Ron Ambrose - R.I.P.

[Dave Schwartz]

I heard yesterday from a mutual friend that Ron Ambrose died of cancer recently. I have no other details.

Ron was a winning player and an honorable man.

I was sorry to see him go into seculsion and even sorrier to hear of his passing.


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[cj]

There was a good article in the Feb 99 issue of Meadow's Racing Monthly. It wasn't a feel good piece, but a very good read.

[DanG]

R.I.P. and all the best to his family.

PS: Ambrose coined the classic term “Shaker Bet”…the amount you can bet before your hand starts to shake.

[PlanB]

WOW. I didn't know of Mr Ron Ambrose, but if CJ & DAVE & DAN G knew of him he must have mattered in racing circles. "Shaker Bet" -- what a very human term to describe what we all feel when we bet too much, usually on a single race. My comfy limit is $50 Win, LIMIT being the key word here, because I'm better at $30 on the nose. Toss in the exactas etc & umm, any payoff from that race is welcomed.

[Vigors]

Abbott & Costello

Martin & Lewis

Mutt & Jeff

Salt & Pepper

Mitchell & Ambrose ( the early year's )





P.S. hi Kitts, hi Steve U.

[kitts]

Sad news indeed. I met Ron Ambrose when he was with Cynthia Publishing where he was a significant contributor. Dick Mitchell was my mentor and then Ron made sense of it. Ron was a very capable man and would succeed in any endeavor. He went on to establish Handicapper's Institute in Las Vegas and attracted Jim Cramer into the fold. As you may know Jim Cramer started Handicapper's Data Warehouse. I last saw Ron when we spent a casino hopping day in Laughlin, Nevada in 1996.

He will be missed

[Lasix1]

He was the best handicapper I ever met.

My wife and I had dinner in a seafood house with he and Dick Mitchell in Laurel, MD one evening after a seminar in about 1992. He was a breath of fresh air in those sessions, often following Mitchell's frenetic hyping of a horse with his calm, deep voice opining that he just couldn't see Dick's horse winning and furthermore that no horse in the field deserved a bet. He was usually right.

Ron rarely bet a race and would go whole cards without putting a dime through the window. But the next day at Laurel, he found a maiden third-time starter with early speed he thought was a lock and shoveled $500 through the window on it to win. The horse came out of the three-hole and by the time the field turned for home, was in the lead by widening lengths. The public inexplicably let the horse off at 7/2 and Ambrose collected a cool $2,250. He didn't bet a nickle the rest of the card, nor the next day while we were still congratulating him on his hit.

I have thought of he and Mitchell often since those three days in Maryland, and my art professor wife often asked about him, because Ron was seriously into art and the two talked about it alot that night over crab cakes.

I heard the stories about his deteriorating health and read the piece in Meadows Monthly, but never saw him again.

He was a fine and gentle man who leaves good memories with a lot of people.

[oddswizard]

I never met Ron but I knew he was a top handicapper. Both Gordon Jones and James Quinn held him in respect and that was good enough for me. He was good for the game.

[andicap]

I attended two Cynthia Pub seminars in LA in the early 90s and one on Long Island and enjoyed them all. Ambrose was a no-nonsense horseplayer's horseplayer and his legendary patience has been documented here.

The one time I asked Ambrose's opinion on a race (during the seminars he usually did not give out 'picks,' but offered his analysis, usually saying the race was unbettable :D ) -- the horse cruised at 2-1 and I was smart enough toi listen. No one knew more about betting maiden races than Ron.

The stuff that happened later was very unfortunate because rumors flew all over the place. I've been told at least three different "inside stories."

The bottom line is that Ron did a lot for budding handicappers like myself and made for a lively team with Dick Mitchell.

[Topcat]

May Ron rest in peace. I know he led a nomadic life. He was very good bettor.

Maybe it is my stage of life but news like this seems more and more common. As I told my kids, you never know when the good ole days are until they are already gone.

Sad.