Use these free picks for your straight win, place and show bets, or for exotic wagering like the Daily Double, Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta and Pick 4 and Pick 5 bets at America’s top tracks.
Please note: While the tracks listed below are currently presenting active racing meets, not all tracks may have live racing TODAY.
Received an e-mail this morning from Michael Blowen, founder of Old Friends, reporting sad news. Fortunate Prospect, his elder statesman of retired stallions, passed away. “Grandpa’s” obituary from the Courier-Journal… “Fortunate Prospect, a top sprinter and broodmare sire, was euthanized due to complications of old age on Thursday at Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Center in Georgetown, Ky.
The son of Northern Prospect out of the Lucky Debonair mare Fortunate Bid was 31.
Michael Blowen, president and founder of Old Friends, where the stallion had been pensioned since 2006, made the announcement Friday morning.
Fortunate Prospect was a graded-stakes-winning sprinter with 39 starts and 13 wins, including the Grade III San Vicente Stakes and the Equus Handicap at Garden State Park. His earnings totaled $439,875.
Following his racing career, Fortunate Prospect spent nearly two decades at Michael Sherman’s Farnsworth Farms near Ocala, Fla., where he became one of the truly great stallions in Florida breeding history.
He sired 537 winners, 28 of them stakes victors. His 632 runners — including top filly Fortunate Card and chief earner Suave Prospect — have earned nearly $38 million on the track.
The stallion also gained recognition over the years as a top broodmare sire: His daughter Successful Dancer is the dam of multiple stakes winner Successful Appeal.
His daughter Flambe produced recent Santa Anita Handicap winner Ron the Greek.
“Grandpa was our oldest retiree and one of our flagship residents,” Blowen said in a release. “He was incredibly gentle and was beloved by everyone at Old Friends and by every visitor. He was the kindest, sweetest stallion we’ve ever had, and he will be greatly missed.
“His offspring are still filling race cards all over the country, and we’re incredibly happy to have been a part of his amazing legacy.”
In this well-crafted video, Old Friends founder, Michael Blowen, tells the heart warming story of the magnificent mare, Hidden Lake, and how she found peaceful, loving residence at the Old Friends Farm. The Eclipse Award winner is cited for running one of the most courageous races ever at Saratoga Racetrack in 1997 when she was just 4-years old. Her very promising career came to end after this race as a result of her health being greatly compromised by a severe case of dehydration which nearly claimed her life. Ridden that day by award-winning jockey, Richard Migliore, years later the two were reunited at Old Friends on what Mr. Migliore deemed as one of the best days of his life. Hidden Lake’s story is one that is very well worth seeing, hearing and enjoying as it is an Old Friends success story that you can help perpetuate by simply donating funds or by buying an Old Friends calendar or the Primerica book.
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Speed figures are important indicators to picking winners.
A speed rating compares a race horses’s final time to the track record at that same distance or a specific distance established in prior season. Let’s say the track record has a rating of 100. Since a difference of length (a horse’s length) is approximately 1/5 of a second, for each 1/5 of a second that the horse is slower than the track record, one point is deducted.
So, if a horse is two seconds off the track record (10 lengths behind) that horse would receive a speed rating of 90. Should a horse finish 10 lengths behind the winning horse in a race in which the winner was one second slower than the track record, then the losing horse’s speed rating would be 85. Don’t worry too much if it’s not crystal clear. It’s probably not too terribly important for a bettor to understand exactly how speed figures are calculated. It’s more important for a bettor to determine how to use this information when handicapping the field. A horses’s speed history is obviously important. His last speed rating and the average speed rating of his last three races is typically reported in a Past Performance program. It’s not as though a bettor needs to calculate speed ratings based on raw data extracted from unintelligible charts or tables. Speed ratings are readily availiable.
Consider the Beyer Speed Figure, devised by Andrew Beyer, it is widely used and is another method of grading a horse’s performance in a particular race on a particular day. It has been incorporated into the past performances charts since 1992. The Beyer speed figure takes into consideration the track’s surface, the class of horses, the distances and the average times run on the day of the race, and makes a summary of the day’s racing card. Beyer used all of this information plus some other adjustments to come up with his speed figure. Since its inception, it has been a highly regarded measurement of a horse’s speed and this is significant due to the fact that very often the fastest horse in the race is the horse that wins the race. Common sense you might think, and it is true that some of the processes of handicapping are only applications of common sense.
But, the highest speed number does not always automatically reveal the identity of the winning horse. It is merely one more indicator a handicapper needs to evaluate and mix with the overall anaysis of a race. As has been discussed in other articles here at HorsePlayUSA.com, current form, condition, pace, the jockey and trainer, the track’s condition at race time and more are all elements to review and consider when attempting to pick your winners.
Current form impacts all other handicapping considerations.
From Handicapping 101, current form is the physical condition of the horse… now… today… the day of the race on which you are going to bet. It is measured or determined by what a horse has done in the recent past. It represents and is a good indicator of what a horse is capable of doing in the present. It is usually based on races (and workouts) that have occurred no earlier than 45 days prior… any earlier might not be a good indication of a horse’s current form. Horses get sharp for limited periods of time, then tail off… and very often get sharp again. These patterns, or “form cycles”, usually can be identified by a series of races.
The ups and downs of a racehorse’s career are conspicuous. At times, a racehorse would rather do anything than race. Sometimes, they simply go through the motions, similar to humans. Have you ever had a bad day? Or a bad week? Horses do, too.
The handicapping process always starts with the horse. Some are sharp and healthy, others are dull and disinterested. A sharp horse is “in form,” and generally can be relied on to produce an effort that corresponds to previous top efforts. His recent efforts are strong, his workout pattern is solid, the class level at which he is racing is sensible. A horse that is “off form” has tailed off, or is in the process of tailing off. His recent races are subpar, or his speed figures declining; his workout pattern may be flawed, or the class level at which he is racing unusual. Because of the substandard current form, the horse is likely to fall short or prior accomplishments.
Without (evaluating) form, it may not matter that a horse routinely earns faster speed figures than his rivals. Without current condition, pace is less relevant. In the absence of form, class hardly matters. Make no mistake… speed, pace, and class are key, but only in the context of current condition.
From the complete video series, “Meet An Old Friend”, Michael Blowen, founder of Old Friends thoroughbred retirement farm, and his wife Diane introduce CREATOR in a highly enjoyable and entertaining video profile. CREATOR (GB) is the 1990 winner of The Prix Ganay at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France. After his marvelous run in that race, Creator went on to be injured in the Budweiser International… an unfortunate mishap occuring early in his career that ended what many thought was a highly-promising future.
From racing, CREATOR went to Japan to stand stud, and was brought back to the USA to find safe, permanent retirement residence at the Old Friends thoroughbred retirement farm in Kentucky. He has been a favorite at Old Friends for more than 7 years… where he enjoys tasting and eating exotic fruits like strawberries and pears from Harry & David… a gift from an Old Friend fan. Old Friends is home to many retired thoroughbreds and conducts public tours daily. Visit Old Friends for more information. The complete video series is produced by WinPlaceSold.com in Lexington, KY.
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Enjoy this brief video profile of Champion race horse, Commentator.
Meet this wonderful old friend… champion race horse, COMMENTATOR! Michael Blowen, founder of Old Friends thoroughbred retirement farm, introduces COMMENTATOR in this episode of the farm’s beautifully-crafted video series “Meet an Old Friend“. COMMENTATOR is the two-time winner of Saratoga’s Whitney Handicap and was New York Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008. COMMENTATOR won 14 races with career earnings of $2,049,845. COMMENTATOR retired from horse racing in 2009, and then thoughtfully and carefully found his way to living the quality life he earned and deserves at the Old Friends farm in Kentucky. Visit Old Friends to see and enjoy COMMENTATOR, plus the company of other retired thoroughbred champions – Public tours are conducted daily. And, don’t forget the Old Friends 2012 Calendar… purchase it and you will be helping the important and worthy cause of the rescue of retired race horses!
“5 things to look for when handicapping a horse race”
In this “how-to handicap” video produced by the TVG Horse Racing Network, the subject, “5 things to look for when handicapping a horse race” are featured and discussed as they pertain to information reported in the Past Performances (PP’s) program of a race horse field. The video highlights the importance of (1) Class Moves, (2) Pace, (3) Significant Equipment, Jockey or Trainer Changes (such as “Blinkers On”), (4) Beaten Favorites and lastly, (5) Troubled Trips. If you are just beginning to understand or are fairly new to race horse handicapping, you will be shown where this information is found in a PP and learn how to read a program in terms of determining the importance of these five handicapping indicators. See also the related article, “Four Key Horse Handicapping Considerations“.
