The main reasons race lovers go to the track are winning money, excitement and maybe camaraderie. It’s a wonderful escape from the everyday and is actually one of the few sports today where the fans are a part of the game. Horse racing at a race track or a simulcast location is not, by any means, passive. In fact, my handicapping service website is designed to help such race goers relieve some of the pressure in preparing their bets.

Back before simulcast came onto the scene bettors had one track and 30 minutes to figure a winner of one race with about 8 horses. It was relaxing and serene. Now, for the active bettor however, there are 3 to 7 tracks going at once and information on 25 to 100 horses every half hour to decipher and calculate and enumerate and strategize bets with exactas, trifectas, supers and pick 3,4,6’s, part wheels, keys… whew!…. well, to say the least it’s mind boggling but, oh, so much fun.

It’s a mental contest between bettor and fellow bettors and horses, jockeys and trainers. So concentration is very important and the disruption of focus can cause misjudgments, oversight and eventually the loss of funds. The following is a short list of people you will meet at the track or OTB that you must avoid and ignore at all cost in order to maintain concentration:

The Scooter…. This guy takes a seat about 3 chairs down and after about 2 races has moved to within an arms length. Do NOT make eye contact! In fact, next time you sit down angle your chair away from him in hopes that he’ll get the message.

The Question Man…. This is not the guy who asks, “Is this the end of the betting line?” No, it’s the guy who asks, “Whatta ya think of the 3 in the 7th?” or “Whatta ya got in the 5th?” (I like to say, “I got Evan Williams in the 5th” , and watch as he goes off trying to find it in the program). Always look too busy for idle chit chat and never answer horse questions seriously.

The Stander…. This is the guy that will stand up for hours at a time and unfortunately and many times in the middle of the aisle or in front of you as you watch the big screen. Here are a couple of hints. When standing in your way, just walk over them, bump their arm and remember to say excuse me, sir. When he stands in front of you to watch the race, let out a cough that would attract a Canadian goose. They usually clear your vision quickly.

The Wheeler Hog…. You’ve got “0” flashing next to the MTP (Minutes To Post) and you know you’ve got maybe 90 seconds to get your $20 Win bet in the books. Then you hear the conversation in front of you,”…and a $1 part-wheel tri 2458 over the 123458 over All” – “Sorry sir the 4 is scratched” – “Is this Aqueduct” – “Yes, sir.” – “OK, then take an exacta box with the 2458.” – “But sir, the 4 is still scratched.”….. When you hear something like this you have three things to do, go to another window if one is open, go to an automated teller if one is available or go to the concession stand and order a hot dog with chili, cheese, mustard and slaw if they have it. And hope that the horse you missed out on falters down the stretch to finish 7th.

If you are a serious bettor or a serious beginner, then, no matter what the type of character you may cross at the races, remember to always stay focused as if you are wearing blinkers. Be cordial and considerate at all times and be a good loser and a better bettor.

It’s one thing to bet a horse with a name of a favorite relative, or a town you lived in or a cat you once knew. If you bet every name that was familiar in your past – you wouldn’t have enough money to keep up with them all.  Moreover, the longer you live, the more of these bets you’ll be placing.

However, an “omen bet” goes one step further and almost into another demension as it becomes a message from beyond. And, the limited knowlege of the beyond that I possess is that “they” (whoever they may be) know more than we do and that “they” are trying to give us a sign or clue of some kind from the never never land.

The basics of an omen bet, therefore, is two parts.  The name of the familiar and something familiar with the familiar.

For example, when you see on the program a horse with the name “Ted” and you had an Uncle Ted, that should make you remember that person (if it’s someone special in your life, of course).  But, in this example the horse’s name is Joke King Ted and your Uncle always had a new joke whenever he came around – there’s your “omen bet”.

Remember that this bet is personal and only YOU or someone that experienced the same will see the importance. If you put $10 to win on Nancy Pants and your sister, Nancy, always wore colorful bell bottoms and she’s going off at 30-1 don’t be surprised to get a funny look from the teller or the techno handicapper standing in the line next to you. They aren’t getting the same vibe from another world like you are about this horse who, by the way, is moving up in class, had to be vanned off a time or two recently and his best finish in his last 8 races was 7th.

There’s a theory that those in the hereafter give us signs all the time but we have to be open to those signs to be able to see them. So, keep an open mind and if a name on the program jumps out at you, it might be someone or something from your past giving you a tip from out of this world. Or, you could just be throwing your money away – only the shadows of the unkown will know for sure.

1905 – On February 24, Oaklawn Park Race Track opened its doors to a crowd of some 3,000 race fans. The day was declared a half-day holiday by Hot Springs officials.

1907 – Due to political problems in the state, racing was suspended.

1916 – Racing resumed at Oaklawn. The track is now owned by Louis Cella.

1936 – The Arkansas Derby was born with a purse $5,000.

1945 – Racing throughout the United States ended for an indefinite period at the request because of WWII. A 30-day season was held on November 5 through December 8 for the lost Spring meet. On opening day, an estimated crowd of 4,200 attended, and $189,289 was wagered.

1952 – Oaklawn gained national attention when its handle rose from a daily average of $336,341 to $434,667. Attendance climbs from 7,057 a day to 7,739.

1959 – The Meeting reached two milestones when its averages reached 10,000 in attendance and $500,000 pari-mutuel handle.

1960′s – Par 3 golf course in the infield was used in the off season.

1965 – Arkansas Derby purse increased to $50,000.

1970 – Records continue to be broken. During the 50-day meeting, a total crowd of 556,000 attended and bet $43,366,921. The average attendance was 11,120.

1973 – The first running of the Fantasy Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies, took place.

1974 – The Racing Festival of the South was born.

1980 – More than 250,000 fans attended the Racing Festival of the South. Temperence Hill won the Arkansas Derby.

1983 – Largest Average Daily Attendance Record Set 23,271 (still stands)

1984 – The purse for the Arkansas Derby was increased to $500,000.

1986 – The standing record single day attendance of 71,203 was set.

1991 – The Oaklawn Club was completely renovated.

1996 – Oaklawn Park race track achieved a record handle of $10,653,518 on Arkansas Derby Day.

2000 – Instant Racing, a pari-mutuel electronic system which allows players to wager on previously-run races, was introduced and field-tested at Oaklawn Park race track.

2011 – The average daily attendance grew 3% in 2011 from 2010 levels to 11,649.  Arkansas Derby Day saw an attendance of 62,364

There has never been a turf track at Oaklawn Park.
Horseplayers Association has ranked Oaklawn Park as the 9th best track in all of North America.  And, in my opinion, should be a “must see” by all who love the sport of Kings.

RE-POSTED

The 10 cent Pick-6 will be awarded to one unique ticket. On days there are multiple winners, 60 percent of the pool will be shared equally while 40 percent goes back into the jackpot.

That is the official description of the “Rainbow” pick six at Gulfstream Park.  The ten cent entry fee makes it possible for the small player to have a chance with multiple entries at a low price. But the big players get an advantage also. A $25 bet can fetch up to 3 horses a race in each of the six races and for about $470 you get 6 per race and for about $10K you can cover almost every combination (10 per race), and that would be almost a sure winning ticket!

Now here’s the catch – you have to have the ONLY winning ticket to get the total prize.  And that is the equalizer since the payout with multiple winners is only 60%, your payout with the carryover at say $800K could range from $240K to, let’s say, $1,000 depending on how many betters hit all six. But that would be an advantage to the big players again.  Even with 12 horses a race the cost goes up to $30K (to cover every possible combination) and if you have 14 high rollers doing that then nobody will win it all and the big money will break even.

Then when the 60% is removed, the lower payout to the wheeler dealers is too risky to spend the big bucks to cover every bet. And that may open it up to the small better again.  But as long as the carryover is astronomical the big spenders will be fighting it out for the 60%.

And look for this monster to come to a finale, if no loner wins it all, on the last day of the Gulfstream meet when it will become a “mandatory payout”.  That will bring people out of the woodwork and into the tracks and to the simulcasting sites across the country.

This lure of the huge payout is adding to the attendance numbers at many locations across the country.  It has been a boon to Gulfstream, simulcasting sites and to our wonderful sport.  Thank you Gulfstream Park for this little pot of gold at the end of your Rainbow Pick Six.

Have you ever noticed a horse drop in class to a level that you think is a misprint? Well, depending on when you see that drop it could mean a huge opportunity. For example, a maiden, running against $48,000 maiden claimers and finishing mid-pack suddenly is entered in a $25,000 maiden claimer should get the red flags flying. Why would an owner risk losing his horse to a claim in this instance?

One reason may be he noticed something wrong during a workout or around the barn and is dumping the horse onto someone else and cutting his losses. Hey, it’s business.

But, there is another reason why this happens and that’s where the advantage to the bettor comes in to play. You see, in accounting, a stable or barn full of horses is considered “inventory”, and, on a tax return for a business, such inventory is taxable. Owners, therefore, in an attempt to “thin the herd” so to speak, clean out their inventory to benefit the bottom tax line. Some of these horses are sold outright but there’s another great way of selling off their inventory…. claiming races.

Drop the horse in claiming value to sell, pick up the win purse and get the horse off your inventory. It’s a possible horseman’s trifecta. So, for the bettor, how do we know the difference between dumping an unhealthy animal or just lowering the inventory?

The “inventory sale” usually happens at the following times:
End of Meet
When the meet comes to an end and the owner doesn’t plan on shipping the horse to another track or to another state, then sometimes it is financially smarter to sell the animal instead of spending money on feed, vet and miscellaneous costs for 6 to 8 months till the next season starts. Look for this to happen in the last couple of weeks of a meet.
End of Year
Great time to get the horse off the inventory and get a much needed tax break just before the last day of the year. Most retail businesses build up inventory for Christmas but use January to sell off the excess inventory to avoid a tax hit. And they use January 31st as the last day of the their business year. But in the racing business, the year end most commonly is the last day of December.

So watch for the huge drop in class and then consult the area track schedules and the calendar. You may be surprised how much you can make on a good ol’ fashion “close out sale”!

The Track Philosopher Awards 2011

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TOP USA JOCK Award ……. Ramon Dominguez

24% for over 1,338 races …. earnings over $19Million

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TOP JOCK Juvenile ……. 18 yr. old Joseph Patrick O’Brien

1 Race 1 Win total winnings $1,620,000

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BEST JOCK TWEETER on Twitter ….. Freddie Lenclud

over 1700 tweets ….. tweet him back at @FreddieLenclud

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TOP FEMALE JOCKEY Award ……Chantal Sutherland

Hey, she gets her game on, Dude!

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BEST TRAINER Award …… Anthony Dutrow (see brother below)

About 350 Starts 32% Wins Over $5Million

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WORST TRAINER Award ….. Richard Dutrow, Jr. (see brother above)

10 Year Ban from NY racing (appealing)

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BEST SILKS Award …….. Kenneth & Sarah Ramsey

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TOP WINNINGEST OWNER …… Maggi Moss attorney (NOT) at law

34% (over 463 starts)

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BEST NEW LOGO …….. The Belmont Stakes Logo

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BEST NETWORK FOR HORSE RACING ……. NBC

Summer at Saratoga / Autumn at Keeneland

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BEST NEW TV RACE COMMENTATOR ……… Laffit Pincay, III

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BEST TRACK ANNOUNCER ……..Larry Collmus

New Triple Crown Announcer
His Most Famous Call of ALL!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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BEST RACETRACK WEBSITE ……. Keeneland

Track Webcam – Live Race Videos – Previous Race Videos

http://www.keeneland.com/default.aspx

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RACE TRACK MENTIONED MOST ON BUCKET LISTS …… 3 Way Tie!

Del Mar……….. Keeneland……… Saratoga

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HORSE OF THE YEAR …… Havre de Grace

Personally won 4 times betting filly to win! For the year she had a 71% Win rate!

Havre de Grace gets by Switch to take the Grade 1, $500000 Apple Blossom

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BEST HORSE OF THE LOWEST CLASS ….. Rapid Redux

Undefeated year and first horse to win 20 in a row ($5K level)

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WORST HORSE(S) OF THE YEAR ……. 3 way tie!

Sneakin Inthe Mist, Run Zooha Run and Candles Onthe Wind
Each ran 10 times and the combined winnings = $0.00

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BEST SIMULCASTING LOCATION ……. any Las Vegas Sportsbook

Can you say free drinks while you bet?

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BEST HORSE MOVIE OF THE YEAR ……. “WAR HORSE”

Release Date is December 25th

Click here to view the embedded video.

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BEST FANS OF HORSE RACING …………

YOU!

#2) Shorten the time between races from 30 minutes to 20 minutes. Most athletic events take place in a 2 to 4 hour span. A “Day at the Races” has become almost that – a day. With 9 to 12 races on the half hour – it puts the total time between 4 1/2 to 6 hours for the event. That’s a lot of time for just the actual 12 to 15 minutes spent racing.

#3) Let’s do away with most of the different lengths of the races. Sprints should be limited to 5 and 6 furlongs and route races, for instance, a mile and a mile and an eighth and a mile and a quarter. This will give the average fan an easier way of comparing the horses’ times at the same distances – it’s hard to compare a 4 1/2 furlong with a 6 1/2 furlong sprint or a mile seventy to a mile and 3/16. This would simplify the math especially for the new fans who’s main complaint, in a recent study, was… it’s too complicated!

#4) Do away with the “Inner Turf”. It’s hard enough at some race tracks to see the action on the regular turf course but the inner turf is so far out of sight and out of ear shod it looses it’s appeal. It’s a poor presentation of horse racing.

#5) Reduce ALL betting takeouts by 50 to 70%. Run the dollar part of racing like WalMart. Cut the profit in half and do twice the volume! That’s how a business grows. Some of the low pay outs at major tracks across the country are not even worth the risk, in fact, it’s a shame.

#6) Put a dress code/appearance code into effect for the main area of the race track grandstands and police the area to get rid of drunks, perverts and slobs. Many people don’t go to the track because of WHO is there. Make it a pleasant place to take a date or your wife without having to apologize.

#7) Move the allowable weight of the jockey up 10 to 20 lbs. so these athletes can do their job without purging or starving or being so weak at times they could be dangerous to themselves or to other riders. A 10% to 20% increase in weight would not be that noticeable to a 1,000 lbs. mass of muscle.

#8) Work harder to get more racing on TV. It’s irritating to flip through the channels in the evening or on weekends and find Australian football, Cricket, La Cross, Volleyball or Bowling but seldom a horse race.

#9) Keep coming up with new ideas to promote the sport like the currently popular night racing, concerts, contests, etc. Make the race track the place for fun and “The Place to Be”.

#10) Organize, organize, organize! Create an organization that gives horse owners, trainers, jockeys, owners and fans an equal say in the promotion and improvement of the great Sport of Kings. A platform for ideas and discussion for the betterment of all facets of the sport. The sport of thoroughbred racing needs a vision and goals to bring aboard a new generation of horse enthusiasts.

If you disagree or have your own idea feel free to send us your comment!

The sport of horse racing is shrinking every day.  Its fan base is drying up, losing 4 percent a year to death and disinterest.

There are fewer horses being bred, born or raced and, when they do run, they run less. Racetracks, particularly those without expanded gambling to fatten purses, are scrambling to attract enough entries to put together a “full field.”

Bettors, who fuel the sport through pari-mutuel wagering, prefer races with more horses. These days, they are betting much less, largely because of the economic downturn.  And if the industry doesn’t act now, the situation could be much much worse by 2020.  To those in the racing and breeding businesses, this is no surprise.

To get a feel for the depth of the problem, The Jockey Club commissioned a new, in-depth evaluation from McKinsey & Co. that was unveiled Aug. 14 with several suggestions for how tracks and others in the horse industry can fight back.  The study found that racing is not attracting new fans.

Betting, fans said, is too complicated and too hard to figure out, especially on account-wagering Web sites.  Horse racing is the only legal online betting, but the industry has been too slow to leverage Web tools.  Less than 1 percent told Jockey Club consumer researchers that their first involvement with the sport came through online sources. Most, 53.7 percent, got into racing because a friend or relative took them to the track as an adult.

Duncan Taylor, president and CEO of Taylor Made Sales Agency, said racing has blown a big online opportunity.  “Our biggest competitor is the lottery. Low bet, long odds but big payoff,” he said.  Racing needs something like that, a bet that people can make without a graduate degree in handicapping, he said.

Tracks such as Keeneland aren’t waiting for The Jockey Club to come up with the answer. The Lexington track announced Thursday it had worked out a deal with NBC and the Versus cable sports network to televise four days of the fall meet in October.  “There’s some things already in development,” said W.B. Rogers Beasley, Keeneland director of racing. “We have a host of social media coming down the line.”  James Gagliano, Jockey Club president and chief operating officer, said last week that The Jockey Club was developing efforts, including TV and social media, aimed at new fans.

Racing had an all-time low of about 43 hours of national coverage, prior to Keeneland’s announcement of four more hours, this year compared with 175 hours in 2003.  The Jockey Club said it will commit $10 million during the next five years to put together a TV package of new coverage of racing, and it plans to build a free-to-play social media game around that.  In the days after that announcement, Gagliano said, they have been pitched at least a dozen good ideas for reality shows, as well as games.

A simple bet with a “super jackpot” is the direction they are heading, first with a free-to-play game that offers great prizes and builds rooting interests.  Then, probably after the first year, new fans can be transitioned to online gambling, he said.  “What a tremendous opportunity that is,” he said.

But Gagliano acknowledged that racing must do more to address problems such as betting integrity and racehorse welfare that drive away new and old fans. Over and over, polls have shown fans and horseplayers think the drug rules are too lax.  “We think there’s a whole host of integrity issues that we need to confront,” he said. “I don’t think it’s as stark as ‘if we don’t get rid of Lasix, we won’t get new fans.’ ”  But, clearly, fan perception is a big part of the reason The Jockey Club and other industry groups are calling for phasing out all race-day medication, including anti-bleeder drugs such as furosemide, also known as Lasix. But that hasn’t been a popular move with many owners and trainers, who say horses need anti-bleeders because they suffer from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. About 95 percent of the horses running in U.S. Thoroughbred races get a shot of the drug four hours before a race.

“You know, if that’s their concern and they know Lasix is good for a horse, shame on them,” Mike Repole, owner of Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty, said recently. “I would hope it’s not a perception thing and that it’s a reality thing. But everything I hear from trainers to vets supports it. It’s like no one is for this except the good old boys, and they’re the guys who have been killing the sport for the last 10 to 15 years. It’s time for them to step aside.”

Another of McKinsey’s recommendations — eliminating some races or moving dates around — also has some tracks wary. The Jockey Club is working on a predictive program that could help tracks figure out the best placement of races but won’t go beyond that.  “We’re not calling for tracks to close or elimination of race days,” Gagliano said. “But there’s a smaller foal crop, and at some point we’re going to have to have fewer races. Economically, there’s a lot of races that don’t pay for themselves.”

The McKinsey study found that top-level races, such as graded stakes, still attract bettors and fans. But the vast majority of bread-and-butter races don’t.  The study also found that moving races around, sometimes by just a few minutes to give bettors more time, can make a big difference in handle.  Gagliano said more drastic action might be needed in some cases. “We run a lot of our race days when we think it’s the best opportunity, which used to be live-race attendance,” he said. “But most wagering in the U.S. now is made off-course.”

Tracks run the biggest race of the day, the feature, as the next-to-last race, he said. “That’s no longer valid.”  If some tracks schedule their feature for earlier in the card, it could improve handle significantly, he said.  Even minor adjustments could be lucrative: In 2009, three big spring races were held on the same day at Keeneland, Oaklawn and Aqueduct within a half-hour. If those had been spread out even 15 minutes more, McKinsey estimated, they could have drawn $4 million more in handle.

Big days prove that racing can still draw a crowd when it does things right. From 2003, the peak, to 2010, overall handle fell by 37 percent. But in the past 10 years, handle on Grade I and Grade II stakes races is up 23 percent.  Attendance, betting and TV ratings are still strong on the best days, such as the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup.

Tracks such as Churchill Downs have been forced, through the lack of expanded gambling, to find ways to get new fans in anyway. And they’ve done it, creating special “Downs After Dark” racing events that draw thousands and pumping up handle considerably, proof that when racing does things right, it still has legs.

Versus, a newly acquired division of NBC Sports, has been featuring such an event weekly with “Summer at Saratoga”. If you haven’t seen it, make a note to watch Saturday afternoon at 5pm Eastern Time on NBC/Versus. Great commentary and great camera work especially in HD.

To make your voice heard and to show support for this venture, please take the time today to e-mail them just to say “Thank You”! You can reach them at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339/

In October they are planning “Autumn at Keeneland” so let them know how much you appreciate the great job they are doing! Thank you from –TP!

It’s not so tricky to point out the obvious with It’s Tricky having the numbers that suggest winning the Alabama this year.  She primarily has to repeat her 3/4 length win over her testy rival from the Baffert Stable, Plum Pretty. They are both natural leaders and should jump to the front when the gate opens.

Eddie Castro, under the direction of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, must have just enough lead to keep Plum Pretty on her outside flank but not too close.  It’s tricky for It’s Tricky since she has to run fast enough to keep the lead but slow enough to have some left over.  But in her previous races it really didn’t matter about pace – quarter times were between 22 to 24 and half times from 45 to 48. In all her trips except one (where she just didn’t want to run) she always had plenty left over for the stretch.

Finally, is there any other entrant that will be coming strong down the stretch? Yes, St. John’s River will be making her move on the turn and she is well equipped when it comes to kicking it in on the turn for home.  But from my perspective it will be too little and too late to catch both It’s Tricky and Plum Pretty at the wire.

Yes, there is a rebel in the Alabama and she be It’s Tricky.