NTRA Contest

End of the day

The day ended a bit better than that middle stretch. The classic mistake of contest players is to run out of bullets with good races yet to go. Well, I tried real hard not to let that happen to me and, lo and behold, I had bullets left and ran out of races. Alas, all is not lost, I ended up collecting money in three of the last four races, so I feel fairly good about the day. Don't feel good about my state of exhaustion, but I do about my chances.

Anyway, I ended up with a place horse for $10, a winner for a total of $8.80 and a place for $12.20 for a daily total of $89.80.

The leader, apparently, is a thorograph user with $151 or so. I am not sure how CNL did, but I think three of us were doing okay so maybe we did fairly well. Will post more later. Have to handicap.

That wall they talk about.

Let just say I have 3 mandatory bets left and four discretionary bets. The intervening bets shall, as they say, sucked. But I'm alive and headed for the gym for a work out. When I'm done I'll be raring to go for the end of the Cal Cards.

Update at 2:56 EST

Okay, so so far there have been two mandatory bets and I have used two bullets. The first bullet was, as said, in the 2nd at AQU. The horse won and paid $35.00 to win and $16.80 to place. So, a $51.80 score. I tell you, everyone in the race book knew I had that horse. David, you would appreciate the noise I made.

The next race was the third at AQU, another bullet. I bet Moloka or something like that. The horse went off at 11-1 and finished last. An 8/5 horse won and a 3-1 horse came in second.

The third race was a mandatory bet. The 1st at Oaklawn. First race in a new meet with a new racing surface. Anything can happen. As it happened the favorite won and paid $7.40, combined for win and place. I bet Noonetoquit who finished second and paid $7.00 to place. So, all in all, that was a good bet. If you're gonna place you wanna place to a horse who pays $7.40.

The fourth bet was another mandatory bet. The sixth at AQU. I get Bogata Bill who went off at 5-1 (6-1 when bet). He came in third - jostled a bit on the rail in the stretch and couldn't recover. The horses that came in 1 and 2 were both in my choices, but I went the wrong way. George liked the winner. Oh, well, on to the next.

Running tally - Four bets - total of $58.80 - about $15/race average. Six more mandatory bets to go and five more discretionary bets for the day. Another CNL player also had the winner of the race at Aqueduct so I suspect CNL team is doing okay right now.

Later.

About to begin

I'm about to head downstairs to begin the first day of the contest. A lot came together between 4:15 and 6:30 this morning so I'm ready to go. At this point I suspect my first bullet will be in a discretionary race at Aqueduct - Race 2 - at 12:56 pm post. Could change my mind, but I like the horse and he's 12-1 ML. At this point I have 20 potential discretionary bets to watch and choose from or ignore entirely. I have mandatory bets pretty much ready for five of the eight mandatory races. I'm not sure how much posting I'll be doing during the day, but if interested watch TVG and hit the NTRA website. They'll have updates throughout the day. Onward!

Mandatory Races

Race 1 - Oaklawn Park - Race 1 (first race of a new meeting - how do we check bias data with that scenario?)

Race 2 - Aqueduct - Race 6

Race 3 - Fairgrounds - Race 5

Race 4 - Laurel - Race 8

Race 5 - Gulfstream - Race 7

Race 6 - Turf Paradise - Race 9

Race 7 - Golden Gate - Race 7

Race 8 - Santa Anita - Race 7

That be them for Friday.

Contest Eve

Whew - eight tracks, about eighty races to handicap - I've been doing this for two days and I am by no means ready for even the first race. I got a wee bit of work ahead of me to get ready for tomorrow morning.

Had a nice dinner with Ken and the HTR qualifiers - great group of guys and women. It would be great if one of us went all the way.

Alan sent thorograph for the contest which I gave out to other thorograph users today. Thanks a lot Alan and Thorograph. I don't know how I would possibly handicap these tracks without these resources.

And then there's George. What a great buddy to come to Vegas to help get ready for this thing. Thanks a bunch.

On to more handicapping - lets go guys. Give me some picks.

Here and ready.

Plane flew well - got five or six races handicapped while on board and made it to Bally's with no problem. Picked up a printer for printing out all sorts of stuff. Up and handicapping at 4:15 vegas time (but, really, that only like 7:15 home time). Don't forget - any ideas that you might have for the contest races - let me know. I'll post the mandatory races later today.

Another good article.

DRF is really into this as this link shows. What fun.

The day before the trip begins.

Its Tuesday night here in C'ville and I'm pretty much ready to begin the handicapping process. Cards are available for Laurel, Golden Gate and Turf Paradise for Friday and Turf Paradise for Saturday. Post positions have been drawn for the Sunshine Million races on Saturday but good old MEC doesn't see fit to post them in any handicappable form, or at least that I can find. So plenty to do, so little time.

Just found out this evening that supposedly laptops are banned in race books in Vegas now. All of you who have laughed at me for bringing my laptop to the track or book in the past can appreciate my horror at that news. I may just be hanging out in my room all day Friday and Saturday so I can do this job right. Hopefully logic will prevail and this issue will be resolved to my satisfaction. If not at least I got something to blame for my lack of success.

Entries To Be Drawn

From the DRF Website - "Entries for the Sunshine Millions will be drawn Monday - four races at Gulfstream and, later in the day, four at Santa Anita." Check this link for more information.