Those lovable DRF 'cappers

[andicap]

Here are Michael Hammersly's conclusions on each of the horses in today's 8th at the Spa:

Velvet Morning -- Food for thought
Ghost Dance -- mixed feelings
Kain's Prize - --- Tough call
Stop for Schnapps -- tough to handle if she takes any kind of step forward
Bail Money -- tricky read
Doc's Destiny -- food for thought (He must have been hungry)
Battenkill -- Bailey fans will like the number but there are issues here. (Finally, he takes a stand)

7 horses and he won't go out on a damn limb. These guys must be kidding. How do I get a job like this? Any every race is the same. Every horse is either "food for thought", "mixed feelings," and once in a while, "iffy."
Its just laziness. It feels like he looks at each horse for about 30 seconds and writes off the top of his head. ANY MORON CAN DO THAT!

Hey, Michael and the other DRF "pros", how about using useful descriptions like: "non-contender," "top choice." "Good overlay." "Vulnerable favorite."

[John]

Very good point.........But they will never answer . If he did it would be, " mixed feelings, a little iffy".........

[hurrikane]

I think he has a future in politics! :D

[Rick Ransom]

Sorry to hear that's happening. Some of the Closer Looks used to contain some interesting observations especially those of Mart Koivastik. But he left when DRF moved from Phoenix to NY along with a lot of others.

Hammersly used to pick his share of winners though. When they kept track of ROI many years ago he was the leader at Southern California tracks. I think it was around a 7% loss over a large number of races, which is not bad for a public handicapper. Last time I checked they only keep track of win % and in-the-money % now.

I think a lot of the problem has to do with how many races these guys have to handicap each day. If they're doing selections and Closer Looks for 4 or 5 tracks every day, I can see why they might get lazy sometimes.

[John]

Rick, That's a poor excuse. If you got a job .Do your job.

[NoDayJob]

Maybe they should read Daffy Duck's opinion over at HPU. He says "Take a flyer to win on the 1, 2 & 6. Now that's what I call a solid play. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I like the 3/5 -NDJ

[andicap]

I don't even care if he picks anyone. I'm not looking for him for picks, just some "expert" opinion on how he sees the race. Which of the longshots does he think has a chance and more importantly, why?
Which of the favorites are vulnerable?

[andicap]

Originally posted by NoDayJob
Maybe they should read Daffy Duck's opinion over at HPU. He says "Take a flyer to win on the 1, 2 & 6. Now that's what I call a solid play. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I like the 3/5 -NDJ


You mean the genius (we all know who you mean) who bets

3789/123789/12345789/

then boasts that he's the best handicapper in the world when he wins. I'm going to start calling him Clocker, as in Clocker Lawton, who always claims 7 winners a day because if any of the 3 horses in each race on his sheet wins, he wins.

[Rick Ransom]

andicap,

That's what I always looked for in the Closer Look. I didn't care who they thought was best. I was just looking for facts I might have missed. If that's all he wrote then he clearly was not providing adequate information.


rocajack,

It's not necessarily an excuse but more like my guess as to the reason. It just doesn't seem consistent with what I've seen him write in the past.

[NoDayJob]

Andicap,

Not likely that the Duck Man is the infamous ITM_ATW. Too many jokes to be a serious handicapper like the GREAT ONE. -NDJ

[karlskorner]

Andicap;

Re:Clocker Lawton

I have been told by several people and read it in a couple of books about Belmont that the Clocker Lawton sheet controlled the tote board in NY during the 60's. Ronnie Schroder, the original Clocker Lawton, who is well into his 80's, has a box near me at CRC and still hand times each race. His son now publishes the NY sheet. He made bags full of money during that period and put it into the stock market.

Of the couple people I know that publish a sheet their attitude is that if they named the winner on their sheet, you COULD have had it. After all it's just an opinion and naming 7 possible winners on a 9 race card ain't bad.

Karl

[andicap]

Originally posted by NoDayJob
Andicap,

Not likely that the Duck Man is the infamous ITM_ATW. Too many jokes to be a serious handicapper like the GREAT ONE. -NDJ


You know I looked at that site for a couple of weeks, just for grins, then realized what a huge waste of my time it was. I wasn't learning anything and I certainly wasn't getting entertained. It's like reading a bad men's room wall. And the picks...well, I can pick my own horses, thank you.

[Tom]

There are only four people on the Yahoo board - they each use 124 clones to talk to each other. They are:

George W Bush
Al Gore
James Quinn
Mike Warren

Tom