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Originally Posted by Dunbar
I agree that the argument is largely theoretical. It's my opinion that most people do not know how to deal with low probability events. Granted, most horses that go off at 40-1 have an even lower chance of winning the race than their odds imply. But even if they should be 60-1, that 1.5% chance of winning has to be factored into the other horses' chances of winning. Even more so when there are several of those 1.5%-2.5% horses in the race.
Sometimes a horse will go off at 40-1 when it really ought to be around 30-1. Those horses are excellent betting opportunities.
Bettors have a hard time distinguishing between 25-1 horses and 100-1 horses. Once you use "zero chance" or "toss out" or "starting gate malfunction", you fall into that trap.
I'm not sure why you think people are more likely to pick a longshot on the Internet (and not back it up at the window). You are much more likely to look like an idiot when you pick a 40-1 shot. Even if you know what you are doing, you can expect to be "wrong" 25-30 times for every time you are "right". And backing longshot picks with your wallet should not be inhibiting in the least. If you bet sensibly, you bet roughly 1/10th as much on a 40-1 shot as you'd bet on a 4-1 shot. So how scary can that be?
--Dunbar
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Its not scary at all Dunbar, and every smart player knows that the only way to have a chance to win is to create value and bet against what you perceive to be bad favorites.
The "trap" here is that being able to handicap a race effectively is the first step in this. Simply betting random longshots isn't the way to go. Having a good knowledge of horses ability and running styles is the first step in isolating possible live long shots to either win or complete gimmicks.
If you knew me well enough, you'd know that I make the same statement about certain favorites having no shot as often as I do longshots. In last years BC sprint I said the same thing about Lost in The Fog. I said the wicked pace I predicted would hurt any chance he had.
I think that handicapping is the primary key in finding a live longshot, and the opinion someone has one what kind of chance any horse has, is the key in determining which longshots are live.