Winning
on racing this week?
There's
a bloke who communicates with me from time to time called
Kim. Never met him. Wouldn't know him if I fell over
him in the street - which would be regrettable set of
circumstances from his perspective as middle age has
not been kind from an increasing girth angle. There
was a time I could have made the weight to ride Crisp
or Lots of Time but that time has passed.
Kim is
pretty obsessed about research. He occasionally attaches
spreadsheets to his infrequent emails to demonstrate
the progress he is making with his projects and to say
they are expansive is an understatement. I have no idea
how many hours a day he spends on this but I imagine
over a week they would be considerable.
He analyses
every system, from a rough count of the number of headings,
with data sub sets covering at least 90 to 100 angles.
Things that encompass ideas like distance, field size
and number of first up performers in every field through
to race age restrictions and positions at the turn for
the last three races they competed in. I kid you not,
in the last work out he sent me there must be 60 pages
of data and statistics. I don't think there's enough
in the big black ink tank to print it all out.
So what's
this guy about? Is he obsessed about stats or, heaven
forbid, driven to win?
There's
an old gag about the two drunks sitting in the park
and one says to his mate "my wife drove to me to
drink". His mate replies "Lucky bastard. I
had to walk".
So
what drives this bloke to win? The fear of losing? The
compulsion to find an angle that is not in fashion at
the moment that creates a winning percentage over and
above the traditional? I plead guilty to both counts,
Your Honour. What it does prove is the old adage: you
only get out of (racing) something, whatever
you are prepared to put in to it.
And
it doesn't matter if you are talking about racing or
athletics or politics or working at Bunnings or performing
on American Idol. (Speaking of that - if you can get
on a singer called Jacob Lusc(?) for this year's final,
get on - he's as close to a certainty as it is possible
to find in those competitions - brilliant singer - unbelievable
voice and presence - a stone bonker if ever there was
one........I digress. (May 2011 update: He lost!)
Back
to racing - what you get
out will only ever be in direct proportion to what you
put in.
How
often do you see people at the TAB or at the races
(not that many go any more) running around like
chooks with their heads cut off trying to get on the
latest shortener at Warrnambool or the latest tip from
the bloke in the corner and having very little idea
about what the horse or dog has done in the past or,
indeed. what it's likely to do today or CERTAINLY no
idea about what a value price about it would be for
today's contest.
If
you can't be bothered putting in the time to analyse
what you should be doing with horse racing, if your
input is nil, I guarantee it will exactly match your
take out.....NIL.
These
pro golfers you see on Foxtel picking up a cool million
for a tourney didn't just walk on to the tee and think
"hey, this is a cool way to make a quid".
They spent years and years and years - countless hours
- practising, and practising and re-practising every
shot they have in their buggy. They weren't born with
it - they practised to achieve it.
Why
would you think gambling is any different?
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