Andrew Beyer retires, (horse racing expert)

Had to post this, for those who know and respect the man. The King of the sport of kings...

Andrew Beyer: Rebel with a cause.

thanks for posting this....as an everyday horse player i use his stuff indirectly almost every race.

Quote: Paigowdan

Had to post this, for those who know and respect the man. The King of the sport of kings...

Andrew Beyer: Rebel with a cause.

Thanks for the link
One of the best articles I've read about Andy Beyer
I grew up reading his column at the Washington Post
I often went to Laurel race track where he was a regular.

I loved his books and consider them to be great, but I found his talking down certain horses because they didn't have high figures arrogant. Another horse he was only lukewarm about was Cigar. How could anybody be lukewarm about Cigar. The latest horse he has talked down is Songbird before the Distaff. It is linked in my post on the Breeders Cup. He said Songbird had no chance of showing and that Beholder and Stellar Wind would destroy her. He ridiculed Songbird. Of course, Songbird's effort in losing by a nose was heroic. If a horse didn't put up extremely high figures and the horse was popular he would talk down the horse. The article points out his 2 giant scores in 1990. That's 26 years ago. I have a feeling he hasn't had any huge scores since then or he surely would have talked about it. I have a sneaky feeling that he has not been winning or not winning much since he published his figures in DRF in 1992 which have evened the playing field. But having said that, this criticism is a minor thing. He showed that a gambler and particularly horseplayers who are sneered at by some members of the public could be highly intelligent. All in all his career and what he accomplished is a tremendously positive thing.



Just wanted to add a kind of funny anecdote. I too was a regular at Laurel and often saw him there. One day I sat right next to him. I noticed that he wasn't in possession of the DRF. He was betting off the Equibase program which doesn't have his own speed figures. Struck me as kind of amusing.

Quote: lilredrooster

Just wanted to add a kind of funny anecdote. I too was a regular at Laurel and often saw him there. .

I am dating myself with this question :-)
Ever hit up Freestate raceway?
I was much more of a regular there then Laurel
Only hit Laurel on the occasional weekends since they only race during the day
Used to hit up Freestate a lot with the pacers and trotters running at night.
Much more convenient if working a regular day job.
Of course Freestate raceway is long gone :-(

Didn't his speed figures appear in that color racing form that was a brief competitor to the DRF (back when the DRF was still using its old system - IIRC, 100 if the horse tied whatever the track record was at the end of the previous meet there, +/- 1 for every 1/5 of a second off)?

Terapined: No I never went to Freestate, I don't remember it. I think it was before my time. I've been to Rosecroft too many times which is now all but dead. I'm guessing you're a big U. of MD fan. That's my alma mater. I couldn't believe they won it all in 2002. After all those years of folding in big games. Amazing.


ThatDonGuy: Yeah, you're right, they did appear in that paper that folded. It was called the Racing Times. It folded after 10 months. At first I couldn't remember the name but believe it or not I found a story about it from 1991.



http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/03/business/the-media-business-new-daily-takes-on-racing-form.html

I read a couple of his books and liked them. For such an excellent writer he wasn't that great of a speaker, but I liked to get his opinions before the Derby and Breeder's Cup each year.

I think he had a too obvious bias against California horses. Maybe American Pharoah forced him into retirement :)