Congratulations to Thoro-Graph Customer, Michael Beychok, on his final lunge, by a nose victory in NHC XIII.

It\'s always helpful to be confident going in to any race. Michael sent us this note before the contest.

\"When I win, I will certainly give credit to the Thorograph product and the great group of people who work to make the data the best on the market.\"


Not only did we have the winner, but a total of four out of the top seven were using our data in the contest.

Silver Charm: Congrats to Mike and TG. The Video posted by Rick B has to be one of the great Marketing Videos ever for Racing. This looked like a great contest and finish. Racing needs to.figure out a way to make this more virtual for the Fans and Viewers and hemce attrack more Wannabes and Contestants. Congrats again!!!

Mall: Congrats indeed to Mike on a great win based on what I can only describe as an incredibly ballsy gamble in GG 9th, the very last race of the contest.  If you want to see for yourself how close and exciting the finish was, it's worth taking a look at the reply or chart of the 5.5f mcl race to watch the come from last, win by less than a nose in the final stride 3-1 winner which gave Mike his $1 win and an additional $850k.

I can certainly understand saving a bullet for the finale, but with that much on the line it took a good deal of courage to take a chance that the odds weren't going to drop to 5/2 after the gate opens, or that the favorite would run second and cut the place price, since either possibility probably produces a payoff that isn't enough to overtake the unfortunate leader, who obviously experienced a very tough loss.

Assuming I did this right, half way down the page of this link is a link to a complete list of the final standings: http://www.drf.com/events/2012-nhc-13-las-vegas

In addition to Mike's big win, TG perhaps deserves even bigger congrats for Paul Sherman's Tour Championship and 6th place finish in the NHC. In addition to collecting $75k for finishing first, second, or third at ten different contests throughout the year, and giving the agent representing the carrier which underwrote the $2 million bonus some very anxious moments late in the contest, at the banquet Paul was honored for being one of only four players who have qualified 10 times. With all due respect to Mike's incredible achievement, one could make the case that in addition to having the best contest year ever, Paul is the true handicapper of the year.

There are always quite a number of interesting player stories, and this link to a pre-contest ESPN piece covers most of them: http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/7502821/horseplayers-takes-center-stage

As usual, many others took place during the event, including the player who flew 17 hours from New Zealand to compete and qualify in the last chance contest Wednesday, the player who returned $5900 cash another player left at a table near the betting windows, and the Luck screening and cocktail parties with the entire cast, which made the trip much more fun than usual for Maddy. Perhaps Roger or one of the other TG players I talked at the screening could provide some of the juicy details.  

Last but certainly not least, the real purpose of this long winded post is to thank JB and the entire TG staff for both providing sheets for and incurring the cost of sending a representative to the NHC, which presumably generate as much gratitude and goodwill from others as they do from me.

Rick B.: Mall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In addition to Mike's big win, TG perhaps deserves
> even bigger congrats for Paul Sherman's Tour
> Championship and 6th place finish in the NHC. In
> addition to collecting $75k for finishing first,
> second, or third at ten different contests
> throughout the year, and giving the agent
> representing the carrier which underwrote the $2
> million bonus some very anxious moments late in
> the contest, at the banquet Paul was honored for
> being one of only four players who have qualified
> 10 times. With all due respect to Mike's
> incredible achievement, one could make the case
> that in addition to having the best contest year
> ever, Paul is the true handicapper of the year.

File this whole passage under \"Thoughts often thought, but ne\'er so well expressed\".

Been thinking the same thing for a few days but couldn\'t come up with the words. You nailed it, Mall. Thanks.

TGJB: Mel-- thanks. The only part I disagree with is it\'s not us who should be congratulated for Paul Shurman\'s accomplishments this year and over the last 10. Those are phenomenal acievements.

What we will take credit for is the sheer number of TG account holders who qualified, and finished near the top of the board (5 of the top 7 have accounts with us, 4 took us up on the offer).

And by the way, you have qualified a few times yourself now... 7?

Mall: I didn't enter any contests the first five years and have been lucky enough to qualify six of the last eight, although my biggest "achievement" is being in the very small group of players who have three top twenty finishes.

That reminds me that I'm pretty sure Paul's sixth this year makes him the first player to ever finish in the top ten more than once.

But enough about me and enough about Paul.

It might seem counterintuitive, but if you think through next year's major format changes carefully, I'm pretty sure you'll agree with my assessment that they should drastically reduce or maybe even eliminate the biggest problem you had the year you qualified and, if memory serves, were in contention after the first day.  

Besides, one of TI's biggest attractions is something I wasn't previously familiar with but now believe that everyone should see at least once: bikini bull riding.

Fake Maven: I wanted t0 take the opportunity to congratulate the winner(s).

We all have stories. My first day had a 20/1, 15/1 and 15/1 all finish 2nd. That was my tourney!

I want to thank you for your generosity in making your product available to me for the two days.

Best Regards,

Beau: Congrats Mike B...

Awesome job!

drbillym: Twinspires mentions that Beychok is a user of their service, edbain.com claims he is their customer, gradeoneracing.com says he could not have won without their reports.  How many services did this guy use?  Did anyone hear his interview with Byk or read any comments as to which service really helped him?  I would like to hear from him specifically rather than all these rave reviews posted second hand.

mbeychok: First thanks for all the congratulatory remarks and words. It is appreciated and it could have easily been 50 other guys or gals winning the money. I got lucky.

Without giving Jerry a quote he can use for a lifetime of marketing - and I can be persudaded to do so - I stand by my quote Thorograph is using.

As to the question of how many other \"services\" I used add to the list Horseplayernow.com.  Yes, I use all of them because they all provide different data. Trips/trainer stats/speed figures/workouts. I don\'t use Ragozin or Brisnet.

To win today and compete in these contests I believe the player needs to have information that 90% of the rest of the market does not have to find value.

So, yes, I use a lot of different sources for data but my sole source for speed figures is Thorograph and that will not change. Now, jerry, get in touch with me about getting the big quote.  Again, thanks for all the kind words.
Michael

elkurzhal: well played