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SUCKER BETS---(part 23) Liniment and other exotic body rubs on any athlete screams soreness and sometimes injury. Since horses are no doubt athletes, it follows that if a horse smells like anything other than a “horse”, something could be and probably is amiss. These rubs are used to counteract soreness by increasing heat in the desired area. If you’ve never experienced the “aroma” of a muscle sore horse, take a stroll into your local paddock during the cheapest races of the afternoon. Runners rubbed with liniment are quite easy to locate. As the horses go to the walking ring, try to get as close as you can to your paddock rail. Any rubbed with this big time “no-no” will practically knock you over with their scent as they walk by you. It is impossible to miss if you are within 15 feet of the runner. Once you locate a negative whiff, look closely at any horses you think might be “linimentized”. Suspects will usually have very shinny areas on their coats and/or legs. On the body, these areas will usually be located on the shoulder, back or hind. If on the legs, it can be anywhere from the hoof clear up to the barrel or main body of the runner. Muscle sore horses rarely generate the needed speed to be competitive unless, of course, they don’t feel the pain. While liniment might help somewhat, rest and recuperation are the only real cure, not a tube of Ben-Gay! Think back to the last time you were muscle sore from overexertion or when you wrenched a muscle. Exercise was clearly out of the question. The couch and TV became the your only “reality”! When you smell liniment and can identify the runner wearing it, you can toss this horse out with never a second thought. “Muscle sore” horses are always “sucker bets”! While you’re in the paddock with your nose doing overtime, drop your eyes to the front legs of every runner and take note of those runners showing up with front wraps for the first time. A caveat is in order before discussing“first-time front wraps”. While all forms of Equibase past performances from the Daily Racing Form to the customized Post Time Solutions list who last out ran in front wraps, there are times when Equibase completely misses the addition and deletion of wraps. This is especially true when the wraps are black in color. Bay or black colored runners can camouflage black wraps that only become visible with up close scrutiny. One can only assume that the Equibase employee responsible for gathering this essential piece of betting information, fails to visit the paddock before every race or to pick up their binoculars from their comfy armchair in the press box. This is why when perusing the paddock with your nose fully engaged, it’s really no big deal to check all front wraps with your own eyes. Back to the topic, do “first-time front wrapped” runners ever win? Yep they sometimes do, but usually it is under very special circumstances which will be noted below! Those adding front wraps for the first time without these special situations are “sucker bets”! Why? Let’s look at the ins and outs of front wraps in general. Front wraps imply ankle or tendon problems---either real or imagined. Runners adorned in front wraps win races every day at every racetrack in America. I’m not afraid to bet a horse in front wraps if I’ve seen the runner in question win with them in the past. I’ve been betting them successfully for years. Since seasoned handicappers know that the claiming game is much like a poker game, “bluffing” is not at all uncommon. Some claiming barns in Southern California both good and bad, tape every claiming horse in their barn----needed or not! This is done to make other claiming trainers think twice before charging the claim box to drop a claiming slip in a race where their horses are for “sale”. Many of the runners from these “all-wrap all-the-time” barns are quite racing sound and in absolutely no need of front wraps of any kind. If an “all-wrap all-the-time” barn can imply tendon and/or ankle problems, the front wraps become a cheap insurance policy that often affords the “wrapee” the assurance that he’ll still be training the horse when the gates open. In close to 50 years of paddock inspection, my mind remains unchanged. I can’t see how front leg bandages really help or hurt any horse. If the horse is sound, they won’t stop him from winning unless the track is off and mud might cling to the wraps making every stride a little harder. If he’s unsound, the added tape won’t stop him from further damaging an ankle or bowing a tendon. If the front wraps could perform this magic, every lifetime start of every horse would be in front wraps and there would never be a need to remove them. We’d be betting “mummies”. That scenario would a tad scary for yours truly. I’d lose an invaluable betting tool when perusing the paddock everyday looking for the contenders and pretenders when it came to front wraps of any kind-----“first-time” or not. Okay, so why even mention front wraps at all? As stated above, I’ve never hesitated to bet a past winning front wrapped horse if he still has them on today. Obviously, he has to look at least as good as he did the day he won while wrapped and he must warm up strongly in the pre-race. “First-time front wraps” and the re-adding of wraps by the same barn sends up a huge “red flag”! When faced with this scenario, the first thing I do is see if there is any swelling or additional swelling of either front ankle or obvious bowing. If the trainer is “bluffing” with this horse or any other horse in his barn, there will be no swelling of any kind in either ankle under the front wraps. Both ankles should be smooth and identical in size just like your own under tight socks. Should there be any bowing or new enlargement or further enlargement of either ankle, I pass the race and could care less about the financial outcome for that specific event. It costs absolutely nothing to pass a race while still compiling your personal notes for future wagers. Why be a “sucker”? PART 24----MORE “SUCKER” BETS
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