Whats a good Betting track???

[joeprunes]

Can any one tell me what track, any of you have good luck with? What type of wagering,like exactas.triple etc. also why>...joeprunes

[cj]

Aqueduct, especially inner dirt, Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Calder, Arlington

Ones I really stink at-Turfway, Belmont, any real cheap track

I wish I knew why, but I've learned to stick with the successful ones!

CJ

[Zaf]

I like Sam Houston. The T-Breds will be back Nov. 1st. Usually get nice full fields, turf racing and many good value plays. I usually stick to win and exactas. If you are a Pick 3 player the takeout is only 12% I believe. The stock may be a litttle cheap at times, but full fields make Sam Houston more interesting to me. I think they rank among the tops as far as average win mutuel goes. I love classy So Cal racing, but I am getting fed up with 4,5,6 horse fields.

ZAFONIC

[ranchwest]

I try to handicap off of form and running style. I haven't seen a lot of difference from track to track. At the cheap tracks, a formful horse has a great chance to win. At the top tracks, with all the talent there's sometimes a horse that gets overlooked and provides a price.

The tracks where I haven't done quite as well have been LAD and LS.

[kitts]

Mountaineer!!

[sq764]

Zafonic, you are on the money with Sam Houston!! The pick 3's there are the best value in racing IMO.. With the 12% takeout, I have seriously seen 2/1 over 2/1 over 5/2 pay $120..

[Tom]

FL, Mnr, Penn, Tam, WO, Med, Hou, Evd
Penn is my favorite-always good racing, but FL is sometimes an open air bank...
SA been very very good to me. Hol hates me. Dmr tried to kill me.
NYRA just drives me nuts. Especially Bel.
Harness,, I love Batavia and WO and Med.

[superfecta]

The best tracks to play are the ones you win at .Simply put ,as in handicapping,what works for me may not work for you.Many of the tracks mentioned ,I can't win enough races to show a profit(MOUNTAINEER? Kitts are you for real?)Generally I do well on the West Coast tracks and upper midwest,not so well on the Louisiana tracks and terrible on the east coast tracks.And the kicker is on different days I may do better at an east coast track than a west coast track.The race and whos entered determine if I make the play.Now generally,I find the midwest tracks(Retama,Lone Star,Hoosier,Sam Houston even sometimes Remington)have more "dumb"money in the exotic pools,so they pay better than comparable pools at other tracks with similar odded horses.Even with higher take and smaller pool sizes its amazing how much thoses tris and supers pay.Problem is,I still have a hard time hitting a biggie....but thats racing.

[Dick Schmidt]

Joe,

All the answers to this question, as well as many more, lie in a program such as "Bettor Keep Track." Learn to handicap yourself and all will be revealed.


Dick
Fortune Cookie Philosopher.

[Zaf]

Originally posted by kitts
Mountaineer!! ]

Whats your secret ??? Sometimes when there is nothing doing on a Sunday / Monday night I will play. I always lose. Maybe cashed one ticket since May.

Tracks like HOU, EVD , WO, PEN, SA , HOL, have generally been good to me.

My nemesis' MNR , NYRA , CD , TP , any Ohio Track.

ZAFONIC

[joeprunes]

Thanks for all the info . Dick Schmidt, I know how to handicap, I only play NY tracks which are hard, only trying to find out if any other tracks. are worth playing.

[JustRalph]

When I first started playing I did pretty well at Mountaineer. As I got better at other Tracks I lost it at MTR. The better you are at capping, the less you win at the Mountain, in my opine.

Sam Houston has got to be the best for me. The takeout is low and the track seems pretty fair or when it is biased, you can spot it pretty easy. When I was making money at the mountain I couldn't play Sam Houston for crap....... I like Calif. Tracks but the odds are much lower. I have hit some nice horses with 10-1 plus odds in Ca, but they are few and far between. Favorites galore in Ca.

[Dick Schmidt]

Joe,


"Thanks for all the info . Dick Schmidt, I know how to handicap, I only play NY tracks which are hard, only trying to find out if any other tracks. are worth playing."


I wasn't saying "you should learn to handicap", rather that you should learn to handicap your own play. If you do well at NYRA tracks, that's where you should play. If you do poorly at HOL or Calder, avoid those tracks. A lot has to do with the technology you are using. Some tracks work well with one approach, and others are a complete flop. I've found in the past year that I've rather lost my touch at Santa Anita, which I have always regarded as my "home" track. I made a living there for years. On the other hand, I've done very well at Mountaineer, and I played it for months before I found out what state it was in. I put this down to the technology I'm using to handicap the races. It "fits" Mtn, but not SA. I adjust my betting and time to fit this reality.

The best way to find a "good" track (one that fits your handicapping process) is to handicap every race you can find, track your results and then bet the one's where you are doing the best. There is no such thing as a "good" track, or a "bad" track, there are only tracks that fit one's way of going. Good luck finding yours.

Dick

[hurrikane]

MNR! Great longshot track. Lots of different ways to attack that track. Just have to think outside the box.
I like playing the tri at Calder..lots of full mdn fields with nice payoffs. Had several signers over the last few months. (Might have to look at HOU..havn't played that track but sounds nice with big fields)

Love the P4 at the MD tracks. You can play deep chalk and walk away with a grand.

Really like the Calif circuit but it isn't particulary kind to me. So I mostly watch those for fun.

Like NY, esp when early speed runs at BEL. Funny, no one ever seems to notice.

I know this will sound stupid but I really like ATL. I know it's only open a few weeks all year and it's all turf but for some reason I have a lot of fun with that track.

[Whitehos]

I thought Sam Houston was my little secret. I hope all this PR won't ruin it for me this year. I found it 2 years ago. It fits my handicapping style. The TO is low and the pic 3's pay great. The biggest problem with Mountaineer is that those big purses for cheap horses attract all sorts of funny things. And speaking of funny things, look at the diagram of the track.

Whitehos

[smf]

Don't be surprised if a lot of the stables that usually run at HOU moves to Delta. Not real sure of the future of HOU. Remember, they originally asked to move their meet for 2003 to the mid-late summer slot so they wouldn't have to compete w/ Delta slot $$. Lot of Delta's claiming races w/ pay about double what HOU will offer.

I hope Sam makes it but it'll be interesting to see how this year shakes out. They s/h no problems early, but around Thanksgiving I'd guess the Hou fields w/ thin a bit.

[so.cal.fan]

How about Lone Star, all you Texans?
I've never played or been there, but I check their charts in the NCW, and it looks like they have some pretty damn good races to bet there.
They have my attention. I am going to check them out again one more meet, and if I see the same as I did earlier this year.....you boys can look for me in that paddock....
;)

[smf]

SCF,

And we'll find you when ya come down! Not sure who'll wear you down with more questions, me or GR1 :). I appreciate all the info you've shared on the forum.

LS used to be my best betting track. Last year I got whupped up here pretty bad, likely b/c my attention was on another circuit. I'll put more emphasis on LS next year, no doubt.

Just an aside, I look at the horses at Hastings on TRN and they look every bit as strong and muscled-up at HST as what we have running here. Never knew that we were THAT minor league-ish here.

Beats what we had 6 years ago tho, for sure.

I'll be rootin' your Halo's on tonite & hopefully Sunday nite. Good luck.

[PurplePower]

Just a reminder that HOU opens Friday night. I am concerned to some extent about the competition with Delta, but was not in favor of a move to late summer when we would have raced against Louisiana Downs (With slots) and Remington Park (where some SHRP regulars race). One big difference between SHRP and DeD is the Connally turf course, one of the best in the country. Some horses will not like the tight DeD turns and the "locals" will still be resentful of "invaders". Racing office at HOU filled the backside from over 2500 applications for 1200 stalls. In years past, however that number of applications was 3300 or so.

Starting November 16th (Texas champions Day) HOU will have a "carry-over" pick four on races 4 through 7. On night's that we have 11 races we will have a late pick 4 on races 8-11. Take out on the Pick 4 will be 25%, but take out on those solid pick threes will still be only 12%. Great State Challenge day on December 7 will be an afternoon card (post time 1 PM) with Pick fours on the first four and last four races and a pick six on the six GSC races.

Those that like to see selections can go to the SHRP website (www.shrp.com), scroll down until you see the Purple Power Tip Sheet link and click over to my Purple Power page. The entire sheet is available for free (you just have to put up with some of my story telling every now and then).

[smf]

Reid,

The Delta locals did have some concerns of "outsiders" as I recall when the slots were first approved and the mgmnt had to assure them that the so called locals wouldn't be pushed out in favor of other (read: "better) barns. Sounds like they are doing what they can to keep the racing product @ delta as bad as possible.

I'll be interested to see how many FG & HOU horses that ship in get taken down for minor things. It'll be interesting, but Delta is still rot-gut racing, slots or no.

Good luck on the meet this year.

[PurplePower]

They will improve, but just having a $500,000 race for two-year olds isn't going to improve the track surface - nor the riskiness of passing on the rail. I understand Delta has built some new barns and that Boyd Gaming is making noise about improving the racing product. Going to mean that our track will have to pay more attention to amenities and good PR with horsemen and fans alike - and that is almost as risky as betting that Texas breds will win the Great State Challenge.

Thanks for the wishes -- Opening day entries are taken tomorrow (Tuesday).

[David McKenzie]

Originally posted by so.cal.fan
How about Lone Star ?

I've made the most money at Lone Star, Sam Houston and Mountaineer. I'd rather play a cheap $4,000 claimer with a 14 horse field than a five horse "class" race at Santa Anita. *Oink*

Lone Star on Wednesday nights pays very well for some reason. I can't recall when they *didn't* have at least one $500 exacta on a Wednesday night.