JC / Railbird

That’s a great point … my noticing time has been severely cut into this year, and my 2008 spreadsheet to track my win/losses reflects it.

Posted by dana on August 29, 2008 @ 10:41 am

What makes handicapping so delicious and complex is that you must “super notice” while NOT abandoning pre-conceived notions. I know handicappers who do all their work the night before, and the next day just put in their bets. But this disregards the nuance of the paddock and parade. I am happy, particularly when I’ve done no studying, to dabble in the parade pick. I’ve struck many a time without even knowing what type of race I’m about to look at. Serious work, however, requires knowledge stored from past viewing, breeding study, familiarity with track surfaces, everything that goes into making this such a challenge, but one must always remain open to the activity in the moment, the sudden acute perception. All handicappers playing at home or by simulcast television rather than seeing the animals live are attacking the game like lobsters with loose rubber bands on their claws: You might eat, but you will have trouble cracking the shells of the toughest races. That said, whatever the pleasures of handicapping, they’re sure not being passed on to new generations because the sport seems to be imploding before our very eyes (see just-announced Churchill Downs stakes cuts). I was out playing simulcasts at Laurel yesterday and not only had two of the three dismal food counters been closed, but the median age of the crowd was ancient. The Daily Racing Form might as well be written in hieroglyphics.

Posted by John S. on August 29, 2008 @ 5:36 pm

The super noticing and being acutely sharp and on top of the goings on is problematic for me.
Having a severe injury plus an illness hampers my ability some…. It also breaks my heart that I hear this great game is going down before our eyes. See this game brought me back from the dead so to speak.

Posted by pete on August 29, 2008 @ 6:51 pm

How’s this for super noticing? Out on a Friday afternoon awhile back at my local track, some guy is watching the board – the exacta will. No form in sight. See’s a lot of money coming in on a horse in the exactas that make no sense based on the odds. Plays the horse on top in tris, keyed w/ the two favorites at the time. Gates open, the horse taking all the money in the exactas goes from 5-1 to 5/2 halfway down the back stretch and the horse runs off the screen, the two favorites way up the track 2nd and 3rd.
Guy says to me…”I noticed awhile ago that the form is toilet paper in this place, ever notice how the odds change well into the race? I just look at the exacta will pays now and bet off that”.
He had the tri 20 times and it paid suspiciously small considering the board before the gates opened.
Thought that was pretty keen to just abandon the form. He said he just doesn’t even bother with it after so many years of “things not making sense”. The whole day he stood in the same area…with his daughter in a stroller, feeding her…and just waiting for the last 2 minutes before post to make his bet.
Sometimes I think super-noticing is a bit overrate as John kind of suggests. All the stats, the rules, THE PAST in front of you….and what good is it? If you cash a ticket, is it BECAUSE you had an acute understanding of handicapping or was it something else? Sometimes just winning isn’t enough to explain how you got there….I want to know the reason why I won and that we’ll never really know.
Do agree though that post parade, paddock watching is very important.
Well, off to the spa….hope for no rain.

Posted by o_crunk on August 29, 2008 @ 7:35 pm

The upside of my lack of handicapping time is that I too will willingly and enjoyably dabble in the parade pick.
I’ve done pretty well overall and if nothing else have really improved that aspect of my game. I picked the winner in the 9th today at Saratoga but didn’t have any money on him.

Posted by dana on August 29, 2008 @ 10:09 pm

That’s why I enjoy handicapping and playing the races, John, it’s making sense of an ever shifting puzzle, of what you know and what’s before you. The one time I was on a true winning streak, I remember a feeling of balance between the known and the new and it was good while it lasted. That streak came during a period when I was seriously handicapping and studying results each day and was open to the shifts and nuances and somehow sensible enough to avoid getting hung up on angles. That hasn’t been the case here at Saratoga, where my attention is scattered and I’m not picking up on patterns in the data or on signs day-to-day, and like Dana, that’s reflected in this summer’s spreadsheet …
Noticing and its importance is also something I’ve been thinking about when it comes to writing. Having the focus is essential, but there’s also the need to stay fresh, to keep noticing.
I admire that tote reading guy, o_crunk. I might notice the big things (bridgejumpers, live first-time starters, the occasional multi-race action) but rarely find meaningful patterns in the exacta pools and that is one thing I wish I did better.
Pete, you sound as though you have a story to tell …

Posted by Jessica on August 29, 2008 @ 10:17 pm

I find I do much better when observing, or “noticing” things when at the track and when I am at the paddock fence. This combined with watching the tote board change is what works for me. But again, in the end it is a game for most. After all how many people handicap just on horse racing full time with no job and what is the net income. You never hear the stats on this.?

Posted by Robert on August 31, 2008 @ 9:38 pm