Let's hear your dark horse pick to upset Exaggerator. I know absolutely nothing about Horse Racing, but I'm predicting Stradivari.
Wise guy horse,,,many people like him,,,,,,,,no rain as of yet,,,looks like a dry track,,,going to check the radar now
I see the radar looks clear,,,thanks F Jay F,,,,for staying on top of this,,,we will see soon enough guys as we are a half hour away
Wow all the experts lol just made predictions not one took exaggerator, ,you know this means he probably wins walking away right ,,,lol
So much for the experts and so much for me,,only thing I had remotely close was Lani,,,hope u guys won some cashpayouts will be huge
Looked last night for a while and wasn't feeling it. Had about eight horses that could have been in it. Got up today and put some bets in because I still had some money in my account at Churchill Downs. Left Exaggerator out of the Trifectas and put him in the Supers. Also thought Getttysburg might stay out front long enough to make some money. Bottom line: Destin was the only horse I played that scored - shutout for me. On the plus side, my account is zeroed so I won't be tempted to add more to play the Breeder's Cup which is like trying to get fish to shoot each other in a barrel.
Two days later and I'm still just as disgusted. I was more confident in this race than any other Triple Crown race in recent years. NOTHING that was supposed to happen, happened. It makes me wonder why we waste our time handicapping...might as well blindly draw numbers out of a hat. But I guess that's why they run the races instead of just crowning the winners on paper. What a humbling sport.
Welcome to the I Fucking Hate Belmont Club. This is where I get nerdy. Growing up, my dad owned a handful of horses. Claimers, mostly. 4+ year old geldings, typically. Doesn't take a whole lot of cash to play that sort of game. Best horse he ever had was called He's A Smasher. Cool horse. The problem he used to say, though, is that back then every single level of the game was crooked. The jockeys, the trainers, the paddock manager, the handicappers, the vets. I remember him once saying how he was sure the race caller had intentionally miscalled a race to play head games with the jockeys. Subtle things, always. You don't play at that level (or any, really) for the money. He quit when I was in high school because he was tired of never knowing which races were straight. The point I'm getting to: this is why a run like American Pharoah is such an awesome thing to watch. Or Cigar. Some horses have so much heart and competitive fire that you know it's all on the level and they'll run themselves to death before they get handled and manipulated into the back of the pack. But then there'a plenty of shit around the game that makes my blood boil. People who have no respect for some of these magnificent animals. Like the fuckups that mismanaged Smarty Jones. Anyway ... I'm on a constant angry rant about horse racing these days. The only encouraging thing is that there are great new bloodlines being started. Something that's been badly needed for a while. Where the game takes it is anyone's guess.
Interesting stuff, SJ. Thanks for sharing. I had a cousin who owned trotters in the early 2000's. Pretty big operation in it's heyday...I think she owned upwards of 20 horses at one point. They raced the Meadowlands, Yonkers, Pocono, Dover, and a few others mostly driven by Cat Manzi. The stories she has are sickening. The jockeys would essentially determine the finishing order in the barn pre-race, right down to the exacta and trifecta. It got so bad that oftentimes she would get a $500 win ticket for Cat as incentive to drive the race on the up and up. Even today if you pay close attention to a trotter race, you'll see front-running jockeys blatantly pulling back on the reigns coming to the finish line. There is zero reason for them to be doing this other than monkey business, but yet nobody questions it. I liked to think Thoroughbred racing was more on the up and up as those horses are just bred to run flat out. I felt like it would be more difficult to rig a race. But after hearing your story, I'm not so sure.
I did a bunch of exotics and lost played stradivari with suddenbreakingnews with exaggerator with cherry wine also played SBN to WPS I managed to come out barely ahead Saturday by hitting the pick 4 somehow. Not even sure why I added Creator. WebService June 11, 2016 3:29 PM 791742 Race 8 Belmont Park $0.50 P4 (PWHL) 2, 7, 8 / 5, 6, 7, 11 / 6, 10 / 1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 13 Bet $72 $898.50
I remember when trotters were big. Seems like there was always an odd sort of culture surrounding the trotters. Maybe still is. I was never into it, but that was the impression I had from the outside. I can absolutely believe that game being manipulated still to this day. Thoroughbreds? Probably on some level. But fewer tracks these days, TVG, expanded simulcasting - so many eyes watching. Plus, gutting the Italian mafia probably helped take some of the rotten money out of the game. I'll just never EVER be convinced that a middle-tier, resident jockey who makes a living grinding out races at a lower-tier track like Suffolk Downs, plays it straight each and every time. What's there to do? Scream at the guy, accuse him of a fix and then start an all-out war with the Jockey's Guild? Plus, the little circus freak tells you he just didn't feel it and wasn't about to whip the horse raw, how can you even argue with that? Walk away pissed off, knowing something just wasn't square. I know I ruined a perfectly good Belmont thread. Sorry for that. But for everything that I'm encouraged about in horse racing, there always seems to be three other things that really piss me off. Some of the more recent sires are really special. How American Pharoah was handled was great. Curlin - another great horse really handled well, retired at the right time and then put out to successful stud. Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra - two of the most amazing horses of the last fifty-years. Even though we never friggin got to see the showdown everyone wanted. Probably for the best. But then, the way so many two-year-olds that get busted up before they even start. Quality horses that retire to stud and we never see race. Beyer numbers - which just fucking annoy me sometimes, although I'm probably alone there. The way some trainers announce scratches is worse that how Belichick announces his weekly injury report (although, Nyquist was an odd exception). And then a Breeder's Cup Classic field which is no longer a race of the best thoroughbreds in the world. More like a race with a couple of quality horses and a field of also-rans. I'ma stop now. The topic was Belmont. Sucky event. Carry on.
That's not nice. But I'd really like to know why they all sound like cartoon characters when they're interviewed.
