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Thoro-Graph
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As I see it, one of the most disturbing trends over the last decade or so has been the way experts in one subject, as well many others who are not experts in any subject, are willing to make authoritative sounding pronouncements on issues they know very little or nothing about, without doing even basic research. On this issue at least, now there’s information and an opinion from someone who actua
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Excellent post sekrah which sums thing up nicely.
I was leaning toward using Dullahan for the reasons explained in my earlier post, but all I heard yesterday from the CD clockers was how poorly he's been doing at CD, as in changing leads at the wrong time, profusely sweating during gallops, etc., so he's off my ticket, which leaves me, by process of elimination, with Hansen, Rousing
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I mostly agree with your dope HP, with the exception of Hansen. No matter what the track condition is, I’m not sure the pace scenario helps Hansen, who I’m downgrading even more based on Welsch’s report today that he was “rank, aggressive, and hard to handle during just a routine gallop.”
For what it’s worth, perhaps nothing, one of the things I look for when the horses in the Derby are this c
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From someone who couldn't have been more wrong about the odds or how the early pace would play out, Tg's analysis certainly was excellent from start to finish. With the slow fractions, for most of the race I really thought Reveron, when he didn't get the lead, was going to get first jump and light up the toteboard.
While the place price helped, being too stubborn to even use TC
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I understand the overall case for Take Charge Indy who, after scratching out of the Tampa Bay Derby, may very well have to win today to guarantee a spot in the big race. With Calvin up, it seems likely on paper that TCI should get to the rail, but I’ll be very surprised if TCI is on the lead early since, as the explanation with race shapes points out, one of the biggest difficulties in trying to
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I couldn’t find a link to the final results, but some of you may know or know of third place finisher Bob Rubin, a good and successful handicapper and sports bettor from Baltimore.
Because he’s from Durango, Co, I’m guessing a far lesser number know wire to wire winner Bob Gregory, who pocketed more than $300k. However, if want to hear an interesting and inspiring story, Bob’s scheduled to be
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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 abo
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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 wi
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I sure do miss being there, so you might be on to something, but what I was thinking was that there might be other computer-challenged players who would be interested in seeing how their handicapping comrades were doing.
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It's not always easy figuring out who said what to whom when everyone is covering their behind, but while there's plenty of blame to go around, my bottom line continues to be that the final responsibility rests with the trainer who, given this incident and what happened with Quality Road, now seems to me to be a lot more suited to a position like a CEO of a hair gel company than any job
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Wow! - 13 years ago
Getting a book published by Random House is itself an amazing achievement, but only a select few of “the best of the best” of even the books published by the major houses are reviewed in the New York Times, which is the goal of most serious authors. That honor is not without stress, however, as only the top experts in particular fields do the reviews, which can be brutal. It was therefore underst
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I don’t know about Hong Kong, but in Japan the horse’s weight is included in the pps and substantial changes are thought to be an important handicapping factor. And, as everybody knows, most trainers assume something is seriously wrong when a horse starts to lose its appetite.
The telecast either wasn’t on or I didn’t see it at Kee, but I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if Donna Barton Broth
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And those good GP races will presumably represent a large percentage of the races which are part of the first in a number of free contests offering numerous NHC qualifying spots to those who have paid the modest $100 fee it costs to join the Tour. Details at:
But that’s not what prompted the post. Check your email the next couple of days, as it appears I’ll be headed to the Sunshine State in
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Re: NHC - 14 years ago
I meant to mention in my previous post that I enjoyed seeing and talking to both Roger and Bill.
In addition to Bryan Wagner having the best contest year anyone’s ever had, I doubt anyone will disagree with my assessment that one of your other good customers, who never seems to get mentioned in these discussions, has the best overall contest record over the last 11 years. In addition to qualif
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Re: NHC - 14 years ago
Hi Marcus.
Over the last 11 years the NHC has grown exponentially, and as I indicated in my post on the Tour, participation and interest in contests is continuing to grow. As you might imagine, the individuals responsible for the success of the NHC have carefully considered, and continue to weigh the pros and cons, of just about any proposal that might improve or grow the event, including ch
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This has nothing to do with BD’s question, but I left Las Vegas Sunday thinking handicapping contests are unlike just about everything else in racing, in that they continue to gain in popularity. If you go by what Steve Crist said at the Eclipse awards, this year represented a record number of players and at 120,000, a record number of entries. Those numbers don't include Wednesday's la
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It is indeed an unbelievable exacta which could not possibly have happened to two nicer people, both of whom have always gone the extra yard and then some to support the game and contests. Tuley's article sums things up pretty well:
One thing the article doesn't mention, however, is that the majority of their points were earned in contests with low--and in some cases no--entry fees,
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My two cents on a post which for me more than achieved the author’s goal of being interesting:
As everybody knows, some vet scratches are due to cuts and bumps at the gate and have nothing to do with soundness.
Also, depending on the track, vet scratches are always or often lumped in with steward scratches, so that’s something you might also want to keep in mind when using this factor to h
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I don’t know if my admittedly minor input was helpful, but whether it was or not, I certainly enjoyed reading about this very positive development. Far too many people in this industry have gotten away with far too much for far too long, and based on what he appears to have done, this is one character that certainly deserves a financial spanking. There’s still a long road ahead, and while you’re
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I didn't realize on Sunday that the article you were waving at me was one you wrote. Too bad you couldn't stay Monday to see the race Gary Sciacca arranged to honor Steve's mother. Very touching.
Hard to disagree with your basic points, but my take is that the current system is not the endpoint, but one always has to start somewhere. If enough tracks buy into the concept, then i
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Not much to report other than they're working on it, and they expect to hold six. In addition to trying to convince them to keep the entry fees reasonable, my pitch was that they should be as geographically diverse as possible, and should be made available to as many as possible, including those who live in the 13 states which don't allow ADWs. Something along the lines of the July 11 M
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Kirchner mentioned your input when I met with him recently about one very important aspect of this new contest which was not in the press release, namely that there are going to be six "play in" contests where first prize is an entry into the BCBC, as they're calling it, which in and of itself is something worth shooting for, given the lofty entry fee. I couldn't agree with yo
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Most years, I only play in one or two of the Coast contests at most, so my comments are limited to the NHC and NHC qualifiers.
In a typical year, NHC qualifying contests generate more than 100,000 entries so, like most human activities, it would be literally impossible to list the wide variety of motivations people might have for entering. Thus, I feel pretty safe saying that ego gratification
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Great description of a wonderful experience which also reminds everyone that there are still a number of things which make this game special. I must say that this was one post I very much enjoyed reading.
Count me among those who regularly listen to and enjoy the Saturday show which, along with Steve Byk's daily show, are imo easily the two best in a surprisingly robust radio lineup, give
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Mth is a live money contest where for each entry you send them a check for $400 which covers the entry fee, and then show up on the day of the contest and purchase a $200 voucher. Using that voucher, you are required to make the minimum number of $20 bets mentioned. Note that there is no maximum on either the number of bets or the amount you can bet. Nor are there any caps.
It's almost ex
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I'm not trying to dodge the question, but depending on how many years back you want to go, assembling the information could be quite an undertaking, not to mention potential accuracy issues if you're forced to rely on mine or anyone else's memory.
As a starting point, how about a short questionnaire that players would fill out when, assuming you're planning on continuing th
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For those of you who didn't get the email or read the ad in the DRF this weekend, the NTRA and the contest venues listed below announced that there will be four new "Super Qualifiers" later this year. In addition to 21 NHC spots, the $375K in total purse money represents, as far as I know, significantly higher purses for individual qualifier contests than ever before:
$75K at t
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No, but it's hard not to notice that it appears to be the strictest and most comprehensive program anyone's committed to so far, more even than what is contemplated by the NTRA's Safety and Integrity Alliance.
The obvious hope now is that CDI is big enough that the rest will follow, so that the real reform we've all been waiting for will finally start.
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Very happy to hear that the new Kee contest generated the kind of response I was anticipating.
If you did get in, you're going to want to read the rules very carefully, as even excluding what I'm pretty sure is the first ever coat and tie dress code, there are at least two items which are different than most cash contests, starting with the first tiebreaker, which is the total amoun
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