Good points. I always thought workouts only make sense as a part of the general handicapping puzzle anyway. Sometimes they will confirm your thoughts of a particular horse that is doing well or not doing well and that\'s very important, but only in the larger context; you\'re right to say you can\'t base everything on someone else\'s impression. I\'ve used pay services in the past, and they will help you if you don\'t want to or can\'t do the work yourself, but they\'re wrong as often as they\'re right.
At least with the big races now you can watch them yourself and make up your own mind. But one thing I\'ve found with synthetic tracks (like grass) you don\'t always want a monster work before a big race - just do enough. Zen is a good example this year. Sheriffs was waiting for the last work to decide classic or ladies classic? I mean, C\'mon, she\'s an awesome animal and always looks terrific, so what the heck was the last work at Hollywood going to tell him that he didn\'t know before? She looked awesome in that work by the way, as good as she could possibly look. But is the game really that subtle? Perhaps, but probably all the other factors you\'ll point to matter much more, post position, running style, race shape and of course t-g #\'s - everything in context. It\'s a puzzle you have to put together. I\'d like more discussion of the track surface and bias, which they almost never do on TV. Looks like the main track there has been tighter than past years, may not favor so many closers, more mid-pack, stalkers - seems like speed was even good (or better than usual) last week and the grass seems pretty fair though on the fast side - seems like it was a little deeper last year which helped the Euro\'s. Though the Euro\'s are probably so superior on grass, that may not matter.
I\'m not that excited this year, so that may be a good thing. I\'ll handicap these races as would any other day/track. I don\'t like the 2 day format though - really dilutes your time, energy, and bankroll; sure some will score big on Frdiay and go on a roll, but one day would be plenty I think.
