Best track in the US..name one

[elksclub]

The Thistleydowns.


It's pretty and its name is spelled out in the bushes out front...making it unique.

I admire the choice of floors provided very much as there are 3..maybe 4.The last one gets a little scary,though.

[Stillriledup]

Hollywood Park.

Located in an affluent area.

All sections of the track are open all the time.

You never smell anyone smoking weed.

High quality racing.

No discernable track bias which makes handicapping more fun.

Large fields.

No late weird odds changes, if you see 6-1 you GET 6-1.

No chance of getting your car keyed in their parking lot because of video security.

[andymays]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Hollywood Park.

Located in an affluent area.

All sections of the track are open all the time.

You never smell anyone smoking weed.

High quality racing.

No discernable track bias which makes handicapping more fun.

Large fields.

No late weird odds changes, if you see 6-1 you GET 6-1.

No chance of getting your car keyed in their parking lot because of video security.

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Nothing better than Santa Anita before they installed the junk! Now I don't know which track is best.

[PhillyFan]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Hollywood Park.

Located in an affluent area.

All sections of the track are open all the time.

You never smell anyone smoking weed.

High quality racing.

No discernable track bias which makes handicapping more fun.

Large fields.

No late weird odds changes, if you see 6-1 you GET 6-1.

No chance of getting your car keyed in their parking lot because of video security.

Aqueduct :

You can always smell someone smoking weed in the grandstand.

[fmolf]

Originally Posted by PhillyFan

Aqueduct :

You can always smell someone smoking weed in the grandstand.

Saratoga...The horses walk right thru the backyard crowd to get to the paddock!...outstanding!....and lots of uneducated money in the pools!

[macdiarmida]

So now we know the answer when after an inquiry, someone asks "What are stewards smoking up there?"

I recommend the fair meet at Santa Rosa, CA.

Nice (relatively) non-plastic county fair atmosphere, nobody shooting anyone else over carnival game prizes, right in the middle of town therefore close to a bunch of restaurants for dinner. The on-track food vendors are pretty good and don't have to gouge like at Pleasanton. You can see what's important to me. Grandstand seats cost a couple bucks extra so it's not crowded there. Very nice simo, too, (just outside the fair grounds) but it's worth being on track and you won't miss any simulcast betting by being there. They might muck with the schedule this year, but it's usually run when Del Mar and Saratoga are running. You can ditch the family until the last race and everyone will have had a good time.

It can be 100 degree hot there (but not necessarily humid); so the a/c in the simo might be the ticket on those days. Hellacious jam getting out of the parking lot but the able-bodied can still park on the street a few blocks away and walk in.

So, Stillriledup, what's wrong with a biased track? A clear advantage if you know what the bias is, no? Or does looking at even a few charts bring back bad memories? I haven't played in a couple of years, but Santa Rosa used to run front speed-favoring for a week, then closers for the other week.

[bane]

Oaklawn, Location, the people and the meet is longer then 5 weeks.

[matthewsiv]

Keeneland and Saratoga.

But nothing compares to Ascot or York in England,Sha Tin and Happy Valley in China and Longchamp,Chantilly and Deauville in France and Baden Baden in Germany.

Racing around the world is wonderful.

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by macdiarmida

So now we know the answer when after an inquiry, someone asks "What are stewards smoking up there?"

I recommend the fair meet at Santa Rosa, CA.

Nice (relatively) non-plastic county fair atmosphere, nobody shooting anyone else over carnival game prizes, right in the middle of town therefore close to a bunch of restaurants for dinner. The on-track food vendors are pretty good and don't have to gouge like at Pleasanton. You can see what's important to me. Grandstand seats cost a couple bucks extra so it's not crowded there. Very nice simo, too, (just outside the fair grounds) but it's worth being on track and you won't miss any simulcast betting by being there. They might muck with the schedule this year, but it's usually run when Del Mar and Saratoga are running. You can ditch the family until the last race and everyone will have had a good time.

It can be 100 degree hot there (but not necessarily humid); so the a/c in the simo might be the ticket on those days. Hellacious jam getting out of the parking lot but the able-bodied can still park on the street a few blocks away and walk in.

So, Stillriledup, what's wrong with a biased track? A clear advantage if you know what the bias is, no? Or does looking at even a few charts bring back bad memories? I haven't played in a couple of years, but Santa Rosa used to run front speed-favoring for a week, then closers for the other week.

No. There's no clear advantage because its still very difficult to determine who's getting the lead. I feel my strength is evaluating horse flesh talentwise, if the track is even and runners can go wire to wire and runners can come from behind, i feel that my own selections will win enough of the time to make me a profit. When i'm forced to handicap a ridiculous speed bias, i might end up betting on a horse i don't like because he might get the lead. I know what you are saying, that everyone else has to deal with the same bias and since i'm betting against the same people, if i'm better than them at determining the bias i ought to be able to capitalize on that.

I've done a lot of thinking about that and i feel that i'm just better when there is no discernable bias. I'm better when i can locate a runner and bet on him not having to worry about him getting beat by bias. I don't know why it works that way, but for me, it does. I'd just rather have a track where you can win from anywhere.

Also, there is a difference from a strong speed bias and a RIDICULOUS speed bias. I don't even mind the strong bias, but when it turns into something obscene it just ends up costing me money. Here's an example.

On Dec 4th at Hollywood, the bias was as strong as i've ever seen it on Cushion track. Its never been this strong as far as i know. In the 6th race, there was a cheap maiden claiming race where two horses dueled hard all the way, they were head and head with the riders asking for everything they had from the word go. These two horses ran 1-2. The horse i played finished 4th and was very wide, he came down the center of the track and just ran in quicksand and missed. There was an 87-1 shot who finished 3rd and my horse finished 4th. I had tri's buttoned with the 7-2 shot in all 3 positions. If one of the speed horses got cooked and stopped, i hit the triple. would have been 8-1 over 87-1 over 7-2 in a 12 horse field. That's a nice chunk of change. If the bias is strong as opposed to unbeatably strong, i win a bunch of money there. Even with a normal speed bias i win. But, this bias was so ridiculous that any horse that was off the rail went nowhere.

Now i know what you are saying, why not make notes of all the races on this day and blindly bet against the horses who took advantage of that bias. That is something that i plan on doing. I just wish i had the money that would have been rightfully mine had the track superintendent not made speed and the 1 path so unbeatable that no other horse could win regardness of how good they happened to be.

I'd rather have an honest surface and bet horses and not have to worry about just figuring out who's getting the lead. Biases like this turn 6 furlong races into races that might as well be 50 yards because the races are over at that point.

Hopefully this rain in So Cal will make the track normal again, the last few days horses on the lead are unbeatable.

[Trotman]

Saratoga has got my vote for best track, and at night the best high stakes private craps and card games

[cj's dad]

Originally Posted by elksclub

The Thistleydowns.


It's pretty and its name is spelled out in the bushes out front...making it unique.

I admire the choice of floors provided very much as there are 3..maybe 4.The last one gets a little scary,though.

Hopefully it's not spelled out in the bushes as: The Thistleydowns

Never been there but for you in your initial posts to say that this is the best track is surely a joke or an indication that you have never left the state of Ohio !!!

[Jackal]

For me heaven is the N.O. Fairgrounds.
Not an affluent area.
The local cops might roll you.
There is always someone smoking weed.
For some reason I love it!
PS: it's not the weed.

[MONEY]

I haven't been there in a while, but this is how I remember

Monticello
It's in the middle of nowhere. When you stop for a neighborhood
red light, curbside Phamacists run up to your car eager to sell their
products.
If bigger is better, then the potholes in the
parking lot are superior to the potholes at other tracks.
On any given day crowds of 11 to 13 fans attend to place
their bets. And of course horses going off at odds on
are almost guaranteed to break stride during the 1st quarter.

money

[elksclub]

Originally Posted by cj's dad

Hopefully it's not spelled out in the bushes as: The Thistleydowns

Never been there but for you in your initial posts to say that this is the best track is surely a joke or an indication that you have never left the state of Ohio !!!

Petey has been planted in those bushes several times so it kind of skewed the spelling.

I can surely tell you it is not a joke and I have seen almost every track across this highly attractive country.


The problem may be you.... having never seen The Thistleydowns.





Good?

[lamboguy]

40 years ago i would have gone with Naragansett, or Rockingham,,,,,,,,,today Saratoga, Keeneland, if open Hialeah.

worst tracks today, skip that to much of an arguement

jimmy the greek used to answer the same question, the closest one i can get to. he was a first class racetrack degenerate. those days were tons of fun, those of you that never hung out at the track are missing the best time you could ever imagine if they were full of people like they were in the old days.

talk about being a degenerate, i bet the whole day today and @ 12:40 a.m. i am betting on australia A+B. i just got out for the day with a $55.00 horse in AUSTRALIA A.$10.00 to win got me out for all my sins today!