Excellent segments on ATRAB this week

[Tom]

Nadda with FF or IE 6 - I won't put IE 7 on my machine.
Wish I could get IE 6 off!

Too bad - but I do not support sites that do not support FF.

[Zaf]

Tom,

Did you try Levinmpa's suggestion ? That may be a way to get around that.

Z

[Tom]

That worked!

Thanks, both of you.

[Zaf]

Glad it worked Tom ! You'll love it. Ever since Steve has taken over the show, its been awesome !

Z

[DerbyTrail]

Originally Posted by bigmack

Steve-

You've really done a dynamite job developing your show into a nice place to spend some time. Great work

I don't know if you had any decision in using a JStrummer track for musica but I can vouch that he was one hell of a guy and one of the nicest cats you'd ever want to meet.

Mack,

Thanks very much.. It's been tremendously fun and rewarding trying to make the show valuable to race fans and the industry.

And music selection does fall to me. Am going to try and incorporate more into the show too. Everything I've ever read about Joe 'Strummer' says he was unbelievably generous to fans. Taken way too soon...

[DerbyTrail]

Tonight's show...

'Raceday Live' Wednesday with visits from Ken McPeek and Doug O'Neill on tap to look at the 2 fillies and colts they each send in the Delta Princess and Jackpot Friday night!

Gary West/Seth Merrow and the 3rd-7th of the HOL P6 Carryover too! Tune in..!

866-454-6848 the contact line..

LIVE LINK:
http://www.clearstreaming.com/radios...sandbeyond.asx

4:00-News/Open phones
4:30-Doug O'Neill

5:00-Seth Merrow
5:30-Ken McPeek

6:00-Gary West
6:30-Open phones

[point given]

Derbytrail wrote " Gary West/Seth Merrow and the 3rd-7th of the HOL P6 Carryover too! Tune in..! "


Now, i realize Seth merrow is the producer of Equidaily, a website with a spiderweb of articles grabbed from the internet. Actually a very useful site to keep up with stuff. BUT - and thats a big BUTT , what actually is Seth Merrows expertise in horse racing ? i believe he was involved in producing plays or some such in the albany area, so, how is he such an expert on horse racing from pulling together postings from other sources ? I have seen him feature Steve Byk, and Steve Byk feature Seth Merrow in a kinda albany ny mutual admiration society at the Teletheater ? The Albany Posse has taken over from its downstate brethern it seems, as they are all bloggers now. With Jeanne Wood, Anthony Mormino, Nick Kling etc. who could ask for anything more ! Seriously. who are all these people and what do they do for a living, besides Klling who writes for a small paper upstate. Bio's can be such a trip.

[BillW]

Originally Posted by point given

what actually is Seth Merrows expertise in horse racing ?

Why not just PM him and ask?

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by point given

Derbytrail wrote " Gary West/Seth Merrow and the 3rd-7th of the HOL P6 Carryover too! Tune in..! "


Now, i realize Seth merrow is the producer of Equidaily, a website with a spiderweb of articles grabbed from the internet. Actually a very useful site to keep up with stuff. BUT - and thats a big BUTT , what actually is Seth Merrows expertise in horse racing ? i believe he was involved in producing plays or some such in the albany area, so, how is he such an expert on horse racing from pulling together postings from other sources ? I have seen him feature Steve Byk, and Steve Byk feature Seth Merrow in a kinda albany ny mutual admiration society at the Teletheater ? The Albany Posse has taken over from its downstate brethern it seems, as they are all bloggers now. With Jeanne Wood, Anthony Mormino, Nick Kling etc. who could ask for anything more ! Seriously. who are all these people and what do they do for a living, besides Klling who writes for a small paper upstate. Bio's can be such a trip.

nope, no PM's , now I want to know................

[DerbyTrail]

Originally Posted by point given

Derbytrail wrote " Gary West/Seth Merrow and the 3rd-7th of the HOL P6 Carryover too! Tune in..! "


Now, i realize Seth merrow is the producer of Equidaily, a website with a spiderweb of articles grabbed from the internet. Actually a very useful site to keep up with stuff. BUT - and thats a big BUTT , what actually is Seth Merrows expertise in horse racing ? i believe he was involved in producing plays or some such in the albany area, so, how is he such an expert on horse racing from pulling together postings from other sources ? I have seen him feature Steve Byk, and Steve Byk feature Seth Merrow in a kinda albany ny mutual admiration society at the Teletheater ? The Albany Posse has taken over from its downstate brethern it seems, as they are all bloggers now. With Jeanne Wood, Anthony Mormino, Nick Kling etc. who could ask for anything more ! Seriously. who are all these people and what do they do for a living, besides Klling who writes for a small paper upstate. Bio's can be such a trip.

I didn't realize that people who handicap publicly had a set of criteria that deigned their expertise as worthy. One would think that the expertise is easily judged by the results...

Like many public racing-related media members, Seth Merrow is an avid horseplayer whose handicapping skills are on display regularly and earned him a place on Capital OTB TV as a host. He is as astute a player as I know. His Equidaily.com website was the first portal of its kind on the Net, and his selections have been a big part of its' success.

His contributions to 'At the Races' are very popular among listeners with an appreciation for his straightforward approach to playing horses and building winning tickets. In addition to his responsibilities with Capital OTB and Equidaily, he owns a television/video production company. He has been very generous and supportive of my career interests in race media, and together we hosted "Keyword: Saratoga" on Capital OTB 12 this past summer.

Jeanne Wood works full time at Capital OTB as their lead producer/on-air host. Nick Kling is widely respected for his opinion by peers nationwide as handicapper/race writer of The Troy Record, regularly finishing atop the Saratoga capping 'standings'. Don't know much about Anthony Mormino except that you rarely see a guy so regularly give out successful 20-1 shots as on-top key horses as he does.

[point given]

Thanks for answering my questions.

Before , I started using Equidaily, I used Cindy Pierson Dulays , About.com horseracing , as a comprehensive site. What i like about Equdaily is the format, its easy to use, and he unearths some unique stories. What raised my question , was that Gary West is a longtime writer on horseracing for many newspapers and well known by his writings. Seth Merrow does the Equidaily website. I was unfamiliar with his background and expertise in handicapping, thats all, and I have not seen any written handicapping background/ history of his handicapping. I did watch the Capital OTB shows a couple of times though, but didnot take notes. So, I don't know how to evaluate his opinions and picks never having seen anything of his in writing. Is there a site where i may view the analysis,picks and results ? Yours are on your website,for all to view; and I appreciate your views, rationals etc. whether I agree with them or not.

When is Mr. Merrows show on OTB and is it on the internet site of Capital OTB ? I missed your "Keyword Saratoga" show last summer, what type of show is it, and what time slot is it on and will it return ? I 've spoken briefly w/ jean wood and she is a knowledgable handicapper to me , and Nick Kling is certainly known for his strong , issues oriented commentaries/handicapping. you're rignt , Mormino I know little about too.

Thanks again for the answers to my questions. I do enjoy listening to your show with all the industry issues you address , personalities you get on and the promotion of thoroughbred racing in the US. Unfortunately, I don't get to listen as much as I once did. Good Luck - PG

Originally Posted by DerbyTrail

I didn't realize that people who handicap publicly had a set of criteria that deigned their expertise as worthy. One would think that the expertise is easily judged by the results...

Like many public racing-related media members, Seth Merrow is an avid horseplayer whose handicapping skills are on display regularly and earned him a place on Capital OTB TV as a host. He is as astute a player as I know. His Equidaily.com website was the first portal of its kind on the Net, and his selections have been a big part of its' success.

His contributions to 'At the Races' are very popular among listeners with an appreciation for his straightforward approach to playing horses and building winning tickets. In addition to his responsibilities with Capital OTB and Equidaily, he owns a television/video production company. He has been very generous and supportive of my career interests in race media, and together we hosted "Keyword: Saratoga" on Capital OTB 12 this past summer.

Jeanne Wood works full time at Capital OTB as their lead producer/on-air host. Nick Kling is widely respected for his opinion by peers nationwide as handicapper/race writer of The Troy Record, regularly finishing atop the Saratoga capping 'standings'. Don't know much about Anthony Mormino except that you rarely see a guy so regularly give out successful 20-1 shots as on-top key horses as he does.

[saratoga guy]

Originally Posted by point given

...what actually is Seth Merrows expertise in horse racing?

yeah, who is that clown?!? Doh! It's me!


The internet can be such an anonymous place that asking, “Who are you and why should I care what you say?” is a legit question. For example, it’s disconcerting to be engaged in an internet conversation about artificial surfaces and it’s only after a question about Remington’s experiment years ago with Equitrack elicits silence that you realize the other person is fifteen years old!

But as Steve [Derby Trail] alluded, it’s hard to know just what “validates” a handicapper/racing commentator. There is no “Masters Degree of Horse Race Commentating” offered. Obviously you want someone with experience, knowledge and a passion for the sport, but ultimately you have to judge their work -- whether it’s available in the “old media” or now on the “new media” -- and decide if you find it entertaining and/or informative.

After five years of putting together the equidaily.com website on a daily basis I think I follow horse-racing day-to-day as closely as anyone. I try to bring that perspective to the written and broadcast work I do.

I’ve owned a television production company for the past twenty years in the Albany/Saratoga area (never have produced a play, as was speculated in an earlier post). We've produced hundreds of hours of broadcast programming and won perhaps a dozen national awards. I graduated from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Also, I had a regular column in The Saratogian’s “Pink Sheet” during the 2006 Saratoga meet. I hope that background gives me some type of journalistic “cred”.

Also, as mentioned above, I'm a regular handicapper/commentator on Capital OTB-TV (and part of a very good team that includes Wood, Mormino, and Kling, as well as John Pricci, Mike Veitch and others). And Steve and I did the "Keyword: Saratoga" show every Monday during the 2007 meet. I've also been a panelist at Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup seminars at the OTB teletheater in Albany and the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs.

As a handicapper I guess the best credentials are simply to go to the “scorecard”. I handicap the full-card every day during the Saratoga meet and the picks are posted and archived at equidaily.com. During the years 2003, 2004, and 2005 a $2 win-bet on each of my top picks produced a flat-bet profit.

In 2005 I added a feature called “Best Bets” to equidaily.com’s weekly look at weekend stakes races. Each week I listed a small handful of ‘best bets’. Listing 209 total ‘best bet’ plays every Saturday for twelve months in 2005 produced a 43% ROI. Granted, much of that was due to Giacomo winning the Ky Derby -- but even after subtracting the “Giacomo-effect”, the ‘best bets’ produced a 5% ROI for 2005. (I have to admit I haven’t been as diligent about tracking the 'best bet' results the past couple of seasons -- because of time. But the selections are still archived.)

I’ve learned over the years that part of the fun of the game is that it’s somewhat competitive even on the betting side of the sport. Therefore, no matter how well you do someone will always say, “Yeah, great results, BUT...” I can live with that and I’m confident enough in my work that all my selections are still archived and available for people to peruse.

There it is: The "Reader's Digest resumé"!

Seth Merrow/saratoga guy

[Indulto]

Originally Posted by saratoga guy

... The internet can be such an anonymous place that asking, “Who are you and why should I care what you say?” is a legit question. For example, it’s disconcerting to be engaged in an internet conversation about artificial surfaces and it’s only after a question about Remington’s experiment years ago with Equitrack elicits silence that you realize the other person is fifteen years old!

SG,
It's nice to know that another ATRAB regular is a poster here, but in response to the bolded question above, you've already proven that what you had to say was more important than who you were.

Your posts always struck me as those not only of a racing insider, but of a political insider as well. I'm relieved to hear that you're not a direct contributor to the franchise renewal debacle, after all.

Though I haven't listened to a lot of handicapping segments other than Hammerle's because weekend SoCal racing is my focus in addition to NY graded stakes. I'll try to catch more of yours in the future.

Thank goodness for the archives. If I were a daily commuter, I would probably listen to the show live, but it's difficult for me to concentrate on any other computer tasks and listen to the show simultaneously. Also, the archive audio is generally better than the live audio for me as the latter sometimes sounds tinny, has an echo, breaks up, or doesn't adequately amplify the voices of guests who speak softly (they know who they are ).