DRF HARNESS HOME DIGITAL HARNESS EYE HARNESS PPS DRF BETS ENTRIES ARCHIVE THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021 The age ol’ question: Should we give a tuck? Drivers must make many tactical decisions during a race and one NEW PLAYERS revolves around whether to allow another driver to tuck in front of them DOUBLE YOUR when some of these horses don’t have the race FIRST DEPOSIT savvy to fill the holes? JAYWALKING What happens when you start inspecting the caliber of quality of the fields put on the UP TO By Jay Bergman racetrack is that you come up with an entirely different definition of competitiveness, one $250 @BergmanJay too often ignored by both horsemen and Join Now: promos.drf.com/offer management, and unfortunately laid bare for the betting public to witness. Who gives a tuck? Case in point is the presence of 11 Kinder- I guess that depends on who you ask. garten Stakes races on one program at The A recent drivers’ meeting at The Meadow- Meadowlands. These 2-year-old races provide Inside this issue lands devolved into something unintended as just an altered version of the same issues management and the driving colony differed on gamblers regularly run into when analyzing the appearance and substance of drivers offer- a track card. Here the concern is not whether Derick Giwner: Handicapping thoughts ing tucks to others in the early stages of a race. tucks are being offered on the opening bend, to ponder, Page 3 Initially a crackdown was implemented so but quite frankly understanding which horses that the alleged altered racing product would in the field are out for “experience” and which Blais trio aims at advancing to Oaks, be on display during the final weeks of the are interested in racing and winning. While Hambletonian finals, Page 5 Championship Meet. The plan was shelved the $20,000 purse would give off the impres- after some dispute, with a moratorium placed sion that these horses were racing for money Bob Marks: New sires rapidly becoming on the policy until September. and therefore the drivers were all going at 100 prominent and dominant, Page 7 What sticks out as a parallel in this halted percent efficiency, it was obvious the pres- ence of money wasn’t the driving force behind For Hambletonian & Oaks contenders, effort to, pardon the pun, rein in this behavior, is the ultimate war this country is currently much of the so-called race strategy employed. what a difference a year makes, Page 9 embroiled in between the freedom of some to Yannick Gingras, following a winning Favorites hope to shine in Adios; Mohawk do what’s in their own personal interest as effort, spoke about his strategy with a young opposed to ceding some freedom for the bene- horse not being rushed early in defense of mandatory payout analysis, Page 11 fit of the global good. this position last Friday night. On face value, On The Backstretch: Profile of In essence it’s hard to argue with track in this instance he was spot-on when defend- ing his strategy. What is concerning to those marketing guru Chris Tully, Page 13 management when it recognizes a certain pattern of racing may not be beneficial to the trying to protect the betting public is the broad Best Bets & Analysis, Page 15 overall racing product. Yet, when pitted directly definition implied by the term “race strategy.” at the livelihoods of catch-drivers who need to After all, every move a driver makes on the Industry Headlines, Page 16 execute strategy at a high level to feed families, track could be defended as either good or one can also understand the pushback. poor race strategy. The reality for gamblers is Comments? Questions? While the timing of the initiative was ques- when horses are given tucks freely, some driv- Email the Editor [email protected] tioned by the drivers’ colony, the reasoning ers and horses gain an advantage while some behind it opens the conversation to a broader lose an advantage. TO ENSURE PROPER delivery picture. It was revealed that there were going From what I’ve witnessed, most of the tucks OF THE NEWSLETTER VIA to be many races in the coming weeks that given at The Meadowlands do not prove bene- EMAIL, ADD [email protected]. featured inexperienced 2-year-old trotters ficial to a large amount of the “givers” but do and pacers. How could one ask the drivers to com to your contact LIST assert more aggressiveness on the racetrack CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Congratulations to last weekend’’s Ohio Sires Stakes Winners! Coming up Saturday, July 31 at Northfield Park 3 Year-Old Colt Trotter~ Leg 23 Winner 3-Year-Old Colt Pace~ Leg 3 2-Year-Old Colt Pacer Leg 2 Winner Winning Ticket Seaside Way © 2021 Daily Racing Form, LLC - 10 Grand Central, 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10017 The 96th Edition of America’s Trotting Classic Saturday, August 7 Post Time 12 Noon The greatest day in harness racing! $5 admission includes commemorative hat for adults or Hambletonian sunglasses for kids. Food trucks, $1,000 hat contest, and more! T ­ ­ hambletonian.com 5:30-6:30 p.m. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 assist the “takers” in a major way. Is that the odds-board influence on drivers that we all get to witness? Is it the 50-1 shot that says I’m better EDITOR’S EYE off following the favorite as opposed to shutting him out of a tuck and forcing him to drive on? By Derick Giwner @harnesseyeguy There’s a sense in this country that we are at war with ourselves. It’s a noble cause to seek perfection, but in order to do so one must fully examine the entire picture and not just try to alter the things that they don’t like. There are ultimately many facets to a driver’s decisions HANDICAPPING THOUGHTS TO PONDER and sometimes they get blamed unnecessarily for issues beyond their control, just as sometimes they get credit for just being lucky. Over the last month I’ve jotted down a number of handicapping In fairly analyzing the decision a driver makes on a 50-1 shot or notes and thoughts that seemed worth sharing. Whether they will longer, it is best to look at the overall breakdown of the entries in a enhance your handicapping or interest you is yet to be determined. specific race. Quite often, despite a broad condition sheet to work with Recently I put out a tweet about how much I loved a card that at The Meadowlands, races just don’t find 10 horses at first call to fill. included 11 races for 2-year-olds at The Meadowlands. There What happens next is a scramble to utilize horses entered in unfilled were some comments that these should be non-betting races and races and mix them with others to create a full field. While the racing other people didn’t care for the lack of information available (not secretary certainly works hard to put together the most competitive many past performance lines). Overall the reaction was negative fields, quite often the mix-and-match has the opposite effect. Other and in general races for 2-year-olds produce lower handle. unintended consequences from this scenario are fields being formed Why do I love betting 2-year-old races? where there are multiple horses from just a few stables. The answer is the same as why some other people don’t like It’s easy to sympathize with a catch-drivers plight when given these them – lack of information. Let’s face it, the majority of people are circumstances. Say a driver is behind one of two-to-three horses in not going to watch all of the qualifying races and that is where the a race from the same trainer. The conflict of remaining true to the knowledge of how good some of these horses are lives. In many trainer and the gamblers must be a factor in driving decisions given cases the past performance lines are deceiving and because of that the complexities. fact, horses may offer better or worse prices than deserving at post From a racetrack perspective, a strict no-tuck policy is 100 percent time. the only answer. Whether drivers agree or disagree, putting forth any One of the biggest mistakes people make when betting 2-year- ambiguity in a directive allows for an overflow of excuses that make olds is relying on final times. They mean almost nothing because the initial effort moot. There was a reason when The Meadowlands there is no benefit to qualifying in a fast time. Case in point is Sea opened in 1976 that tucks didn’t exist. There was just one rule, if you Silk, a precocious daughter of Downbytheseaside who is one of allowed another horse to get in front of you at some point early in the the fastest 2-year-olds of 2021 thus far. After back-to-back quali- mile, you best pull on the right line and make a move of your own. fying efforts of 1:58 3/5 at The Meadows, she won her debut in 1:51 That wasn’t a Judges rule but a race office rule, and it was followed to 3/5 at Scioto Downs! the letter of the law. Of course a seven-second drop in time is a bit extreme, but The only thing separating the Meadowlands circa 1976 from 2021 is for the most part expecting a reduction of two to four seconds the lack of enough entries to fill races with a competitive field.