Wacky Betting System #1

As a frequent guest of local South Florida horse race betting establishments, I have met and conversed with many fellow handicappers. We all have our own methods of selecting winners. Personally, I have to sift through many details in the form before arriving at my contender selections. Occassionally, I run into people who are willing to share their methods. As I come across these techniques, I'll share them with you, dear readers. I will call the first method the Biorhythm number method.

Day 1 of the Breeder's cup, I had settled into my seat in the simulcast room and had already played a couple of races at Calder Race Course when an interesting characater sat at the station next to me. The gentleman was slightly less than average height and slightly more than average weight (aren't we all). On top of his head he sported what I like to refer to as the baby-boomer version of a comb-over. You know what I'm talking about. Rather than combing the hair from the side over the bald spot the hair is pulled straight back in tied into what is usually a stunted attempt at a pony tail.

The first thing he asked me for was the number of the winner in the first race at Calder. I told him that the 3 horse had one the first race, but thinking, perhaps, he was interested in track biases, I pointed out to him that the 3 had broken from the inside post due to late scratches in the race.

That information didn't seem to interest him at all. Instead he started going through the race results on the screen of all the races of all the tracks and writing down the first four finishers of each race without regard to distance, surface, or any other normal racing factor.

He introduced himself to me as Sal, a hair stylist (I think) and artist who had been playing the races for years. He even claimed to have done portraits of some jockey whose name I don't recall who used to race a lot at Gulfstream Park. Of course being at the race track, I take everything with a grain of salt, but, still, I had no particular reason disbelieve him.

Sal, being a talkative sort then explained his betting system to me. Apparently, Sal is of the belief that on any given day, certain numbers are more likely to come in than others. The reason has nothing to do with track conditions, trainers, jockeys, post-positions, or anything else racing related. Rather, he attributed the reason to biorhythms.

I don't think I've heard the term biorhythm since the early '70's which sort of gives you an idea of where Sal was coming from. The system was basically writing down the top finishers of every race at every track and after giving the racing form a cursory glance to make sure the hopeful number didn't belong to a totally hopeless horse construct trifecta bets either boxing contenders of keying off of a contender or two in every race he could catch around the country.

It didn't take Sal long to blow through his first $200.00 with this method, but he was still optimistic that if he persisted long enough he would hit that box car trifecta. He had done so frequently in the past, and actually, I'm quite sure he has since every once in a while even a blind squirell will find a nut.

Underterred Sal deposited another sum of money into his day account. I'm not sure how much. At least $100.00 maybe as much as $200.00. At first he remained optimistic, but as his balance began dwindling, so did his demeanor. Toward the end of his 2nd deposit he was beginning to ask me my opinion on certain races. I'm afraid I couldn't help him much since I had only handicapped the Calder and Breeder's cup races, but I gave him my opinion when it was available. Also, since I play horizontally (Pick-3 or pick 4) rather than vertically, it is a mistake to try to convert my selections to trifecta bets, although even I can get lucky once in a while.

Poor Sal drained his account a 2nd time and reluctantly returned to deposit still more money in his account. Sal is already way past the point where I would've called it a day. I have a lot of confidence in my play and recognize that I am going to go through cold streaks and hot streaks. It is the nature of the game. However, if I seem to be going through a cold period I will back down my wagers while I try to figure out what I'm missing. Not so with Sal. Confidence in one's approach is important; however, so is objectivity and discretion.

Sal was doing no better with his third deposit and was now feeling the need to point out to me how close he had been coming. If only this horse had not finished in the money or if only he had boxed this group instead of keying a horse. I'm not quite sure if he trying to convince me or himself, but as is third deposit dwindled, so did his resolve. By the end of the third deposit, Sal was quite defeated.

I commiserated with Sal and told him surely he would have better luck tomorrow which is probably true since he couldn't have had worse. But Sal wasn't coming back tomorrow.

Sal has a problem. Sal is looking for quick easy payoffs and is not willing to make the effort to actually understand a race in all its facets such as speed, pace, class, and conditions. Its much easier just to play numbers. No homework is required. Actually, in a way Sal is a throwback to a time when horse racing had much less competition for the gambler's dollars. Sal would be just as happy, or miserable, playing slot machines and lotteries. He just hasn't realized it yet.