How to Spot Losing Favorites
Recently, I’ve been spending quite a
bit of time trying to identify and profit from bad favorites. The logic is
this: If a handicapper can eliminate a horse that controls 30-40 percent of the
win pool (typical for most favorites), he/she can theoretically make money
simply by betting — in proportion to their odds — every other horse in the
field.
This method of play, known as “dutching,”
is said to have been invented by the infamous gangster Arthur Flegenheimer,
a.k.a. Dutch Schultz, in the 1930s and was
especially popular when bookmakers still ruled the racing world.
Today, at least in America, where
pari-mutuel wagering has become the standard, dutching is all but impractical
save for rare instances. Plus, let’s be honest, Dutch Schultz and his ilk undoubtedly
knew when a certain horse or horses would
lose (my guess is they were able to, uh, "persuade" owners/jockeys to help them
achieve their goals rather easily). These days, horseplayers typically don’t
have that luxury; we must deal in probabilities.
Nonetheless, tossing a heavily bet
entrant from win consideration is still desirable — at the very least it eliminates or reduces the “house
advantage,” as evidenced by the table below:
Anything below the listed percentage means that a dutch of all the other runners would result in profits, while anything above the listed percentage entails an incrementally greater house advantage.
For example, if one were to discard
all 6-5 favorites from win consideration, those horses would need to lose at least 77 percent of the time, on
average, for one to eliminate the track takeout and breakage. That’s no small
feat given that such horses, as a whole, typically win around 40 percent of the
time. However, it can be done.
Below are three general guidelines to help you spot vulnerable favorites:
1) Horses ill-suited to today’s surface/pace requirements.
Below are three general guidelines to help you spot vulnerable favorites:
1) Horses ill-suited to today’s surface/pace requirements.
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Holdin Bullets may have been the most
terrible favorite in the history of terrible favorites when he went to post as
the 2-1 betting choice in the 7th race at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 10.
Not only was the Wesley Ward-trained three-year-old coming off of an extended
vacation, he was also going a distance of ground for the first time in his life
and trying a new surface to boot.
Now, look at his pace figures and remember
that turf races — especially turf races at Kentucky Downs, which has many
characteristics of a European course — typically require moderate early speed
rations (ESRs), strong late speed rations (LSRs) and a positive Pace Profile.
Holdin Bullets shows just the opposite
— a ridiculously fast ESR (-17), a horrible LSR (-22) and a negative Pace
Profile (-78 degrees) in his last race.
On Monday, the son of Ghostzapper set the pace for half a mile and faded steadily thereafter; he finished dead last, beaten by 31 lengths.
2) Animals that don’t rank highly in any
of the major handicapping categories — speed, class or form.
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Due to the conditions, the fourth race
at Delaware Park on Sept. 12 matched hard-knocking multiple winners versus younger,
more inexperienced foes.
Ice Pilot was among the latter.
Seven of the nine entrants had more
career wins than the son of Smart Strike and several had superior earnings (and
earnings per start) as well. What’s more, Ice Pilot was coming off a dull
sixth-place finish at Monmouth Park, albeit against better, just 20 days ago. At
even odds, he was the very definition of an underlay.
Ice Pilot finished third.
3) Entrants with moderate credentials
that are getting bet like they are Secretariat.
When I saw Runaway Court was 2-5 on
the morning line in the 7th race at Remington Park on Sept. 13, I
was flabbergasted… and immediately began salivating over the prospect of a negative
show pool.
Sure, Runaway Court looked like a contender in the one-mile
maiden claiming event — she was dropping drastically in class and sported
top-notch connections — but she had never before raced on dirt (see rule 1) and
was being bet like she was Rachel Alexandra.
The daughter of (grass-loving)
Powerscourt went to post at her morning line of 2-5 and was trounced by 34 ¾ lengths.
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Weekend Win Factor Reports
09/16/12 Fairplex Park
09/16/12 Woodbine
