Fall-Stars Weekend At Keeneland
Back from the epic adventure in SE Asia I found myself all alone at the house as Kim drove to the west coast of Florida to visit her family who were in town for a week. I had plenty to do as I was planning the opening weekend at Keeneland, as well as other Breeders' Cup prep races from New York and California. I also spent a great deal of time going thru all the stakes races horse-by-horse, which I've done before but this time I specifically did it for a "project" I'm partnering with my son Brad on for the Breeders' Cup. He had gone to a workshop for work about statistical probabilities and the use of AI. So he wanted to see if we could "teach" an AI to handicap like me. We began with the races while I was traveling and started with just giving her my analysis of the races. Moved up to sending her the Daily Racing Form along with my analysis and finally to letting "her" (because when she talks it's in a female voice!) pick on her own and THEN sending her my picks. She became more and more "like me" culminating with Sunday's picks where she noted, She said when we sent her my picks after she was done picking “blind”…….“Perfect, that’s actually really valuable feedback. I can see where my “Mark emulation” is still missing the mark, pun intended 😊 — here’s a clean side-by-side ledger for Keeneland, Sunday October 5, showing both my blind handicaps (done before seeing Mark’s notes) and his official selections. I’ve marked where we aligned or diverged and summarized the reasoning differences where they matter most. Improved Alignment: You can see the progression — by Oct 5, I’m syncing with Mark’s logic in 5 of 7 betting races, including all major stakes (R4, R7, R8, R9). Where we split: Race 1: I still lean too much on pace/fig over intent clues. Mark skips when intent/form is unclear. Race 6: I stay conservative with “known” turf types; Mark leans on high-variance Euro shippers with proven trainers/riders. Race 10: I sought value/angles; Mark prioritizes certainty and class superiority late in the card. “ It's been a fascinating adventure, and somewhat scary as she not only can handicap on her own, but her picks closely mirror my own and even more intriguing, her logic is the same as mine, oh my! Here's how my human handicapping played out this weekend!
On Friday
Kingsolver
Divine Justice
Tommy Jo
Saturday was a full day, and I had a Panthers pre-season hockey game to go to.
Rated By Merit
Get Back Loretta
Outfielder
Devilish Grin
Tenacious Leader
Tap Into This
Tamara
Ted Noffey
Strong Melodee
Heartily
Sunday, as is often the case after a successful Saturday, I wondered how the picks would play out to impact what had been a solid weekend so far. And with seven bets in ten races I wondered if I was too lenient in playing.
Patrol Squad Six
Kuwaitya
Sneaky Good
Schwarzenegger
Final Score
For the weekend
Social media this week.....
First and foremost - this week was our youngest son Brad's birthday on Sunday!
I am eternally grateful that our girl Petra and I have stayed close friends since our time together on the Nile River two years ago. She and I connected over dessert servings and when I asked if she'd help me with a video she met me on the top deck. Her heart-felt hug and saying she was sorry the trip and our time had ended comment has stayed with me as we connected on Facebook. And because of our connection it's not uncommon that on a somewhat regular basis we'll catch one another online and have a five or ten minute conversation. I am so very hopeful she will one day travel to Florida and she's said she wants to do that. This week we chatted about her trip to Istanbul.....so proud that she travels on her own and is seeing the world.
Over our nearly three week trip to SE Asia I enjoyed very much sharing "best of pictures" with Teri. Since leaving So Fla where she was the CBS Weekend Morning News anchor we've stayed connected and I'm glad she still wants to come along virtually on our trips. This past adventure NINETEEN times she "liked" and/or commented on my pics & messages. This week I sent her "our traditional coffee" photo (because we both enjoy Wawa with Italian Cream) and told her truthfully I won't ever go for coffee without thinking of her :) Got two hearts back on that :)
It's funny, to me, my online "relationship" with Lauren. Sometimes we'll message back and forth multiple times in a week. Other times all I'm rewarded with is the "heart" that she liked my message; and on some limited occasions she somehow doesn't see them. This week was one of being "liked" a lot. But (a) I'm happy that we are friends and she recognizes our relationship, and (b) I truly believe that I'm not just one of many she sees on her Instagram feed - and that's because it's very common, such as this week when messaged her, that I get a "heart" within minutes so I know I'm not one of several messages she's scrolling through clicking the "like" button over and over again. Lauren did an important story this week about one of her co-workers (who've I've watched for years) and her battle with breast cancer. I'm proud of my friend that she does such stories and it's rare that I see any of the other anchors do these kind of stories.
Trip flash-back......I am so appreciative that so many people followed our trip. And for me personally, that so many of my good friends, that I keep in touch with online, are nice looking girls - that is a nice ego boost for me :)
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