BC question for all

[kev]

I would like to know from you all, what has been some of your major scores in the BC past. Also what kind of plays did you put together to take them down. Thanks.

[cj]

I have had two really big scores that I remember right off.

The first was Cajun Beat, just betting to win in the sprint, but it was a big win bet, and he was 20-1 I think.

The second was Unbridled Elaine. I absolutely loved her in the Distaff, and in addition to playing her to win, I keyed her on top of the Illinois Bred mare that ran third, can't remember the name. But I played UE over her over all and UE over all over her. UE won at 12-1, the other horse ran third behind Spain at 50-1 or something like that, and I took down the tri I think 5 times if memory serves. Still haven't hit any big P3s or any P4s at all.

[KirisClown]

1996 was an awesome year for me..... Pilsudski in the Turf.. took a stand against the heavily favored Maktoum entry.

Followed up by Alphabet Soup in the Classic....

[oddswizard]

I had two major scores in the Classic. Alphabet Soup over Cigar & Volponi to win and the late double. My biggest score was the one I missed in the pick 6. Went to the track with a partner and could not get him to take 1/2 of my $364.00 pick 6 ticket. He decided to play trifectas. He went 0 for the course in trifectas and the ticket I did not play keyed Volponi in the Classic and I lost $3.1 million as the only winning ticket. I simply did not bring enough dough to the races that day.

[46zilzal]

Dancing Brave was deemed "unbeatable" which I thought was akin to the Titanic being unsinkable. The night before the race (Halloween) I had a shirt made up which said "Dancing Brave, you can't handle the turns here," and while wearing it, stood at the walking ring right in front of the little PIN HEAD Eddery yelling "Manila, Manila, Manila to the Whittingham entry." Folks thought I was nuts UNTIL the race was over and then they were taking my picture. I showed it to Leroy Jolley as he was walking back to the saddling enclosure and he laughed out loud. An aside: my sister was betting the race and was talking to two fellows who had flown in from England. She matter of factly said: "Dancing Brave will lose because he has too much ground to make up." They scoffed at her, but they too looked her up AFTER the race to ask her who she liked in the Classic. Actually, I told this story to the Derby List and it wound up in Perry Lefko's book: The Breeders's Cup: the Greatest Day on the Turf.


It's fun when your'e right.

[JustRalph]

Unbridled Elaine made my day too...............big win bet for me.

[detectivelemmycaut]

OK here is my take on the Breeders Cup


1. You need lot's of money on that day and if you do not have much just pick one race and crush it.

2. You need guts! If you don't have any borrow some from a friend and return them after the race.

3. You need to have a horse as a key that the crowd hates.

You can score big in trifectas exactas pick threes pick four and win bets and the big daddy of them all the pick six.

My big scores come from all of the above except the pick six. I buy a small pick six ticket as it cost so much to stand a chance at hitting it.

They will let so many horses go off at long odds that would be even money on other days. My favorite bet is find a bomb single and then wheel all all in the pick three. The other is find a key in a tri and wheel in all three places with at least half the field. If my exacta key is 10-1 or higher buy a key wheel 5/all and all/5 ect. This worked well in the kd this year 50-1 shot/all all/50-1 shot. I don't get cuite on bc day just spend the money. If it looks like a Broco horse or some fav and fav will win the race I buy a 2 or three horse box like 10 times and that is another way to crush the cup. Good Luck.

[kitts]

I only had one huge BC score. The Classic won by Black Tie Affair. I had come from Califonria to Vegas to bet this event and lost every race up to the Classic. I decided Black Tie Affair would win and Twilight Agenda would run second so I bet that one-way exacta. Twenty times. This was back in the days of "local pools" and I got to bet into the Churchill Downs pool so I got better prices than my buddies in California.

Such fun and such a long time ago.

[garyoz]

I'm mediocre on BC Day, but my best two days were focusing on track biases. 1996 at Woodbine and another year at GP--the year Cat Thief won. In both cases I perceived a speed bias and handicapped like they were regular races instead of BC Races--ignoring the hype and looking for speed on the main track with competitive TGraph numbers.

Definitely easier to hit exactas and trifectas than trying to put together 3 or 4 winners in a row. Its one of the few days I'll use an "all" button to fill out gimmicks (expect at Mountaineer which I do regularly).

I've also been at the track with friends who have had big scores in BC races hitting tri key wheels on the turf races using Ragozin sheets to find key horses. As Harvey Pack used to say, "The Wheel is Man's Greatest Invention."

[rastajenk]

I've picked a few upsets here and there, but the Cup cleans my clock every year. I shouldn't even be posting in this thread. Sometimes it comes in the form of near-misses, but other times I'm left wondering if I even handicapped the right race. I think this year should provide more than the usual fireworks. I'll be watching from the sidelines for the most part.

[Valuist]

1990

Had three nice hits. The tri with Fly So Free and two 30-1 shots underneath in the Juvenile, the exacta in the Mile with Royal Academy/Itsallgreektome and then the exacta in the Classic with Unbridled and a longshot I can't even remember. None of the winners was a big price but the runnerups all were.

[fmhealth]

Kev, just as a reminder. If you had bet EVERY horse at odds of 20-1 or better in EVERY BC race you would now have a profit of 35%.If you started this strategy in 99-03 you would be ahead a remarkable 82%!!! Also, if you had simply bet EVERY horse, no matter what the odds were,during this time period,you would also have a positive ROI, albeit a small one.

BTW, this is significantly better than the results I've been able to generate.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by garyoz

I'm mediocre on BC Day, but my best two days were focusing on track biases. 1996 at Woodbine and another year at GP--the year Cat Thief won. In both cases I perceived a speed bias and handicapped like they were regular races instead of BC Races-

Those two courses are, USUALLY, speed crazy, but YES they were MORE so on those days. Also at CD in '88 there was a definite LANE bias as NOTHING, save Gulch in the sprint, moved up near the rail. EVERY WINNER was at least 3 to 4 off. The riders who picked it up (Laffit on Is It True among others) profited greatly.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by Valuist

Classic with Unbridled and a longshot I can't even remember. None of the winners was a big price but the runnerups all were.

European, deep closer Ibn Bay something or other. He had beaten a few BIG names in Europe and handled the dirt VERY well that day. Unbridled splitting horses was amazing to see. The trainer said that that one was fearless in that regard never minding being in tight.

[how cliche]

I traveled to Oak Tree for the '03 edition. I had a small bankroll of $150 which made it so I could only choose 3 runners on the day. I told my buddy, "There's three horses I'm gonna play today. Dimitrova in the Filly & Mare Turf, Johar in the Turf and Pleasantly Perfect in the Classic.

After Dimitrova ran LAST, I hit two win bets and nailed the tri in the classic on an additional $6 bet, where I wish I'd played the super, because I went 2,6,9with8with2,6,9. Little did I know it would finish 2-8-6-9.