Roger LeBlanc
For casual fans the 2021 Breeders Cup races are now relegated to the past. Just a hazy memory. For serious handicappers they’ve become a source of knowledge for the future. An artifact holding valuable information for improving their win percentage and ROI.
Many people paid for pro advice regarding which horses to bet. Maybe they got their money’s worth. Maybe not. But if handicappers tuned in to LazyBettorUSA’s free YouTube channel (“Instant Value Handicapping”), they definitely discovered value.
Our guest was venerable handicapping author and Euro-turf expert Mark Cramer. Cramer’s insight paid off for all who took his advice in the two turf races he focused on. My best call in the video was to downgrade Essential Quality (the post-time favorite in the BC Classic) to noncontender status. (“There’s money to be made betting against him.”) I also made the case that Knicks Go and Hot Rod Charlie were standouts, and the winner would depend on how aggressive Hot Rod Charlie pressured Knicks Go, whom I said was in the same class as champion speedsters in years past like Medaglia d’Oro and Holy Bull.
Cramer, who just republished his brilliant racetrack novel Please Hold All Tickets, focused on two horses in particular:
- Malavath: Off at 17-1 in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, this European invader encountered early trouble but recovered to finish a fast-closing second. He paid $19.00 to place to viewers who heeded Mark’s warning that live longshots finish second twice as often as they win.
- Loves Only You: A Japanese-based world traveler, Loves Only You finished ranked as Mark’s best bet of the weekend. She came home first in the BC Fillies and Mares Turf on Saturday, paying $10.60 to her backers.
Many of Mark’s betting strategies can be found in Please Hold All Tickets. For the Classic I used the pace parameters from The Lazy Bettor’s Guide to the Kentucky Derby to narrow the contenders down to two horses, one of them the eventual winner.
You can buy both books on this website postage free. Just click on over to the Store and fill up your cart!
