Breeders’ Cup handicapping seminars abound
The two-day Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 30 and 31 is a week away. If you don’t have tickets to sold-out Keeneland, and remember there is no walk-up this year, then Las Vegas is your next best place to enjoy it.
Every race book in town will be rolling out the red carpet to horseplayers next week.
As usual, I dedicate a column for much of the hoopla going on in Las Vegas next week. I’ll start with the free Breeders’ Cup handicapping seminars.
The first seminar will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Fiesta Henderson. It will feature Jerry Jacovitz of the Jerry J’s Power Page and Ralph Siraco of the Race Day Las Vegas radio show.
At 6 p.m. Thursday at Palace Station, renowned handicapper Gordon Jones, Richie Sabre of Gaming Today and Siraco will be there.
On Friday, there will be four more free Breeders’ Cup handicapping seminars. The first will be at 12:30 p.m. at Sam’s Town. Siraco and I will go over the four Breeders’ Cup races that day, plus nine for Saturday.
The next three seminars will all take place at 6 p.m. Unless you can clone yourself, at least pick one. The handicapping information is guaranteed to be priceless.
At Sunset Station, noted author and handicapper Steve Davidowitz and Brian Blessing of Sportsbook radio will offer their opinions.
Then at Texas Station, Jacovitz will go solo with his analysis.
Finally, at South Point, John Kelly of eog.com, house handicapper Patrick McQuiggan and Tom Quigley, VIP Liaison at Santa Anita Park, will go over the entire card.
If you cannot attend any of these free seminars, I know the South Point one will be simulcast on the casino website at www.southpointcasino.com. Also, I will be doing a Breeders’ Cup podcast for William Hill with its race operations manager Robert Kowalski. The podcast can be heard at www.williamhill.us/racing.
As for free ballroom parties, the only one I am aware of is at South Point. It will host one Friday and Saturday. So if you like to spread out your Daily Racing Forms among friends, grab a table early.
Speaking of the Daily Racing Form, its special Breeders’ Cup Advance edition featuring the lifetime past performances of all 200 pre-entered horses is available in all race books around town.
I know handicappers who save the Advance every year. That is because trainers are creatures of habit and will repeat what has been successful. Regardless, you will need a week to go over all of the horses.
* BREEDERS’ CUP WAGERING MENU — It is simple why betting the Breeders’ Cup is the best two days in horse racing. First of all, you don’t have to worry about the intentions of the participants. They are going all out to win.
Plus, with full fields of top flight Grade 1 horses, there usually are a lot of long-shot winners.
The overall takeout is low, too. The win, place and show pools are 16 percent, while all other bets are 19 percent.
The biggest change in the menu this year is the Pick 6 is now a $1 minimum bet. Since the Breeders’ Cup really does not want a carry-over, this will make it a little easier to win.
Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick