Dave "Bombs Away" Liftin
 

His best bet of the day, advertised in the DRF was BOLD WARRIOR.

I'm glad someone gets paid to give out $2.30 horses as their best bet of the day in the nation's turf authority.
Maybe just sour grapes, that I don't get my mug shot in print to give out 3/5ml horses.
I'm sure all the folks buying a $7.50 DRF need help finding the blinking light on the tote board.

Give me Serling & Tammarro or give me death.

It was his best bet. It cashed. Go easy.

I always thought "best bet" should be re-termed "most likely winner" on the card.

Exactly

After a bad day - my favorite is when I get accused of "keeping the good ones for myself" or other similar variants - from people who appear to be atleast half serious.

Pretty crazy some of the stuff that new racing fans/drunken men who escape their wives can think up.

Best Bet should mean the horse you can't wait to drive an hour to the track to risk half a day's wages.
Who the hell looks forward to betting a $2.30 horse?

Incorrect

whatever.

I just don't need a friggin write up in the DRF about how the track handicapper for NYRA tracks thinks a 2/5 shot is gonna win.

I don't disagree. "Best bet" is really a bad term for it. Everyone has their own way though. Kasept uses two different horses for "most likely winner" and "Best Value" each race ... yet, many times, the most likely winner in a race is also the best value. Further - sometimes there looks to be no identifiable value in the race.... and getting a price when real odds appear is all you can do with races like that.

At the bottom of every card - I have them put 'Most Likely Winner' for only the day - and 'Best Value' for only the day... with the name of horse and race number for each.

It's not the traditional accepted way of doing it - but who cares.

They routinely hammer Brad Free on Pace Advantage for the same stuff.

Turn on ESPN Classic right now - they are showing harness racing and a skinny version of Tom Durkin is calling it.

I remember you being pretty reluctant to discuss who you liked with people because you thought they'd move the pool. For NYRA tracks.

Or BC races.

You know how Pip is and all - .... with his $50,000 win bets on Caller One at Turfway.

He's most likely asked to pick the winner he feels most confident in. That 'best bet' tag is a useless misnomer. Pretty sure if you asked Dave in person what his best betting prospect on a random day is, he wouldn't give you a 1/4 shot.

I think it was closer to 20k or 30k.

And Turfway ain't NYRA.

You remember Mountaineer Mark, that mammoth douche. He can't even open his mouth about a horse without it dropping 5 points. :rolleyes:

I remember that.

The MTR bettors hang on his every lisp spoken word.

Why doesn't NYRA go back to using a house employee make the program analysis?

It's not that untraditional Doug... I see cappers having a bottom of the selections 'Most Likely' and 'Best Value'. I think Rich Eng does it for one. When I put the Best Value horse on top, I don't use the Most Likely tag at all. I'm saying the top choice is both the best value and most likely. Agree on the no value at times thought, and in those circumstances I'll use Most Likely, Next Best, Exotics Use, Super Add.

I get Jack's point about paying for analysis and getting obvious info too. But it's a capper-by-capper interpretation at DRF it seems because Mike Welsch approaches Best Bet as the horse he thinks has the best chance to win at the best price. (That's my approach in every race.) I first saw Dave Litfin's work in Metro Turf a million years ago, and always seemed to land on the same horses he did back then. As mentioned, the Best Bet thing is an individual approach. What I find of little value in this area is the use of MTO's as his top choices in turf races.

I don't blame anyone at all for that. It's something I would certainly do if I was in his place.

The weather can sometimes be harder to forecast than how you expect the odds to go.

If it rains - you get the horse you want for dirt. If it doesn't - you scratch into the horse you want for turf. Where's the harm?

I don't know.. Does anyone have to be made aware that one of 2-3 MTO's, and typically 2-1 or 5-2 on the line, is the choice if the race comes off?