Hi Rich,

Ahhh the good old days!!!

I go back there too my friend although in the early 80's it was with brand R, waiting at the Spa City Diner for the Trailways bus to bring the sheets up from NY. Oscar introduced the game to main stream chemistry, the computer, batch betting, rebate whales as opposed to handicappers, co mingling of pools and all the used to be inside information (shoes and first geldings) that is now avaialble to the masses has made it more difficult for sure. Toss in the the drug depleted breed and pharmacists as opposed to horsemen training horses and my interest and wagering dollars have declined significantly as well.

Bill Spillaine insits there is no such thing as an 0-2-X, he calls it a bounce after 2 efforts! Semantics I guess but I still find it a basic pattern that is often misinterpted that still will produce a good price.

As far as the thoro pattern disproving it? There you have me completely lost. I can honestly say I have never bet a horse who was fast because he was 66% to pair or run a new top. The thoro pattern is far too random a sample for me. How many horse in that sample were 3/5, how many were 50/1, off the turf races, mud, trips, et all...... Paralysis by over analysis IMHO.

Good luck,

Frank D.