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View Full Version : A new way to lose


Valuist
08-05-2004, 07:01 PM
Before you think I'm bitching about a rider or trainer, I'm not. I made an absolutely stupid mistake which cost me a nice payoff today.

I took the day off from work today and planned to make a few wagers; mostly Arlington and a couple Saratoga. I had a few errands to run so before I left, I bet the pic 3 on races 7 thru 9 from Arlington. I bet 18 $3 combinations; 3x3x2. I went 3 deep in the first leg and included a Fairmount invader named Chars Bob N Robin. FP horses often are overlays when they go north to Chicago and the horse had topped 80 Beyers in 4 of its last 6 and the rider was in for the mount. In the last leg, I thought only 2 horses could win: Mucho Rapido and Flightofthebuffalo. The middle leg was tricky; I had handicapped for the turf but I saw the races were off the turf (or so I thought). There were a few horses who were decidedly stronger on turf, including Chilling Effect and there was a few stronger on dirt, namely Sunset Kisses. Going on main track form, I used the 1,4, and 7.

I got back home about 1 minute before the 8th race and turned on TVG. I saw on the crawl that my Fairmount invader won the 7th and paid $21. But to my horror, the horses for the 8th were leaving the dirt track and walking onto the grass course. WTF? The 6th race had been taken off the turf.....this race was no graded stakes. When the race started I still held out hope. Sunset Kisses, who I did have at 5-1, made a big move and took command turning for home. Then I saw Chilling Effect, the most obvious true grasser in the race rally from between horses. Chilling Effect held on to win by a nose or a head but there was 2 claims of foul against her. After about 10 minutes, the stewards let the result stand.

I saw the odds for the 9th and saw Mucho Rapido at 5-1. In a bit of a chase move, I phoned in a $25 win wager, knowing that if he won and I didn't have anything on him, I'd feel even more stupid. So what happens? Mucho Rapido ends up getting hammered down late to 2-1. He's up close in a paceless race with the 5. The two are running together down the stretch and I'm rooting against my own win ticket. The thought of missing that Pic 3 for over $500 was all I could think of. The 5 prevails in a long drive over Mucho Rapido and I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that I basically threw away a win bet but at least my ignorance didn't cost me over $500. Sure enough, the inquiry goes up. Both the top 2 seemed to mutually bump each other. "Please don't move me up," I thought to myself. I knew then what was inevitable; the one time I didn't want to get moved up, I would. And it happened.

The 6th race WAS taken off the turf but they left the 8th on it. The moral of the story? Make sure you know whether ALL or SOME of the turf races are taken off. Never assume they all are because the first one is off.

Jeff P
08-05-2004, 08:00 PM
Valuist,

Don't be too hard on yourself. Sweating things that are beyond our direct control is a complete waste of energy. Things like inquiries, dq's, getting the short end of a close photo, bad rides, etc are all part of the game- the part that none of us ever gets to have any say over. The past is the past. We can't change it.

All any of us can do as intelligent players is ask ourselves the following question: What should I be doing next? Sounds like you did that and made some intelligent plays that gave you a fair shot at a good payoff. Beyond that, there's nothing more any of us can hope to do.

Turn the page. There's always another race.

As for races taken off the turf- that's another subject entirely.

I often play from home. I don't have a live video feed for most of the tracks I play. So I get most of my changes info from Bris webpages. A lot of times Bris Supertote will show the following track conditions: "Current Weather: Light Showers, Turf Firm," When I see that I always shudder. It's anybody's guess if one or more of today's turf races have been moved to the main track. They only show "Turf: OFF" if ALL of the races have been taken off the turf. What's a player to do? Pick up the phone and call the track itself? In this day and age the amount of mis-information in racing distributed by the current system in place just amazes me.

Valuist
08-05-2004, 08:06 PM
Jeff-

You're right. I'll forget about the inquiries by tomorrow but the mental mistake was my fault. I called a wrong ticket number and missed a big tri back in the early 90s. I don't believe I've had a wrong number on a ticket since. I've learned my lesson re: on and off the turf.

JustRalph
08-05-2004, 10:18 PM
I was capping a race once and it was announced it was off the Turf course. The TVG guys went thru a whole segment on how it changes the race........for later in the day. The race was about two hours away. The next TVG crew comes on board and never mentions the race. I had to run out. I found a horse that was much the best on the dirt (in my opine) I tie up some tickets and a win bet of 20 across and go out the door to make an appointment. I get back about a minute to post. I turn on the TV and imagine my surprise when they are loading into the gate on the Turf course. My horse is about 10-1 (fair for the turf course) I couldn't believe they were on the turf though. They run the race and my horse runs Out of the money. I am taping the afternoon so I go back check to see if I got the race mixed up. I play the tape and sure as hell the TVG guys had announced it was off the turf. I go back to the real time video and they are off the turf in the next track up. Man I was pissed. I sent an email to a couple of guys at TVG and they apologized and said it was a problem "behind the scenes" Sucks...........