Preparing for the contest

[Bill C]

As a newcomer to HTR, I'm excited about the seminar and also the contest that follows it.

In several of the old newsletters, reference has been made to preparing in advance for the contest, and I, for one, would sure welcome some discussion on how the various established and successful members make those preparations. Just showing up and being handed eight tracks for each of three days could be like getting a drink of water from a fire-hydrant!

It would be good to know what can be done, and what is done days in advance, in preparation, and also how the players handle the cards on the day before each card when they first look at them, and then as the contest goes on. How the possible plays are arrived at and sorted out.

And of course, I need to know what kind of celebrating goes on after the contest is over!! ;)
I'm sure the members get together and "tip a few!"

Bill Conklin

[dehere]

Bill - let me give you a post to check out. This is a blog I created during the NTRA national contest last year at Bally's in January. I don't give you this to in any way imply that I knew what I was doing or to give you any great insight on how to handle a contest such as this. Rather I mention it to you only so that you can see a running commentary of the angst and stuff that goes on during one of these things. This was only a two day contest but one could extrapolate to how nutty things must be by the end of the third day. And, yes, the beers at the end of the thing were most welcome. The blog begins at the end of the contest and goes backwards. You'll need to negotiate back to the beginning of the thing through a couple of lnks but it may be an enjoyable read fer ya.

http://horseracing.typepad.com/

[km]

Gold Coast is a wild one Bill - 45 plays over 3 days and bombs away from everyone.

I'll give you brief below, and we'll discuss it all in detail at the seminar (read June 2004 newsletter page-2)

Last year our table (Mayo, Massa, Castillo, Gallo, Ramos) had nearly everyone scoring about 20,000 points. We figured we would all cash - nope - not quite good enough. So my suggestion is to make the goal 25,000. The winner last year had 28,000 points, I believe.

The format is $200 wp = points.
A horse paying $20 and $10 (win - place) will return 3000 points when you hit it. Can you hit 8 or more $20 winners in 45 tries to get 24,000 points? Not likely, it will be necessary, as it is in all Coast contest to get 2 or more bombs paying $40 or more. Last year I got about 20,000 points w/ just 3 winners and 2 place hits. They were all were all big longshots. One more and I was in the chips - but that was probably true of a 100 other players. The distinction between winning $50,000 and getting nothing is very small in this contest and it is absolutely necessary to play agressively or you can't accumulate the needed points to cash a check.

Map your strategy to get 25,000 points and remember that it is near impossible to score that high with low priced winners. All of our best players will be at the seminar and we'll have plenty of time for Q & A and discussion on strategy. We will also be having a cash contest that emulates the Gold Coast format to give everyone a little practice session.

[Bill C]

Hey, Dehere! Great post, and what a thrill that must have been to have your team take the team prize! I'm looking forward to meeting you, Dehere! I liked your namesake, whom I saw run several times, and also HIS namesake, who was a hell of a basketball player at Seton Hall.
Your "blog" was very engaging, and it did give the feeling of "being there."

I have been in a couple of contests before, some yrs ago at Cal-Neva in Reno, but just not using HTR, and I'd be interested in knowing what kind of things I can do in advance, that'll make the work easier. I'm afraid that by the day of the seminar it'll be too late to do any preparation. Plus, I'd like to have a feel for how to handle all of it at once. Somwe perspective on what it takes to get from that download on Weds. night to the first post at Belmont on Thursday, confident and with a list of horses that have a good shot at a price.

So there you are; it's 8:30 PM Wednesday night, and you've been at the HTR seminar all day. No doubt you're tired, yet the first post for the contest tomorrow is 10:00 AM. You've just downloaded all 8 tracks, plus trainer data, and you have printed off profiles for the last month at all 8 of them.

How does one now approach the task of using HTR methods to narrow down what one will play? What does one try to do as the day opens? What is the target? Bombs, great! But how do you get to the bombs?

bc

[km]

re: strategy for longshots

It is well documented in past issues of the HTR Newsletter. There is also an article "Getting Bullish with Longshots Redux" Especially check the newsletter issues around March/April and Oct/Nov that covered the Orleans prep and results. The HTR Library has all this in the archives. You have 5 weeks to read it all Bill :)