Marc,

I raised this point as an example to Mr. Patent, just out of curiousity as to whether they ever talk about this kind of thing or whether Patent's contributions to any conversation are ever anything besides "I agree with you completely in everything you do." If you want to talk about it here, be my guest, but I wouldn't call it a 'pissing match.' It's not that important. I'm a writer and I'm interested in the choices people make, and I don't think these choices are an accident. I wouldn't elevate it to 'moral terpitude' or anything, but he has alternatives and this is the way he goes.

The bottom line in this is whether or not you find Friedman's analysis useful. I would say I find it somewhat useful but the 'use lightly in exotics' stuff on more than half the horses adds absolutely nothing and since it adds absolutely nothing I have to wonder why he does it. Since you have said you don't really look to him for specific plays, I have to wonder what you see in saying 'use lightly in exotics' that makes you think this method is worth defending, since you must get nothing out of it. If he left it out, maybe he'd have more room to talk about patterns and such. Also, do you really need someone to tell you that more than half the horses in a race can figure to be in the money? As analysis, this is as totally useless as anything I can imagine, and as a handicapper, I've got to believe Friedman has more to offer.

Don't forget he leaves up the posts where people congratulate him even as he says he didn't hit. This may not seem like a big deal to you. As you put it "he may be leaving himself the opportunity to have it both ways.." Now why does he do that? He has nothing to prove, and I'm sure he does very well. He kicked some major ass in some Vegas tournament recently, and that's as public as public handicapping gets. He's entitled to post, and if he's going to post, he can deal with the comments. It remains on my list of complaints. I'm glad you think its okay and I'm wrong. As for 'who cares?' I don't even know anymore.

As for superfreakicus, you can post whatever you like. I originally wanted to do it like the handicapping tourneys with win bets, but David wanted to use gimmicks and suggested $1,000 bet however you want, and that includes gimmicks with more than two horses. Hail Marys are part of the game. I need all the help I can get. It's possible given past history that Jerry will do the picks on Belmont day at Belmont and I guess that would constitute his entry. The more people handicap the card and talk about things the better. I'm interested in the different plays Patent and I come up with using the different products and that's about it. HP