NOTE: as he wrote the article - he just used fictitous names and odds to establish the "rules." The strategy works well at the smaller tracks.

Quick-Pick Longshots

Here's a "down and dirty" method of choosing some "playable longshots" that you might find interesting ... it's not a strategy that can be employed the night before, however you can certainly prepare yourself in advance while doing your handicapping using your TrackMaster software or a track progam showing recent past performances. The method requires that you keep your eye on the tote board, and have enough patience to wait until the "last possible moment" to place your wagers. Using your TrackMaster Software (the method works with all of our products), do a print out of the entries' past performances ... you don't need to print out a lot of "running lines" as you are going to be focusing on The Horses' Last Race Only. Put a "STAR" next to all of the entries in today's field that "went off" with pari-mutuel odds of at least 12-1 in their last start. Now ... keep your "eyes" on the tote board ... the math is simple ... you just need to know how to "divide by two!" As post time approaches, if any of your "STARRED" horses have been "bet down" to odds which are at least 50% of the post time odds in their last race, then you have a wager! Accept no less than 4-1 to keep it a "shot!"

Examples:

#6 BOOM TOWN went off at 20-1 in his last race ... 3 minutes before today's race he is 15-1 on the board ... no wager here!

#3 WILDTHANG went off at 12-1 in his last race ... 2 minutes before the start of today's race, he's 5-2 on the board ... no wager here ... 4-1 minimum rule is used.

#4 KEEPER was a 15-1 entry his last time out, and it's now 2 minutes to post and he's 7-1 on the board ... GET IN LINE! (the odds drop is more than 1/2 of his last pari-mutuel start).

If you have more than one "STARRED" entry in any race, choose the entry showing the biggest drop.

#2 MAGICMAN was 20-1 in his last start, and is 10-1 with about 2 minutes to post .. he qualifies .. however, #7 BARNEYTOO went off at 25-1 in his last race, and is now 8-1 on the board ... my wager will be on #7 BARNEYTOO!

Quite honestly folks, what often triggers these "odds drops" are the wagers being made legally by the backstretch workers who have seen these horses in training on a daily basis. Their wagers are usually not big enough to change these "shots" into "favorites" but it does not take a lot of money (especially at tracks where the mutual pools are low) to force the odds down. Be patient ... no, it is not a foolproof system ... however a couple of $25.00 bombs in a day will provide more profits than a handful of $3.60 winners!

Rick Needham
Equibase/TrackMaster
Home Page www.innernet.net/rneedham