Explain me horse racing

At least Phar Lap had charisma.

Horses have better names too. There was a trotting horse once whose name was "Pink Knickers". Is there anyone called Pink Knickers in human athletics? No. No siree.

Bookmaker hands Horse A's trainer a load of cash. Some of this cash is given to Horse A's jockey.

Horse B wins the race.

As your local MP?

Red Marauder = Tony Blair. Every other worthwhile horse fell, leaving a scrappy, second-rate battle between the Red labour force and the not-so-Smarty Major camp.

(eugh)

i had a friend who gambled a lot on horse races. SHE ADORES SEA BISCUIT. had a good chuckle about that.

isnt it all about working out systems, picking the sucker bet and gauging a zillion factors from a horses past race history to determine who will win? thats like a fulltime job right there.

After that, I would research the trainers, the jockeys, and then the position of Jupiter in the night sky.

triple crown and coke.

DA'TARA

couldn't find the extra grear.

*gear

"i had no horse"

wow

I hate Rick Reilly.

forgone conclusion

I know but his little pre-race thing was awful even for him.

There are no world records for horse races and afaik horses just don't get faster.

um, what?

the truth. horses complete courses no faster now than they did 100 years ago. no horsey incentives for faster horsey running. horsepower is a constant. ergo hourseracing is not like other sports.

hoarseracing

so a Derby-Preakness winner has spit the Belmont bit ELEVEN times since '78? wow.

i keep waiting for my generation's secretariat and im disappointed every year!

everybody is asking omg what happened? and no one is talking about how may was the first month that big brown didnt have a steroid shot.

actually maybe a lot of people are talking about it, i haven't seen that much

i've been burned so often these last few years re: would-be triple crown winners i barely paid attention this time around.

i've just been watching youtube clips of affirmed and secretariat all night.

this one is choice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c_ylcxgCaI

Part of me wanted Biggie to win it all because I got to see him live at probably the only Kentucky Derby I will ever attend. But a bigger part of me was pleased he won't go down in the record books as a "great champion" because I honestly wasn't too impressed with him and the people around him were/are fucking insufferable.

And besides I LOVE NICK ZITO.

OMG just watched that Secretariat Belmont again and depite having watched it a zillion times I still get honest-to-god goosebumps. And a little misty.

it is seriously amazing.."he is moving like a TREMENDOUS MACHINE!" i wish i had been alive to see that.

the truth. horses complete courses no faster now than they did 100 years ago.

― ledge, Saturday, June 7, 2008 10:10 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

the record for 10 furlongs (1 1/4 miles) in the 1920s was 2:05. Secretariat's time for the Derby at that distance was 1:59 2/5. that record still stands but Monarchos came close in 2001.

i get to go to the races in AZ next weekend, so stoked

― ⚓ (gr8080), Wednesday, February 15, 2012 9:18 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dmr how do i find out who's running on the 26th?

this website is less than helpful: http://www.rillitodowns.com/Racing/Race_Entries_%26_Results.html

― ⚓ (gr8080), Wednesday, February 15, 2012 9:19 AM (11 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It sure as shit makes more sense to me than motor racing.
― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, August 22, 2006 3:19 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Exactly. You can't eat an automobile.

gr8080 they will probably not draw the races for the 26th until maybe the 23rd. Most tracks draw 72hrs out from the race day, some draw 48.

http://www.drf.com/race-entries

^^^^ will show up on there once they draw, you can see for Rillito right now it only has the same info as that page you linked, past entries for the 11th and 12th.

oh and if you don't see Rillito on there click "All Tracks" toward the top (instead of Most Viewed)

thanks, dude! i'll bump this next week and ask for pr0 tips

you should also make sure to watch the Fountain of Youth Stakes on simulcast from Gulfstream Park in Florida that day, two of the top early contenders for the Ky Derby will be racing against each other. Union Rags and Algorithms. I'm sure they will have it on somewhere, usually smaller tracks do big business in showing (and taking bets on) the big races from other tracks.

so who do you like out of those two

i'd love to know how to pick horses. of all gambling i think that would be the coolest.

it's a totally corrupt sport with a lot of fixing so it's sort of hard to be really that good at it. unless you're in the know.

in britain anyway.

well i figured. i'm guessing most of the skill is in having a decent head for statistics and probability.

Exactly. You can't eat an automobile.

Debbie Harry would disagree.

so who do you like out of those two

Probably Algorithms? I would have to see who else ends up in the race. Union Rags is the most highly regarded 3-year-old prospect for the Ky Derby but it will be his first race back since November. (Like a lot of horses, he got a winter break after last year's Breeders' Cup.) Sometimes it takes horses a start or two to shake off the rust ... it seems like it will be a pretty tough spot for his first race back off a layoff and Union Rags will probably be really low odds.

Please note: I can talk the talk but I'm not really very good at handicapping. It's a tough game.

Anyway whoever wins that race will become a major player for the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby so it would just be a cool race to watch if you're at the track. It will be the biggest deal going on in U.S. racing that day.

i'm guessing most of the skill is in having a decent head for statistics and probability

yeah definitely. that's why I kinda suck at it.

omg me too!

i mean, to make money consistently it would be less about picking horses than spreading all your bets out in such and such a way etc

totally guessing here.

i've been a track once. it was a cool experience but a little depressing.

Tips For Greyhounds -

• Find the one that poops right before the race.
• Make sure he's from Wisconsin.

Tips for Greyhounds -

• The chalk for the pool cue is usually sitting on the left stereo speaker.

Tips For Greyhounds -

• You can get a dollar grilled-cheese sandwich after 6:30 even though the sign says 7:00.
• Don't actually eat the dollar grilled-cheese sandwich.

less about picking horses than spreading all your bets out in such and such a way etc

yeah it's partly that, people say money management is at least as important as handicapping

it's also realizing that a horse who might be a good bet at 5-1 is a bad bet at 2-1. but also knowing that just because you're playing against the 2-1 horse doesn't mean you should throw him out completely from an exacta just to be contrarian if your top horse is some longshot.

the main thing that makes it so hard is that you're playing against the other players, not against the house, and on like an average weekday unless you play a LOT it's likely that every other person betting that day knows more than you. on the big national days like Kentucky Derby, Breeders' Cup, there's more "dumb" money being thrown in and I feel like I have more of a chance.

hello Hollywood? ever think about how pound for pound triple crown winning horse semen is probably the most valuable substance on earth. anyways what if there was a heist movie where they robbed the strategic horse semen reserve under the churchill downs

— matt 💀 lubchansky (@Lubchansky) June 10, 2018

It would have to include some on the nose wisecrack about how it would be easier to pull off Shergar than this heist, or something like that.

"Horses Shoot, Don't They?"

lol!

*guffaw*