Quote:
Originally Posted by HalvOnHorseracing
I finished 119th out of 695 entries with $151.60
The race that made all the difference for me was the 12th at Gulfstream on Friday. Cryogenic, the 8 horse, burst through on the rail, took the lead by half a length with probably 100 yards to go and for some reason slowed up, losing by a nose at 23-1. If I hit that race and you assume I bet the same horses I bet after that race (just to make a point) I'd have had $193 and been in 30th place at the end of Saturday and I'd have been in the finals.
I'll say this. If you are a first-timer, the Friday session can be overwhelming. I made one stupid mistake. You have to bet 18 races, 8 of which are mandatory and 10 of which are optional. I had a horse I liked quite a bit, went to bet it and found out I had already used up my 10 optional bets. Of course, the horse won.
There was one guy who missed getting to the finals by 20 cents. Imagine how he felt.
119th doesn't sound brilliant, but considering 70th place gets into the finals, I wasn't that far away, something like $20.
I'm not sure I'll do it again. Handicapping, then nine hours at the races, then more handicapping, then not much sleep and then do it again.
I'll give NTRA a lot of credit--it was a well run operation.
|
That's pretty impressive, IMHO. Good job. Both you and Baron Star Greg made out all right, considering the competition. Did they have a consolation tourney on Sunday?
Last year when I was there a guy from my table finished up high enough in that to get a check. Another guy at my table was a former winner of the NHC, who didn't qualify, and hung around his buddy at the table. I did okay on Friday with the mandatory races, but was totally wiped out and tanked most of Saturday. It's hard to manually 'cap so many races.
Since you learned a lot this year, you might want to give it one more shot. Last year was my first time qualifying, but the State of Washington shut us out of online tournaments last fall, so I didn't get as many chances to get in. If I move to a more horse racing friendly state, I'll try again.
It's a lot of fun, though I think it would have been easier to win for us wildly erratic handicappers back when it was a two day format. This year there was tons of chalk on Sunday - hard to make a move except downwards.
There were a ton of first timers in the NHC this year, and quite a few names in the finals I didn't recognize. Perhaps there's still hope for us geezers.
