Beyer in Argentina: Hemisphere Unapproachable?
 

http://www.drf.com/drfNewsArticle.do...1&subs=0&arc=0

Interesting piece from A.B. (live in Argentina) on why it may not be so easy for us to get serious about South American racing as wagering opportunity.

Very entertaining article- thanks for posting the link.

My pleasure.. Other than censoring West Coast slanted posts, it's my #1 priority.

A great read-very cool.

29% take-out? I thought Phily was bad.

Good article. Too bad his figs are biased towards the East Coast.

But, is he a big mouth?

Figures Beyer would like anything pertaining to the South. He probably voted for Dubya.

He's sloppy.

I love the last paragraph. It's classic Beyer.

When I bet a horse named Curius Emperor, and watched the jockey steady him three times before making a suicidal five-wide move, I cursed A. Giorgis at Palermo just as I would curse Joe Bravo at Gulfstream Park, and I searched for the Spanish word for "pinhead."

His original description to me was actually even funnier.

"pinhead" was not the original word, I'm guessing?

It was just something funny about travelling a long way for bad rides.

He can get that identical trip every day at TAM on the turf. No need to leave the country.

That was basically the joke.

Well, some things are universal.

I've never really paid much attention, but doesn't Laurel simulcast races from Uruguay? Are there separate U.S. pools for those races?

Does anybody ever actually bet those things?

I have no idea, was just wondering.

They do Santiago, San Isidro, La Plata, and Maronas. I cant speak for others but I bet them.

For some reason I am not that surprised

They have had a couple really nice cards from Argentina.

There is so little money if you are willing to go deep and have a solid opinion you can catch some very large exactas, tris, supers

Do they pay you in pesos?

American currency. I would rather bet any of the South American tracks as opposed to Laurel whos feed they run off of

Laurel is like La Platter

I bet them too, but the article is right when it says your info is limited. The Past Performances are in a DRF-style format, but it gives you no trainer or jock stats. Also no positions of the horses throughout the races, so you don't know if the horses come from off the pace or on it. No comments either.

You can hit some nice ones there though. They usually have big fields. No dime supers.

"Argentine tracks take a cut of about 29 percent from every peso or dollar wagered - one of the most burdensome rates of any important racing nation. In the United States, where the takeout rate averages 20opercent, the most sophisticated gamblers with the most sophisticated information struggle to eke out a profit of a couple percentage points. How could anyone using the limited data in Argentina overcome a 29 percent takeout?"

Gee, you would have thought the writer would have known this before going down there.

Nice writing style. Crisp, clear and with a direction. I hear Clifford Irving had a nice writing style too.

Thanks for the article. But I don't get it.

In one sentence, he explains how he planned and worked a year in advance.

In another sentence he explained how hard it is to beat a 20% takeout by a couple points.

Then he mentions how the t/o in Argentina is 29% and can't be beat.

I suppose the explanation might be that he thought he'd have such a huge advantage that he could beat a takeout almost half again as much as the those here?

Still, seems a fun way to spend a month.

Probably can write off "vacation" as a business expense, plus gambling losses.

agreed it's a fun month...

It's comforting to see that some people found yet another way to knock Beyer.


Jealous anyone?

Absolutely...and it wasn't a knock at all, at least on my part

It's swell to know you have put me back toward the top of your hit list on your agenda. It's been a while.

Last time I offered anything less than an "Oooooh, that's neat" comment on a Beyer article was a year or so back when he wrote his piece on Sheikh Mo.

You spared no mercy toward me on that one, using the (ever increasingly tiresome) "jealous" tag, quoting alternative meanings of words from Funk & Wagnall's for the arguably objectionable words he chose to use and even sharing my comments with the author.

I remember the "Letters To" section of the DRF the following Sunday where published reader sentiment was, on balance, critical of his piece.

All those people who wrote DRF must have been jealous too.

How did that all work out for Beyer and DRF? I think I recall Mo ending Darley's and Shadwell's business relationship with the Form.

Sheikh Mo must just be jealous too.

Yes, from the brand of cereal you and Beyer eat to the kind of cars you and Beyer drive (or even don't drive), yes, I am unfailingly deeply jealous of you and Beyer.

After all, everybody is, right?

Actually, Bruce, I wasn't referring to you or GBBob.

Paranoid?

Not that I agree with anything in your post other then this quote...but I often wonder how much that is known does not get reported or investigated because mitigating factors such as this.

If a person is going to stick his neck out in print or in sports or in politics, he should expect to have people take whacks at it.

Or do you expect that we should not criticize traines, horses, etc as "yet another criticism?" This country is founded on freedom of speech and this message board as well may be premised upon it.

Care to comment directly on those comments that you dislike?

And another thing: It is funny to see how invariably when a new poster brags about how much money he makes playing the horses he is invariably roasted by veteran posters.

But I guess when I have to read another piece by Beyer with innumerable references to pick fours he has hit I am supposed to humble myself? Yeah how many in that article, anyhow?

The guy is a great writer but that cant cover up the fact tha he is intellectually dishonest and insufferable at pumping his own horn.