In the weeks leading up to this years running of the Breeders' Cup, The Old Master of the Turf supplied me with ample research material:
The photo above depicts most - but not all - of the race day programs and past editions of the Daily Racing Form that Mr B provided to me.
The week immediately preceding the Breeders' Cup is among my favorite each calendar year; Just a boy and his Daily Racing Form "Breeders' Cup Advance" issue with its lifetime past performances for all pre-entries from all around the globe.
I quickly got down to serious handicapping. My serious handicapping was, just as quickly, derailed by the silliness revealed within the DRF's pages:
Van Dyke, D is a jockey, not the famous actor Dick Van Dyke.
Kiki Dee is a horse, not a duet partner for Elton John.
Interesting trends were revealed among the European invaders:
In one European race from earlier this year, Hydrangea ran a close second to the victorious Rhododendron. Potted plants must have gone delirious.
A strong martial theme was easily discernible among this years Euros:
Close inspection revealed old friends and old friends cracked wise:
Never try to match dinosaur humor with a paleontologist. They're too good!
Deep investigations into DRF lifetime past performances reliably turns up oddities:
The European horse in question here - Karar - went so wide turning for home that he drifted out all the way to the grandstand side railing. Talk about understeer?! Karar still managed to finish that race in second by a neck! Even a minimally better effort and Karar may have won that race by 10 lengths. I blame the jockey! I always blame the jockey.
The following trouble line comment by a DRF editor fairly well defined the term "empty:"
This horse started strong; 1st by a length at the start, then extended the lead to 1st by a length and a half. However, the wheels rapidly came off; 2nd by two and a half lengths, 6th by 20 lengths to finish 7th (and last) by 39+ lengths.
Empty indeed.
Perhaps most shockingly, the *1.05 notation indicates this horse went off as the 1-1 even money favorite! "Empty," and for the horse players brutal.
The B Team Syndicate returned to scenic Shelbyville, Indiana for this year's Breeders' Cup. Of all the regional places that we might patronize for this event, Shelbyville is the preferred choice for The Old Master of the Turf. Unquestionably, Shelbyville offers the best buffet, the shortest lines at the betting windows and provides the most comfortable setting. Plus, I know the location of a secret, executive-quality restroom at the racino. Due to conflicting travel arrangements, we made the drive in two different vehicles. Lou and Mr B departed from the Fairfield office early on Saturday morning, with Lou doing the driving westbound on I-74. Getting a head start on them, I left from The Ranch in the Jeep Main Battle Tank and headed - first - northwest for Liberty, Indiana on US 27 before reorienting to a more westerly and southwesterly direction on Indiana state highway 44. A dense fog greeted me just west of College Corner, IN:
The dense fog made for an eerie backdrop as I navigated the dark, undiscovered country of south central Indiana farmlands where wild and fearsome beasts - like Big Randy - are reported to roam. Light traffic and a fairly straight highway led me through a rapid succession of Johnny Cougar Indiana small towns; West College Corner, Cottage Grove, Lotus, Liberty, Connersville, Glenwood, Homer and Manilla [?!]. One small town stood out as the highlight for me:
Rushville, Indiana! [Insert here ubiquitious Rush video clip]
Arriving at the racino shortly before 11am, I wasn't certain whether my B Team Syndicate partners had already arrived or whether I'd gotten there first. By way of finding out, I sent them a selfie - what else? - from the 3rd level of the parking garage.
Their reply; Still about 15 minutes outside Shelbyville.
This, I gleefully recognized, would simultaneously sit well and not sit well with Mr B who likes to be early. VERY early. First, in fact. He would have been happy that I was there "on time" and ready to get down to bizniz. He would also have been disappointed that he didn't beat me there.
I headed inside. And rubbed it in.
I know. If you've seen the inside of one Midwestern casino, you've seen them all.
Meanwhile, Lou and Mr B arrived.
Lou captured this action photo (above) of Mr B charging full steam ahead!
I couldn't help myself. This photo was taken just outside the race track's grandstand. Which we soon discovered, to our shared disappointment, wouldn't open for another hour. The B Team Syndicate had beaten all the patrons... and staff... by a mile.
A familiar name was found in the race program for the Breeders' Cup undercard:
Claudio's namesake ran third.
Long, gruesome story short; The B Team Syndicate was shutout. Not one of us cashed a single winning ticket.
Here were my close calls:
Here were the tickets I wasn't even close on:
Here are the sum total of my spent shell casings:
I came tantalizingly, agonizingly close on two races late in the day:
Each of these two wagers (above) are superfecta boxes that require each of the selected four horses to finish in any order 1st through 4th (the horses are listed on the tickets merely in order of their program numbers). Down big, and having been shut out all day it was doubly painful to see my selections finish 1st-2nd-3rd-5th in the 9th Race and 1st-2nd-3rd-?th in the 11th Race. In the 9th Race, there was a photo finish for 4th place.... and my horse was edged out of 4th into 5th place by a nose. Respectively, these two tickets - had they been winners - would have paid me about $400 and $700.
That 9th Race was the Breeders' Cup Mile. I'd told anyone who would listen, all that week, that the Mile was the most challenging race to handicap. It was difficult to fathom. I'd given that BC race more consideration than any other on the race card, +/- 3 hours total, and to come that close to nailing it was bittersweet.
The 2017 Breeders' Cup lived up to its reputation of being the most challenging day of handicapping, the proof being found in that day's payouts.
The first four Breeders' Cup races this year saw winning horses with odds of;
17-1
30-1
67-1
11-1.
Resultingly, the Early Pick 4 (which included all four longshots, above) paid an astronomical $289,005.40. That, for a $1 wager. Somebody had it, but not anyone who handicaps horse racing. That is the payout for somebody who just plays "their numbers," akin to playing the lottery. [By way of comparison, the Late Pick 4 with winning horses off at odds of 3-1, 12-1, 14-1 and 2-1 paid a more pedestrian $1,257.15.]
In those same four (Early Pick 4) races, the favorite finished;
7th
10th
7th
7th.
In the very next race, the favorite ran 6th.
A favorite did win - at long last - the next race (that devilish 9th Race) but longshots (odds of 12-1 & 14-1) won the following two races.
The winning Pick 6 payout, of which there were a handful of winning tickets sold, was $388,423.15. If you were holding a ticket with 5 of 6 winners, your consolation payout was a respectable $1,381.80.
This is the point in the recap where I take pride in pointing out how I correctly picked more winners than did the assembled collection of DRF writers. But having been shut out at the betting windows, I cannot make that claim for the 2017 Breeders' Cup.
Of the 15 DRF experts that published their picks for the BC race card, four were similarly shut out. This includes such illustrious DRF experts as Mike Watchmaker (the DRF's in-house odds maker) and Andrew Beyer (innovator of the eponymous Beyer Speed Figures).
Pretty good company with which to be shut out!
Six more DRFers correctly identified just one winner. Of the 15 experts, nine had one or no winners. It was that kind of day. That's horse racing, as Lou was heard to say. DRF dude Jay Privman was the champ having correctly identified four winners. Privman knows his sport. Good job, Jay!
Roll the credits!
