What ever happened to Vito?

[TGJB]

Let me see if I can guess who told you Norman switched because he couldn\'t afford the other guy. Not Norman.

They were pushing that line for a while, as far as I knew they stopped years ago because it didn\'t pass the laugh test, so I\'m surprised. I mean, think about it. You\'re betting enough to warrant paying either $25 or $35, and you\'re going to put that handle at risk with a product you don\'t think is as good to save $10?

People use the product they think is best unless they bet so little that it doesn\'t make sense to buy it.

[Racemaven]

Well Jerry, nobody has to \"tell me\" about poor old Normie-O ( the O is for his last name, btw) because I know him all too well! I am surprised he can scratch together gas money to drive to the Palace and buy a Thoro. Obviously, I am one of the players he owes money to.

But since you bring it up with your \"they\'s\" references, why would you not  consider the validity of pricing when it comes to the use of either product, given as a backdrop your recent \"capping\" of daily purchases as a marketing strategy. Sometimes I think you go overboard with your references on the board just to try and prove a point. They are both good products. I use both. I play in the Crown room with players who swear by either/or. The important point is sheet/thoro players move the pools and they both put us way ahead of the other players in the paramutual pools. Incidently, it would be great if you could print less boxes in the Thoro\'s. They provide no useful information to us in the races they appear.

Racemaven

[TGJB]

1-- Oh, pricing strategy is important all right, it\'s just not why Norman or anyone else switched. We\'ve experimented with a lot of pricing things over the years, and the reduced caps we started this year are probably why we\'re up almost 20% in online sales. Pricing doesn\'t affect which handicapping product people who bet significant money buy, it affects how much they buy. Evidently you buy the hard copy, but I would point out that hardcopy represents around 20% of our sales. Most of our guys play from Living Room Downs and bet multiple tracks.

2-- The boxes do provide useful info, they tell you that there isn\'t enough information to make figures for that race. A typical situation is maidens in the first race on dirt, grass next two races, track changing speed throughout the rest of the dirt races. If only one or two have run before (especially if they ran badly then or finish up the track today), there is no basis for making a figure. Those that create one are guessing and/or using averages. For more on this check out Changing Track Speeds in the Archives section.

[Racemaven]

Evidently you don\'t know or bother to know your own customer. I have a very active online account with you as well as well as using books \"comped\' at the Palace. In any event, I see this conversation is pointless, so I will end it.
Good luck in the Breeder\'s Cup.

Racemaven