Youbet Handicapping Shows
 

Beginning with the first weekend of April I will be hosting a handicapping show available to Youbet customers entitled " Playing to Win ". We will be doing about 20 shows throughout the year focusing on big race days and they will include handicapping segments where I will be joined by other handicappers such as Andy Beyer, Steve Crist, Mike Watchmaker and Steve Davidowitz. We plan to talk about the big races on these days but more importantly focus on our specific strategies and ideas for how to best make money on these specific days and races. While we will focus on the marquee races we are not necessarily limited to these races.

The shows will also include other segments, such as betting strategies, trip handicapping and many other handicapping ideas. Hopefully we will also be offering some more random replays for a " horses to watch " segment as well. We are very interested in thoughts and suggestions as the idea is to not only offer opinions but, more importantly, try and help make all of us better players. Any ideas for topics anyone here would like to see discussed would be most welcome. Also, I imagine we will offer a way to communicate through Youbet and they should be setting this up shortly.

And, oh yeah, there should be some kind of " Beat Andy " contest so that any of you eager for the easy task of " out-handicapping " me will finally get your, I'm sure, long awaited opportunity.

So is this going to be shown in the morning on Saturday on Youbet or do they mail us a link?

A "Blinkers Off" mentality would be great, I would watch you yelling at Beyer or Watchmaker, would be great online video

They should be available early Friday on the day before the races. I wouldn't say they will necessarily be overly contentious but I expect there to be at least some healthy disagreement. If you are at all familiar with the Siro's Seminars you might know at least some of what to expect.

Andy,

I would like to see you guys address equipment changes and what they do for a horse. I'm never sure why a trainer adds/drops blinkers on a horse. Also, how about a discussion on stretchouts/turnbacks?

Do you know if this will be a video feed or just audio?

HRTV/ExpressBet did the same sort of thing....and to promote it, they had a crazed looking Jeff Siegel put on a crown, purple cape, and one of those gold things king's sometimes carry with them.

They get him to glare into the camera, and say "think you can out-handicap me? Puh! No one out-handicaps the king!"

I only hope YouBet is as creative in promoting that contest.

I remember about five or so years ago, Crist did one of those contests (I also believe for Youbet) During the promotional print ads for it, I think the photo they were using of his came straight from his high school yearbook.

It will be video. We are using a terrific, and very professional, studio in NYC.

I definitely plan on talking a lot about turnbacks as well as stretchouts. Equipment changes is an excellent idea. Thanks.

Will the Siro's " dunce cap " be in play ?

I think you should have Mullins on to inform all of us on all the methods a trainer can use that the betting public is unaware of. IE - shoes, bits, nosebands, cornell collars, meds. etc. etc. Any one or combination of these may significantly effect how the horse runs, positive or negative. ALSO, a segment on feet, mud feet and turf feet. One more reason for bettors to attend live racing ( or have someone on track to phone them),

I had wanted to get away from having trainers on as in the specific it is virtually impossible for them to speak candidly about their horses. However, you bring up a good point, and I think having a trainer on to talk about equipment changes and strategies could prove very useful. Thanks.

trip handicapping is probably the least scientific and most subjective of all handicapping. I look forward to hearing your views on this subject. I know I have tons to learn.

Absolutely.

I plan to talk about this quite often and use replays both pertinant to the races we are covering and from races run during the previous week or weeks to give observations.

Einstein
 

You can use the past saturdays Gulfstream Handicap race as your first example. Using the trips of Jambalaya and Einstein as a case in point. J from the 3 post saves ground all the way, while Bejarano takes E from the 10 post, 4-5 wide throughout, to miss by less than a length.

Congrats on this new venture Blackthroatedwind. :)

Thanks. I'm really looking forward to it and have high hopes that the shows will be both informative and a lot of fun. The people at Youbet have been terrific and very positive about my ideas for them.

Are these shows going to be available to only youbet users? or will they be on the other sites as well-sometimes the DRF has them on their site as well.

The DRF shows you see on DRF Plus on the weekends are seperate shows I do every week with Dan Illman. While I will continue to do those they are not related to the Youbet show.

DRF is involved with " Playing to Win " but I do not know if the content will be available at least before the races are run at DRF.

What about pedigree discusions on the entries?

It's hardly one of my areas of expertise and I am also dubious about how useful it is in handicapping. I do look up produce records for horses trying the turf for the first time but I don't recommend people using pedigree information for trying to predict performance ( other than first time turfers ).

Do you look at 'first time starter' sire stats on maidens?

Not particularly. Frankly I look at maiden races loaded with firsters as necessary evils and more for gathering information for the future. The betting will tell you much more than pedigree info.

Can the betting be misleading sometimes though with Pletcher, particularly at Saratoga? He wins at a good clip, but aren't the horses, for a non-proven horse, short for the most part?

" Short " is relative.

It's not easy....believe me and I am very careful with these races.

Maybe that would be a good idea for a show? Unless it's very, very basic?

Andy,

How about workouts and there importance between races. Also the length of the work. It seems there's only a couple of trainers who work long(6F) and up Allen Jerkins/Eddie Plesa come to mind and if there better or worse for the horse. Thanks.

Do you really need a contest to know who is capable? Let's all ignore the huge pink Bell in the room here.

It's a given. You're the true definition of a no-hoper in this one Andy.

Andy that sounds like a real winner. I will sign up for YouBet for this reason alone. It sounds like a show by knowledgable cappers for the people that are serious about cappin.

Do you know how long the shows will be, and will they be broadcast live?

Will I have to watch at a particular time or can I download it, or stream it later. My problem is always being ready at a certain time in order not to miss something.

They will probably be 20-30 minutes and will be available Friday through Saturday at least. They will be taped....not live.

Cool. I'm signing up, too. Glad they're accesible Friday to Saturday! While my job doesn't seem to have issues with a racing chat board being accessed on my work computer, I think a gambling website might not be regarded kindly.

What about handicapping angles that involve a runner exiting either an exceptionally fast or slow paced race, and how that plays into the current race.

Sounds great, BTW. I have one suggestion for a topic. It may seem elementary to some, but there are handicappers that don't really know how to compare horses who've run in allowances(restricted or open) versus claiming, optional claimers and starter handicaps. I think an in-depth discussion of the race levels and major class drops and rises could be helpful to some.

Good point but I think that falls into identifying race dynamics and looking for horses with buried form and I will definitely be talking about that.

Already have Youbet, but I can't be with it through Al Jajersey...I'll call in for you. The least I can do.

congrats andy. im sure this will be a great venu for your great oppinion...and a tough ride for those that dont agree..lol

Andy, a question.

Frank owns YouBet, and if I recall correctly, HRTV, as well; why can your program not be offered on HRTV? Will one have to subscribe to YouBet for the coverage? And I cannot do that.

There are no fine handicappers on HRTV, unless one goes with that Segal dude . . . and I just can't.

I have HRTV and TVG but these guys, they're not world class handicappers. Not like you and Steve. (Though MrB, on TVG is mighty good.)

By the way, do all these good folks know that Harvey Pack calls you Little Andy? I love the man.

The immediate answer here surprises me. That's the first thing I look at. Betting does tell a good deal, when the barn and connections load up, still, I look at sire fts %s, and dam %s. Along with trainer's habits.

Often, several barns think theirs can take it gate to wire. That creates part of the headache in making a choice.

BTW
Looking forward to your show on Youbet, sounds like you will have a great line up with Andy Beyer, Steve Crist, Mike Watchmaker and Steve Davidowitz.

Somehow I don't think i'll be seeing Jan Rushton on your show

Please post a notice here when each show becomes available. I'm looking forward to watching them, but by April I'll probably forget!

--Dunbar

PS--maybe you can get YouBet to work out its differences with Churchill Downs so that it can book the next two rounds of the Derby Future Wager!

Good luck.

Good thing it's taped, for replaying.

She might be serving the coffee, you never know.

This is very surprising