A day at the Spa

[FrankD.]

I\'m not even going to try and compete with Papa\'s what makes Saratoga so special story but there truly is no such thing as a bad day at Saratoga.

I\'m a local and have been coming here since 1973 when my Grandfather took me to see Secretariat run in the Whiteny Stakes. It was my first trip there at 15 years old I was so excited to see the super horse. We all know the result and I was hooked. My Grandfather mumbled all the way home a 6 million dollar horse got beat by an Onion !

My Grandfather\'s first trip to Saratoga was in 1930 when Jim Dandy upset the triple crown winner Gallant Fox in the Travers at 100/1 with the bookies. No parimutuel system yet ! He had seats every Wednesday & Saturday for over 50 years and made me promise before he died that he and I would see 100 Travers Stakes. This year will make 95.

Enough nostalgia but hey that\'s what makes Saratoga so special.

I had a great time today with the most attended seminar I\'ve seen yet, probably about 50 people lining the Carolina deck. Allen pitched an O fer !!!! Not to worry JB the bar is set low for you next week. I\'d like to take credit for that but it was all Jimbo !

I met Allen, Jimbo and Richiebee, we talked compared notes, opinions, theories and handicapped our asses off all day. By the 7th the losses had 3 zero\'s behind them but we kept digging deeper and deeper ! Jimbo and I had the pick 3 and 4 wheels spinning and never even got close. The speed was king on turf and dirt today and we were not one with the race track.

A bad betting day, horrible by most human standards. I\'m pretty sure only Allen cashed in the 2nd race on a saver.

But:

I made some new friends, realized my understanding of the numbers and some theories were in sync with some pretty astute handicappers and had a ball. Yes it would have been better to walk out with bulging pockets and a bragging successful post. I\'d love to be back there tomorrow but my wife draws the line on Sundays !!!!

So I\'ll be back on Monday and all week, at the seminar on Saturday to see if JB can raise the bar ? I\'m looking forward to labor day weekend when Jimbo is back up and hope Richie will make the trip as well ?

There truly is no such thing as a bad day at Saratoga and that\'s for sure !!!!


Frank D.

[SJU5]

I was also at the seminar, along with two relatively new players. Both gained a ton of insight into race handicapping. While I also had a brutal day, only cashing in once all day, it is always a fun day starting with seeing a lot of great guys/handicappers at Steve Byk\'s Carolina BBQ hosting the TG event.

Good luck to all and lets put todays tough day behind us with a more profitable days ahead!

[FrankD.]

Apologies to Alan on spelling his name !!! Sorry TGAB, post was typed after 2nd massive gin & tonic.

[jimbo66]

FrankD.,

Agreed that a bad day at the Spa is a good day at most other places.  Thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, meeting you as well as catching up with Michael D, and Richie B, and of course TGAB, amongst many others.

But you were a bit unfair to TGAB.  He didn\'t go 0 for the weekend, he had the winner of the last race on Sunday (but didn\'t bet it).  As opposed to yours truly, who did go 0 for the weekend.  

TGAB may have set the bar low for TGJB, but TGJB\'s handicapping reputation took a hit this weekend as well.  TGAB told everybody within shouting distance of Carolina Barbecue that Jerry was ABSOULTELY SURE that Lookin at Lucky would be a short horse in the Haskell, becausse Baffert was really pointing to the Travers (despite Baffert\'s pretty solid Haskell record)..... Oh boy.  Always next weekend.

Good luck,

Jim

[TGAB]

Back in the office today and I\'d like to thank one and all that attended the weekend seminars. It\'s good putting a face to a login/username sobriquet. So it was good meeeting Frank D. SJU5, I know you\'ve talked w/JB quite a bit, next time introduce yourself, okay? (I\'m pretty sure you did before, but I don\'t remember--apologies.) Richiebee, Jimbo, Michael good seeing you all again. Likewise Warren, Bob, Travis, Mike, NC Tony and others. Good meeting a lot of the others there and please forgive me if I don\'t remember all the names. I find the older I get the more my short term memory acts, reacts eponymously.

Not withstanding the camaraderie, it was an immensely disappointing day. These seminars are held w/the intention of educating customers not only on identifying potential \"gems\" overlooked in the odds board market place but also, conversely, exposing weak patterns, and hence those unlikely to run as well as perceived, especially when taking money or becoming aware of confounding lines and the affect of conditions on all.    

Nothing succeeds like success--reinforcement, cashing a few tickets but those events were all too infrequent. That said, we weren\'t entirely wrong, but we certainly weren\'t right that much, either, or at least when green was traded.  

The good news is that there\'s 29 more days.

See y\'all up there in a couple of weeks.

[NoCarolinaTony]

Alan,

Maybe the best part about Saratoga is seeing friends, TG Bretheren, and making new friends.

Again I concur, was good to see everyone again, even if it was brief this time.

See you all on closing week ....

NC Tony