24 October 2005

Studying for the Breeders' Cup

Excitement mounts in our little castle as the big day approaches. The BC is this week!

Today, we picked up two copies of Daily Racing Form's Official Guide to the World Thoroughbred Championships -- one for each of us, so I can make notes all over the past performances without infringing upon my darling's selections. We then spent the day to all appearances merely lounging around, but in actuality, consuming the guide and planning our strategy. Since my best picks always come 3 minutes to post-time, it's all simply background - but a great way to spend a semi-soggy Sunday.

One disappointment: it appears I won't be able to play a quinella after all. The track summary lists the bet types available for each race, and sadly, my quirky, fun-to-say wager isn't listed. Thank goodness for the exacta.

I noticed one of the bet types listed is something called "Head-to-Head." I'm not familiar with this bet, but it appears to be a wager that one horse will finish better than another. Judging from the results charts of past Breeders' Cups, it doesn't usually pay off too well.

Is anyone familiar with this bet? And is it even sillier than the quinella?

2 comments:

Alan Mann said...

The head-to-head bets are actually fairly interesting and fun, depending on the propositions that they actually come up with. It's a way to console yourself by making at least a little money on a "my horse is better than yours" type of thing, even if your horse doesn't win the race. Or a way to suffer further humiliation.

QQ said...

Thanks, Alan! I've been looking for a way to suffer further humiliation. (Isn't that why we go to the track?)