Handicapping decisions are often difficult choices between two or several options that can all be fairly evenly rated.   The single idea that ultimate makes someone decide is often the “DECIDER” of ones success.  The best way to improve your chances at success is to be making decisions between horses that have a decent chance of them “all having a positive expectation”.  Everyone knows the STAR horses give you a great start at having a horse that has a positive expectation, but there are other horses the Power Page points toward, that when crossed indexed with proper pricing, they too can give you another possibility of a “postive” expectation.

If in each race, your final group of contenders was 2,3 or 4 deep and each one was hooked to a concept and price that gave you a chance to really succeed, then you can easily see the advantage you will have over the other guy’s groups of contenders that have paltry results…

A good example of this was at Aqueduct on Friday, when several horses that were top rated on the Power Page had nice value associated with them.  On there own, they might not have qualified as a pop-out-key, but one of the finalists in your contender groupings.  Certainly, the 10/1 actual price on Go Get The Basil had to make everyone look hard at this horse as a play, even with another STAR horse in the race or possible set this race up for a “DOUBLE-KEY” with two complete and separate wagers.   And how nice was it in the very next race when Zero Yield was sitting on top of the rankings at a full 6/1 and came rattling home to a $14.40 mutual just after cashing (hopefully) a $22.20 ticket in the 7t race on Go Get The Basil.   AS it happenned there were several other top rated horses that won, but at small mutual and none of them should have made the final grade as a KEY bet, but all could and should have been used to make an exacta with you eventual KEY horse or in horizontal plays…

There is a difference between betting a KEY — a potential winner with a WIN-PRICE Overlay —  and using a fast horse in a structured exacta wager…  First you have to find the KEY.   The Power Page’s are designed to help you identify both, by giving you the right kind of supporting information on the current form, but you still have to do the heavy lifting — handicapping wise…

With Aqueduct a sea of slop, I selected two plays for my calls on Race Day Las Vegas,  one was Sea To Sky in the 7th and the other was Tahima in the 9th.   They both won, with Sea To Sky paying a handsome $18.20 and Tahima a square price at $8.70.  Interestingly, Ralph Siraco suggested an additional play singling my two selections and using an ALL in the 8th race.  In the 8th race, my 2nd rated horse Score Boyera won paying $21.60.   This play which only cost $5.00, returned $446.00 for the small investment.   This play was particularly interesting as it paid nearly twice the parlay.  The parlay was 8.5 x 9.5 x 3.5 = 282 to 1.  compare with the actual payoff (after breakage) of 446/1.     Unfortunately, Ralph took this part of the play and played it in the Pick 4 and watched his suggested horses run 2nd & 3rd which killed the play Ralph suggested in the Pick 4.

This of course goes under the heading of TURNING MY WINNERS INTO LOSERS.   We all do it and want to find a way to stop doing it.  Here is my suggestion.  Start with the win bet and then the exacta bet on the horses you like –  that you think represent fair value.  After those best are made, then consider betting the Pick 3 first and then the Pick 4…  You will cash more often and have your money working in the places that you can appreciate cashing more often…  Then when you do score out on the Pick-3 and Pick -4 you will not be playing so much a game of  catch-up…

STAR horses were plus $41.10 at a cost of $12.00 today…