what do you read?

[ShadowRoll]

First horse racing magazine I subscribed to was American Turf Monthly. I'm sorry, I know it's a sponsor of At the Races, but it just wasn't doing it for me. Lots of technical articles promoting obscure angles with questionable research (e.g., maiden claimers dropping down who have raced twice in the past month on the east coast with a jockey switch and at least three prior workouts of 4 furlongs or more will win (1 out of 7) 14% of the time). And their so-called horses to watch lists (in their ad on the show, I think Steve says something like "a steady source of long-shot winners and exotic fillers") never produced any winners for me, though I wasted a lot of time going through those lists.

Switched to HorsePlayer Magazine, mostly because of the glossy format with nice pictures. Liked that mag a lot. Readable articles, some funny columns ("the nose knows"), a regular feature showing how the pros handicap a race, and the goofiest picture of Randy Moss ever taken (don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but this picture shows him kind of glassy-eyed while spastically trying to perform the Vulcan salute from Star Trek -- still laugh every time I see it). Only problem was that this mag only comes out every other month --too long a wait for me.

So now I subscribe to The Bloodhorse (dramatic how they incorporate "the" into the name -- like some kind of periodical royalty) and get my weekly fix of reading. Also subscribe to Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, an excellent, excellent publication, fantastic writing, but with, obviously, regional appeal only. I miss, however, the handicapping articles.

What do you read?