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YOU ARE THERE Check out the new YOU ARE THERE feature. We bring you the action, both on-track and off, for the entire Saratoga race meet.
2-11. Really a blah end to the meet as the wet weather washed four of the seven scheduled turf races onto the main track. And the card as a whole wasn't particularly exciting.
So we ended with two winners on top. In the 1st ($15.60) and the 4th ($7.70). We also had a nice cold exacta ($64.00/$2) in the 1st to start the day.And then there were some other assorted gimmicks amongst the picks -- but nothing worth crowing about.
Really a special meet for Saratoga's Best Bets and our readers. We eventually came back to earth -- as was to be expected -- after our incredible start. Two weeks into the meet we still were shooting 50% with our picks on top. Almost unheard of accuracy.
But even though things slowed down thereafter we still managed to plug along at a good rate and we ended the season at 112-343. Of the public handicappers we follow those numbers put Best Bets in a respectable position. The complete chart is below. You'll note that Tom Cunningham of the Albany Times-Union and Russ Harris of the NY Daily News put a little distance between themselves and the rest of the field -- but the next pack, including Best Bets, all had remarkable seasons. And it's worth noting -- at least from over here at Best Bets where we only concentrated on Saratoga races -- that some of these handicappers grabbed a couple extra wins by cherry picking 2-5 favorite Bare Necessities in the Gardenia from Ellis Park and 5-2 Sulamani in the Arlington Million -- a couple of simulcast events...
But more significantly Best Bets beat the meet! We finished #1 where it counted, in the pocketbook! Of all the public handicappers we track who publish their season-long win-bet tally only two, our own Seth Merrow of equidaily.com and Nick Kling of the Troy (NY) Record/Saratogian showed flat bet profits. Kling had a return of $698.90 on $692 wagered ($2 win bet on each of 346 races).
We also have a quite extraordinary stat involving superfectas -- boxing our top four selections in the super each day would have garnered a super 108% ROI. See below...
Other stats of interest:
Races played... There were 343 races played over the six week meet.
Winners on top... We selected 112 winners on top over the 343 races. The total return for a $2 wager on each top selection was $702.90.
Exactas using our top two selections... Our top two selections combined for 40 exactas (27 cold). Total return was $1016.40 ($2 wagers).
Highest exacta involving our top two selections... $260.00/$2, race 4, 8/21.
Exacta using our top three selections... Our top three selections accounted for 89 exactas in the 343 races (including the 40 listed above). The total return on the 89 winning gimmicks was $3036.20.
Highest exacta using our top three selections... Same as listed above, $260.00, race 4, 8/21.
Note: Triples were not offered on every race during the meet.
Triples, cold... We called 7 tri's on the button, 1-2-3 in exact order (one of these 1-2-3 finishes was in a race that did not offer a tri wager).
Triples, top three boxed... Our top three selections rounded out the tri in 24 races (including the 7 listed above... Five of these tri's were in races that did not offer a tri wager). Total return was $1537.00.
Highest triple using our top three selections... $344.50/$2, race 1, 8/30.
Triples, top four boxed... Our top four selections accounted for 70 tri's (including the 24 listed above... Nine of these tri's were in races that did not offer a tri wager). Total return was $9072.70
Highest triple using our top four selections... $1071.00/$2, race 5, 8/27.
Superfectas using our top four selections... There was one superfecta offered each day for a total of 36 opportunities. Our top four selections accounted for 3 of those superfectas (in all three of those races our top selection won). On 7/26, $215.50/$2. On 8/2, $1331.00/$2. And on 8/13, $2028.00/$2. A $1 superfecta box using our top four selections each day would have cost $864.00 (36 X $24), and it would have returned $1787.25 for a positive ROI of 108%.
Below is a comparison among the top public handicappers following the Saratoga race meet.
Note: Discrepancies in total number of races played is due to some handicappers losing races due to scratches or adding races with simulcast plays.
|
Tom Cunningham Albany Times Union |
128-346 |
|
Russ Harris NY Daily News |
121-345 ... $651.20 |
|
Mark Cusano Daily [Schenectady] Gazette |
116-345 |
|
Tom Law Saratogian |
116-343 |
|
Nick Kling Troy Record/Saratogian |
113-346 ... $698.90 |
|
Seth Merrow Best Bets - equidaily.com |
112-343 ... $702.90 |
|
Dave Little NY Daily News |
112-342 ... $658.10 |
|
Bill Heller Daily [Schenectady] Gazette |
112-345 |
|
Matt Graves Albany Times Union |
109-346 |
|
Bill Taylor Saratogian |
107-345 |
|
Sherry Ross NY Daily News |
103-344 ... $674.30 |
|
Debbie L NY Post |
100-327 ... $570.00 |
|
John Pricci Saratogian |
99-346 |
|
Tim Wilkin Albany times Union |
98-334 |
|
Mike Jarboe Albany Times Union |
94-345 |
|
Jerry Bossert NY Daily News |
87-342 ... $551.20 |
|
Vic C NY Post |
86-331 ... $555.20 |
|
John DaSilva NY Post |
82-335 ... $566.10 |
|
Ed Fountaine NY Post |
78-334 ... $553.80 |
|
Mike Lipack NY Daily News |
75-341 ... $541.10 |
|
Tom V NY Post |
53-220 ... $430.80 |
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