PRAY FOR THE KING!

Cross your fingers, pray, rub the Buddha, or whatever it is you do, BUT DO IT and send Steven Crist some much needed positive energy. 

The "King of the Pick 6" suffered a cardiac arrest in his home Sunday April 6th (and is apparently in stable but still critical condition.) Steven Crist is not only my defacto handicapping Mentor but revitalized the The Daily Racing Form after purchasing it with a group in 1998.

Steven Crist is a heavyweight in the world of Horse Racing, author, publisher, columnist, and he revolutionized the publics approach to handicapping, (especially yours truly) with his groundbreaking book, "Exotic Betting" changing the way people think not just about their wagers, but how they are going to structure their wagers as well. The book also helped handicappers manage their betting bankroll more effectively to create more opportunities for them to cash a winning ticket.

Good Luck has seemed to follow him his entire life, so let's hope it continues and Mr.Crist makes a speedy recovery and gets back on his feet, and to the track, as soon as possible, or at least can write his highly anticipated Kentucky Derby Blog entry from his recovery bed, it is a tradition I don't want to break.

http://www.drf.com/news/crists-condition-remains-stable

Get well soon sir.

Thats all I got,
raychihasspoken

Ticket Maker App From Daily Racing Form

Just like they say, "There's an App for that." Well guess what they ain't kidding.

I just downloaded the new Ticket Maker App for my Iphone from that goddamn genius and personal hero of mine Steven Crist of The Daily Racing Form, and man I think it's going to make my next day of handicapping a WHOLE lot easier.

So lemme tell you how it works, you know all those chicken scratch scribblings you see me doing, after I've dissected that days races and I'm trying to put together my betting ticket? YEAH THIS DOES IT FOR ME!
I just plug in the possible contenders as "A's, B's, C's or X's", pick the kind of wager I want to make, (of course it does multi-race wagers), MY BUDGET, your betting unit, and it formulates all of your possible ticket combo's for you!

GOD IT RULES! Not only does it save me time, which is vital, but it also makes it easy to save tickets, email them to yourself (or your trusty parlay partners), AND GIVES YOU A CALL OUT SCREEN SO YOU CAN JUST GO TO THE WINDOW AND READ IT OFF TO THE TELLER! I swear to god if this App could put ice and bourbon in a glass and hand it to me I'd probably marry it.

So anyway, it's definitely not as life changing as the first time I saw Lisa Hutchins jog across the soccer field in her pink angora sweater back in 5th grade.....but it's up there.

Check it out race fans:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ticketmaker/id367643869?mt=8

There is also a version you can use just on your home computer: http://www.drf.com/formulator/ticketmaker.html

That's all I got,
raychihasspoken

Belmont Stakes Blowout - 2010

Um Yeah,

You do everything you can to prepare for a big race day. You watch the key prep races, pour over the work out reports, try to decipher any clues from the plethora of pre-race articles, (of course check what Beyer and Crist think), and then most importantly: You grab a tasty beverage, sit down, and you get comfortable with the Daily Racing Form for about 8 hours and do your homework!

Sometimes though, even if you've done all of the things you are supposed to do, it all still goes horribly wrong.

I definitely can not remember a time in the over a decade I've been betting on the Triple Crown, that the favorite got smoked by some ridiculous long shot, this many times on one day. There were even a few of the races, (including the Belmont), that the favorite was out of the money all together!

So this is what I always do in the eyes of defeat, (I mean BESIDES drinking 15 glasses of Bourbon by myself with the shades drawn), I go home, open The Form, I look at my notes, and see how I could have possibly whiffed so badly. How did I miss that horse? Why when I was formulating all of my bets, wasn't that horse included? Was there something I overlooked, forgot, misread, or am I just a total Jackass? (Don't answer it's a rhetorical question.)

So that is what I did and you know what, I couldn't have picked ANY of those horses in races 9-13. None of them.

• Champagne d'Oro - Too slow, and far superior competition in the race.
• Winchester - Seriously? Against Gio Ponti AND Court Vision? C'mon!
• Drosselmeyer - Um let's see, hasn't had a 1st place since January, is spotting 11 Beyer points to Ice Box, AND had continuous sore leg problems AND was working out in bar shoes?
•  (Um, pass whatever your smokin buddy, cause it must be the good stuff.)
• J L Bernstein /Ezzy - (Ray Chi's spirit was broken, so he left and didn't watch, but a 10-1 and 17-1 culminated in a $6,884 Pick 3 and a $349,628 Pick 4. WOW.)

Just remember it's a horse race, and anything can happen. Sometimes you just get blown out by a 39.5-1 shot who goes wire to wire, (even though he was only like the 8th fastest horse, ran a bounced 60(!) in his last race, and had been beaten ALREADY by one the races' leading contenders, BUT he probably got a slap-shot on the ass of Crystal Meth before he ran.) It happens. BUT does it happen ALL DAY on Belmont Stakes day? No not really. So shake it off and have a cocktail or ten, stop being such a baby, and get back up on the horse.

Seriously, there's a $930,495 carryover on Wednesday and I've got work to do. Who's up for a Parlay?

Today's Hourly Rate: - $50.50hr


That's all I got,
raychihasspoken