Odds On the Future
By the third week of August, odds makers in Las Vegas were already sharpening up their
pencils and offering future book prices for the 1995 Breeders' Cup races.
Daily Racing Form correspondent David Scott reported that over at the Las Vegas Hilton, future book prices on the top Breeders' Cup Sprint contenders shaped up like this: Lite The Fuse, 5-1; You And I, 8-1; Not Surprising, 10-1; Mining Burrah, 10-1; Evil Bear, 12-1 and Wekiva Springs, 12-1.
In the same late August posting, Serena's Song was the 2-1 favorite in the Distaff, followed by Inside Information and Lakeway, both at 3-1, and Heavenly Prize at 4-1. In the Mile, Unfinished Symph was the early favorite at 5-1, followed by Sayyedati at 8-1; Green Tune at 10-1 and Fourstars Allstar and distaffer Possibly Perfect both held at 12-1.
Lammtarra was the 5-1 favorite in the Turf, followed by Tikkanen, Vaudeville and Fastness all at 8-1.
Cigar shaped up as the early favorite in the '95 Breeders' Cup Classic, at odds of 6-5. He was followed by Concern and Soul Of The Matter at 6-1 and Thunder Gulch at 8-1.
If the Hilton's August Breeders' Cup future book isn't speculative enough for the true risk takers, Bob Gregorka over at the Sands has already worked up future book odds for the 1996 Kentucky Derby. At press time, the early favorite for next year's Run for the Roses is Hennessy, at generous odds of 20-1. After Hennessy comes Maria's Mon and Reef Reef, both at 25-1. Desert Native and Frozen Ice are held at 30-1. Rounding out the lineup are Seekers Reward, Bridge of Loyalty, Bright Launch, Built For Pleasure, Honour And Glory, Riva Ranger and Steady Cat who are all listed at 40-1.
World Cup Wrap-Up
The 28th edition of the World Cup of Handicapping is in the books and David Warner, a 42 year-old stock exchange worker from Brooklyn emerged as the champ in the mutuel division. Warner
made a sweeping move up from 22nd place after two days of competition to take the lead on the
tournament's third and final day. Warner amassed a tournament bankroll of $28,230 from a
starting sum of $16,200. Warner's mythical bankroll was worth $40,000 in real greenbacks as the
grand prize winner.
Bill Hudson, a retired television and movie director from Las Vegas won the consistency division, turning his 27 plays into 169 points and pocketing $7,400 for his efforts.
The biggest story at the tournament was not about handicapping but about helping someone in need. World Cup contestants, organizers and employees donated over $2,000 to Kentucky circuit jockey Mike Morgan, who has been battling throat cancer.
The next World Cup of Handicapping will be held December 13-17 at the Sands Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. A special two entries for the price of one deal will be offered. For more information, contact tournament director Mike Lavine at (800) 321-8555, (702) 897-0440 or fax (702) 897-0442.
The Next Wave
It used to be that when you wanted information about horse racing, you hiked down to a local
newsstand and waited for tomorrow's Daily Racing Form to arrive (or you subscribed to ATM and
prayed that the horseplaying letter carrier down at the Post Office didn't bag it first...)
This summer may go down in history as the beginning of a new wave in accessing racing information. Several race tracks have recently established on-line World Wide Web sites offering entries, results, press notes and handicapping contests to fans.
According to Steve Andersen of the Daily Racing Form, Del Mar started a Web site at the beginning of its 1995 season and saw interest in the site grow steadily over course of the meeting. The Del Mar site is updated daily and includes Trevor Denman's race calls and handicapper Jeff Siegel's graded entries.
Tim Murphy, general manager of San Francisco, CA-based World Sports & Events Now which developed Del Mar's Web site, monitors the site daily and has been pleased with its popularity. "It's been growing slowly but the numbers are getting bigger," Murphy noted. "A lot of the growth is word of mouth, but Del Mar is doing a lot to promote it."
Murphy adds that the results of a recent demographic survey of racing Web site users indicated that they're somewhat older than the typical Internet "surfer" but still somewhat younger than the typical race track median age.
But what good is a fancy Web site if it doesn't help you cash tickets? The question might have been answered at Louisiana Downs, where the track Web site offers analysis of horses to watch. Louisiana Downs publicity director Scott Jester explains, "A guy told me he cashed a $150 exacta off information he got on the Web site."
Following is a list of tracks currently offering on-line information:
Churchill Downs
https://www.win.net/derby
Del Mar
https://www.dmtc.com
Hastings Park
https://www.hastingpark.com
Louisiana Downs
https://www.ladowns.com
Playfair
https://www.cyberspace.com/rmyers/playcal.HTML
Remington Park
https://www.seeokc.com/remington/remington.HTML
*Santa Anita (effective October 3, 1995)
https://www.santaanita.com
Yakima
https://www.cyberspace.com./rmyers/yakima.HTML
Larceny in the Air
Sy Sims used to sell a lot of shirts and slacks in New York with the simple slogan, "An educated
consumer is our best customer." When it comes to horse race handicapping systems, this credo
really hits home .
Take the recent case of the three cheeky Aussies arrested in San Diego in late July for selling computer programs that were allegedly guaranteed to pick winners at the track but were really a scam to dupe buyers out of millions of dollars.
The Australian Associated Press reported that Gordon John Fulwood, his daughter Kezia Parmely and compatriot Michael John Miller were arrested for their involvement in a "get-rich quick" scheme called Edge Investment Company. The company, based in La Jolla, California, sold computer software which they promised would maker buyers millionaires.
"The ads and the material indicated that by purchasing the software, [buyers] would be millionaires in a year," explained Robert Walsh, special agent in charge of the San Diego division of the FBI. "According to the ads," Walsh continued, "if you went along with their predictions, then 92 percent of the time you would win. But it never happened."
The bogus software programs sold for $5,995 each. "We know they made in the millions of dollars," Walsh said.
Even if you're not being hustled to buy fraudulent software by sleazy Aussies, you've got to watch out for flim-flam artists running horses with faked workouts and non-existent owners.
A Federal grand jury recently indicted trainer Rockingham Park-based Mike Downing, Thoroughbred owner Frank Lussier, John Dinos of Queens, New York and Downing's brother William "Radio" Downing in connection with three races run in Maryland in 1991.
As reported by Ed Fountaine of the Daily Racing Form, the Downing Brothers, Lussier and Dinos conspired through hidden ownership and faked workouts to manipulate the odds on three first-time starters who ran at Laurel on November 26, December 29 and December 31, 1991. The alleged conspirators then bet the horses at the track and at Las Vegas race books. Two of the horsesÑPerfect Reign ($32.00) and The Manager ($10.00)Ñwon, while the third, High Passer, ran third.
According to Paul Berube, president of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, the investigation which led to the indictments was spurred by a column written by Andy Beyer which appeared in the Washington Post in 1992.
Commenting on the scam, Beyer told Fountaine: "It was pretty obvious. Three bet-down first timers who ran in Maryland within a short period of time, all with Delaware workouts and trainers whose names were pulled out of a phone book. What bothered me was their arrogance. They didn't make much of an effort to hide it. After the horses ran in Maryland, they all showed up somewhere else racing in Downing's name. Any alert horseplayer could have put two and two together just by reading the Daily Racing Form."
Secretariat Makes the Grade
Pedigree handicappers should take note that Secretariat has been elected as an intermediate/solid Chef-de-race by the Advisory Committee on Dosage sponsored by Owner- Breeder magazine. As veterans of the Dosage wars know, the Owner-Breeder Chef-de-race list is distinct from the list monitored by Dr. Steven Roman.
In naming Big Red to its list, the Owner-Breeder Dosage committee cited Secretariat's record as a sire of stakes winners and as a broodmare sire. Secretariat first stood at stud in 1974 and died in 1989.
Copyright © 1995 AMERICAN TURF MONTHLY
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