Before I do this, let me make something clear-- this is a business. Ragozin has customers I want, and I have found that the best way to get them is to force scrutiny of the Ragozin product, and comparison with ours. Since Ragozin has a team of field agents and we don't, the most effective way to do this has proven to be using this space. Obviously, the time to do this is when everyone is focused on the same races-- Triple Crown, Breeder's Cup-- and the added bonus is that these are the only times Ragozin posts days for public view after he has done them.

First, the good news, for Ragozin players-- unlike like last year, he basically got Breeder's Cup day right, in terms of variants. Despite the drying out track, there was no slide after the first race, a non-BC affair, so it was an easy day to do.

Now, the bad news-- they have significant ground loss errors that cause corresponding errors within the figures. I don't have their exact ground (obviously), but I'm going by what is printed on their sheets, which Paul explained to me as breaking paths down into less than 2, 2 to 2.9, 3 to 3.9, and 4 and up. There are lots of errors, but I will point out just a few of the more obvious ones. As opposed to the other discussions we've had here about figure making, all you have to do to figure out who is right this time is watch a tape of the races. I would also add that Ragozin only prints his ground for the second turn, so the number of errors is probably twice as high as the number we caught, and keep in mind, every path on a turn is worth a length.

Mandy's Gold-- Ragozin has her less than 3w. She was never less than 3w, and was 4w most of the turn.

Composure-- They have her wider than Storm Flag Flying on the second turn. She was actually inside SFF most of the turn, only coming out late-- she saved ground relative to SFF, and this affects the figures for both fillies.

Touch Of The Blues-- This one's a beauty. They have him on the rail, when he was actually 445w. That's roughly a 2 point swing.

Nuclear Debate-- They have him less than 4w, he was actually at least 5w the entire turn, and ended up wider.

Orientate-- They have him less than 3w-- he was 443.

As I said, there were lots of smaller errors, but these should keep you busy.



TGJB