They're Off!


Book Description

As much social history as sports history, this is an account of how America's first national resort, Saratoga Springs, gave birth to and nurtured its first national sport and in the process had significant impact on American cultural life. Fine bandw photographs, etchings, and drawings illustrate the text. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Racing for America


Book Description

On October 20, 1923, at Belmont Park in New York, Kentucky Derby champion Zev toed the starting line alongside Epsom Derby winner Papyrus, the top colt from England, to compete for a $100,000 purse. Years of Progressive reform efforts had nearly eliminated horse racing in the United States only a decade earlier. But for weeks leading up to the match race that would be officially dubbed the "International," unprecedented levels of newspaper coverage helped accelerate American horse racing's return from the brink of extinction. In this book, James C. Nicholson explores the convergent professional lives of the major players involved in the Horse Race of the Century, including Zev's oil-tycoon owner Harry Sinclair, and exposes the central role of politics, money, and ballyhoo in the Jazz Age resurgence of the sport of kings. Zev was an apt national mascot in an era marked by a humming industrial economy, great coziness between government and business interests, and reliance on national mythology as a bulwark against what seemed to be rapid social, cultural, and economic changes. Reflecting some of the contradiction and incongruity of the Roaring Twenties, Americans rallied around the horse that was, in the words of his owner, "racing for America," even as that owner was reported to have been engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States of millions of barrels of publicly owned oil. Racing for America provides a parabolic account of a nation struggling to reconcile its traditional values with the complexity of a new era in which the US had become a global superpower trending toward oligarchy, and the world's greatest consumer of commercialized spectacle.




The Language of Horse Racing


Book Description

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.




Precision


Book Description

"Precision ... Statistical and Mathematical Methods in Horse Racing" thoroughly discusses the mathematical and statistical methods in handicapping and betting techniques. Differentiations, combinatorics, normal distribution, kernel smoothing and other mathematical and statistical tools are introduced. The jargons and equations are kept to a minimum so that it is easy to understand for most readers. More than 20 professional programs are freely available to download, which can allow readers to easily apply the methodology introduced in the book. This book can be divided into three main parts: horse handicapping (Chapters 2-6), wagering (Chapters 7-9) and theories in practices (Chapters 10-11). Chapter 1 will explain why long term gains are possible in horse racing. About horse handicapping, we will start with analysing racing forms in Chapter 2. Other handicapping factors such as weight carried, jockeys, trainers and pedigrees will be discussed in Chapter 3. Some advanced statistical methods, such as chi-square test and kernel smoothing, will be introduced in Chapter 4 to further analyse those handicapping factors discussed in previous chapters. The following two chapters are about probability estimations. In Chapter 5, normal distribution and multinominal logistic regression are introduced in estimating winning probability of each race horse. In Chapter 6, we will talk about some methods in misconceptions in estimating placed probability. Two main concepts in wagering, Kelly criterion and hedging, will be discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. To hit exotic pools, those theories in combinatorics in Chapter 9 will definitely help the readers. The author will share his experiences in betting syndicate in Chapter 10, and tell you how to be a successful professional horseplayer in the last Chapter. Some readers may find the mathematics in this book difficult, but the free program will take your pain away and do all the calculations. You can simply apply all the professional formulae by no more than a click, and pick your horses like an expert analyst. As an awardee in Asian-Pacific Mathematics Olympiad, the author abandoned his career as an actuary and became a key member in a gambling syndicate. This book was reprinted in the 4th edition in Hong Kong, ranked #2 in the best-selling chart in the international Chinese weekly Yazhou Zhoukan, and now available worldwide.




The Running Centaur


Book Description

This book surveys the practice of horse racing from antiquity to the modern period, and in this way offers a selective global history. Unlike previous histories of horse racing, which generally make claims about the exclusiveness of modern sport and therefore diminish the importance of premodern physical contests, the contributors to this book approach racing as a deep history of diachronically comparable practices, discourses, and perceptions centered around the competitive staging of equine speed. In order to compare horse racing cultures from completely different epochs and regions, the authors respond to a series of core issues which serve as structural comparative parameters. These key issues include the spatial and architectural framework of races; their organization; victory prizes; symbolic representations of victories and victors; and the social range and identities of the participants. The evidence of these competitions is interpreted in its distinct historical contexts and with regard to specific cultural conditions that shaped the respective relationship between owners, riders, and horses on the global racetracks of pre-modernity and modernity. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.




47 Horse Racing Betting Systems


Book Description

How does someone with LIMITED interest in horse racing devise a solid strategy to beat the bookies?By learning about all the key factors you need to consider in order to make an informed bet and then using this information to devise a betting system (or 47 of them!).If you're the kind of person who;- Likes to trawl through the stats to make an informed bet.- Enjoys the challenge of creating a betting system to beat the bookies.- Takes a methodical approach where emotional decision making is minimised.This book could well be the perfect fit for you!Inside you'll find 47 easy-to-follow horse racing betting strategies that you can deploy instantly.That's not all though, you'll also learn about...- The different staking plans you can adopt and how to utilise them.- The cognitive bias you need to fight against in order to make smart betting decisions.- The key factors you should consider before placing a bet.Whether you're new to betting or a veteran there's sure to be a nugget or two in this book for you.




Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments


Book Description

Some of horse racing's most respected authorities looked at feats of greatness, world records, legendary rivalries, and innovations to rank the sport's top 100 moments. They weighed individual accomplishments against industry initiatives, innovations against lucky breaks to come up with the definitive list. They pondered Secretariat's 31-length Belmont Stakes victory, Smarty Jones' elusive Triple Crown, the creation of the Breeders' Cup, and advancements in equine surgery. Racing's top 100 list will generate debate for years to come, just as did the ranking of Man o' War over Secretariat as Horse of the Century. Richly illustrated with historic and modern photos, Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments also contains comprehensive lists of leading earners, fastest times, highest prices, and most races won.




Thoroughbred Horse Handicapping and Wagering


Book Description

Thoroughbred Horse Handicapping and wagering using the Holy Bible of Horse Racing is a book that contains a primer for folks that do not know much about thoroughbred horse racing. In addition, it provides a methodology for picking horses that will most likely finish second or better in races that are qualified for wagering. It then describes different approaches to wagering. There are what I call another section which I call special conditions that prompt special attention and will provide an avenue for Win/Place/Show bets (across the board), as well as some short stories of the some of the real characters I have met while playing the ponies.




Horse Racing Colouring Book


Book Description

Finally a coloring book for horse racing fans! Here is a selection of 10 hand drawn pages for you to colour and make your own. Award winning horse racing photographer Cindy Pierson Dulay has drawn these images using her own photos for models. Each drawing for colouring is on a single sheet of paper with the back left blank, so colors won't bleed through. There are images of running horses, winner's circle, and close-up head shots plus two sheets of jockey silks, one with designs and one for you to draw your own designs.




Heaven's Premier Horse Race


Book Description

Thoroughbred Horse Racing's most anticipated chapter unfolds as the Twentieth Centuries' roll call of Triple Crown Champions take to the racetrack in order to see just who will acquisition the right to be called, "Eternities' Eminent Equine"! Don't get shutout! Instead, come and watch as Heaven's only 14kt gold starting gate welcomes: Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, Omaha, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Count Fleet, Assault, Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed! All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to support the needs of retired thoroughbred racehorses!