Quote:
Originally Posted by Real Quiet
It would be nice JB if we got those morning line prices on all those horses. Getting a favorite that pays $8.00 makes it easier to make a few bucks. However I think you are 1000% correct in that the majority of winning favorites and perhaps a second choice or two will pay less than $7.
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I took a look at the charts to see if my rant about the morning line was valid. Turns out that in the 13 races that can be analyzed (Race 3 with only 3 runners can't be included in this discussion), there were 8 horses who went off at less than 2-1, including 2 of them in race 8. It was a rough day for the chalk players since of those 8, only 2 were winners, although a number of them finished 2nd. The 9/5 favorite in race 5 was in fact the 4th choice in the ML at 4-1.
I don't envy the job of the linemaker; I couldn't do it 5 days a week, with the requirement that it be available 2 days before the race. Add to that some of the other less mentioned factors, such as if you list a horse that will be an overwhelming favorite at 2/5, you must list some other runners in that race at 25-1 or higher for your numbers to work, and that can be viewed as an insult to the owners and trainers of those horses. I suspect that some linemakers take this factor into account. The fellow who does the line at Mountaineer mentioned this on one of his insightful race previews. Nonetheless, for races where I am looking at any significant play, I find that I need to put the ML aside and make my own in order to have any real feel for the race. That takes a lot of time and just can't be done for more than a couple of races per day.
OK, rant over. Just thought some of you might find this of interest.