Equidaily Racing Journal

Today's Best Bets

by Seth Merrow
www.equidaily.com
Saratoga Race Course
FINAL
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Meet Total ... 85-347
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Final 2007 Handicappers Scorecard

The list below includes virtually all of the public handicapper available in newspapers in the Saratoga region as well as the NYC tabloids which are available upstate.

This is an unofficial tally done by Equidaily.com using stats and plays as provided in Monday's newspapers.

It was a tough meet overall for the public handicappers. For the sake of comparison take a look back at the 2005 recap. The majority of handicappers topped the century mark two years ago -- this season only six managed to do that -- while many didn't even reach 90 in 2007.

[Note: REVISED... Dave Litfin of Daily Racing Form moves to the top of the heap after stats were updated. Litfin tops the 2007 meet with 109 winners.]
Congrats go out to Tom Cunningham of the Albany Times-Union for topping the standings this year with a solid 106 winners-on-top. Dave Litfin of Daily Racing Form and Bill Taylor of The Saratogian were hot on his heels with 105 each.

Our quick, unofficial comparison between 2006 and 2007 might indicate why the public handicappers struggled a little this year. In 2007, favorites came in at a touch under 31% -- while horses going off at 10-1 or higher won 57 times.

. 2007 2006
Races 347 336
Favorites 106 [31%] 110 [33%]
Under 10-1 288 297
10-1 to 20-1 44 30
Over 20-1 15 9

We take some solace in having our $2 win-return break $600 which looks like the benchmark this season. Our total was less than $30 away from Cunningham even though he had 21 more winners-on-top.

No one "beat the meet" by moving their return into positive territory. The best return of those that tally the stat was Matt Graves of the Albany Times-Union with $666.30. Bev Swimm, also of the Albany Times-Union was just a couple of dollars and some change behind that.

You can view compare scorecards from past seasons at 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003.

Note: Discrepancies in total number of races played is due to some handicappers losing races due to scratches.

REVISED: The "King" for 2007 -- Dave Litfin of Daily Racing Form. Fire up that phone-a-bet account, Dave! Originally we had Litfin and Cunningham flip-flopped in the top two spots -- but Litfin's stats in Monday's DRF only reflected part of Saturday's card due to publishing deadlines. Updated stats are below -- and it's Litfin on top!

2007 SCORECARD
Dave Litfin
Daily Racing Form 		109-345
Tom Cunningham
Albany Times Union 		106-343 [$635.00]
Bill Taylor
Saratogian 		105-345
Tom Cavanagh
NY Daily News 		104-347 [$632.30]
Bev Swimm
Albany Times Union 		102-347 [$664.00]
Matt Graves
Albany Times Union 		101-347 [$666.30]
Bill Heller
Daily [Schenectady] Gazette 		99-347
Mark Cusano
Daily [Schenectady] Gazette 		97-346
Russ Harris
NY Daily News 		95-347 [$543.30]
Debbie L
NY Post 		94-345 [$595.50]
Nick Kling
Troy Record/Saratogian 		92-346 [$617.55]
Kyle Brownell
Post-Star [Glens Fall, NY] 		89-346 [$609.20]
Sherry Ross
NY Daily News 		89-347 [$578.30]
Jerry Bossert
NY Daily News 		86-347 [$503.50]
Seth Merrow
Best Bets - equidaily.com 		85-347 [$605.60]
Mike Jarboe
Albany Times Union 		84-347 [$615.50]
Laim Durbin
Saratogian 		82-341
Tom Law
Saratogian 		82-342
Dave Little
NY Daily News 		80-347 [$510.40]
Tim Wilkin
Albany Times Union 		79-347 [$505.90]
Mark Hoffman
The [Amsterdam, NY] Recorder 		76-347 [$477.80]
John DaSilva
NY Post 		74-345 [$497.00]
Vic C
NY Post 		74-346 [$598.10]
Ed Fountaine
NY Post 		73-345 [$582.80]
Mike Lipack
NY Daily News 		68-345 [$520.20]
Affrunti
NY Post 		64-345 [$480.50]

Yesterday

1-10. Day 36 was a struggle. Like everyone else, we like to go out on a high-note, but it just wasn't meant to ne on Monday. One winner on top and frankly, not a whole lot otherwise.

20,314 attended to wrap-up the season. Good racing. Good weather. Warm and sunny. Heck, that could describe virtually the entire season as well as closing day.

Today

No racing. See you next year.

FIRST RACE
SECOND RACE
THIRD RACE
FOURTH RACE
FIFTH RACE
SIXTH RACE
SEVENTH RACE
EIGHTH RACE
NINTH RACE
TENTH RACE

If we are interested in both halves of an entry -- in event of a scratch -- it is noted that way [in other words, both halve are named]. If only one-half of the entry is named, then we prefer that half and will move to our next pick listed [rather than the other half of the entry] in event of a scratch.
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