Your input about paddock previews, please

[PurplePower]

Saturday night at Texas Champions night we had some problems with sound and too short of time between post time, so paddock previews were all abbreviated - including barely a mention of the top two on tote board for the $150K juvenile. I was p***ed off after the first two - then shrugged and went with flow - only way to keep my blood pressure down. Question I have is whether of not anyone really cares about paddock previews. We (meaning me) only do a preview for our stakes races, so I do one a week on Saturday nights. I spend time preparing notes (10 hours for 9 stakes races this past Sat. night) so that I can cover each horse and give the connections a few moments of recognition (more than just name, address and phone number.)

I will use your input when I make my input into our post-Champions night review meeting this Thursday.
Do you pay attention to paddock previews? Do you prefer paddock previews that just mention top two - four runners or one that gives some pertinent information about each runner? Do you prefer that paddock preview to be while camera is on that horse in paddock or watching a talking head? Other comments will be appreciated.
Thanks,

[cj]

I personally prefer paddock previews that give me info not found in the DRF. Especially concentrate on 1st time starters, 1st turfers, and layoff returnees. Jan Rushton (sp?) does a tremendous job of this in NY.

If you are only doing stakes races, there isn't a whole lot to shed light on usually. JMO.

CJ

[smf]

PurplePower,

My 2 cents worth is to find your HOU equivalent of FG's Pam Fitzgerald and let her/ him go for as long as they like. As you know, Pam is an excellent horsewoman that assists Al Stall and has a good idea of the stock on the FG backside and KNOWS what a horse that's ready to fire looks like.

She doesn't give "picks", she gives good info on the physicality and attitudes of the runners on the track.

That's what I want from a paddock host.

As far as the face time goes for your paddock host, if she looks like Pam, show her instead of horses!!

Seriously, I'd like to see the horses, but again, FG does this the right way. They show Pam for perhaps 5 seconds, then the camera pans to the track and shows the horses she's speaking of.

I think Rushton does an ok job (bad camera angles used for parade, paddock tho) as well as LRL's guy. Woodbine does a great job of showing horses from paddock to post (need more warmup shots, tho), and Bannon is a good guy to learn from when he speaks of the morning works of runners in today's races.

If I ran a program for the purpose of paddock and parade productions, I'd force the camera folks to watch Takach's SPOTTING THE READY RACEHORSE video as well as Trillis Parker's HORSES TALK video. That w/ give them an indication of what we need to see, which includes...

1-showing the horses in the paddock, contenders being saddled, if possible.

2-parade shots given the way that northern and southern Cal tracks do it. You get shots from the front *and* back of the horses. (That alone has me thinking of betting their tracks)

3-show the warmups! Takach's video covers why that is critical.

4-This will smack of heresy, but I would like to see a shorter winners circle shot. Five seconds, perhaps, then have a quick (15 seconds, maybe) and good shot of the runners for the following race walking towards the paddock area. Again, Joe T's video explains why that's critical.

Less exacta grids, more horses! As Louie Armstrong w/ say "What a wonderful world" that would be.

Thanks for asking, btw.

p.s..if you want to know who NOT to emulate for a paddock show, it w/b the hideous way that OP runs theirs. Have nothing against Wallace, (honestly) but everything from the camera shots to the delivery of the host is as bad as it gets in the industry.

[ranchwest]

I agree with SMF.

(Hey, man, you covered it all, so I can't add anything) :)

[Larry Hamilton]

Here is my wrinkle. No matter how smart you are about horses and how they are supposed to look, if you ain't there, you know nothing!

What we really need is a person with a good horse eye, a lap top, and the ability to load or create streams rapidly (within 10 minutes or so) at EACH TRACK. Then every subscriber would be a hundred fold smarter about the horses.

Of course, no one in their right mind would provided this service for noting, so what is it worth?

[ranchwest]

Larry, I disagree.

A couple of weeks ago I stopped at DeD for a quick tour of how it looks now. While there, I picked a horse at LaD solely on appearance on the monitor, I had no Past Performances. The horse won easily and paid $4.20.

Being there is better, but a really good televised view of a horse is very valuable.

[so.cal.fan]

Obviously, it is far better to be there, like Larry mentions.
However.......smf gives us all the reasons why we want these paddock/post parade video and commentary.
For those of you who would rather talk to friends or go eat a hot dog instead of watching this information.........please bet in the win pools in So. Calif. where I bet!;)

Why would ANYONE not want to take every advantage they can possibly get??????

[hurrikane]

If they would please get rid of the exacta screens and shot the horses more. Drives me nuts. And if I have to look at one more shot of a fat ass eating a hot dog instead of a horse warming up I might go balistic.

[Larry Hamilton]

You make my point in reverse. You say that by eyeballing you picked a 4 dollar horse. Ok, what would you have said if a potential 4 dollar shot looked like a refugee from Purina? How much is it worth to know that heavy favorite looks like doodoo?

[ranchwest]

Larry, I'm lost here.

First, you said, "if you ain't there, you know nothing!" Not where? At first I took your statement to mean at the track. Did you mean able to see the horse in some fashion?

Then, you said, "How much is it worth to know that heavy favorite looks like doodoo?"

Whether I'm getting onto a $4 horse or off of a $4 horse, in either case we're talking about it being based on what I see on the television. I don't have to be at the track to know that if a horse's ears are drooping down between his legs, he's probably not a good bet.

Is something being lost in cyberspace here?

[so.cal.fan]

Ranch:
How good is the pre-race coverage from Lone Star? I'm talking the simulcast feed, here.

[crackers@NOLA]

Somebody who appreciates what Pam does down at the Fr Gr's. She has taken alot of flack from some who don't have clue of what her job entails. I do my OWN handicapping and all I am interested in is hearing what kind of appearance the horses are making in the paddock. If all tracks in the country had a Pam in the paddock it would make it alot easier for us in simulcast land to make some good wagers.

[Larry Hamilton]

now I get it

[ranchwest]

Originally posted by so.cal.fan
Ranch:
How good is the pre-race coverage from Lone Star? I'm talking the simulcast feed, here.

I'm not certain I understand the question, but I'll answer from what I think you're asking.

If you're in the Pavillion, which is the simulcast race book, they have about 6 huge screens and a number of smaller screens. For $3, you can sit at a carrel and get about a 12" monitor that you can change the channels on. This gives a number of very good opportunities to view what's on the various screens. Generally, the problem is not being able to see what's on the screen, the problem is in what you'd like to be on the screen not being there. In other words, the feed shows somebody eating a hotdog.

[smf]

SCF,

Our pre race cov'g at LS is pretty bad. I like Dave Appleton, but he gives his picks, not a paddock evaluation of runners. He may be a good capper (much better than present and past LS track cappers Larry Barnes and Chuck Badone) but most of us don't depend on the paddock host for picks.

My opinion is that mgmnt has asked him to provide picks b/c of the larger than usual # of first time race goers at LS. Not what we here like to see, but definitely what LS has expended their collective energy on from day 1 , nonetheless.

I have a few beefs w/ the simo feed from LS, but they did do a better job this season, imo. They finally began showing bar shoe notations last year, but you had to glue yer eyeballs to the monitor. The info is gone in 5 seconds.

Funny isn't it? I am looking into so Cal racing and you are checking out LS. :) We're a hard bunch to please, sometimes.

[smf]

Originally posted by Larry Hamilton
You make my point in reverse. You say that by eyeballing you picked a 4 dollar horse. Ok, what would you have said if a potential 4 dollar shot looked like a refugee from Purina? How much is it worth to know that heavy favorite looks like doodoo?

Good deal, and a nice catch, RW! Easy money, eh? ! :)

Larry,

We're probably on the same page here. I was at LS with a PA poster this past weekend and I pointed out 2 *bad* looking faves in races he was interested in. He hit winners for $18 (sam houston), and $21 at (Penn Nat). I'm not redboarding here b/c I didn't lay down a bet on those races, but I get some decent scores doing this once in awhile.

[so.cal.fan]

Ranch and smf:
No, I meant the simulcast I would see at Santa Anita.
It would be the same you guys see at tracks other than LS.
Our feed in So. Cal used to be really bad, it has gotten better.
We all need to send emails to these tracks.....tell them what we want to see! We did that at Del Mar and they listened!
Of course Del Mar is a class A track, but hey, I have seen good simulcasts from small tracks.

[GR1@HTR]

Yeah, SMF has got a good eye for that kinda stuff. I'm trying to figure out what is a good lookin horse and what is a bad one but I think I'm kinda hopeless in that area. I might have to tag up w/ SMF more often for ugly horse capping...

[John]

How about me guys.

I don't know what end of the horse you feed.

[ranchwest]

Originally posted by smf
Good deal, and a nice catch, RW! Easy money, eh? ! :)



The fun part is that there's road construction on I-10, so I drive right in front of Delta anyway. So, I stop, no admission, no parking fee, I go in, watch the monitor for 15 minutes, make a few bucks, go back and get in my car. Now, that's fun. :)

[smf]

Originally posted by so.cal.fan
Ranch and smf:
No, I meant the simulcast I would see at Santa Anita.
It would be the same you guys see at tracks other than LS.
Our feed in So. Cal used to be really bad, it has gotten better.
We all need to send emails to these tracks.....tell them what we want to see! We did that at Del Mar and they listened!
Of course Del Mar is a class A track, but hey, I have seen good simulcasts from small tracks.

SCF,

Ya, that's what I was talking about. You'll get an Aussie, Dave Appleton (cool guy, btw), giving his picks ~ 14 mtp....You'll see each horse in their paddock stall for about 5 seconds........you'll see them in the walking ring being saddled, but again, you'll see maybe 5 seconds per horse......You'll see some bar shoe info about the time they leave the paddock, but the info is only on your monitor for about 5-10 seconds.....Unfortunately, they don't show enuff of the warmups, although they did a slightly better job last year than in year's prior when they used to show 3 minutes of non stop shots of the large crowds. Kinda the way DelMar does w/ the beach scenes, only longer in duration.

The QH meet is going on right now and will end next weekend. Might wanna go to your simo and check out the simo feed from LS, the format will be the same for the t-breds. Not sure you'll like it, tho. The Cal tracks have the best presentation when it comes to showing the hosses.

p.s..LS has had a few emails from me on this subject <g>.

[smf]

Originally posted by rocajack
How about me guys.

I don't know what end of the horse you feed.

John,

If yer interested in this stuff, get both of Takach's video's, and Trillis Parker's book (horses talk) and video (same title). The first book I read on this stuff was Bonnie Ledbetter's, it was good also.

[PurplePower]

Originally posted by smf
John,

If yer interested in this stuff, get both of Takach's video's, and Trillis Parker's book (horses talk) and video (same title). The first book I read on this stuff was Bonnie Ledbetter's, it was good also.

An alternative that may also be more fun is to stand next to a female at the paddock rail and ask her which one looks good. I had two assistants that would come in (I am inside a room in grandstand) and tell me which of the ones I didn't pick that had "the look". We'd toss them into the exotic mix and more often than not come up with a winning ticket.

[so.cal.fan]

It takes many months of close study to look at horses and make good judgements on their condition.
Women who work with horses are usually pretty good at looking at them before races.
However....so are men. I am not so sure women have any advantage over men, perhaps they observe more, but men can train themselves to do the same thing.
I think the real advantage women have over men at the track is that they are not so biased and not so competitive.
Men seem to hold grudges against trainers and jockeys more than women. Even more destructive than that, they try to compete more with their friends.......which always is a disaster.
Women don't do that, as much.
That said.........I am a woman, I am somewhat biased against certain connections, more so than I would like to be.
I do not compete with friends and aquaintances, that helps my game.

[smf]

SCF posts...."Men seem to hold grudges against trainers and jockeys more than women. "

Guilty as charged <G>. Some trainers and jocks down here, I refuse to bet on.

Also, I believe it when you folks say women are more gifted (?) at physicality capping, and men take a little longer to catch on. A lady I used to date (mentioned here before) that knew her horses well, tried to beat into my thick skull that pre-race appearance counts for something.

Took awhile.

[so.cal.fan]

smf:
It's okay to refuse to bet really low percentage trainers or jocks, it is really hard to bet on "o-fers", at least it is for me.
I know people who refuse to bet on some trainers, jocks or owners, just because they don't like them personally.
You may not care for the personallity of Baffert, but you better not let that effect your betting.
A good friend of mine, bets even the "o-fers" at times, IF he really thinks their horse is best and is getting a big price. This doesn't happen often......I argue with him, that these "o-fers" can't ever seem to put two good races back to back, and of course, they usually don't, but IF the price is big enough........I can't argue with taking a shot.
Most trainers can win maiden claimers and you get prices on the obscure barns.

[hurrikane]

hey, I'm all for standing next to the women at the track for whatever reason...

[Whitehos]

Hi Purple.

I get my paddock preview from a tiny little screen on my computer.
I need all the audio I can get describing the appearance and anything else that might be advantageous to me as a better. I don't bet Mountaineer because I can't handicapp their races. I do however listen to their 2 excellent previewers. One an ex trainer and the other I believe is the racing secretary.
Keep up the good work at SHRP

Whitehos

[Derek2U]

hehe I must be an urban handicapper. I like horses that run
in new york city. But I've heard some good things about MP
and Payoffs. So maybe someday I'll branch out and try some
"foreign" tracks. Do most of you guys play a particular track or
do many of you simulcast a lot?