Claiming Gold!

Claiming Gold!

Read on below to find out about our new method offering – Claiming Gold!

Being successful at the race track, i.e. betting the ponies, is kind of like trying to walk a straight line taking heel-to-toe steps with the added pressure of a police officer watching (some of you older players might remember having to take that pre-breathalyzer test a time or two during your misspent youth!?).

 How so?

Well – it’s easy to get “drunk” on all the information out there – then to get off balance by giving too much weight to some factors, and not enough to others. And – there is always the constant ‘pressure’ of friends, racing buddies, and family (read – wife or husband!) watching and judging.

It is tempting to just throw up ones hands and either quit, or turn the whole handicapping process over to the latest software that does all the “thinking” for you.  It’s easy to say, “Hey, there are so many factors to consider, and I just don’t have the time to consider all of them for every race – I’ll let the computer do all of that for me.”

But horse players were making money at this game a hundred years before computers. How did they do it?

. . . Basics.

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Speed Ratings

Speed Ratings

Speed ratings – class ratings – par times, and the various combinations, permutaions, and comparisons of these cause a lot of confusion in the game today.

Each time we offer a method that has as one of its factors the comparison of horses’ speed ratings, or Beyer figures, or Racing Post numbers – there have been questions.

And those questions are valid.

There has been a proliferation of companies who offer their own version of a “rating” for each race in a horses’ history. Players, once committed to a particular one of these services, are reticent to switch, and do the tough job of re-researching how their handicapping decisions might have been different (for better or worse) if one of the ‘other’ outfit’s ratings had been used.

I’m not going to profess to know all the subtle differences, or try to establish a pecking order for the various services (it’s very likely I am not even aware of some of the ratings services out there). Neither will I explain the mechanics behind getting the figures. Books have been written on this, and if you want to pursue it – it is a fascinating subject.

In this post I will simply give a few thoughts on this issue, and also provide a chart I found online that will help those of you who have asked ratings-related questions of us recently. This is in particular response to those who asked those questions in regards to the new freebie method we gave out – “Marquee Race Method.”

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Aim High

Aim High

What’s the worst that could happen? 

Many believe in this approach to life – and to horse racing.  I also did in an earlier time of my own life.  As we look around us today – almost everywhere (except maybe in Big Banking and Big Wall Street) we see lowering returns to our expectations.

Technological innovation remains the hope for a fuller and more fulfilling future, but somehow it has not, and is not living up to its promise. Belts are tightening here at home as well as across the globe. People are very concerned, people are worried . . . some are afraid.

For nearly a century, the “American Dream” was the ‘aim high’ goal for our ancestors, and for the throngs of immigrants that flooded into the country. Some did achieve relative greatness – some always will – no matter the time or place.

However, that Dream of America seems to be fading fast, and is achieved by fewer and fewer. There are over 40 million U.S. citizens now on food stamps, 10’s of thousands have lost, or are in imminent danger of losing their homes because of greed, the so-called “fiscal cliff” rapidly approaches .  .  . and forgive me if you are of a different view, but I think Tuesday’s election results only serve to make the mess even more problematic.

So how does all this relate to betting the ponies?

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