Some fifteen or so years ago I became strictly a horizontal player and would estimate 98% of my bets are pick 4's or win bets. In fact, I was at Latonia for the first pick 3 the state of Kentucky ever offered and hit it for less than $200; even with a $27 horse involved. Driving back to Lexington I became convinced the bet was a ripoff!

That quick, emotional assessment proved quite inaccurate and with the advent of the pick 4, I became a winning player. I would not claim that I was "country before country was cool" but I do have some advantages and exploit them as best I can. Unlike its big brother the Pick 4 requires little investment, yet tons of study and by staying in the midwest I avoid the move up trainers that are ubiquitous on both coasts and the deep pocketed "wise" guys who permeate the large pools.

Prattle aside, hitting any vertical wager is more about eliminating horses than selecting winners. Yesterdays sequence was difficult on its face but as often happens somewhat vanilla when the dust had settled.

Leg one was maiden fillies going a couple of bends on the lawn and it was, as most grass heats can be, the race to spread. As usual, the money the public bets wins a third of the time and this heat fooled no one with the choice winning and the runnerups both three to one. At this point our quest for a good score was gone.

Leg two was just an awful heat but did feature a horse with a future (Ketchikan) and the Mr. Greeley sophomore delivered nicely giving his connections a very pleasant problem of "whats next". Contrary to one of the posters implying that I had a solid opinion in this leg, I did not! The poster assumed, incorrectly, that because I singled here, that it was my strongest opinion of the sequence. In fact, it was my weakest!

Tangently, leg three was my strongest opinion. I felt I was about 75% safe to advance thru this leg with my two plays, a huge stance. As a general rule taking the top two favorites will "win" the race about half the time. From a handicapping standpoint Superstone was lone speed in a two turn race and had no chance, yet his uncoupled stablemate won. Sidcup had few positives, Crossword did not figure at all, yet went favored and 'Toga scratched. The winner could have certainly been played but my analysis went as follows: Recall my poorly worded, yet useful post on the other side of this forum regarding the "task at hand" as this race offered "Bobby" a choice. As the owner/trainer of Home of Stars he had two options; 1) enter for nw3 other than, or 2) enter for 50K. He chose the former. Bear in mind, for this condition book, the Fairgrounds added State Bred to their conditions and that allowed the Illinin bred 'Stars to compete but not be tagged. I felt the horse who had not won in some 17 months could have been safely entered for 50K and then run back in the same class using the nw3x criteria. Additionally, 'Stars was a vet scratch on 1/22/07 in the same class, AND a vet scratch on 2/5/07 when entered for 50K. Sometimes you can over analyze but I have no sour grapes here other than letting this top shelf conditioner beat me!

The last leg was never more than two deep and I came close to singling the winner and would have, if I could have found other options in the other legs.
Swich Grass Gas went two turns for the first time two weeks ago and the race was much better than it looked on paper. This horse is bred for two turns and his first against fellow bayou breds showed a powerful rally from nowhere to runnerupville. Then he caught some monsters while always finishing, a commodity that many Louisiana breds lack. I added Pelto off the strength of first Lasix, being very well bet for his debut and stretching out with his Mr. P on top of 'Slew pedigree. As in his debut, he was a handful for Lonnie and may need another before firing his best. Playing the FG4 manana but have to navigate a championship basketball game, then Syracuse vs. Connecticut, then a Mardi Gras party later tonite. Still sight unseen, like my chances.

As for the respondents: K'Sept I would have almost settled for the favorite in leg one but had a question on who it would be. The winner was 3-1 into the gate, 5-2 out of it and finally 9-5 in deep stretch. For BTW I would relish a discussion on structuring multi race tickets as I have much to learn and yet will bring plenty to the table. I would request you stop calling me a "ridiculous liar" as I post ALL my bets. You can count on me hitting a pick 4 every month or so and banking at least ten grand by years end. As for being a cheap shot artist, I am not at all politically correct, and am deeply opinionated yet sorry if I offended anyone.

As for the two respondents who claim personal offense, I let you slide on on your selection and bet of a horse at FG last Sunday. The horse had ZERO chance, yet one of you claimed to bet $200 and the other made lame excuses after the drubbing. Both of you could use some instruction on how movement of the turf rail affects outcomes as one entire forum had the $25 winner! Good cappin. BBB