Season of the Grinders

[misscashalot]

The Inner Dirt track at Aqu starting this coming week is the Season Of The Grinders. Many top Trainers and Jocks have begun to emigrate to the sunny Southlands leaving the pickings to The Grinders. Proudly I admit that I am a Betting Grinder. Fields are small and less contentious. From here on into March racing has somewhat smaller fields and limited two turn affairs. Turf will soon be vacated. New names pop up. Hopeful young jocks sweep in looking to make a name; if they can find mounts. Old timers like wire to wire Chuck Lopez arrive. For the experienced player the pickings should be fruitful. Reviewing 2010. 60% were run at 1 turn. Overall, on the Inner, winning favorites were a steady 32%. Field size at 1 turn was 7.9, at 2 turns 7.6. Average winning odds at 1 turn was $4.85. At 2 turns $5.65. Year after year this meet is as special to me as Saratoga. It has it own charm. You either love it, or..... I guess it depends on how you do. I do fine. If, in the past, you either ignored or looked down at winter racing in snowy, freezing New York featuring less than first rate stock, I suggest you consider it. Other than Jan-Feb in Florida, which is New York South, this is still the best racing in America.

[garyoz]

Purses will be bigger than Florida. Supposedly more of the outfits and jocks are staying put at The Big A. You lose the turf, but you may find bigger fields grinding through the 6 furlongs and Mile and one-sixteenth races.

Agree that it is a great betting meet. Some low profile trainers aim for the meet and provide huge upside in the gimmicks-even when they are in the lower spots on the vertical exotics. December to March, The Big A inner and Tampa Bay provide a great time to bet--my second favorite to the month of August.

[PhantomOnTour]

I've never followed the inner closely or made figs for the meet, but this year will be my first go at it. Tired of picking up NY racing for the spring Aqu meet on the main track and being at a loss for winter figs over the inner, esp for NY bred races.
Any direction or tips on this meet would be helpful. Didn't the inner favor closers last year? At least that's what I read.

[xfile]

I love the inner meet. Pay attention to shoe changes...hint<<<

[xfile]

.....and I don't mean your shoes.....;)

[DeltaLover]

I have to disagree...

The inner track meet is one of the worst nationwide, filled with very short fields, having very high cancellation rate, dominated by short prices while is attracting some of the most crippled and slow horses of the North East...

Trainers that were negligible so far, winning every blue moon at Belmont and the SPA, will overnight be converted to ... super trainers :D (for example Contessa) taking advantage of the overall mediocrity and slightness of the meet...

If Ramon stays North again for this meet, his winning percent will again skyrocket and we will have days when he will win 5 or 6 races at ridiculous prices....


The good thing during the winter is that we have a lot of good cards to bet in tracks like Fair Grounds, Oakland Park, Gulfstream, Tampa and Calder that have full fields and high payouts...

As far as Tampa goes I have to admit that is one of the best small winter tracks presenting very nice betting overlays since it's regular attendee's profile matches a casual retiree as opposed to the NYRA pools that have by far the sharpest bettors that very rare can leave lucrative betting opportunities untouched.

[xfile]

My Winter diet will consist of Tampa, Gulf, Aqu Inner, Turfway and Fair Grounds with a dash of Santa Anita. Maybe a late desert in Oaklawn. I love the winter....http://fullcardreports.com/images208/santa2.gif

[misscashalot]

I love the inner meet. Pay attention to shoe changes...hint<<<
What show changes...there's no more caulks...hint

[CincyHorseplayer]

My Winter diet will consist of Tampa, Gulf, Aqu Inner, Turfway and Fair Grounds with a dash of Santa Anita. Maybe a late desert in Oaklawn. I love the winter....http://fullcardreports.com/images208/santa2.gif

I fly south for the winter after Christmas myself.Gave up all winter racing.And with Santa Anita back on dirt I won't even bother to take a peek unless it's a 3yo stakes.

Tampa Bay,Gulfstream,Fair Grounds,Oaklawn,Santa Anita.That oughta keep me busy!!

[xfile]

What show changes...there's no more caulks...hint
The trainers are allowed to use something this year instead of caulks that are suppose to have the same benefits for the horse but easy on the track surface. I just hope they show and/or announce the shoe changes to the bettors. God forbid they should let us have an edge in something.
Merry X-mas http://fullcardreports.com/images208/santa2.gif

[xfile]

I fly south for the winter after Christmas myself.Gave up all winter racing.And with Santa Anita back on dirt I won't even bother to take a peek unless it's a 3yo stakes.

Tampa Bay,Gulfstream,Fair Grounds,Oaklawn,Santa Anita.That oughta keep me busy!!
Santa Anita back on dirt is going to cause havoc amongst the bettors. They won't know who to bet. It's going to be like throwing raw meat to sharks for those of us who focus on overlays. My main focus will be Tampa and Aqueduct however. The other tracks I mentioned I will follow along and wait for some big overlays to pop up as they do every year. I don't know why a lot of players take off Winter. This time of year there is gobs of money to be made. I wonder what surprise in the jockey colony at Tampa Bay waits for us this year....From what I hear there will be some new and interesting faces.

[therussmeister]

I don't know why a lot of players take off Winter. This time of year there is gobs of money to be made.

If I'm going to take time off it's going to be in summer, when nation-wide there are approximately 500 more races per week to be filled. That's just a guess, I didn't add it up.

[CincyHorseplayer]

Santa Anita back on dirt is going to cause havoc amongst the bettors. They won't know who to bet. It's going to be like throwing raw meat to sharks for those of us who focus on overlays. My main focus will be Tampa and Aqueduct however. The other tracks I mentioned I will follow along and wait for some big overlays to pop up as they do every year. I don't know why a lot of players take off Winter. This time of year there is gobs of money to be made. I wonder what surprise in the jockey colony at Tampa Bay waits for us this year....From what I hear there will be some new and interesting faces.

I hate winter racing because the track condition changes so much and so often.It's never consistent.I have had big hits and ROI's on meets but have been equally frustrated by having about 6-8 track conditions in 3 days.I pay attention to overnight temperatures and weather shifts,so not simply just fst,my,hvy.There's also frozen,thawing,snow covered,mud puddles,windy snowstorms,fast-sunny,melting,backside lake,etc etc.

It can make for some big hits but big chaos also.Not my thing.I would have never really known if I hadn't kept records.I always win when tracks are at certain climates and average temperatures.So I won't bet against my own grain!!

I like both Florida tracks a lot.I'll switch around on occasion if a track is giving me fits though.

[Charlie D]

I love the INNER, There is not a blade of grass or piece of rubber to be seen.