Anonymous said...- Anonymous nailed both NYRA's website and the late double in a single comment...and nice to see that byanose benefited as well. Bobby Frankel figured prominently in the result. In the 8th race on a card that was better than many run at Saratoga, Citronnade made his grass debut for Frankel after four solid dirt tries. Though he went off at .55-to-1 (twice) and .35-to-1 in his last three (two wins and a second), he went off at 5-1 today; that despite the fact that his breeding seemed fine for grass. He's by Lemon Drop Kid, out of a Lord At War mare, and a mostly French distaff family with several grassy stakes winners, including the versatile Warleigh.
PS - In the late DD, if you love the Citronnade - Metro Meteor DD as I do and you rely on the NYRA site for guidance, you would play the 5-9 combo instead of 1-1.
By not listing program numbers anywhere on the site, and having an a*s backwards odds matrix, they are just begging gamblers to go somewhere else to wager. Brilliant!!
Well, Anonymous couldn't have been too optimistic turning for home, as Citronnade lagged in 8th. Even after he rallied into contention, he still didn't look like a winner at the 8th pole as Pletcher's Somethingaboutbetty struck the front. Or at least that's how it appeared from what I could make out on Racereplays.com, and I'll be getting back to that shortly.
In the 9th, many bettors fell for Frankel's favorite Heatseeker (Giant's Causeway), though not our anonymous hero. This three-year old colt was making his first start in almost exactly a year - he ran third in the G1 National Stakes in Ireland, finishing two lengths back of George Washington (scheduled to run on Saturday in the Queen Elizabeth II). Heatseeker got bet down to even money despite the year layoff. 9-2 on Metro Meteor (City Zip), nice! He had the best last Beyer in the field, and now has won four consecutive efforts in turf sprints for Linda Rice. So, nice job to anyone who scored on that $66 double.
Now as to the other points raised, regarding the NYRA website, I'd already noted the backwards exotics matrix and just the general crappy look. But I didn't know that the program numbers weren't listed. And I'll add my own complaint, regarding NYRA's race archive on Racereplays.com. Is it just me, or does the quality of the NYRA replays on this site remind anyone of dial-up internet video circa 1995 or so? This has been going on for weeks now. Does Racereplays.com have similar problems with the tracks that you have to pay for?
And that's another thing. To me, tracks that don't make their video, especially the live feed but also the archives, freely available are only hurting themselves. I don't understand why, with all the simulcasting options available, a track wouldn't do anything within reason to make people want to bet there. Live video is just a no-brainer! Of course I'm going to bet on the tracks I can watch without having to sign up for an Xpress Bet account that I don't need.
Though it's not as important, having archived races freely available in watchable quality, as on the Keeneland and Cal Racing sites, gives handicappers a valuable tool, and I for one am attracted to tracks that have more information available. It's another example of how the industry is not utilizing the internet to its full potential
3 Comments:
Yep, the Queen Elizabeth is Saturday, and what a race it is. Toughest grass mile run in the world so far this year, with multiple Group One winners George Washington, Librettist, and Araafa lining up. Go ahead and throw Court Masterpiece in there too. What i'm unclear about is how George Washington rates the 3/2 favorite, when Librettist has lost only once in his life, and also owns the best recent form. He's the second choice @ 3/1. Araafa was rated Europe's top miler earlier this year, but came up lame in his most recent effort (where he was beaten by Court Masterpiece). I'm assuming he's good-to-go now, but who knows. Aside from Librettist, Godolphin also starts Proclamation, who was one of Europe's top milers last year but has been dealing with some health issues this year. Reportedly he's in fine fettle, and if he brings his A-game then you can throw him into the mix as well. Under normal circumstances, the winner of this race would probably be the favorite for the Breeders Cup Mile, but it doesn't look like anyone will overtake Aragorn for that honor (unless perhaps Gorella goes in the Mile). In any case, it should be a helluva race. I'll be rooting for Librettist, with Frankie Dettori aboard. Go Get'em Godolphin.
Hello, anonymous here, just recovering from yesterday's excitement.
Byanose, glad you jumped on board, I had it ten times.
Alan, you are right, thought I was dead in the first leg, was just rooting for my saver exacta at that point until Citronnade kicked in late. 99.50 exacta was very nice too! (No idea how they chose the favorite over Frankel and Pletcher in that spot, I never even considered that one).
Anyway, I am not one for really posting picks, the point of my post was the inscrutable NYRA matrix board. Your other points are well taken, no reason for them not to have live and archived video(they give the signal away locally anyway on cable TV), why give someone a reason to go to another site such as TVG?
Hopefully with the cash influx from VLTS, the winning bidder will bring their techonlogy up to date.
No picks today, but will say Saturdays card is terrific and rivals any put on at the Spa. Will be in the back yard spending my winnings.
Cool, I will use the money I got in my YOUBET acct. to play a little on Godolphin tomorrow in the QEII. Byanose
Good Luck this Weekend!!
Post a Comment