With Del Mar approaching

[joelouis]

What are some of the do's and dont's of handicapping Del Mar. I have never played Del Mar and need all the help I can get. TY:)

[MickJ26]

What are some of the do's and dont's of handicapping Del Mar. I have never played Del Mar and need all the help I can get. TY:)

Middle of the track closers are your best bet.
I hit two signers last summer that way.

[46zilzal]

I would wait. With what happened to Keeneland, and the descriptions from the Racing Post in England about the natural "bedding in" of artificial surfaces (they used the new Great Leighs course as an example), I would NOT assume that the surface is going to be a carbon copy of that slow slow surface of last year.

[JustRalph]

What are some of the do's and dont's of handicapping Del Mar. I have never played Del Mar and need all the help I can get. TY:)


The don't is...............DON'T PLAY DEL MAR!

I don't anymore. It was bad before they started running on old fan belts and even worse now

[kitts]

And yet for many, many years I never had a profitable Del Mar until last year!

[levinmpa]

Management has stated that they will water the surface this year. Last year the big complaint from horseman was that the track was great in the morning for workouts. It was cooler and more moisture was in the air. In the afternoon, with the rise in temperatures, the track was drastically different than in the morning. Management would not water the track last year. They were told not to by the manufacturer. If they do water the track, it should be speedier than the tiring surface we saw last year. However, I would take a wait and see approach.

[Imriledup]

Good post about the watering of the surface...............in my opinion, i think that the water will actually not be much of a factor only because that stuff will dry out almost instantly in the hot summer day....if they water 20 mins to post, will the track be 'wet' 20 mins later? I'm not sure how much water that track will hold with the sun beating down for 20 mins. Are they going to sprinkle it or saturate it, time will tell.

Cushion track at Hollywood and the surface at Del Mar are two totally different surfaces....horses shipping in from Hollywood off sharp pp's...throw that out the window........if a horse performs well at Hollywood, it doesn't really mean a heck of a lot for the DMR surface.

[JustRalph]

And yet for many, many years I never had a profitable Del Mar until last year!


Good for you! :ThmbUp: You're a better man than me............

[joelouis]

Middle of the track closers are your best bet.
I hit two signers last summer that way.

Thanks for the heads up.

[joelouis]

Management has stated that they will water the surface this year. Last year the big complaint from horseman was that the track was great in the morning for workouts. It was cooler and more moisture was in the air. In the afternoon, with the rise in temperatures, the track was drastically different than in the morning. Management would not water the track last year. They were told not to by the manufacturer. If they do water the track, it should be speedier than the tiring surface we saw last year. However, I would take a wait and see approach.

Thank You, I am going July 23rd 1 wk after they open. If you have anymore tips for me I would appreciate it. thank you again

[RichieP]

Good for you! :ThmbUp: You're a better man than me............

Me too JR. Tu salute Kitts!

[cmoore]

Will Baffert show up for the Delmar meet???

[Tom]

Will TOC allow betting on DelMar?
( who cares?)

[so.cal.fan]

I had a bit of luck last year betting horses shortening up in distance.
Even if the surface is a bit faster......make damn sure your horse can get the distance and then some.
I was betting routers in sprints last year, and enough of them won to make it worth the effort.
Turf course is also interesting. ALWAYS pay attention to imports coming in from Europe. They are nearly always very live, and you even get a few nice prices on them.
I love runners from France, right off the plane at Del Mar.
The purses at Hollywood are much less than they will be at Del Mar, so pay attention to the top stables good horses, who may have only got a conditioning race at Hollywood, losing.....look for some of them to come up very live for the higher Del Mar purses......this will be especially true on the turf course, because even the trainers won't be 100% sure about this poly surface for a while, but they do know what to expect on the turf course, and with the higher pay checks, they be trying.
Best of luck to you joelouis, enjoy your visit to Del Mar!

[Fingal]

There has always been a theory that because Del Mar is so close to the Ocean that the tides influence the running of races. Form reversals do happen more often at the Seaside than Santa Anita or Hollywood, but IMO to me it's more a case of the change in the AIR QUALITY that allows a horse to breath better, resulting in more stamina. :jump:

[JBmadera]

In the old days, when I could actually go to the tracek, I would treat every race as "chaos". So it was very lite on the wagering and heavy on the beer/sight seeing.

[Robert Fischer]

look for speed horses who built great form in december/january early Feb at the space-age Santa Anita strip where everyone was running 107 to the 3/4ths.
Hopefully those guys are either coming off the layoff, or they raced once or twice on the later adjusted santa anita or the hollywood surface and haven't completely ruined their form yet.

bet aganist them

[joelouis]

I had a bit of luck last year betting horses shortening up in distance.
Even if the surface is a bit faster......make damn sure your horse can get the distance and then some.
I was betting routers in sprints last year, and enough of them won to make it worth the effort.
Turf course is also interesting. ALWAYS pay attention to imports coming in from Europe. They are nearly always very live, and you even get a few nice prices on them.
I love runners from France, right off the plane at Del Mar.
The purses at Hollywood are much less than they will be at Del Mar, so pay attention to the top stables good horses, who may have only got a conditioning race at Hollywood, losing.....look for some of them to come up very live for the higher Del Mar purses......this will be especially true on the turf course, because even the trainers won't be 100% sure about this poly surface for a while, but they do know what to expect on the turf course, and with the higher pay checks, they be trying.
Best of luck to you joelouis, enjoy your visit to Del Mar!

thank you for the good information, i actually do not live that from from you. good luck if you could send me a message now and then if you hear anthing thanks again.

[mylosh]

so from the vets its sounding like Del Mar is a track to avoid.

Whats are the problems?


Still a pup in horse betting but Del Mar was going to be one of the tracks I was going to focus on because I'll be down there from time to time. Anyways just one hear more about things to look for.

cheers

[JustRalph]

I would be interested in what Jcapper Jeff P has to say about Del Mar..........You out there Jeff?

[Hank]

The don't is...............DON'T PLAY DEL MAR!

I don't anymore. It was bad before they started running on old fan belts and even worse now


This is the best advice in the thread.imo its UNPLAYABLE!:bang:

[IrishRail76]

Del Mar is going to be a challenge. I know two pro's who got their clocks cleaned out there last time, and they both feel driven to "conquer" it.

One is a 100% pace man....the genius with the huge spreadsheet. His view was from the perspective of the condition of the track. He even went out after-hours and borrowed some for a friend to analyze.

His primary complaint was in the times...some were close to the record for the fastest, while others were close to the record for the slowest. That's whacky.

He has already been keeping notes on which horses the top stables have been holding back for Del Mar, as well.

Another friend is also a pro 'capper who mixes several approaches to come to a consensus. He got burned at the last meet and he plans to get medieval on Del Mar.

SoCal tracks have already run through three or four types of synthetic surfaces. All are hoping that the track is right for the meet.

As for me, when I see these long-time pro's doing this level of prep work, my choice is to sit back and track the first five racing days. Then, I'll start to figure in how the track is running, along with trainer intentions.

Even then, I'll be conservative. I have no plans to attempt to exceed my limitations.

[cnollfan]

Probably as many pretty girls attend Del Mar as the rest of the tracks in the country combined (except Keeneland).

[joelouis]

In the old days, when I could actually go to the tracek, I would treat every race as "chaos". So it was very lite on the wagering and heavy on the beer/sight seeing.

yes the sight seeing, eye candy, del mar is somewhere you can go set up a chair and just enjoy the sights. :)

[joelouis]

I plan on going out with my bank of 100 and enjoy the day win or lose, I dont expect to hit the pic 6 you have to win to hit and I will not donate 24 dollars on something I know I will not hit. :)