Every year as the Saratoga season rolls around the local daily papers always have their “experts” give out their picks for the entire meeting at Saratoga on a daily basis, whether they are win, place, show or other wagers, everyday you can open to that section and get their advice.

They usually start with a mythical bankroll somewhere around $1000-$1500. The operative word here is “Mythical”. Each day they give out their selections and the majority of the time they are win and place bets on horses that are barely paying 2-1. Place bets! are they protecting that mythical $10  they are betting or are these experts betting the way they bet in real life?

Some even look to bet 2-5 shots to win and then tell you that is clearly the way to make money at the track. Now I am not saying I am a winning machine, but I know this, that when I bet the races I bet to win. You wont see me protecting a $20 bet and hoping to get back $16 if i run second. I am going to bet to win and give myself the best value. The pick 4′s in my humble opinion clearly give you that value. You can turn $60 into $5,000 easily. To not even make an attempt at that instead just trying to stay $50 in front of the next guy so you can have bragging rights is not really the way these “experts” should be protraying themselves to the public.

 Now do I like some of their good natured ribbing of each other, sure, it makes for good copy every once in a while but to not at least take a chance on the best bet at the track (pick 4′s) or trying to maximize your money and instead playing not to lose as much as the other guy when your’re betting with mythical money it seems very difficult to call yourself an expert.