU, FG,GG,GPX,SAX,OP), it is my opinion that you want topick the most likely winner of the mandatory races, but you also want to find or isolate overlays in those races, and then the art of handicapping comes in over the remaining 52 races or so, to find 7 where 1) you have an opinion, 2) has value/overlay) 3) usually reuires large fields with larger betting pools, although the smaller tracks with smaller pools can often yield and overlay.

Yes it could be that little old lady from Pasedena strikes it lucky, but if you look at past winner of this contest, I don\'t think you will find such a lucky old lady, (but you will find a lady.....who has won this).

The name of the game is to be there in the end with a shot to win the damn thing.

Yes you do need some luck, as you do not play a contest the way you would normaly bet, although I think you need to have a certain amount of skill to be repeat participant of this contest. Luck is a residue of design.

NC Tony

miff: NC Tony,

Getting into the finals is very tough, I hear. Guys travel to many contest sites and still do not qualify.Good luck and may the bomb be with you.

Mike

bobphilo: Best of luck Tony. You\'ve done well in getting to this stage, so keep on truckin\' and you\'ll do well again.

Bob

bobphilo: fkach, I\'m not sure about the rules in this particular contest but I know some of them have a limit as to how much of a big payoff counts. I agree, though, that in the short run of a contest, luck does pay a larger part than in the long run.

I also tend to end up playing short to medium price horses, even if it might reduce my ROI a bit, if I can get a high win percentage. The game is just more fun for me that way and I hate long losing streaks. It\'s hard to quantify fun in one\'s ROI but it\'s the main reason I play. Of course I can understand someone having fun in cashing a big ticket too. Different strokes.

Bob

NoCarolinaTony: Thanks Bob!! Thanks Miff!! I am going to give it my best shot....but like I said earlier the competition is very tough.

NC Tony

Michael D.: a NC T, JB, mall finish would be nice (any way).

as for the racing ...

i don\'t like state bred races, but this sunshine whatever is not bad. huge fields, national tv, more than a few top race horses.
next w/e - six graded stakes at GP, including invasor in the donn. GP ain\'t Kee or Sar, but i love walking through those gates knowing i\'m about to watch a brilliant t\'bred run.

it\'s getting exciting.

Silver Charm: >a NC T, JB, mall finish would be nice (any way)

Michael D with two of those three I will take back what I said, about it being more about the money and not the bragging rights.

This weekend is a good warmup and very little else in the world of sports there should be some ink space in the papers. Next weekend with the Super Bowl in So Fla and a Donn Day Card that is LOADED it is up to racing to get all these media guys out to the track.

Invasor, Nobiz etc...... other people need to find out there is more going on in the game than just the Triple Crown and BC Day.

NoCarolinaTony: SC...Michael D,

Thanks for the encouraging words. I know we are going to try like hell to do our best. Spent over 10 hours of \"capping\" to get to this point. The biggest difference here is that the 20-1 shot we are all looking for HAS to WIN or PLACE, can\'t be in the money with the logical horses et al. Since its a two day contest, you need to get into position day 1. To all, thanks for the positive words. Many of you could also be here, if you had the interest. It really is a lot of fun to participate against many of the best in the business, the Gallo\'s , The wolfsons, the wagners, TGJB, Ken Massa from HTR, Ken Rippey of Newark star Ledger (and Last years winner). It\'s good clean fun, provided that the Santa Anita stewards, don\'t try to influence the outcome, like they did on Wednesday.

Talked with Jerry tonight, and its going to be a lot of fun...

NC Tony

Mall: I echo ncTony\'s sentiments. Will try to address some of what has been posted in this thread, but it may not be until after I spend a few days in the hospital recovering from exhaustion. Fun, yes, but even more tiring than I remembered, & day 1 hasn\'t even started yet.