The Aspiring Horseplayer is the culmination of years worth of my longing to discuss horse racing with interested people around the world.
Be sure to check frequently for updates to some of the main features of this blog:
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highlight videos honoring some of my favorite horses and races.
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The horse watch list for updates on the thoroughbreds I’m currently keeping track of.
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The Beginner’s Corner section for folks that are new to the sport of thoroughbred horse racing.
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My about me and 100 things about me pages for information on me, the blogger.
The purpose of this blog is to provide coverage of thoroughbred racing news, regular handicapping advice on select tracks (usually Hollywood Park, Del Mar, Santa Anita, Pimlico, Laurel, Saratoga, and Delaware Park), as well as the major Triple Crown and Breeder’s Cup races throughout the year.
Where possible, I’ll include related pictures and videos of the events being covered. From time to time I also like to create my own video montages of certain horses or races, which can be viewed on the “custom videos” page. Virtually all of the features of this blog can be accessed through the menus along the top of the screen and along the right of the screen next to the featured stories. On the top of the page you will find access to the About Me, About This Site, Horse Watch List, Custom Videos, and Further Reading pages. In addition, the right hand portion of the screen is devoted to lists including a nifty search feature, and sections highlighting recent posts, user comments, topics, and archival information for all of the posts made to date.
Emphasis in the regular handicapping selections provided by The Aspiring Horseplayer will be placed on the multi-race Pick 4 exotic wager, as that is my wager of preference at the various tracks around the country. I find that it’s a nice blend of both a reasonable probability of success as well as being financially sound (i.e., you don’t have to spend a fortune to make a winning play). In fact, quite often I will skip over races that are not part of a Pick 4 sequence. If you want my opinion on any race not covered in a handicapping update, just leave a comment or drop me a line and, time willing, I’ll respond accordingly.
Feel free to leave comments or questions on this site. I appreciate any feedback I receive as this is my first venture into the blogosphere. In fact, I’d strongly encourage you to leave comments if you are reading this as nothing quite gives a blogger that feeling of supreme satisfaction more than receiving comments from their readers. In order to make this as easy as possible for you, this blog has been made public, meaning you don’t need to have a wordpress account to post comments here. Just tell us who you are and what you have to say – it’s really that simple. No registrations or confirmations are required, although for obvious reasons I do reserve the right to edit/delete any unwelcome comments (such as profanity laced remarks or other inappropriate behavior).
If you have any questions about the “sport of kings” or have an opinion you’d like to share about a specific horse or race, I’d love to hear about it. If you’ve got a horse racing blog of your own then indicate so in your comments or ensure your profile is updated with a direct link to your blog. Aside from reading comments left by readers and giving out profitable horse racing information, another thing that brings me great joy is generating traffic to the blogs of my friends. As a side note about this, please do check out the blogs included in my blogroll. I’ve met some interesting and fascinating people along the way to becoming The Aspiring Horseplayer and it’s my pleasure to share their musings with you.
Lastly, if there is any specific information that you feel this site can offer but is presently not offering, please leave a comment about that as well. I’m constantly tweaking the many features of this blog and would welcome any suggestions you may have. So, in summary: leave comments, leave comments, leave comments, and when you’re not too busy with reading everything else, be sure and leave a comment!
Nice Job on the Late Pick 4!
Why thank you, Mr. Shelton – were you playing last night?
No I wasn’t. Checked your site around 11:30 and watched your selections for Races 5-7 then went to bed. Figured with your coverage in race 8 you had a good shot. Pressure on now, the folks want a winning P4 everyday!
Well, today didn’t quite pan out like I wanted. Our early pick 4 came darn close, but race 7 didn’t play out as planned. Oh well…can’t win ‘em all. You know how hard it is to consistenly hit Hollywood…..actually that’s why I like it so much. I love a good challenge!
Wow babe, this site is quite impressive! Can’t wait to bring home some pick 4s on Froday and Saturday!
hmmmm…interesting debacle…..do I publicly ridicule my wife for her inability to spell “Friday” correctly, or let it slide? I guess since it’s the holidays I’ll let it slide. : )
up in the freezin north stumbled on your site cant get it back will bet hollywood today maybe you can find me tom the not computer geek
Just a little horse story.
We bought my husbands Great-Grandparents home. At one time they trained and owned race horses. I was going throught some things and found an old bank book. (when you still wote your information in pen). I wish I could remember the date, but I packed it away, very early 1900′s.
There was a deposit of over a thousand dollars and a side note saying that his Great-Uncle had paid the mortgage off. One of their horses had just won the largest purse ever in either Ontario, or Canada. The horse was named Josephine.
I haven’t had any luck searching this on-line. Do you of any sites that would have information on something like this?
thebeadden – Well, I gave it the old college try on Google but haven’t been able to turn anything up. Perhaps if we could narrow down the location and confirm Ontario (which track would also help….I[‘m guessing “Woodbine” but don’t know for sure), and if we could confirm whether or not Josephine was a thoroughbred or not. Probably your best bet though will be old newspaper clippings and/or track information that you can research at libraries.
It must’ve been a major Stakes race if she won the largest purse ever at the time, so that should help narrow down what you’re looking for.
So far, all I’ve got is this, which lists several potential “Josephines” that could be the one you’re looking for:
http://www.pedigreequery.com/
(just search under the name “Josephine” and you should return about a dozen entires).
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the information kstafford. Sorry about my typo’s in the previous post. I’ll see what I can come up with. My father frequents the racetrack, and years I had given him an old black and white photo of a race. I had no interest in it then, I’ll have to see if he still has it.
I had no luck with the search engines either, I typed everything I could think of. I’m in the city quite often so maybe I’ll pop by Woodbine and see who I could talk to there.
I haven’t got the racing photo yet, but I found a photo that might be a racehorse. I’ll post it at my site in a few minutes. I don’t want to bother you, but if you get a chance pop by my site and tell me what you think.
I stopped over. Not sure if that’s a race horse or not (It’s hard to tell), but it’s a beautiful horse nonetheless. That isn’t the infamous Josephine, is it? Very fascinating photos. I love photos from bygone eras.
I wish! Then we’d be rich wouldn’t we?
Ijust discovered your web site. love it. im a former trainer from Woodbine. The ssearch for Josephine may be atough one. Woodbine is too young for her time era. Try looking into archives from Greenwood Racecourse, or better yet the infamous Windsor Race course where Man O’War ran his famous match race.
horsefan-thanks very much – I’m sure thebeadden will be very excited to find out some additional sources for information.
Glad you like the blog as well. There are some sections badly in need of an update (horse watch list, 2008 Preakness contenders), so it means the world to me that you enjoy the site.
damn new york racing is terrible a pefect day fast & firm and a million scrathes how do you overnight handicap that. the horsemen run the show there and fans can go to hell. todays scatches add up to more than so cal. in a month new york gets no more bets from me.——glc
nothing worse than a multitude of scratches – makes it impossible to assess pace and other factors ahead of time. Usually get a lot of those at Pimlico/Laurel as well.
On the one hand, if there’s something physically unsound with the horse – okay then. On the other, it often seems a ton of horses are artificially enterred just to ensure races are carded.
Don’t worry – Saratoga is just around the corner.
hello maybe you can help me with this questioin. If using the drf raw speed ratings not beyers how do you adjust for distance changes? Example previous race 6 furlongs 87 raw speed rating todays race 1mile 1/16 what is the rule of thumb for adjusting this number regardless of the distance how do you adjust the number
I’ll be honest, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the raw speed ratings. I’m actually more interested in the track variant for the day and using that to help explain how certain races may have been run.
You probably already know this, but my general rule of thumb for horses stretching out is that they don’t have to expend anywhere near as much raw speed energy in a 1 1/16 mile race as they do in a 6 furlong sprint – especially if they are a “need the lead” type of front runner.
Say they set splits of :22 and :44 in the sprint, I’d expect them to be around :23 and :45 in the longer route….if they want to be around for the finish, that is.
Hopefully that helps.
The only other time I really use the raw speed data is when I’m trying to determine who of a group of 1-3 front running types is likely to win the speed battle and wind up on top. They might not win if the speed battle is too heated, but they can certainly still hit the board.
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I ‘M a first timer to your site and enjoyed it very much..really nice of you to try and help out the new player ,as we know the sport needs people like you!! I like to bet Woodbine ,SO Cal.NYRA, ..There is a great card sunday at Woodbine..the plate trial.and the oaks worth half a million..I like Ingorlise a little in the oaks because i think she is only getting better..If you like anything sunday i’m all ears.Thanks again !! Steven..
Steven,
I’ll definitely be playing along on the Sunday Woodbine card. Too good to pass up. Won’t have time to post any picks, but there’s no way I’m missing that action. Had a ho-hum Saturday today, and am in conservation mode trying to preserver bankroll for the Belmont, Haskell, and major Summer races in the U.S. (I’m up pretty big for the year, but don’t want to get crazy and tap out if I can avoid it). I think Inglorious has a chance in the Oaks. Looks like a tough race.