JC / Railbird

Handicapping Archive

NTRA Contest Results …

Are up, after “going through the normal 48-hour audit.” There still seem to be some gremlins in the tabulations. These are the results given on the front page as of Monday evening:

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And these are the results as posted on the leaderboard:

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“Entry 1” actually appears no less than six times in the first 50 on the leaderboard, which suggests it’s not a contestant’s name, but a database field or ID or some such thing, so “Entry 1” could well be the same as “pantelisthegreat.” The frequent appearance of “Entry 1” though suggests a database or software problem, as does the discrepancy between “Roe’s Runners” and “saratogasummer,” a name that doesn’t even appear in the top 50.
This is all very curious …

Posted in Handicapping on July 18, 2005

Hope Remains a Stablemate

The first weekend of December each year, Bob Roberts plays Keeneland’s handicapping contest. This year, he decided to play at Turfway too. How did he do? “I’ve got a shiny green souvenir coffee mug from Keeneland and a $25 betting voucher door prize from Turfway, and that’s it. Actually, that’s not true. I bet and lost $15 of the voucher, then misplaced it, thus forfeiting the $10 balance to the cleaning crew or some eagle-eyed punter who gleefully found what I foolishly left behind.” Too bad, but at least he still has hope: “I’ve got $304.90 left in the kitty of my ‘Post Time’ feature, so hope remains a stablemate.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Posted in Handicapping on December 9, 2004

The Bartender’s Tips

Last Saturday, the Happy Handicapper joined 91 others in an annual handicapping contest at Batavia Downs and lost badly: “He suffered one of the worst days of his handicapping life. He went 0 for 10 and lost all but $30 of his $1,000 contest bankroll. This was bad enough. But then his journalistic duties required him to interview the winner, a 36-year-old bartender named Dennis Duffy. Not only did Duffy turn his contest bankroll into $6,118, he also won about $5,000 in real money by wagering on his selections and hitting both of the day’s Pick 4s.”
There was some good to be gleaned though: “Duffy, a nice guy and a serious horseplayer with several other tournament titles under his belt, had a lot to teach the H.H. about playing contests and playing horses. First lesson: It’s never over until it’s over.” Also, look for big trainer and jockey changes, and pay attention to the pace. (Buffalo News)

Posted in Handicapping on November 13, 2004