Man, hard work for little money
 

I had $100 left over from a bet I made a couple of weeks ago on Chace City. I decided to play a several race parlay. I bet $100 to win on Ashkal Way, then I put the winnings on Henny Hughes to win. Then I put those winnings on Bernardini to win and then I put those winnings on Aragorn to win. So I turned $100 into $578. Man, hit 4 races and only win $478. Tough way to win some money.

good strategy when it works. and it worked. congrats.

Thanks.....Yeah---not likely when all the odds on favorites win with such ease. Well Ashkal Way wasnt so easy.....I was out of town all weekend and placed the bets with some buddies who were going to the track. I had to call each time to remind them to make the bet for the next race.

7/2 shot.......for 4 races(2 of which were turf=trouble can easily be found.)The most important thing is not trying to beat them(if you think they are coming in.)I think it is less important to make the 4 race play(because something will usually go wrong with the trip in one of those races.)

Look at it as a 478% return on your investment. If this was the stock market, you'd be considered a wizard. :)

Scuds--you are one of the few people on this board who I repsect--you touched on something and I would love to talk it more. When capping a race I hear so many people saying "i am going to try and beat the fav." To me this is silly. Why try to beat someone who you dont think is beatable. I dont care what the odds are in a race. If I like a horse, I am going to bet that horse. Now, I do try to find a vulnerable fav but that is different than just winging a $20 win bet on Dr Pleasure in the Travers. I think that most bettors are silly or they lose sight of the goal--TO WIN MONEY.

Ha Ha-good point.

Very true Euro, very true.
A good example may have been Dubai escapade yesterday. 6-5 was a very square price on her. I thought she would be 3-5. Just trying to beat logical favorites with impossible horses is not a good strategy.

You know Oracle, I would have bet that race and I would have bet Fleet Indian too. But I totally forgot about their races. I think 6/5 was a gift. I love how bettors have a short memory. Malibu Mint at 2-1--give me a break on that one. I wish I would have put that $500 to win on DE.

That's smart, sound advice. I think bettors get caught up in the desire to win a lot of money on a small bet and would rather throw money out the window than win a little money on a larger bet on a favorite that is not vulnerable. Then just don't bet the race, I figure.

I thought it was almost set in stone that Bernardini and BGC would run 1-2 in the Travers, which they did. And the exacta paid 2-1, I think, but that's like free money. Again, in the stock market a 100% return on an investment is outstanding. (Not that I remembered to bet on it and I was a wee bit irritated with myself for not trotting down to the OTB on Saturday. Ah well. That's what I get for going off caffeine this week-- swampy brain)

But gambling is partly about the thrill and I guess for some people the thrill is worth more than winning on short odds. I guess?

You are so right about gambling being a thrill. People like to boost about having the 50-1 shot. Which I guess they should. I cant believe the $2 tri in the Travers paid $35.20. If you think that Bernardini and BC runs 1-2 then do a tri with all in the bottom. A $2 tri would have cost $8. So you quadruple your money. That was the play of the weekend in my mind.

The play of the weekend to me was the pick 4 at toga Saturday. $29 for a $1 with a second choice and 3 dead chalks. Unbelievable.

Wow, it paid that much. A $2 pick 4 $58?? Heck even if you spend $24 on a ticket you double your money. Yeah, that is unreal.

And that's exactly what I did in the G1 contest whortman was running! I was so pleased with myself. :) (still being a novice handicapper, I'm trying to stick to theoretical bets as much as possible so the contest was the ideal place-- I could practice stupid bets and smart ones without penalty...)

Why dont we focus on races that have not run yet rather than say what we thought were the best plays of the past weekend's races. Very easy to speculate on value after we know the results, especially pick 4's that pay $58and triples that pay $35.

Feel free to start a thread on it... :)

To me there is only one race left betting at Saratoga and that is the Hopeful. After that I will look forward to the Clement L Hirsch on Sept 30th and then to Oct 7th. I am sort of interested in Kentucky Cup day at Turfway. But it is always good to go back and look at betting strategy and discuss the results. Maybe someone will mention something that I dont know or have forgotten.

Good point.

Well congrats in the contest. I sort of miss being a novice handicapper. I would get so excited to learn something and then put it to work and then see the results. In my opinion, you have to make bets that make sense. Betting anyone other than BC and Bernardini to win didnt make sense.

that is where i went wrong on saturday. went too deep, too wide on my pick 4 and 3 at toga and lost money. should have known better, even though i hit the 4 and 3 i lost.

Of course, I sucked big weinies every other week, with the exception of Gorella/Film Maker... ergo the "novice." You're right about the thrill of learning something new and then putting it all together-- I love that, too.

Again, there are certain phrases a woman should never say. "sucking big weenies every other week" is one of those. Kev will be visiting every other week. And plus, it is offensive to those of us who only have small weenies.

But there is nothing like the thrill of winning when you are a novice. I will never forget my first big score. I acutally made a wrong dollar amount bet and I was too embarrassed to correct myself. It was a long time ago at Turfway. Patty Cooksey was on the 1 horse and she was 14-1. I really liked the horse and I liked the 4 horse as well to win. The 4 was the fav at 2-1. I put those two over each other and 2 other horses who were 3-1 (2 horse) and 6-1 (the 8 horse). So my ticket was this
1-4
with
1-2-4-8

I meant to do a $20 exacta wheel for a cost of $120. But I said $40 wheel. The cost was $240.00. The exacta was 1-8. The exacta paid $150.00. I was like a kid in a candy shop when I saw $3000 come back at the teller.

some one call my name????:o

You don't like sucking big weinies? :p

Not when those particular weinies are the very bad bets I make with $120 of hypothetical money, I don't... as for other weinies... I'll just leave that one to everyone's filthy imaginations. Hee hee hee. See "smelly little giblets" on the "misunderestimated" thread on the OT board.

In all seriousness, that was a great story, Euro!

Hoosier Park used to have free novice handicapping seminars that I would go to. They were actually pretty good. I learned more stuff there from anywhere. But I think playing with hypothetical money and handicapping is a great approach. I used to do that all the time. Then I kept a total of my losses--i never won much. For a one year period I would have lost $2,461.00. This is by betting $2 a race.

you can beat the fave...if you find the right favorite to beat! the favorite wins about 30-35% of the time...use that stat. i did the other day in the contest on here, pick the winners of all the races on saturday..
i originally wasn't going to play, didn't feel like shelling out the $, low as it is, and poring over the pp's for that.

i ended up going to equibase and looking over the entries. had six winners and three seconds just going off that! go figure....

And I think that's the key, right? Finding the vulnerable favorite, as euro said.

Wow; sensational Saturday for you, Danzig! Congrats.

oh definitely...they aren't all vulnerable...that's when you try some exotics...