Questions for Our Host

[richiebee]

TGJB:

(1)The following question was posted on Steve Crist\'s blog on Monday September
17 in DRF: \"Steve-- Do you see any conflict of interest on the part of the two
main sheet makers and there (sic)greatly expanding client advisory business?\"

I am assuming the \"two main sheet makers\" the question refers to are the two
which are domiciled below 14th Street in Manhattan.

Let me first congratulate you if it is indeed true that your client advisory
business is \"greatly expanding\".

Now let me try to put myself in the mindset of the person who posed the question
to Steve Crist. My guess is that this person worries for the integrity or
accuracy of numbers assigned to performances of runners owned by TG/Rag clients.

Two scenarios: Client \"A\", a Millenium Stable type operation, the possibility
that runners from this stable would have inflated (lower) figures which may or
may not increase the value of these runners when they are sold as racing or
breeding stock.

Client \"B\", a large claiming operation, lets call it the \"Winalose Racing
Stable\", the possibility that numbers could be intentionally inflated/ deflated
depending on whether Winalose wanted runners to be claimed (intentional
inflation) or not claimed (intentional deflation).

I know what the answer will be regarding the isolation of figures from market
forces and the purity of the database, and have no reason to question the
veracity of the response. I\'m wondering, though, if entities which use
performance figures strictly for wagering purposes (having no interest in
ownership of thoroughbreds) have expressed any concern over the perceived
conflict of interest mentioned in the Crist blog.

(2) This may have been discussed in detail in the past, but could you or Alan
or someone else over at the home office discuss, without revealing proprietary
information, what goes into the decision to put a \"!\" next to a runner\'s number?
I am aware that the general explanation is \"a race which was better than it may
have looked to the public\". Elaboration?

[Street Sense]

Interesting question.  Hadn\'t thought about it before but obviously there\'d be reason to keep these figures to one\'s self if one is advising people to purchase horses based on their figures.  If Richie, for example, is as astute at reading figures as our host, then our host providing his numbers to Richie takes away his advantage.

[TGJB]

\"B\" had not occured to me.

In the long run, our success as a company depends on the success of ALL the people who use our data, including bettors, and aside from integrity issues, screwing a group to help one individual is not in our own best interest.

There\'s actually a \"C\", which is publishing a wrong number or numbers to keep the public from betting a horse you yourself want to cash a bet on. I know of only one case where that was done, long long ago (pre-Thoro-Graph), by a figure maker who wanted to keep one big bettor from killing his price on a horse owned by said figure maker racing at Philadelphia Park. Richie bet the horse anyway. And there were other people who knew about it, one of whom lives in Puerto Rico.

If you need a last name to go with Richie, you weren\'t in the game in the 80\'s. Annoying as he was (and probably still is), Schwartz is a first ballot entry to the Hall of Fame for horseplayers.

[TGJB]

By the way, Richie, how do I find the Crist piece?

[milwmike]

It is the second comment on Crist\'s blog for 9/17 on drf.com.

[TGJB]

Thanks.

By the way, as far as \"!\" goes, it just means better than it looks, in a position where it might be significant later on, as determined by me after a two second glance at the sheet.

[richiebee]

TGJB:

In today\'s DRF Crist Blog, SC responded to the conflict of interest inquiry. He
answered exactly as one would think he would, speaking as he is of 2 concerns
that advertise in DRF:

\" I don\'t see any conflict of interest. The Ragozin Sheets and Thoro-Graph have
both long been in the business of recommending bloodstock purchases to owners
and trainers as well as selling their products to handicappers. I am personally
not a fan of sheet numbers because I disagree with their inclusion of ground
loss and weight carried and their system of quantifying these factors but other
people swear by them. The more differing opinions the merrier.\"