I’m sure you’ve either heard or used the term “in the zone”.
In sports it is used to describe one who is at the very top of their “game” at the moment.
In horseracing at the 2005 Santa Anita Oak Tree meet thru the first 11 days of racing, a perfect example of both a trainer and jockey who are “in their zones” are clearly John Sadler and Garrett Gomez.
Both are the leaders at this very moment
Gomez had ridden 66 horses and won with 18 for a win percentage of 27.27.
Sadler has started 21 horses and has won 7 for a win percentage of 33.33.
Excellent stats----no????
But there’s a handicapper even further into “his zone” at Santa Anita than either Gomez or Sadler.
This punter, who only bets to win, is knocking them dead at an incredible 45.16% clip with an ROI of $3.10 and enjoying one of the best meets of his entire career.
He’s doing everything very correctly “at the moment” such as picking his “spots” very carefully, waiting to wager with more patience than the biblical Job until everything is “going his way” to include post time odds, reading the daily running bias with incredible accuracy, maximizing the return on his self-gathering proprietary information, paying strict attention to “at the moment” winning trainer/jockey combinations, taking detailed trip notes, paying strict attention to the rails-in and rails-out on the turf, relentlessly stalking the paddock looking for instant physicality throwouts, watching the pre-race warm-ups like a buzzard waiting for his dinner to die below him and finally scrutinizing every post race gallop out on every single runner while noting both good gallop outs and very negative quick post race pull-ups.
Who is this person you ask?
It is none other than Yours Truly.
If you read my last writing 2 weeks ago entitled “The Worst Meet of My Life”, I confessed to experiencing the absolute worst Del Mar meet of my career where I struggled to maintain a horrific 17% win percentage.
That still embarrasses me!
What did I change in my overall methodology to nearly triple my win percentage before Santa Anita’s opening day?
Absolutely nothing!
After living thru the 2005 Del Mar debacle, I clearly stated that I intended to change nothing going into the 2005 Santa Anita Oak Tree meet. I also stated that long time winning methodologies simply don’t crumble and fall apart in a mere 7 weeks.
The purpose of my dribble you ask?
In a word-------“balance”!
If you have a strong winning methodology that has more than stood the “test of time”, you’re always going to hit potholes no matter how well you are driving.
You can be doing everything the right way while paying impeccable attention to detail and still lose thru no fault of your own-----it is just part of our great game.
“Zones”, both good and bad, come and go like the weather.
But the overall key to winning is maintaining your “balance” thru the ups and downs.
When you’re not “in your zone”, either stop betting or reduce your bets to 2 bucks so at least you continue watching and learning.
When you do find yourself in the “zone”, push the money thru the mutuel windows with both hands!
And if they’ll take your car title, push that thru the windows as well!
See you in the paddock!
© Joe Takach 2005 |
