War Pass needs a test

War pass is undefeated and untested. Hard to imagine him finding a test in the Tampa Bay Derby. He will face Big Truck and Atoned off a four month layoff. Perhaps some local upstarts will join the fray as race filler. Looks like the sporting triple crown trainers ducked this $300K race. What is on tap is a virtual walkover and a dream set up for a dominant front runner like War Pass. Somewhere before the first Saturday in May it would be beneficial if this colt was hooked and his gameness received a stern test. No test on Saturday.

Spitzer used racing to cement his reputation as crime fighter

The New York Attorney Generals office took up interest in racing when the slots were approved. There were many headline grabbing scandals, from the A-One Rocket/Gambling ring indictment, the Mutuel Clerk issue, the Waiter taking big tips front pager and the Jockey weight scandal.
All of these headlines grabbed front page news and were used as leverage to try to discredit NYRA out of the slot casino. In the end they were publicity stints and the only convictions were in the mutuel clerk scandal were 16 clerks were convicted of cheating on their taxes in a scheme were they shorted their till at the racetrack. Spizter spent millions on these crusades and used them to build his reputation as corruption fighting progressive crusader. The New York Times reported one Spitzer racing scandal after another and started to refer to NYRA as the "beleaguered NYRA, "another scandal" The New York Times was doing Spitzers bidding. Was the underlying reason for these crusades just to secure the Aqueduct casino for his Manhattan real estate mogul friend Richard Fields? With the backing of the New York Times and a complete stranglehold on the New York media Spitzer was elected with 69% of the vote, the people fell for what he was selling hook line and sinker.

The people hurt by Spitzer are not just the taxpayers and his family. Those particularly devastated by Spitzer's corruption are those that got caught in the steamroller. How about the life of Braulio Baeza and Mario Scalafani? These two were caught up in the jockey scandal. This scandal was headline news back in 2005 and helped cement Spitzer's reputation as a corruption fighter. However there was no crime, just headlines and a complete misunderstanding of the rules of races. The case was quietly thrown out of court last September after three years of court battles. Costing the taxpayers millions of dollars and ruining the family's of two men.

With the complete ruination of Spitzers career the lesson for the mases is do some research before you vote. Heartfelt commercials should not be the only thing they look at when the examine who they vote for. Spitzer received 69% of the vote and the steamroller only took a little more than a year to expose himself as a arrogant criminal. Someone should have pointed the steamroller to proverb 16:18. Looks like Joe Bruno is going to have to help get the steamroller out of the ditch.

Pyro Stud deal set

Another 3 year old has his retirement papers in order long before his legacy as a race horse is settled. Pyro will retire to Darley stud after his racing career is over. Not exactly good news for the sport. Just before a horse makes his mark they are already whisking him off to a more profitable career at stud. This is like getting a 100 on a spelling test in 6th grade and securing a CEO position later that evening. We can only hope that the cycle of profitability changes in racing and it becomes more profitable to race your horses rather than breed them. Lining up retirement plans this early in the sophomore year removes virtually all the motivation to run the horse past the triple crown. The game takes it on the chin once again.

Saturday 08Mar play of the day

Fairgrounds Louisiana Derby

J Be K is serious lone speed in the Louisiana derby. Was pressed as hard as he could be pressed first off the layoff. Not only did he win the duel but he drew off to a big impressive win. A wirejob could be on tap, I love the the chalk hype horse Pyro is a deep closer from the same barn so any pressure received on the front end will not be from a horse that figures to win. J Be K will dominate the front. Wish the 12-1 ML could be locked in. The play of the day is a price.


Louisiana Derby

Win #4

18 3-2-1
strike rate 17%
cumulative return $37.00
ROI $2.06

ADW account poll

Even though it is a minuscule sample, the results of the ADW poll completely support the top ten things horseplayers like list. Twinspires is far out in front while TVG and YOUBET once dominant tenured ADW providers are being completely ignored by the online horseplayers that visit this blog.

Why is twinspires the on-line dominant ADW provider? TVG has the most exposure reaching 30 million homes on TV and YOUBET has the best website. The key to Twinspires success is two words, free stuff. In comparison not only do YOUBET and TVG not offer free PP's but they are notorious nickel and dimers who charge fees to watch video or charge per wager fees. These smalls fees are the main reason why the customer base is switching to Twinspires. Twinspires understands the customer base and does not try to find revenue where the horseplayer finds annoyance.

The online upstart Premier Turf Club is a favorite of those that frequent the paceadvantage message board. The selling points of Premier Turf Club is rebates for all, a highly motivated pro-active owner who is involved in customer service and offers a modern wagering interference that horseplayer designed with many innovative features. The glaring weakness is that the major thoroughbred circuits are not available on Premier Turf so if you want Aqueduct you will have to settle for Assinoba or Belmont fans will have to settle for Beulah.

Other local providers like NY OTB, NYRA rewards, Cali Intertrack are a mixed bag Personally I use NYRA rewards and they work well for me. They offer a small rebate, an amazing track menu featuring almost every flat track from Suffolk to Del Mar and an array of free stuff perks. Preferred access to Belmont Stakes tickets, Saratoga Tickets and a free Breeders Cup Buffet. OTB still charges a 5% winning bet surcharge to those with accounts less than $300 so OTB is completely out of the question for those that want track prices and have modest bankrolls.

If ADW management is reading this I would hope that they read the top ten things horseplayers like list and take heed. Anything less than free PP's and they are showing that they do not understand their customer base and are okay with twinspires demolishing their business. Why are these ADW providers still nickel and diming the horseplayers with per bet fees and video fees? Do I have to make myself available for freelance consulting to correct the YOUBET/TVG business model? Management needs to alter the budget plans to eliminate these fees as the small revenue from the small fees are cannibalizing the gross handle and causing the patrons to migrate from your service to those ADW providers that have read and respected the top ten things horses players like list

Do not count on racing becoming a mainstream sport anytime soon

The plain fact is that racing is in a low popularity cycle now. The game is incompatible with the times where most desire instant gratification. Are you hungry? roll into the drive-thru for instant Mcburgers, boom you have filled your intestines. Are you bored and need some entertainment? We have 477 channels right at your fingertips. What about broads? There are millions of photos available on the internet, it is all so easy and cheap. These things once took a tremendous effort to attain and can now be had cheaply and easy. Horseplaying is as hard now as it has ever been. Racing is like an old chewed up bone protected by a pit bull in a supermarket stocked with beautiful porterhouse steaks on sale and ready to go.

In this climate of easy and cheap thrills how can you expect some Joe six-pack to put down their burger and remote to read PP's and absorb tough beat after tough beat watching animals run in a circle? Mainstream sports fans like TV mindless games where they can sit down, zone out and have a TV presenter tell them what to think. There is little nothing asked of the mainstream sports fan except buy the things we show you on the commercials. Conversely, horseplaying successfully is a massive effort coupled with a little mental abuse.

Some argue that lowering takeout will save the game, but that is a fallacy. Takeout has absolutely nothing to do with the popularity of racing especially from a mainstream point of view. It has been proven that low takeout bets are unprofitable and are not handle drivers. The takeout could be cut in half tomorrow and only a select group would notice or care. The average horseplayer is not savvy enough to capitalize on low-takeout bets the horseplayer wants action. You talk about takeout with a mainstream sports fans and they will respond with Sesame Chicken or Little Ceasers Pizza Pizza.

There is little appeal to the mainstream fan in dissecting the racing form and picking winners. While many of us love playing the ponies, we are in a small minority. We absorb the abuse of tough beats and losing streaks, the horses are a big part of our recreational lives. The hope is always for that race that we can crush and our egos are once again nourished with the fruits of handicapping genius. Today many people are just too feeble minded to deal with the downs of racing and need a fricking zoloft just to be happy. The fruits of handicapping genius are just to challenging for them to reach for, the effort is too much to ask. Instead of the fruits of handicapping genius the modern mainstream fan wants to sit on the couch and have a fruit flavored smoothie delivered to them. Do not count on racing to go mainstream anytime soon.

more things the horseplayer likes

10. Stewards DQ's- they may tell you different but the truth is the horseplayer loves stewards decisions. This is another win-win opportunity for the horseplayer. He can win if his horse is moved up via DQ, which allows him to proclaim the universally known truth that he is indeed a handicapping genius, even if he was assisted by the stewards.

The second situation is if he is DQ'ed by the stewards, in this situation he is still a genius however the stewards are completely inept and blind to boot. When DQ'ed out of a win by the stewards it is the stewards that are always wrong. Not only are they wrong but a gross injustice was committed, and now it has been proven that they are *&*&ing corrupt. The beauty of being Dqed by the stewards situation is depth of the complaining, it is a total release of all complaining energy, sort of like a angst enema. Nothing makes a horseplayer complain like a Stewards DQ. The horseplayer knows he is a genius and it was confirmed by his very eyes when the horse he wagered on crossed the wire first for everyone to see. How dare the stewards deny this confirmed brilliance there was visual proof. The horseplayer will reason that even if their horses jockey whipped another jockey in the face, or knocked another horse over due to reckless riding it did not effect the result.

9. Shut out of bet- This is a situation that is a win-win for the horseplayer. Sometimes lines are long at parimutuel windows and an intended bet does not make to the wagering pools before the gates are opened. Most of the time this a very beneficial situation for the horseplayer as a last minute rushed losing bet never makes it out of the horseplayers mental queue. Saving the horseplayer bankroll. The other winning situation is when the shut out bet wins. How could a winning bet that is not placed be a winner for the horseplayer? A shut out winning bet is a great chance to complain and other than cashing a 6 digit pick-6 nothing makes a horseplayer happier than the release of complaining. In this situation the horseplayer can bash the track, bash the other players for clogging up lines, bash the parimutuel clerks, bash the slow internet or bash the slow ADW service. In the shut out winning bet scenario, the horseplayer is all right and everyone is so wrong confirming his superiority over the rest of the world.

8 Odds go down while race is run- Horseplayers find salvation when a horse has its odds go down during the running of a race. Sometimes a horse will break from the gate at 2-1 get the lead and at the top of the lane the odds will drop to 9-5 or even 3-2. In the horseplayers eyes this is proof that the track is &(&^ing corrupt and it is vindication for a lifetime of losing. Odds going down mid-race proves that the horseplayer is good and the tracks are corrupt.

7 New idea is a failure- Horseplayers love when new ideas are a failure. This is why the game does not change with the times as the horseplayers love everything to remain suspended in time. Any new bets automatically will be bashed by horseplayers and ignored. New ideas are not considered and all are stupid. When those new wagering pools are removed from the wagering menu due to lack of action, the horseplayers will tell you how stupid track management is and how if they listened to their players they never would have created such a stupid new bet. The recent Breeders Cup filly Friday announcement cultivated the loudest moaning and groaning on US soil since Monica Seles retired from tennis. When filly Friday at the Breeders Cup fails the horseplayers will be happy campers, any of them will tell you how much of a stupid new idea it is.

6. Free Analysis on TV- Horseplayers love free analysis on TV. They use this information in their wagering and if it wins, this confirms that the horseplayer is indeed a mega handicapper and a massive genius. However if the information provided by the TV presenter leads to a losing wager, this triggers a pleasurable bash session where the TV presenter is conformed to be a dolt and a &*#$ing idiot. Yet another win-win situation where the horseplayer wins confirming his genius and if he loses he is still a genius however responsibility for the loss is assigned to that &^%*ing 58 flat idiot Matt Carothers.

Top five things horseplayers like

5 Tips- Horseplayers like tips. They seek out and cherish backstretch whispers about a horse who is going to win due to some human interest event. Perhaps the trainers daughter is getting married this Saturday so the whole track has conspired to let his horse win and now is the time to get involved. People will tell you these things if they like you as you walk around the grandstand. Like many things that horseplayers like these tips are a win-win situation for the horseplyer. If the tip does not pan out they can always blame the idiot that gave them the tip for bad information, if it wins it is because they are a handicapping master.

4. winning- The horseplayer does like winning as it justifies a questionable allocation of massive amounts of time to watch animals run in a circle. Winning also provides balance to the wagering bankroll, extending its useful time and limits the post race complaining to only 80% of the time. It is safe to say without winning, horseplayers and horse racing itself could not exist. Usually every horseplayer can tell you a story of them placing some uninformed wager very early in their handicapping career that won for big money, that is the hook that brings many horseplayers into the horseracing community.


3. Jockey obsession- Many horseplayers are obsessed with jockeys. They use the jockeys as their primary handicapping factor often using the various "this jocks on/that jocks off" moves as their foundation reason for placing a wager. When their horse wins it is because they are a handicapping Goliath with a huge IQ, however if they lose it is only because the jockey is a pinhead, 100% of the responsibility is assigned to the jockey for all loses. These people will often verbally abuse the jockeys, sometimes chasing them down a tunnel to let the jockey know how much he sucks with various four letter words. Jockey capping is a win win proposition as horseplayers always come out smelling like roses, win or lose. Smart if you win *&^*&ing jockey if you lose.

2. Who has got the juice?- Accusing trainers of juicing or drugging their horses to win is a favorite responsibility deferral technique of horseplayers. If a trainer is winning close to 30% a horseplayer will often say that trainer has the juice or is actively juicing his horses to win at such a high percentage. Never will a horseplayer acknowledge the hard work that goes into running a successful barn. Despite these grave accusations there is never any proof that any of these horses are being drugged. Perhaps because many horseplayers hardest day at work is assembling a trifecta part wheel the concept of hard work may be foreign to them. Once again accussing trainers of juicing is a good responsibility deferral technique as lost wagers can be written off as *&(*(*ing juicing trainer rather than dumb me.

1. Free stuff- this group of people is drawn to free stuff. In fact they seem to think that they deserve free everything from PP's, to track admission to giveaway hats and t-shirts. You will often hear them complaining that they are not getting free stuff and that they are entitled to free stuff. A frequent argument at racetracks and racing messageboards is that if track management cared about horseplayers they would give away more free stuff. Giveaway days can be a free stuff orgy with people leaving the track with armfuls of hats, clocks and chairs, often local children are employed as mules to help increase the free stuff payload. Track attendance will often triple on free stuff days.