Hi friends

HT forum as evidenced by the quality contributions and healthy debates is a power house of tenacious talent and is indeed a treat to go through and enjoy. Looking at the intense merciless hauling up here and there occasionally (thank God) of course, within the framework of decorum, participation as a contributor is a different cup of tea.

I must confess I had to fight my hesitation before deciding to sneak in with this piece.

I’ve been into racing for quite a while but today I can neither claim to have been a pathetic loser nor a great gainer affecting my fortune limited though. The gains provided rejuvenation and losses taught me caution alongside, never allowing me to venture into erratic adventurism. Locational shifts for long spells far away from racing centers also helped matters in a conducive way preventing the application of half baked knowledge.  But the fire in me never died down and I persisted with the constant Research and Development efforts in my quest for evolving a reliable system enabling to frequent the winner payment windows. The recent technological development hitherto unavailable opened up a welcome new era with a stream of the remarkably qualitative flow of vital information and data, wielding immense value on the  table paving ground for  our scientific analysis. Incidentally, I should acknowledge apologetically to my straying those days into realms of Astrology, Numerology, Nameology  and trying to link them to racing results. Even the strength of bloodline info, a vital parameter that used to be in the domain of a privileged few, is just within reach of anyone with minimum effort. The previous running record of participants is available for visual treat and appraisal. Bodyweight of horses barring stray exceptions on any day is made available. So are jockey weights. Stewards reports are there to know what happened as also why something failed to happen against earlier anticipation. The only task before you is just to go through the lines, read between the lines and behind the lines to land on the winner.  You have additional parameters at your command the caliber of jockeys and the allowance jockeys and the relative dead weight involved to determine the nomination was indeed aimed at taking advantage or just a hoodwinking effort for a future onslaught, draw nos facilitating or obstructive in relation to distances on hand and so on. I can go on and on in my narration till the cows come home. But it is  You and only you need to put in your own efforts with a scientific application and systematic approach,  The point I would like to make here is that those who had lost fortunes in those dark days earlier without the current advantages, in my considered opinion, should have been the helpless victims in spite of their tenacious talent.  I would only be too happy to see them back with a fresh mind free of prejudice, self-imposed withdrawal and give it a fair try taking due advantage of the current dynamics and resurrect block by block in a systematic manner.This is not to be considered as an appeal but just borne out of genuine empathy nothing more nothing less than that. Individual's free will should be allowed to prevail.   

With the sad passing away of my associate an elderly and revered gentleman, a friend of eminence and well-wisher last year when I had been away from the country, racing afternoons that had all along for a decade served as a good and enjoyable meeting place of like-minded and a mutually admiring handful of friends as a  group with betting and consequent winning or losing playing a relatively relegated role sans significance and I, on my return in Sept ’19 sadly found myself thrust into obscure isolation and ironically started practicing social distancing at the racecourse well before the mandate that was to follow later. I started choosing my seat in an isolated corner as available.  The close-knit handful of members once forming part of the group (Thana serntha koottam) with which I had been comfortable with, having withdrawn from the racing scene on totally different grounds I feel rather increasingly insecure and lonely barring a couple of willingly helpful hands around serving the cause of the oasis in a desert.  

Left alone in the crowd and nothing else to do I turned to the racing scene and started taking a more serious view with a fairly fresh approach setting aside prejudices of the past. Blessed by the departed soul in belief, I started experiencing a promising turn of results. A couple of events passed by are worth recollection.   I presented one race day five pcs of treble tickets 20x5 with a purchase value of Rs,500.  The tote clerk an apprentice found to her amazement the payment slip showing a little more than Rs.1000 or so and four more identical slips awaiting to be fed. She exclaimed to her colleague at the adjoining widow “Iyo! Itho parudi” meaning ‘ How awesome look here dude”. I took mild exception  ‘Take it easy Calm down! Why gather a crowd?

On another occasion With a 6 Nos, of  JP ticket with a purchase value of Rs.600 I presented it to a lady somewhat familiar with dispensing winning tickets for me on earlier occasions at the counter next racing day requesting her to keep ready the proceeds amounting to around  Rs.21K.  She happily did.  After a few days, she happened to see me standing in another queue counter for punching tickets. She threw an admonishingly questioning look to convey “Why the hell you’re not seen after your last winning ?” The same evening I had to look out for her and presented the winning tickets and collected Rs.6000 or so profusely thanking her for the premonition displayed earlier in the day. I also enjoy the friendly demeanor with which the payment clerks disperse payments at the ring.  Whenever I approach their stall for betting confirmation they seem to be wishing me well. I’ve had many such enlivening moments lifting my spirits in my running around the ring and window counters like a headless chicken

 I  must also mention that I am not invulnerable to the hazards of chasing the loss, The case in point was the vain bid to recover the loss On SUPER MARIO through a bet on NORTH WIND  on the last day of Mumbai that too after having taken due note of the sharp jump in body weight after lay off, a clear pointer to its lack of tuning in and manifesting fitness issues. After all, I rightly deserved the perspiration  I went through in the wake of Northwind debacle which had not been there at all earlier for a bet on my radar for the day.

Sorry for the digression.

The best way forward to win races or at least to curtail losses lies in your ability to keep and preserve the past performance records handy, develop data analysis skills and apply them with due diligence to the task on hand with foresight, commonsense and intuition. By way of intense analysis, you can spot the winners-in waiting to hoist flags at an appropriately identifiable placement zone. Given the fact that data Mining Scientist sand Data Analytics is going to call the shots in the future, by way of appropriate predictions guiding business decisions and environment, a similar approach towards racing needs to be applied by punters purging the prejudices of the past. I’m sure you’re a bit amused as out of the box stuff rolling out of someone into a handful of moons away from the landmark 1k moon mark. to take a break from the past? Believe me, Nothing comes on a platter. Hard work, yes absolutely your own can only deliver and pay for you. 

Once again my sincere apologies for not being in a position to dwell into the length and breadth of the nuances of developing the skills. You are aware each and every race card is uniquely different on its own associated with its peculiar characteristics. Strategies to defeat corona can be discussed in an open forum. The advantage here is the virus despite being mercilessly lethal, luckily it carries no brain to understand them let alone circumventing them with due counter plans to stay alive perpetually. It goes without saying it is just a matter of time it will have to bow down in defeat and face extinction forever. On the other hand, if all the stakeholders and punters are armed with identical strategies and cross over to the same side of the fence, where will the money come from for distribution among all the winners?  Not all the cards are solvable within the time at your disposal. If you are into any meaningful learning and acquiring skills it is akin to musical learning - performing Sahitya (practice) sitting alone by way of deep analysis or alongside a qualified and proven talent(if available}, one to one, at a personal level. If you happen to make gains on any day make a habit of setting apart a fixed nominal amount for charity and the amount can be allowed to be accumulated of course barring the same to find recourse under any circumstances except for what it is designed for. Such a noble mindset can create positivity. No harm in giving a fair trial.

Before winding up a small health tip. After having taken a bet on your choice it is highly desirable not to watch the big screen when the race is run. Not everybody can stand the erratic adrenaline rush, alternating between hope and despair. Even if you feel you’re ok with that now, the cumulative damage over a period could be harmful over a period. No matter how much confidence and conviction you carry with your choice get prepared for the worst to happen This attitude will help limiting the quantum of your bet to an affordable level on any occasion and also help you in handling your victory with due happiness or loss (god forbid) with poise.

Wishing you all the best

Cheers

Ramanujan

Cheers