Ask The Experts

I\'m sorry if I belabored the point about the flaws in the study and in
no way did I mean to impugn the motives of anybody involved in the study
design. My way would entail eliminating so many races that it wouldn\'t be
worthwhile but I think it might be wothwhile if a winner is not picked in
the first half of the field by either service to use the place horse
instead.

That was my email to Janis as you can see I did not ask him to  PROMISE to do anything privately.

Jerry I agree all this will come out in the wash but why use tracks where at least half of the races are not \"sheet plays\" but rather breeding, trainer and workout angles.  Personally I play Saratoga only very gingerly in the 1st two weeks and find DMR much to trainer and workout oriented for my style.  So. Cal in general is populated by races with many horses off long layoffs that the workout guys have an edge over the sheets guys.  I think you could throw a dartboard at an equibase track schedule and use the first two ground tracks and you would have a more accurate result then from Sar and/or DMR.

Let me second shanahan\'s appraisal of Seabiscuit.  The prose crackles like fiction.  I gave this book to two people who barely knew one end of a horse from another and both thought it was among the best books they had ever read.  Dwarfs the movie.

Yes you caught me.  Hint-you knew my brother long before you met Ragozin.  And yes I agree that it is somewhat unseemly for anyone with a vested interest to post pseudonomously.  It was my first, only and will be my last posting on matters of variant making, but would I be going out on a limb to infer that several such postings have emanated from your office?

No I know next to nothing about the Expo DVD.  It held no interest on my part.  Anecdotaley(forgive my spelling) the 4 1/2 Kee numbers seem to hold up as the season progresses but this is far from proof.  Similarly L\'affaire Chilluki has been debated to death.  At this point it would be like debating who has been a better/worse President Clinton or Bush or who would you hire as your General Manager someone who is Sabremetricaly oriented or someone who relies on scouts.  Jerry I disagree with your conclusions on the 4 1/2 numbers at Kee and Chilukki but I would not be so arrogant as to say your position is meritless.

Im in a minority in both camps in that I think it is good for each service to have competition.  Each service will develop customers who will drift back and forth.  Also the presence of two Sheets services bestows an imprimatur of authenticity on the business.  Eventually the market will sort this all out.

Is it always that easy?