In all sports, from Thoroughbred Racing to Soccer, we love to make comparisons. Is David Beckham on par with Pele? Does Barry Bonds really stack up to Hank Arron? If Curlin win the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) on Saturday, will he honestly occupy a place in history once held by “the unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar?”
As I stated in Handicapping Part One, I firmly believe that one can make long-term profits wagering on Thoroughbred Racing. There are, of course, many factors to be considered when undertaking such a challenge. You will notice that this is my second post about handicapping that does not contain any actual handicapping information. That is, I have not yet addressed the actual process of selecting horses. It might seem that picking winners is the most important part of this game, but I believe it is actually less than 50% of the game. There are larger challenges to be conquered. And, the largest of these is money management.
“You can beat a race, but you can’t beat the races.”
At one time or another, every aspiring handicapper has heard this. And, at one time or another, most of us have believed it. I mean, it sounds good and seems reasonable. The “races”, after all, appear at first to be this huge mountain of obstacles all stacked against the lone horseplayer. Then, when he wins a single “race,” the horseplayer may decide that a single race can be beaten, but the races will eventually beat him.
Well, I am slowly getting back into the swing of things here. Thanks to all those who showed us support and had patience during my Dad’s illness (which is not over). Today is Thursday, September 4th, and I will use the next few days as well as the weekend to get totally caught up.
The first order of business will be a slight restructuring of the podcast schedule. In speaking with a few advisors, I learned that it was probably a little too ambitious to start off offering two podcasts per week. Not only is it difficult to simply keep up that schedule, it is also a challenge to keep a twice-weekly podcast listenable. So, once a week it is. Without comitting at the moment, I am thinking that Thursday afternoon is the best time to release the show. That way, the upcoming weekend’s races are taking shape, and I can still reference the previous weekend without being too out of date. Of course, I’ll need to post regular blog entries here and there as well.
