Just starting the thread!

Any ideas how to bet this thing?

A couple of suggestions:

$2 AB/ABC/ABCDE

$2 A/ABC/ABCD
ABC/A/ABCD
ABC/ABCD/A

$3 AB/ABC/ABCD

Or is this even the time to start thinking about the betting strategy?

Quick,

I'm assumming you're referring to how we would bet this outside of the contest, because from my understanding our contest play will simply be a 4-horse tri box. Working under that assumption, what I've done in the past and have had success is the following:

Tri's like this

A/BCD/BCDEF
BCD/A/BCDEF
BCD/BCDEF/A
A/BCDEF/BCD

In my 'capping for the sprint I find my key guy who has to hit the board. Historically I've been pretty good with this and I use the various number combinations to cover myself. Notice I only use BCD in the top slot and not BCDEF, that is because if I have analyzed the race correctly then the I should have narrowed things down to only three possible upsetters. Last year I settled (quite early on) with SYD as my key, he hung in there for third and I was able to make my way to the IRS window as a result.

LOL.....My mistake Reggie, I wasn't thinking straight!

But I do need to figure my own strategy and I appreciate your input here. I will look hard at your suggestion. I, too, like to key one horse, although I have read a couple of times now that keying one horse in the BC is not a good idea. I just haven't been completely convinced since it has worked for me also.

I'm focusing on Champali and Midas Eyes so far with just a passing glance at the PPs. Will have more to add later.

Y knot jes mayk tik fer $24 witowt da boks? 24=24 know??? Watt da difurrance? Eye doan git it?

dr.........@ m Kooookeeeee

Sorry guys. I'll start concentrating this week and should have some ideas by Wednesday.

Here's my take as of this morning gang.

Midas Eyes - Is there anyway of finding out before the race if he'll be on bute? Look at his pp's when he's off the Bute he runs big ones.

Clock Stopper - Don't see him winning, but must respect consistency.

Cuvee - I see him returning to 2yo form. He'll punish those close enough to smell the vapor trails, hopefully he's tight enough now to stick around afterwards....lol.

Cajun Beat - Ex-champ got a prep in last that was better visually to me than it looks on paper. To me this guy looked like he was toiling on the backstretch only to make a mild move up the rail as they were entering the stretch. 2nd time Frankelshakes might do the trick.

Ok Team,

Let's get a current status check of everyone's top 4:

My new (hopefully improved) top 4 are:

*Champali
Clockstopper
Cajun Beat
Abbondanza

*Most likely to hit the board

Ok, my four:

Champali, Abbondanza, Clock Stopper, Pt's Grey Eagle.

If nothing else, it'll pay BIG!!!

My top 4:

Clockstopper**
Champali
Kela
Speightstown

**The best choice to hit the board(Champali is a very close second here)

My Top 4

1. Speightown - I think he'll run away with it

2. Champali

3. Gold Storm

4. Abbondanza

Using the scoring system of 10 - 6 - 3 - 1, going in order for our selections here's what we have.

Top 4 Point Earners:

Champali - 32
Clockstopper - 16
Speighstown - 11
Abbondanza - 8


Here's our current individual breakout (Feel free to chime in with changes and objections).

Sloppy
Speigh - 10
Champ - 6
Gold St - 3
Abbon - 1

Quick
Clock - 10
Champ - 6
Kela - 3
Speigh - 1

GAM
Champ - 10
Abbon - 6
Clock - 3
PT GE - 1

BB
Champ - 10
Cajun - 6
Clock - 3
Abbon - 1

The last time I'll be checking the board will be sometime early Saturday morning ~8:30 a.m. so we have until then. If you all would like to 'Cap up until race time I can e-mail you guys my cell and we can talk as the day progresses so we can see how the track is fairing. Either way works for me. I feel very confident about our chances!

-BB