Page 21 - February 2007 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper The Game, February 2007 21
DRF. Beyers are essentially a mathematically determined report card grade on every race of every horse, taking into account the quality of the track, the field, the speed, the pace and the length of the race. Beyer figures have become the single most authoritative statistic printed in the DRF.
“Before they were available you could sometimes get 8-1 or 9-1 on the horse that had the best last time figure,” says Crist, just a little on the regretful side, “Now the horse with the best
last time figure is
the favorite.”
Crist, to his relief, only had to perform CEO duties for six years. In 2004 a financial group named Alpine Capital bought the Form; the sale price is rumoured to have been between $70 and $80million.
In his present capacity as Publisher and twice-weekly columnist, Crist has been determined to bring a level of journal- istic credibility to the DRF. Over many decades, the publication was often viewed as an apologist for the racing game.
“Formerly, the DRF
used to run maybe one
editorial a year and say everyone should love horse racing,” laughs Crist. “Recently, we’ve managed to piss off just about everyone in the industry, but if you don’t, you’re not doing your job.”
In this age of racing, there is no shortage of controversies that merit criticism in the pages of the DRF.
“Medication and integrity are two issues that are never going to go away,” says Crist. “There’s been some progress made, but the chemists and the druggers are getting better every year. Eternal vigilance is required.”
Crist feels the Racing Form must continue to comment on the dramatic changes the racing game is experiencing.
“The biggest thing happening in racing these days is that tracks are consolidating,” says Crist, “Many tracks are owned by one company and they may well
be more interested in slot machines than racetracks. Part of what we’re trying to do is make sure that racing and their interests don’t get subordinated to people trying to make money off the slots.”
Crist also realizes that the implementation of synthetic surfaces throughout North America is a huge story.
“It’s such a fundamental change in the nature of racing,” he says. “It’s going to change the way races are run. It’s going to change the whole breeding industry. Long-term, it’s going to put less of a premium on early speed in racing. We’re just beginning to see the
fundamental changes.”
The Daily Racing Form is
published every day of the year except for Christmas and pumps out about 20,000,000 copies year- ly, servicing racing fans at more than 50 tracks in North America. The Racing Form that someone might buy in Vancouver or Calgary or Toronto will, of course, bear the relevant infor- mation for the tracks in those
cities.
As far as running the DRF,
Crist’s credentials are as rich as any multiple Grade One win- ner. He spent many years as a racing reporter at the New York Times and has written a number of books including Exotic Betting: How to Make the Multi-Horse, Multi- Race Bets that Win Racing’s Biggest Payoffs, The Horse Trader, Offtrack and Betting On Myself:
Adventures of a Horseplayer and Publisher.
One quirky sidebar to the massive amounts of racing information published daily in the Form is the very modest and, for the most part, well hidden paragraph identified as News Briefs that offers as many as three non-horse related stories. Every
wonder what the purpose of that is?
“We have a standing joke about that,” says Crist
playfully, “We’ll have a huge headline that screams Six Horses Entered in Belmont’s Feature and then in agate we’ll say World War 111 Breaks Out. The truth is, if we carry some real news, we get a better postal rate.”
Pari-mutuel wagering, as it exists at racetracks today, is the most democratic and versatile form of betting available on the planet. Compared to the rigid and mathematically inflexible systems used by lotteries and casinos, the racetrack’s betting structure is a veritable buffet for the horseplayer.
Win and place are the meat and potatoes; the basics that can sustain the conservative player for an entire afternoon. Gamblers who enjoy exactors and daily doubles want to nibble on more exotic fare like crepes and flambé. The show bettor is like the man who is happy with a plate of rice and a bowl of tomato soup; better to be safe than sorry. And the triactor, superfecta, and Win4 speculators dine at the highest level of the track, feasting on vichysoisse, cracked crab and foie de gras.
Ok, enough with the food metaphors. What’s this column about anyway? Well, at the track, the bettor has the opportunity to put on his plate a wide variety of selections and as much or as little of each as is desired.
Let’s say you liked a horse in the first race – its name is Broiled Salmon and it’s 4-1. You could put $10 to win and, when it scores, you cash around $50. But if you watched the potential daily double prices, you might see that Broiled Salmon, when hooked up with the four most logical horses in the second race, was returning $35, $60, $70, and $120 respectively. If you were to bet $2 on each of the three highest probables and $4 on the lowest paying double, your smallest return would be $60. By diversifying at the buffet, you turned your 4-1 shot into 5-1 and maybe more.
The same strategy applies to
exactors. Before betting a horse to win, see how much it’s paying in combination with others in the race. If a 3-1 shot shows possible payoffs of over $30 with other logical ones, it may be time to splurge on dessert. Do some math in your head; $6 win/place at 3-1 will get you back about $36. If you purchased three $2 exactor boxes, would your return be a lot greater? Most of the time it would – go back for a second helping of the crème brule!
There is much more information on the tote board than most race fans are able to absorb. Have you ever seen a horse pay more to show than it does to win? I have, and in every case, the tote board predicted it. If you’re considering a low- priced horse and notice that, in the place pool, the amount bet is less than 10% of the whole pool, you’re looking at a horse that could pay over $6 for second. Does that exceed the potential win price? Spoon some more mousse on my plate please!
Perhaps you’re going to spend $27 in the Pick Three. That would entitle you to three horses in each race. But look at the race that goes after the third leg – could you narrow it down to five horses? If so, consider buying 20-cent Win4s. At 20- centsapop,3x3x3x5willcost you $27 and, by extending the bet over four races, you might put yourself in position for a huge score. Want to double up on the lemon shrimp?
At the very least, it’s another of many options in your arsenal when you’re at the track. To blindly throw your money on a horse without finding a way to maximize your winnings is a lot like choosing the roast beef, but forgetting to ask for gravy.
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