I understand your desire to swing for the big score on the big days, but that\'s because your handicapping prowess is in tune with big races. I learned something about myself that I was able to put to good use this year. My best handicapping is of lightly raced horses and I need to remember that when I go for the big score. I usually over bet the Derby and never quite get the big score because I usually cannot handicap the surrounding stakes races to take advantage of when I pick the Derby winner. On a good Derby day I might win around $3,000, hardly the big score.
Well this year I was waiting for a 2yo horse I spotted in his 1st start in a maiden race at Saratoga. It took over 2 months for the trainer to get the perfect spot for him and although it was less than a week away from the Breeder\'s Cup, I decided to go all in on the day the horse I was waiting for ran. If I lost, I would have to pretty much stay on the sidelines for Breeder\'s Cup, which isn\'t really my best handicapping situation anyway.
I got extremely lucky because that day was all 2yos, my specialty. I decided that that day was going to be the day that I played my horse like it was Derby day. I had a pretty good idea of what to do with my race and after I bought the Thorograph sheets for the day, the other races came into crystal clear focus. I spread around a little, but hammered all my top picks with my horse. When my horse won I had the score of a lifetime-over 5 times my previous best day. I hit all three p3s, the pick 4, the exacta, the triple and for $32 I even hit the pick 6.
What I learned was that with my handicapping abilities of picking maidens, nw1s, and 2-3 yo stakes races, to go for a big score just because there\'s a big race, is for me, counterproductive. The biggest thing I have to do is stay within the confines of the races I\'m best at selecting. While it\'s nice to score big on a big day, for me, it\'s better to go for the big score with races that I\'m most comfortable playing, not the big name races.
I think that most horse players have a specialty. Sure I win races that are out of my specialty, but it\'s a lot easier to have the big score if it\'s your specialty & within your comfort zone. I\'ll always be more comfortable betting that 2yo or young 3yo maiden race than the 3yo and up stakes race.
As long as one knows what he\'s best at, the big score is always possible, but one cannot spread himself too thin & end up with too light a bankroll on the day he really wants to hammer something.
