CLOSED BOOK EXAM.
Usually, handicapping is the opposite. It’s a game of information, and we have so much at our fingertips: past performances, race replays, the analysis of handicappers we know and trust. It’s as open-book as it gets, thanks in such a huge part to the Internet.
But, I decided to try a little exercise in memory, and in my feel for the circuit: handicapping the card with only the overnight, the list of scratches, and the knowledge that we’re off the grass today. I didn’t look at the past performances, and didn’t look at the morning lines. It’s all based on what I remember about each horse, jockey, and trainer.
It may turn out well. It may turn out to be a disaster, since my memory (as most people’s) tends to lapse at times. If it is a disaster or I do miss an obvious horse, feel free to laugh at me, or harangue me in the comments because of things I got wrong in my notes or logic.
Here are my notes — after all, if I decide to write about this experience afterwards, it would be nothing but redboarding were I not to post something beforehand about my picks and my logic. I also note my top picks in each race, and the horses I’m using in my Pick Fours.
Let’s see how this goes.
Read More »