Keeneland?
 

This might be a little pre-mature, but is anyone considering doing Keeneland's handicapping contest in the first weekend of December? It's a top-notch contest (eventhough I haven't done very well there). Just wonderin if any of you guys might wanna meet up?

yikes handicapping in December, what are we going to do, HoosierDaddy Downs?

BR,

I'm sure California tracks are running.

Calder always puts up a great December. No G1's but Calder does run nine G2/G3 races as well as seven or eight other stakes of $100k + between Dec. 2 and Jan.1. Calder's late fall Allowance races are also high quality, especially on the turf.

Actually that's kinda a huge misconception about contests- that you need big time racing to make them worthwhile. It actually the opposite of that. Wide open claiming and allowance races are what makes contests so good. Not Grade 1s with 7 horse fields. There have been contests oragnaizers (I'm not pointing the Prairie Meadows people out... nope not them lol) that don't understand this either.

Contests can be run 2 ways IMO- 1 way is to let the individual bettor pick the races he is to bet on (and sometimes even the type of bet and the amount)

The other is for the contest organizers to pick the races, as long as they are finding wide opend races with big fields.

Keeneland runs theres as kind of a mix between the 2, but they do it right- They give you about 10 different tracks you can bet on, any race, and they say "you're making 10 mythical $2 WP bets on any race you want". But only 1 horse per race...

Hoosier's July 4th weekend contest runs theirs like the 2nd example. They pick each race that you'll do (everyone in the contest does all the same races), but they pick good, wide open affairs.

So seriosuly, the calibur of racing might suck in December. But as long as you can find a few wide-open claiming evets, that's all you need to runa good contest. If you're just into betting graded stakes races, I'd say most contests aren't for you.

For additional info, go to DRF.com or you can go to the specific track's webpage to figure it out. As for keeneland they throw in a kick-ass buffet and free drinks (not sure if booze is free, but coffee and soda are).

That would be fine, but unfortunately I'm probably not driving. It's a $100 contest, but it turns into a $500 venture for me with travel. I don't care, because it's what I love. I lost a top 10 finish and a profitable trip literally by a neck last year, so my luck hasn't been too good. But it keeps me hungry for more.

Just in case you, or anyone else is interested- Last year it was cheaper to fly into Cincy and take a rental car to Lexington (I stayed in Cincy, just drove down for the contest) than it was flying into Lexington. I'll do whatever is cheaper this year. If anyone wants to chip on a hotel room/rental car feel free to contact me.

We got months to plan this out... maybe just "I" lol if no one else is interested. But if you wanna go but you're not sure, you got plenty of time to figure it out. Lata y'all
-Pete

Never ever ever?
Hmm... Do you drive? If you drive I'd be willing to pool in on a hotel room?

driving through IL there are no hills, trust me, I've done it many times
driving top to bottom takes forever, do it once and you'll want to
leap on a plane going home~severe boredom trumps all phobias

Bellamy... that's also true for Western MN, both the Dakotas, Kansas, etc etc etc hehe. Going to school in South Dakota for 2 years... I can claim I've seen Siberia lol.

I'll keep the offer out there If you wanna go in on a hotel room, but I might be stayin in Cincy... I won't know for at least another month or so.

"hooiser daddy" is what the tvg people say
skippy was tellinmg me Anderson, IN and Hoosier was the pits
I'll take his word for it
the other one I've visited~has potential, IN Downs

Hoosier is a lil off the beaten path... it's like 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis. Indianapolis doesn't do much for me... But the track itself was nice. I mean the inside of it was. I don't even think the facility is 10 years old, so it hasn't acquired an indoor tackiness to it yet lol. The contest they run there over July 4th weekend (or I guess the first weekend in July) is nice! Almost as good as Keeneland's hehe. I definately recommend this contest.

As I said before... it's all about what you're into. I prefer to bet on **** claimers and bad allowance horses. It's just what I'm good at. If betting Belmont and So-cal is your thing, I can see how you don't like betting Hoosier. It's all into what you like.

What is the entry fee? I've been wanting to have a showdown with Mr. Immett in Sin City, NV. For those who don't know Mr. I is the "Chris Moneymaker" of handicapping contests. I live about as close to Keeneland as Cincinnatians, so if you need a place, you're welcome to stay here, as long as you return the favor when I need to hit the Mall of America...either way holler at me when you get to KY!

Bellamy,
Thanks for the offer. Usually the entry fee to these contests is $100. I think for both the Keeneland and Hoosier contetsts, they're $100. You're mking mythical wagers, so the $100 goes straight to the prize pool. With my travelling expenses tacked on, I try to keep the trips around $400, but that's what I love doing, so it doesn't bother me much.

The only time any contest gets much more expensive than $100 is if it's a big-time contest for the high-rollers, or if the wagers you are using aren't mythical. My home track, Canterbury, in suburban Minneapolis, makes you use real money in a lot of their contests. So it's will be entry fee+bankroll to get in.

But yeah... I love the $$$, I love the competition involved with these, but more than anything else- I'm tryin to qualify for the big DRF contest in Vegas in January for the big big $$$. The Horse Player World Series (also held in Vegas) would be a nice thing to qualify for too. I've been agonizingly close to qualifying, but haven't quite made it. But these contests also fit my betting style. I love betting longshots, so I'm a boom or bust player. I'm either gonna win the thing or finish last lol.

hit me up at pmayjr@yahoo.com if you're ever coming through. Otherwise I'll hit you up in early December when it becomes Keeneland contest time. Lata
-Pete

Come on man hoosier park sucks. Besides being a a basic ghetto, the class of people there on a typical night is absolutely horrific. You got a good view of it because they cleaned it up for the contest and it was a big day. Indiana downs is 3 times nicer and there is never anyone there. That being said, both tracks play really really wierd depending on the weather so if you don't follow them really closely, you are in for a rough night. Indiana downs is def the place to bet horses in indy. There is an OTB that is actually in downtown but it reeks of smoke and you get a great deal of bums. I think there are 3 or 4 other OTbs in the state, but i can't vouch for those as I haven't been.

Skippy,
Interesting insight. Yeah maybe they did just clean it up when I was there, but the place is farly new, so they had me fooled. Beyond doing the contest there, I don't forsee myself being in Indianapolis for anything else. Either way, it looks a lot better than tacky ****in Turfway. That place is a dump (but it doesn't mean I don't like betting it lol).

I think you're right about the unpredicitability of the races there. They offer good-sized, and usually wide-open on paper races. But I never seem to do well betting the place. Indiana Downs on the other hand... I've hit soem monsters there, both T-Bred and Quarter Horse races.