Today's Best Bets
Note: Revised win total above - we had four winners on Monday 8/19, but only added two to our total for the day. And we subtracted, rather than added, the one win we had on Thursday 8/29.
5-10. Winners in R3 [6.90], R4 [6.30], R5 [dead-heat, 10.80], R7 [3.10], R8 [5.00]. Gimmicks: R2 ... BEAD x 30.40 t 72.50 s 419.00; R3 ... ACD x 34.80 t 65.00; R4 ... ABCD x 13.60 t 40.40 s 94.50; R6 ... BAD x 14.40 t 57.50; R7 ... ABDC x 14.40 t 44.00 s 114.50.
13760 attended and we have to wonder if the weather forecast scared many away. They were predicting a 70% chance of precip - but the weather continued the meet-long trend - partly sunny and comfortable.
[Catching up with Sunday's gimmicks: R1... ADx x 24.40; R3 ... ABx x 35.80; R7 ... ACB x 38.60 t 86.00; R11..BAx "C" scr x 22.20; R12 ... ACB x 89.00 t 249.50.
MEET RECAP: Kinda felt like I stunk up the joint. Pulled up the rear of the chasing pack - and I was hanging right with that bunch at the midway point. Hit a little too much of a late-season lull and fired three one-fers right after the Travers. Typically things are a lot tighter here during the last couple of weeks.
There were some frustrating days along the way: Sunday 8/25 - three winners on top, but five "B" selections won. Thursday 8/29, one "A" pick wins, while six "B"s get it done. I started to wonder if perhaps I was being too clever. I debated 'going Costanza' and doing things the opposite way - handicap the card and then elevate all of my "B"s -- but that had the potential to make things even more frustrating.
So I plugged away as before and went 13/34 over the last three days of the meet -- where was that over the previous week and a half?!?
As noted at the top of the page - we did manage to squeeze out a few more winners on the recount. I never total up the ROI number until after the meet and during that process I discovered a couple of bank errors in my favor - as they say in Monopoly - and readjusted my win total accordingly.
Actually managed to get closer to the break-even point with exacta plays: Our top two picks, A-B, for cold exactas scored 31 times for a return of $746.80/$2. Boxing up the top two picks, A-B or B-A, hit 55 times and returned $1337.00/$2.
But - hats off. Dave Little got edged last year by DRF's Dave Litfin - and made amends nicely in 2013 with a front-running score. And Bossert put together a number of good days - including six winners on top on closing day.
Right behind and chasing with a shot was a pack from both The Saratoga Special and The Saratogian. Solid efforts from that group as well.
The list below includes virtually all of the public handicappers available in newspapers in the Saratoga region as well as the NYC tabloids which are available upstate - and which still offer racing coverage... You will note that this year's list is smaller than in the past.
Final numbers for previous seasons can be found here: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003.
Mid-season scorecards are here: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.
Note: Discrepancies in total number of races played is due to some handicappers losing races due to scratches.
Numbers below are per what is printed in the appropriate editions of the newspapers or are provided by the handicappers themselves. We do not independently audit the figures.
|
Handicapper Publication |
Final - Races played ... $2 win total |
|
Dave Little NY Daily News |
128.418 ... 775.40 |
|
Jerry Bossert NY Daily News |
126-418 ... 739.70 |
|
Gaile Fitzgerald Saratoga Special |
122-420 |
|
Daniel Feiss Saratogian |
121-421 |
|
Liam Durbin Saratogian |
121-418 |
|
John Shapazian Saratoga Special |
120-420 |
|
Bill Taylor Saratogian |
119-419 |
|
Andrew Champagne Saratogian |
118-421 |
|
Dave Litfin Daily Racing Form |
116-417 |
|
Kyle Brownell Post-Star [Glens Falls, NY] |
115-420 ... 676.10 |
|
Vic C NY Post |
111-418 ... 665.00 |
|
Mike Jarboe Albany Times Union |
111-420 ... 723.30 |
|
Tim Wilkin Albany Times Union |
110-420 ... 761.90 |
|
Seth Merrow Best Bets - equidaily.com |
109-419 ... 687.50 |
|
Nick Kling Troy Record/Saratogian |
108-420 ... 673.30 |
|
Bill Heller Daily [Schenectady] Gazette |
106-420 |
|
Tom Law Saratoga Special |
104-420 |
|
Charles Bedard Saratoga Special |
103-420 |
|
Mark Hoffman The Recorder [Amsterdam, NY] |
100-417 ... 710.00 |
|
Joe Lods NY Daily News |
99/419 ... 663.70 |
|
Mike Lipack NY Daily News |
88/418 ... 632.90 |
|
Chad Summers Saratoga Special |
86-420 |
Dark day. No racing. See you next season.
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