SC thanks for the advice...I can certainly use some.

As for the contest playing. It all depends on the type of contest you are playing in and how many mandatory races there are. in this upcomming contest, I think that with 8 mandatory races and 7 optional races (races you choose to play) over 6 designated tracks (AQU, FG,GG,GPX,SAX,OP), it is my opinion that you want topick the most likely winner of the mandatory races, but you also want to find or isolate overlays in those races, and then the art of handicapping comes in over the remaining 52 races or so, to find 7 where 1) you have an opinion, 2) has value/overlay) 3) usually reuires large fields with larger betting pools, although the smaller tracks with smaller pools can often yield and overlay.

Yes it could be that little old lady from Pasedena strikes it lucky, but if you look at past winner of this contest, I don't think you will find such a lucky old lady, (but you will find a lady.....who has won this).

The name of the game is to be there in the end with a shot to win the damn thing.

Yes you do need some luck, as you do not play a contest the way you would normaly bet, although I think you need to have a certain amount of skill to be repeat participant of this contest. Luck is a residue of design.

NC Tony