Archive for March, 2015

Weekend Video Preview

If you’re a trip handicapper, this will be in your wheel-house. Winning Ponies has ALL of the Derby and Oaks preps on site so you can go back and take a good look before you download your E-Z Win Forms. I love to trip handicap, but I hate jumping from place-to-place. Here it is in one […]

Yesterday’s Roses

The roses are blooming in the hot house buildings at Churchill Downs. For the throngs of fans, we see them in our hearts year long. I remember doing a radio show years ago for Turfway Park. Our producer secured us a spot in the old press box area, and I had never attended a Kentucky Derby. […]

It’s All In The Numbers

Most of us hated math class. Notice I said, MOST. There are handicappers who dive into the numbers with a pencil and scratch pad, while others develop and test algorithms to see if a runner is worth the risk. There are handicappers that have been working on their own pace figures for years, and most are […]

Derby Points Starting To Rise In Value

“You’ll miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” I blame my thinking on basketball and the bevy of the hoops action. The old adage used for hoops, tequila drinking, or gambling, resonates in my noggin today. As the point values for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks are hanging in for the final 50-20-10-5 week, you […]

Five Reasons I Love Horse Racing

Do the voices in your head ever tell you to shut it down for awhile? Can you feel doubt creeping in, but you head upstream anyway? Just pick up your feet and keep going. That is the grind. The game requires you to burn away doubt, and ignore the devil in the details. Luck is […]

I’ll Give You Five Million Reasons

Ok, how about five million dollars? No, really. Five million dollars.  Tracks and OTB’s around the nation will be riding high on the visibility of March Madness. The Washington Post reports that March Madness costs the employers $1.2 billion for each hour of basketball televised. Now that’s pretty impressive unless you’re the boss paying all of to watch […]

Invest In The Future Now!

Once upon a time there was the big three: Racing, Baseball, and Boxing. They captured our attention, and one could keep up with the action in the newspaper. How did we go wrong from there? Was there a warning sign we ignored? Most of all, while The Sport of Kings’ is an afterthought in the states. […]

Look Closer!

The old adage of the closer you get the less you see doesn’t apply here. We have approached the golden time of when the road to the roses gets sweeter with every prep. I know, I know. There are more than the law allows, and now more than ever you can examine all of the […]

What’s On My Mind?

We live in a time when people sit in the same room and have a smart phone, iPad, or some sort of techno distraction as we no longer communicate. My girlfriend plays a game on her phone about trivia, and my son texts to his friends. I asked what they wanted to watch, and nobody answered back. […]

You Can Hang A Man More Than Once

Roman Chapa may be the most “shocking” news in racing. Ok, I’ll stop with the electrical humor, but I’ll say the recent news jolted my senses a bit. If you’ve been living under a rock, or if you just don’t like to read about stupid human tricks. Here is the abbreviated version. Chapa was caught […]