Who is the best handicapper in here?

[Railbird]

I heard it was Inside The Pylons. Does everyone agree with that?

[The Actuary]

It depends on what you're betting and where and the sort of approach you prefer,

No doubt ITP is a very accomplished handicapper,

so are several other inhabitants of this place,

I have yet to come across a forum with this much racing talent.

One of the reasons I originally started posting at the site to begin with was because all the other racing forums I had seen sucked,

I figured if a couple of us posted decent content from time to time eventually others would find there way here as there really was nowhere else with any broadbased quality. Most have a product their selling and thier forums support the product or they were full of touts and shills, or they contained alot of babbling idiots.

It's also no surprise but you'd really have to dig deep and far to find harness talent like what is present here.

So why do you care?

[gradysfalcon]

itp does no his racing no doubt about it he is a sharp as they come hard to get anything past him.

every person in this racing forum has his or her special tracks they are good at and some guys are good at all the t-bred tracks.

and the 2 best harness guys on the net are in this forum beast & gamblertony.

[Dennis]

Far too modest G.(way too modest)
Your right there as is Picksix,Raisencain and Cerb on harness front, (Im sure I forgot someone)-KiwiSteve has great insights as our man from down under-Weve a few europeans also that keep us in touch with goings on there

[beast]

Grady,
Thank you for the kudos, there are MANY very good handicappers here
at M/W, and I , or anyone, would be remiss in saying who is the best. I am just
glad that such array of talent has converged on one site. I think the best thing
about this forum is the diversity of venues that we cover, and that MOST, if not
ALL of us respect each others opinion. That does not mean that if something that
someone says may be deemed "objectionable", that that party will not be called
on it. I guess I am the biggest culprit as far as that goes. I will challenge you
if what you say is either false or ludicrous[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Railbird]

TA,

Reason I was curious is because I only play the TripleCrown races, I dont handicap horses, but I handicap the handicappers.

[alysheba88]

Railbird,

Hope to see you hanging around here more. We like independent thinkers here.

I can't say there is one handicapper who stands out above others. There are many solid cappers here. ITP, TA, Holy Bull, Slew, Beast, Raisencain, Rockingham, GradysFalcon, Dennis, and basically everyone else I have left out. As a few people have said, you have to follow their respective strenghts. If you want to know of a horse is fast enough to get the lead then TA is your man. Best speed capper here. Slew brings a disciplined win approach. Sticks to win and stays on his game. HB is a strong overall capper who does alot of data base research. Rockingham seems more of a gut capper (like me) and is very underrated. Always has a good opinion. The "harness" guys are the best on the net bar none. Not one to bet people blindly but our group deserves that respect. Turk and P-head are good Euro handicappers. Again, apologies to anyone I left out. I learn from everyone here. Yes, you too Timmy. I do appreciate class and breeding.

[gradysfalcon]

aly
very well said and sumed up the board perfect.

[FIREHORN]

I read this forum often but don't post much. Several seem great at times, but I enjoy Harness Racing and as for as Illinois, Beast is as good as you will find anywhere. Gradysfalcon is Great for Cal Expo and there are so many more I won't start naming because I don't want to forget and leave out anyone. Again, even though I seldom post I think all you guys do a great job. Keep up the EXCELLENT work.

[Railbird]

Aly,


I was listeing to the Co owner of 10 most wanted on the radio yesterday and he was saying that bad handicappers look at times, he was saying his horse was clearly the wiseguy play, he was saying there was so many tracks involved and certain tracks are deep, and the times meant next to nothing. I am not a race fan but I like the pagentry and the energy of the triple crown races.

[FENWAY]

There all great , kicking butt in the capping contest

[gamblertony]

Maybe I don't understand the definition of "handicapper" or even the word "best", because except for Dennis who mentioned PickSix, no one else gave him any snaps. Uh, didn't we just have a fairly long contest (which in my opinion is the ONLY way to determine a person's true skill as my pet monkey could hit a million in one night) and didn't PickSix do well? Maybe harness racing doesn't count...I don't know.

So I guess my question is...what makes a "good" or even "best" handicapper? Once that is defined then maybe I can better understand where I stand on the question, though I already have a few opinions on the subject, which I might add were arrived at only after I employed a unique set of variables. (sorry...couldn't resist)

[maria sharapova]

Although I'm not familiar with the capping contest on this
board,i'm rather sceptical a contest would provide enough
evidence to suss out the differing capping skill levels of
the punters on this site. Correct me if i'm wrong,but i don't
believe there are any fixed odds available for wagering
on american races(other than exchanges like betfair).
So without this option it seems to me that contestants
would have to bet blindly on their contest selections
and just hope the price will remain juicy enough.
I know one could stipulate a minimum odds level,but this
still totally ignores a punter's ability to correctly assess
the proper odds for every runner in the race.The latter
skill could only be worthwhile in american racing by
being aware of odds at the off.Which i'm assuming,
for reasons of fairness,were not available to contestants.

[gamblertony]

Out of curiousity, how is someone determined to be good at assessing the proper odds for every runner in a race (if that is what "handicapping" is)?

[maria sharapova]

a horse may be a fourth choice in your selections,but if
he were considered a no-hoper by the crowd,wouldn't it
be worth a wager?? If you consider a horse sufficiently
underbet,--and hence worth a wager--might it not strenghten
your convictions if you could identify the horse/horses that
are being overbet???
I did forget to mention that Oddsmakers better be able
to cap every horse in the field with some degree of precision
or be relegated sussing out the "form" of the runners at
Steeple Downs.

[Dennis]

Handyman,BuckSwope,SeattleSlew,Beppo,Soonerfan,Ill iniosSports,JJgold.... We got to mention everybody theres no weak links here.I know theres more I forgot
We have newcomers Lyn,Sherry,Obiwan,Jim who I know but board doesnt- they are all excellent and have won contests in past(some are multiple winners)

Rev- if I had a few hundred in my pocket and visited any of these guys at the track, without a doubt Id have no qualms in following their plays

Your real question- the Triple Crown Series.
My personal record is
Way up on KentuckyDerby and Preakness(up for life on both no matter what I do my next 53 yrs)
Belmont is my "home" track- the big priced winner in the BelmontStakes there has alluded me.(I think I party too much during the festivities,LOL)

Go Figure

[gamblertony]

I agree that if a horse were being overbet it should be avoided and if it were being under bet it should be hit more. Now, I guess, my next conclusion would be that those that can do that best would be winners in the long run. Anyone could get lucky here and there and have a winning selection and if he/she chose only to tout 100-1 horses, eventually they would look like a genious. But, a real skilled player is one who wins over time, not just on a day or a pick or a race. So, if a contest were long enough, I think it would weed out good handicappers from those that aren't good.

please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't good books (ie good handicappers) win over time? and don't bad ones fold due to lack of funds (ie losing)?

[maria sharapova]

I'm not sure if we are in disagreement about the same
thing,or in agreement about two different concerns. My
Comment about contests was related to the lack
of fixed odds in american racing.If people are asked to
handicap a race and offer a selection,how can they
expertly do so without knowing the prices involved.
If the contest (actual or hypothetical) was conducted
with the punters knowing the prices at the off,and
making a selection at the off,then i retract my critique
somewhat.

[The Actuary]

Maria,

Cerb's contest was very good,

it included not only pool bets but fixed odds match ups as well,
it encompassed a fairly reasonable amount of time and possessed some degree of money management facets,

although by nature contests contain some degree of contest strategy that does not exist in real life,

one could never generate the aggregate profit in exchange betting that is available in the pools or offshore for North American racing,

so it would be distorted in a contest as well.