Syndicate experiences

[jay68802]

I am in one, and have been with the same 4 guys for 8 yrs now. We started with 7 people and have lost a few along the way for various reasons. One passed, one moved to a different state, and one quit. It is a small group, and we do have some rules that we follow. I do not know if some of these rules would work for larger groups, but we are happy with them.

To start we all put up $1000.00 each. Our bankroll has got to as low as $2800.00, but has moved up to $10,000.00 for about 6.5 years now. We go after carryover pools and mandatory payouts most of the time. Once in a great while we will play a regular pool, but not to often.

All of us, like all handicappers, have different styles.

"Jeff": Jeff is probably the most improved handicapper of the group. He purchased a program recently and it has helped. He has more angles than any other player that I know.

"Vern": We call him Mr. Chalk. Never met a favorite he does not like, and yes we say it to his face. Very valuable for finding that one single. He is also the breeding guy, and his input on this subject is a plus.

"Jay": Guess who this is. I could not describe my style, but it works once in a while. I am also the cook for our celebrations. Do not laugh, even the 2 spouses of the married player's agree, my grilled pizza is a favorite.

"George": The anchor, and the best handicapper. Can take a hour to handicap a 5 horse field. Solid in all area's. Also controls the bankroll, ticket structure, and how much we spend.

We all have to agree to go after a pool. If someone does not want to, then we are watching and not wagering.

Each player has 2 horses he can protect, and those horses will be used, regardless of any one's opinion. Most other selections are on a consensus basis, and if we are over budget, the George decides which one is not used.

The best part about it is we get together in person or on the phone and have some lively debates on horse racing.

That is how we do this, and are happy with it.

[Immortal6]

Very cool Jay, thanks for sharing. I hope to be able to start something like that with my buddies when we get older. One question I have, who decides when you guys cash out?

[jay68802]

That is up to each player, profit only. The 4 of us have increased our bankroll with profits. The good news is that we are all committed to stay in for a long time. We have lost some players along the way, but one at a time. The one that quit got his original investment back.

[jay68802]

"Dan": Dan had grown up around horses. He was a guy that could watch the post parade, and see a horse that was ready to run. Did fine with the form, but was at his best looking at the horses.

"Tom": Good in a lot of ways, but had control issues. He could get a hot streak going and was unbelievable. Was quick to spot hot trainers or owners.

"Ben": The quiet one. When we were handicapping together, he would listen and not say much. When he said that he liked a horse we learned to pay attention.

We had finally decided to join together, and I can say, start learning together. The first time there was a carry over at Santa Anita for the pick 6, my phone rang. I was at home and went to the track to get a form. Have to say that I was pretty excited. We had agreed to meet at the track the next day at noon. We all spent the night looking at a series of races we had no business betting. I narrowed 1 of the 6 races down to two horses, after that I felt the other 5 races were hard. When we met the next day, every one was excited. We all put our selections in writing, and let George start working. He came up with a series of tickets that came to a total of $1600.00. Reality. If you think a bankroll of $7000.00 is large, start playing a $2.00 pick 6. A couple of guys thought that was fine, some of us were looking at the amount we were going to bet and backing away. After another round of discussion, we finally settled on tickets that totaled just over $1000.00. When it was post time for the first race, all of us were ready. Just the thought that we were able to play a large wager into a carry over pool was cool. We had 4 horses in this race, two above 8-1, a 4-1, and the favorite. The favorite broke a step slow and got pinched back. One of our long shots got the lead, while the 4-1 pressed him. The 4-1 passed our other horse and won. We were alive, and probably all thinking about what the payout might be. The second race was the race I felt had 2 horses in it. The good news is that we all agreed on this race. And the race went exactly like we thought. One of our horses went wire to wire, and our other horse finished second. The problem was that the horse that went wire to wire, decided to leave the jockey in the gate. And the other horse finished second behind a horse we did not have. We were done for the pick 6, but got lucky and had a ticket that paid $180.00 for 5 of 6. The bankroll took a hit, and a big one. The process we used needed work. This is when we decided we needed a few rules to follow. Tom, was a little upset, he had mentioned the horse that had taken us out. This was a problem that would lead more that a few of us to be upset. Getting organized and setting a few rules to follow took a while. It also made us a little gun shy. We played a few other pools, had 1 good hit, but missed a couple other chances. The bankroll was under what we had started with but still respectable. Then came tax day, 4/15/11. The phone rang, and George said the pick 6 had carried at Santa Anita. I said I would look at the races, but had to work in the morning so I would e-mail him my picks. This time was different, 2 races looked easy, with two horses, and another race looked like a single. I sent my picks and the next day at work kept looking at the clock. I would get to the track right around the time the second leg was going off. We were going to only spend $508.00. When I got to the track, the first thing I heard was some cheering, got up stairs and had just missed our single win the second leg. By the looks of every one we were alive. By the time the last raced rolled around we were all pumped up. I remember this clearly, $13.40, $4.60. $16.00, $7.60, $9.60. When the 10 won the last race, we hit, a very nice hit, and had 2 tickets that paid 5 of 6. The amount we won that day is not important, the way we won it was. We had stayed with in $8.00 of our budget, we had 4 horses win that were picks by one or more of us that we thought were must uses. And the best thing was, we decided to use $300.00 and have a get together. One of the spouses agreed to have us over, but one of us had to cook and do the clean up. The next day Tom withdrew all of his money, including his starting bankroll and quit.

[oughtoh]

Did not expect that someone got out after you hit. Not the ending I was expecting.

[jay68802]

The initial rush was over. The excitement of getting a group together, handicapping races, and making a profit, was finished. We slowed our play down, being ahead is a much better feeling than being behind. All of us had realized that the bankroll was the key. Keeping it intact is everything. The other reason was that we lost a member. Tom quitting had affected us. Made us think of what the dynamics of the group were. Not only had Tom quit, he did not come to the track anymore. Once in a while, we would here rumors about him. The different reasons we heard made me think. We all have a ego. Big or small, strong or weak, it is there. Every time I form a opinion on a race, I am telling someone that has a different opinion, that they are wrong. Some people, or their egos, can't handle this. This is the reason that everyone in our group, can now protect two of their selections from being eliminated. We finished the first year with a profit, and another party. Our bankroll was now down $1000.00, but we were going to keep going. This was a mistake, and a big one. We had failed to do one thing that any group can not afford to do. The next year was solid, we played here and there, missing and hitting, treading water. Our best score came in a place pick 9. Nine races, make's for a long day. We used 14 horses for that bet, 1 finished 3rd, the rest were 1st or 2nd. The following year was a disaster. All of us know bad streaks, and this was one of them. Everyone was down. We were off, and not by a little. One example of how bad I was personally doing, was at Delta Downs. This was my go to place, the track that I knew. I played a pick 3. I went 5 x 4 x 1. The races had 9, 9, and 6 entries. I did not have 1 horse on that ticket that finished in the super, not 1. The bankroll was at it's all time low. Dan was saying he was going to move, and Ben's health was failing. That changed in 1 day, on 1 race. We were at the track on a Saturday, not playing a ticket together, just playing the races. George got to the track early, for him. I asked him why he was so early. He said that the he thought Santa Anita was going to be speed biased. I have a hard time saying that a track is biased, this one was. In the first two races the horses finished in almost the exact same order they were at the first call. All of started looking at the rest of the races, it was easy, write down who was going to get the lead. Problem was the odds were not there, until the 7th race. With about 18 minutes to post for the 7th, if you were to be watching us, we were all doing the same thing. We looked at the form, then back at the screen, then the form, then the screen. Ben finally broke the silence. He said the 7 is 60-1? He then asked George if he could use $30.00 from the groups bankroll. George just replied, maybe we should just play this race as a group. The race was a Maiden Claiming race, and both Baffert and O'Neil had drop downs in that were taking the money. They were both closer's. All of us said OK, lets do it. We bet $120.00 on the race and our bankroll was whole again. We had ended the year with a very small profit, but had still not learned what we were doing wrong. It is obvious to me now. The mistake we were making was not growing our bankroll.

[jay68802]

Growing the bankroll, is easier said than done. We decided that 10% of our winnings, if they continued, would be added to the bankroll. 2014 was slow in the first part of the year, we had made 4 plays, bet $1600.00, and got back $1900.00. George called me one night in late July, told me to look at Del Mar for the next day. I thought, it's Del Mar, I suck at Del Mar. I got on the computer, got forms for all the races, but also noticed that there was not a carryover. The 6 races were not what I thought they would be. The first two were wide open, 3 could be narrowed down to a few horses, and the last race looked like the chalk. I was sort of wondering why he had called, it looked like playing the pick 6 was going to cost to much. Later that night, I called him, and we started going over the races. His first question was what do you think of the 5th race. I liked 3 horses in the race, two of them were favorites, and the third was the 7. He said that he really liked the 7 and wanted to play the pick 4. He thought we could get by on a $200.00 bet. He wanted to single the 7 in the first leg of the pick 4, and the favorite in the last. We could cover all the horses in the middle two legs. When George say's something like this I listen. He is not one to pick a horse like this for any reason. He is very astute, and there was probably a few more subtle reasons that he liked this horse, far more than I could see. I said I was fine with that and that I would meet him at the track the next day after work. When I got to the track, George and Vern were there, I grabbed a beer from the bar and joined them. Dan could not make it but was in agreement to play, and George said he could not get a hold of Ben. George asked what I thought of playing the ticket without Ben's Ok. I think he would be OK with it, I said, so we played. I told them I had played with Ben last Saturday, and had to buy him a few drinks just so he would say something. He had said he had a family get together in Michigan. We watched the first leg of the pick 4 and watched our single be involved in a head bob, and a inquiry. We survived. During the next race I noticed a guy sort of watching us. He looked familiar, but I could not place him. He finally came over to us and asked if one of us was Vern. Vern stood up and the looked at him, and said he was Ben's brother. Ben had had a stroke and was dead. We sat there in silence. Then we all went to Ben's house and talked to the family about him. Ben's charity of choice was a group that helped Viet Nam Veteran's with their problems. We had hit the pick 4 6 times at Del Mar, all of the profit and Ben's bankroll were donated in his name. We get together for a party every year during the Del Mar meet. We all still pool a little money together and donate in his name.

[Inglewood Flamingo]

Great story, thank you for sharing.

[Mulerider]

Enjoyed this, Jay.

[uncbossfan]

I do a similar thing with 2 of my uncles. One got me into horse racing when I was very young and the other just got into it about 5 years ago, but has quickly become very astute.

We are much more recreational though and usually only play together on the biggest days - Triple Crown, Fall Starts Weekend, Breeders Cup, etc.

We started together about 4 years ago when having a handicapping tournament at one of their houses. We had 18 family and friend entrants and we had everybody kick in $100 for a syndicate and we picked all the horses. Ended up $7,500 for the day for the group and we have stuck together as a team since.

We compliment each other very well. "Tom" normally plays on a small budget and keeps the group in check financially. His favorite play on his own is the tri key so he usually submits just 1 horse to use. "Tim" is the newest and is definitely making up for lost time as he fires quite a bit on his own. He has no problem going deep and hates keeping horses who have a chance off our tickets. Although I am technically the pup of the group, I take final say on tosses and ticket construction. I play primarily horses 5-1 or higher and specialize on turf races.

The coolest part like Jay mentioned in the original post is getting together to handicap and discuss the ponies. We have a running group text that we use every weekend to discuss picks when playing on our own and we all really love the sport.