Do you ever play Golden Gate: y/n
 

With all the talk about GGF closing….just wondering…….

Where is the "Yes, every time I play" choice?

I guess I assumed that person doesn’t exist :lol:

P/A if you want to add a category ….go ahead

Ralph,

I typically play any track that has a high Speed Reliability Index (SRI).

That is a metric which I created that measures the performance of the top 3 speed rating horses in a key category. Normal has been 62% for the 4 decades I've been tracking it.

There is very little change in large fields. (I'd never bet a field smaller than 5 horses.)

No turf races and no races that contain any FTS.

The only challenge for GG is that most of the days that I play, I begin with the 1st eastern post and quit after about 4-5 hours. I will play some California tracks if I have the energy, but it would be a very rare occurrence for me to still be betting when the feature race comes around.

BTW, tracks that have typically had the poorest SRI indicators include KEE, HAW, and almost every turf course. (Turf just doesn't handicap well with speed ratings.)

So, the truth is that I rarely play GG, but I do if I get the chance.

Whenever Golden Gate switched to artificial track I just stuck my toe in the water a couple times and hung it up. When did they go artificial? Back in the day when I hung out at the San Bernardino Ca. OTB pre 2004 I would handicap all races from the SoCal track and GGX or BM, I probably played 6+ races there back then. The only races I would skip where ones I did not think I could beat Russell Baze in a Pick 3 or 4. As anyone who played there remembers I don't think any jockey killed a horse's odds like Russell Baze.
That guy would drive me up a wall.

I'm that guy.

At least until their last race ever is run. (Sigh.)


-jp
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Yes, and for a while they had TWO 40% jockeys (Hansen was the other) as well as a 40% trainer (Hollendorfer).

Hollendorfer was the reason I went to circuit-based trainer stats. He always looked so good - even when he shipped to SoCal. But down there he was only a 13% trainer.

I've been playing for nearly 30 years, and if I've bet more than $10 total there in that time I would be surprised.

I added it...but it kind of taints the poll at this point since there are already 45 votes...lol

So I reset the poll...

PLEASE VOTE AGAIN

Yes.

The Golden Hour is one of my favorite wagers, and I've had some solid scores there wagering those races.

The $1 P4 and $5 Double make it a price point worth playing, and the quick fire results make it fun.

As for day in and day out racing, I'd rarely play. Field sizes have been dwindling and gets fairly chalky IMO.

Hard to play a track that is AW without any other AWs around that horses can ship in from. Always felt like you'd really need to devote some serious time to handicap without much reward on the back end.

And of course... I'm that guy. :D



Done. Thanks!


-jp
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i have backed down from betting on horse racing and started to focus back in on buying cheap horses and running them.

the CAW and pool manipulations have become to burdensome on my brain and the fact that HISA is making some type of an impact on the game gives me a fighting chance to win races now, because i never liked tapping or drugs and like to see horses running more often.

the Mountain has cheap re-treads, but because the purses are so small, horsemen have to run more often and it has made the product much better even though the horses are slower there.

Great stuff right here. Very much appreciate your insights. :ThmbUp:

I used to play GG and BM all the time. BM closed and GG stopped offering the traditional pick six.

Now most of my betting done at NY tracks.