NTRA Contest

My contest bets and results

I'm posting the bets that I made during the contest and the results at this link. At this point I have not entered any comments (other than for Jersey Gia) about why I bet these particular horses, but I intend to when I can find the time. I'm posting this betting history for two reasons.

First, I think it is part of my preparation for the next contest to see my thought process during this last contest. For example, during the second day of the contest all money made was on the mandatory races, which, interestingly, was the first set of races I handicapped to get ready for the second day of the contest. Obviously, there's something to be said for the idea of handicapping a limited number of races for the second day of a contest like this rather than trying to cover all 80 +/- races that are available for betting. Also, by the middle of the second day I couldn't handicap my way out of a paper bag, and my lousy results definitely demonstrates that fact. This may be another argument for trying to do well early rather than saving too many bullets for the end.

The second reason for posting this history is just for the fun of it. Just as I will never forget Frances Durden in the 3rd race or Tam's Terms in the 9th at CNL on June 28th, I will never forget Jersey Gia as long as she's in training. I suspect that is the same with Kent Meyer, David Krosunger and the other contestants who had that horse in the second race at Aqueduct on the 23rd. By posting this history I can recall some of the fun and excitement I had when going nuts as these horses ran around the track and a precious few of them actually finished close enough to the front to make me a few points in the contest.

Anyway, the link is there to check out. I read that the Kent Meyer had 10 winners out of the 30 bets placed during the contest. I ended up with four winners and four place finishers. Certainly a much more miserable result, but that was the way it was. I managed to produce a flat-bet profit of $18+ over the two days - heck, that beats many a day I spend at the track.

Final Standings

These are the final standings for the contest.

Daily Progress Newspaper Article

This is an article about the winning team CNL from the Charlottesville Daily Progress.

Contest Pictures

Paula took a few pictures before and after the contest. Check out the link to see team Colonial.

My final results

All is said and done and we had a fine banquet. They didn't post any results or tell who did what until the banquet, but this guy from NTRA came by the table and said hello, how are you all doing? Where are you from? I responded "Colonial Downs" and he got this little twinkle in his eye, hesitated a minute and said: "stick around, you guys are getting a check". That was cool - at least we knew we were in the top three.

Earlier today, some guy from the team we thought was in second was standing at the contest "tote board" figuring out numbers for various teams. I chatted with him and told him I was with Colonial and thought we were doing well. He said his team was currently in the lead or second and said, hey, if your team or our team wins why don't we split the pot. His team had the contest winner as part of it. I mentioned it to the team and no one was interested with the sentiment that we're gamblers, lets gamble. We hit the last race with first and second, they missed it entirely and they finished out of the running. We got first and split $25,000 amongst the four of us. And got a Waterford Crystal horse and stand and a NTRA sweater/coat thing - which we didn't get tonight. The niftiest thing about winning the team contest is that all four of us were within 10 bucks of each other, more or less, so we all were really part of the win.

I finished in 25th place - about 26 bucks out of top ten. I'm happy with all of that - it was a really fun week end of horseracing. To spend two days with folks with common interest is really a treat. Jim from Prairie Meadows was next to me, Mike from Lone Star was a spot away and John from CNL was next to him. Between the four of us we worked together to make sure no one missed a mandatory race, all had enough betting slips and cheered for each other's horses. No one really minded my whooping and hollaring - or at least they were polite enough to say they didn't. I think Andy Beyer once said that no one should go bananas at a horse race unless they had won (or lost) their annual income on a horserace, or something to that effect. Well, since my annual income used to be in the $10 range, I fit that category so I yip and yell a wee bit.

Good night - tomorrow I don't get up at 4:15. And no horseracing (who's running at Aqueduct?)

End of day

Okay, the tournament is over and I am still operating on adrenalin (sp). The banquet is at 8 and I'll be
there with Paula and George.

First, the thanks.

George, my mann, what a godsend to have you here this week. If I had gone with your picks today we would have done so much better. You were the greatest help - thanks. And Paula, gee wizz, we saw lots of horseracing widows over the two days. Some of 'em were scared of going on the strip alone - others were told to stay away from the book, but Paula was such great help and provided wonderful consideration. Thanks. And thanks to Levi and Bob and Alan for providing picks. I really gotta thank Alan for getting me off with the $50 buck horse in the first race. I think I would have had that horse, but one can never be sure. In any event, the confirmation helped.

Anyway, enough for that. The end tally is that I finished okay. No where near the top, but okay. I'm happy with the result - it was exciting thinking that I was a cap horse away from finishing in the top ten. I finished with about $140 bucks.

The biggest excitement at the end of the day was the team competition. They really should have done a better job of updating totals, both for individuals or teams, at the end of the day, but they didn't. So, I went around and got the names of all of the other teams who seemed in contention and checked their totals. We won't find out until the banquet at 8, but I really think team CNL is in the money, if not at the top. What a treat, what a treat.

I'm off to relax and drink! For what its worth I'll post a final diddy tomorrow sometime. This was fun - thanks for making me feel this was worthwhile.

Update

Just a quick update. I have two mandatory races and one bullet to go. SA 8 and SA 9 and HOU 2 (mandatory). I'm currenlty in 17th place as of the last update, which is kinda dated. So some folks have certainly moved up, but I'm sure I'm within shooting range. Going with #2 in the 8th at SA, Fonz something or other at SA 9 and I forget at HOU, but i'll have time to update before that race. \

Wish me luck

oh, yeah, team CNL maybe at or close to the lead

Help Wanted

Okay folks - here is where you come in. These are the races we're including in our pool of discretionary bets that I would love some thoughts on.

AQU - races 6 and 9
GP - races 1, 4 and 10 (really check out 10, its wide open and ripe for a cap horse)
LRL - race 7
SA - race 9

Give me a call on my cell if you see something interesting - 434-981-1956. Thanks

A new day - kinda

Okay, up and ready to go. To bed at 11 (2 am) up at 4:15 (7:15 am) and not overly tired - exhausted, yes, but tired no. I ain't alone though - its fun to hear the comments from other horseplayers. We're all in the same boat, eh? Of course there are those who play this like they would play a regular day at the races with a couple hours of handicapping and a little bit between races. Well, those folks are probably not amongst the leaders and, if so, won't be at the end of the contest. Anyway, enough commentary. Now on to the matter at hand.

George and I needed a strategy today. So, I handicapped the mandatory races with picks for the last three or so including a bomb and a "safe" horse in the unlikely event we were in contention at that point in time. Then, Geroge went through the eight race tracks with the help of HTR and picked out those low Vi races (the lower the Vi the higher the percentage a longshot will win) and we're only handicapping those races. Will certainly miss some chances but you just can't handicap 80 races in the hours we had since yesterday.

George found about 20 potential races. He's taking FG, TP and OP (rain expected today) and I'm doing AQU, GP and SA. We're skipping TUP. We talk at 7:15 am. He gives me his picks. I enter them into my access database along with mine. I print out a report with a daily appointment book of sorts with a running clock of the race post times, our picks and a little bit about why we chose that horse. Then its off to the races.

Today's card has a ton of races between 10 am (1 pm) and 12:30 pm (3:30 pm) so you won't hear from me during those times. I'll be posting before I head out for the day and when I can, but wish me luck. I know this weblog is a silly idea but what the hey, I'm kinda silly anyway.

Before I head off to the form, I just wanna say that I don't see how you could really do well in this contest without the aid of something like Thorograph or HTR. It is just mind boggling to handicap all these races well without some handicapping tool which helps you get to the essence of a race quickly. That shows in the fact that several Thorograph users are at the top of the leader board (or were at 2 pm yesterday anyway). I suspect HTR folks are also doing well, but I haven't gotten an update to be sure.

Enough said.

Mandatory Races

Mandatory Races for Day Two (all post times are PST)

1) Aqueduct - Race 4 - 10:52 pm
2) Laurel - Race 5 - 11:33 pm
3) Oaklawn - Race 4 - 12:34 pm
4) Gulfstream - Race 9 - 1:51 pm
5) Santa Anita - Race 5 - 2:09 pm
6) Gulfstream - Race 11 - 2:52 pm
7) Santa Anita - Race 8 - 3:47 pm
8) Sam Houston - Race 2 - 5:26 pm