An Example as to why the Sport has to Change

Yesterday, the HANA Harness-operated Hambletonian Society Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge had six contest races; three at Freehold and three at the Meadowlands.  Two of the handicappers selected five out of six winners, meaning they earned a fictional $2 win, place, and show payoff on each of their selected horses.  One of the handicappers finished off the board in the race they didn't hit, the other collected the show payoff.

So five out of six races?  Not bad, if these fictional wagers were real, the handicapper must have done pretty good.  So how did they do?

Handicapper A - +$10,90

Handicapper B - +   9.40 

My first thoughts when seeing how they did is, "You got to be kidding", win five races and lose one and you barely make a $10 profit.  Why bother?  Now granted, one day out of the entire contest schedule does not make a trend and a good handicapper would pick and choose their spots; betting more on certain races and bypassing others but these six stakes races are a prime example as to why new horseplayers gravitate to the runners.  Racing is too consistent and when you can typically eliminate the outside posts on a half mile oval, the prices reflect this consistency.  But form holds on well on the mile oval as well and it is illustrated in last night's Meadowlands card when seven of the eleven races were won by odds-on favorites.

Something has to change in the harness racing game to make it less predictable and get bigger payoffs if the sport wants to compete.