Gambling versus entertainment, drawing the line

The past few months featured some job uncertainty for me, and I left one place of employment to begin a new opportunity at another. During the stress of this transition, I theorized (am really good at self-delusion...) that turning handicapping into a part-time job could be a benefit to myself and my family. Well, after a couple months of researching and trying different things, I have come to the conclusion that I may be too emotional to do this properly. Somebody needs to be a machine to play a system, because a good one will always be counter-intuitive, and I'm likely not that guy.

I will keep studying standardbred breeding and racing with a passion, however I am taking some time off from actually betting on the races. Before my kids were born I went several times a month, and then after that usually only a few times per year. As my kids got older over the past decade, I started going to the track with my dad more often, and all of that will continue, love going to the races with family.

The thing that has changed is the web. Before, you either had to go to the track or to a Champions, whereas with the Internet, you can play every day from home, and that can be a time and money gobbler.

Gotta take a break...

Somebeachsomewhere's FIRST FOAL Due Any Day Now

Of all the mares carrying the first crop of foals from the great and wonderful Somebeachsomewhere, eight are due in January so one of these is most likely to foal the first Beach colt or filly. If someone is thinking of entering the realm of standardbred horse breeding, or expanding the brood, one could do much worse than investing in maternal families considered worthy enough for Somebeachsomewhere, so keep these lines in mind when shopping for mares and fillies.



Photo courtesy Somebeachsomewhere official website


Somebeachsomewhere foals due in January 2010:


MARE YEAR RECORD EARNINGS SIRE DAM 2010 FOAL DUE


ALLAMERICAN MEMOIR 2005 3,1:56.2F 11,115 WESTERN IDEAL / MEMPHIS QUEEN - JANUARY


CAMTURO 2001 6,1:52.2F 129,545 ARTURO / CAM'S UPTOWN GIRL - JANUARY


CAN DU RIVER 1991 p,3,1581f p,4,1534s 101,665 CAM FELLA / KEYSTONE CHICK - JANUARY


DESIRABLE CINDY 2005 3,1:52.3M 171,664 REAL DESIRE / FIVE O'CLOCK CINDY - JANUARY


LOVING CAROLINE 2005 3, 1:52.2F 197,059 ART MAJOR / BEST LAID PLANS - JANUARY


SOUTHWIND RIO 2004 2,1:51.4S 153,150 ARTSPLACE / THE REAL WEST - JANUARY


SUMMER MYSTERY 2001 p,2,Q1592 p,3,151.3S 83,593 ARTISCAPE / UNIQUE HANOVER -
JANUARY


TSUNAMI HANOVER 1994 p,2,1534 p,3,Q1554 234,900 ARTSPLACE / TRINI HANOVER - JANUARY


There are another seven mares due in late January / early February, and then lots more beach babies throughout the winter and spring!!! As the Boss sings, Baby we were Born to Run!!!

Full List of Mares in Foal to Somebeachsomewhere

Research Standardbred Harness Horse Boodlines - No Registration required

Find online database of standardbred horse pedigrees, harness horse sirelines, trotting maternal families, pacing sires and standardbred horses breeding info. If you find trotter pedigree websites that allow searching without registration, please post the links to these sites in the comments section. I am trying to find a website I used to use that was strong on European trotting horses, it was called something like blodlines.nu or bloodline.nu so if you know of that one or other good places to search standardbred horse pedigrees online, please post to comments as many are looking for harness horse bloodline database that's free and easy to use. Thanks.



The AllBreedPedigree.com website has extensive standardbred bloodline info and you can input new harness horses to help keep it up to date.

All Breed Pedigree Query

All Breed Pedigree Database containing more than 1 million horses from all breeds. Get pedigrees reports and a free five generation pedigree chart.

www.allbreedpedigree.com/

If you have a slow Internet connection this next link may be ideal, as it allows you to immediately download the full ClassicFamilies.net database for a 10-day, no obligation free trial. Extremely useful for standardbred maternal family research and harness horse sireline cross research. If you decide to upgrade, you'll get an even newer database, but for most people the free one will be very helpful.

Standardbred Horse Classic Families 2007

The Classic Families of the Standardbred horse racing breed. Download a FULL copy of Classic Families and use it for 10 days free.

www.classicfamilies.net

The StallionDatabase.com is an excellent guide to pacing and trotting stallions in North America, check it out:

The Online Standardbred Stallion Database

Harness bloodline. the FREE online stallion database ... Click on a horse name from anywhere on the site to access respective stallion profile. ...

www.stalliondatabase.com/

Standardbred Pacing Dominant Sire Lines

Back in the mid to late 1980s I did some work for Trot Magazine and Sulky, where I had a column called Trainor's Topics. When I published the Standardbred Sire Lines Chart in a two-page spread in Trot, most of the dominant pacing sire lines were from Meadow Skipper via his sons Albatross and Most Happy Fella. Some horsemen were concerned that the breed was concentrating too much on these two lines. Two decades later the Albatross line is not a major contender, but there are now three dominant sirelines among pacers, with several more viable, healthy outcross lines.

The three main lines in pacing are:



Abercrombie - Artsplace



No Nukes - Western Hanover



Cam Fella



In future posts we will look at the enduring speed and strength of these three lines, in addition to analysis of outcross and legacy line opportunities. On the trotting side, a lot of speed had been concentrating within Speedy Crown crosses, so we'll examine Valley Victory and Garland Lobell matchups and many of the smaller, still-viable trotting sire lines.



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