Half Mile Tracks and Early Speed
 

Wrote something on it with stats from Ray. Thanks again Ray.

http://www.harnessracingupdate.com/2...e-track-blues/

Point well taken. Many years ago I lived near the old Roosevelt Raceway and because I owned a few shares of stock had free admission. I would go out every night just for something to do. My betting vehicle was a show parlay the goal of which was to Show in 10 consecutive races which most of the times took two nights.

My strategy was simple. I would only bet horses coming out of posts 1-4. They had to have early speed and look like they belonged in the race.

More often than not I was successful and collected on my parlay. One time using the same strategy but not parlaying the payoffs I collected on 29 consecutive show bets.

I know I am probably in the minority, but when I used to go live five days a week, each of us throwing in $5 and deciding on horses for our show parlay is something I enjoyed. Great memories.

29 consecutive show wagers?:)
you woudnt be Brian "McNickles" father or G father by chance, would ya? date any girls in the tioga downs area "back in the day"?

miss that cat....+ the lockmeisters and all the :pound::lol: that came with them:D

There are things that can be done to improve half mile harness racing. But, it's very hard to make changes. The drivers, owners, and trainers couldn't care less, especially at Yonkers, where they are making a good living. The tracks are afraid to make drastic changes because they don't want to lose the chalk bettors.

Good stuff Dean. Looking forward to Part 2.

At Yonkers yesterday, we saw two of ways that the sport can offset the speed and post bias, longer races, bigger fields. In the mile and a quarter trot races that have ten horses (two start from second tier), $31.60 winner, rallied from 7th...$16.60 winner (pocket)...$9.80 winner from post 6...$11.80 winner...$118.50 winner from second tier...$35.60 winner...$5.40 winner...

In the seven mile and a quarter trotting races, only one wire to wire winner. Yannick Gingras, who is the best driver of a trotter, in my opinion, won three of the seven races and won with the two biggest longshots.

Having two trailers gets the flow going earlier because the horses are already outside, which makes for a more competitive race, and, the longer distance is more tiring so it's difficult to just go out and bottom out the field on the front end. This makes for a slower pace which allows the outside flow to get into striking position, so the races are more balanced (less wire to wire and pocket winners). Payoffs are better in these competitive trot races, which are bet heavily in Europe.

Thanks CJ.

Thanks for this Bob. I'll reference you in Part II. That's super interesting.

Part II. Thanks for everyone's help!

http://www.harnessracingupdate.com/2...etter-product/

I can't remember which tracks tried the slanted gate years ago, but gave it up. But at The Meadows it certainly helps, not only the outside posts, but The Meadows is also one of the least speed favoring tracks. Having the outside horses leave helps keep the pace honest.

I remember that too. I wondered why it died, but I assume it was because of complaints from factions, rather than data, because as the Meadows shows it seems it has some worth.

It's hard to make changes because the tracks get a lot of complaints, either from the horsemen, or the bettors. Nobody seems to want change but without it the sport will continue to die.

As Dean Towers points out in his column, when the Meadowlands opened in 1977, hard core harness fans who were used to the half-mile tracks (Yonkers and Roosevelt) seemed to hate the Meadowlands because so many big longshots won and horses rallied from far off the pace. But the Meadowlands didn't need to get all of the current fans on board. It created its own fan base and it also had by far the highest percentage of crossover thoroughbred bettors who felt that the Meadowlands harness product was similar to thoroughbred racing.

The bottom line is, you should always try to put out the best product you can and don't worry about the naysayers.

:ThmbUp::ThmbUp::ThmbUp:

Another job well done.

Western Fair?
 

Why can't the half milers at least only put 7 on gate with 1 or 2 trailers, like Western Fair. In a 9 horse field there(2 trailers), only one post has less than an 8% strike rate, the #7 hole

I used to hate trailers but now I agree, that's better.