Awhile back in USA Today, horseplayer MIke Maloney said there are "about 10,000 factors" that go into handicapping a horse race. I think we all agree that's about right. Analyzing these factors, beating a crazy rake, losing photos, losing streaks and the general hard work that goes into it can take a toll. One of the people - Barry Meadow - who lived and breathed that type of existence for 23 years has called it quits.
Via an email, posted at Pace:
I am retiring effective immediately.
Partly I am retiring for health reasons, to withdraw from the daily stresses of long hours, deadline pressures, and millimeter $8,000 photos. These pressures, I reluctantly admit, have taken some toll on my body. My doctors tell me that I’ll be better off not to be spending late nights reviewing the final turn of a Hollywood Park turf race
several times to see exactly who was wide (and how wide), or agonizing over whether a horse should be a 14 or a 15, or pounding my desk when I’ve just lost a photo at Santa Anita.
Barry is pretty much an icon in horseplayer circles. Many horseplayers on chat boards, on TV giving out picks, or writing how to handicap, have never been able to do what Barry did. That is, make a living at betting horse racing. It probably is the most singular toughest pursuit to excel at in the skill game gambling genre, and very few in this world can do it. Barry was one of the best.
Everyone deserves a retirement, whether you work for years at a mine, or a mill, behind a desk, or betting the fifth at Santa Anita. I wish Barry well.
Most Trafficked, Last 12 Months
-
Auckland Reactor is coming to the US from New Zealand and he landed in the barn of the very sharp Kelvin Harrison. I don't think many w...
-
Have you seen the RCI's recent push to change the narrative on drugs and racing? The story they tell is accurate, and has been for some...
-
Elmer Patzer walked up to a betting machine and started popping in tickets to see if he won. All of a sudden, whamo, he cashed for $6.5 mill...
-
Yesterday on twitter there was a conversation about why some people are withholding money from Keeneland this meet. A simple question, with...
-
Back in the early 1990's I got my first real job. I was a pretty much an office gofer for a mining consortium. One day a gentleman cam... -
Horses opening with 10k to win on them, at smaller venues lately? I have not been playing too seriously the past two days, however I did che...
-
Every time I flip on twitter someone is annoyed that NBC is tape delaying some of the events for prime time television. Columnists have join...
-
Canterbury Park - the small Minnesota track that lowered takeout last year, only to raise it this season - concluded their meet recently. Th...
-
Good morning folks. On Awful Announcing, columnist Matt Zemek tore a hide off ESPN for what he thinks is the dumbing down of tennis cover...
3 comments:
I might be the only one that doesn't believe him. A True gambler know what the other reasons might be. He says "partly because of health issues. What's the other part. I have a Uncle that has fought CANCER HIS ENTIRE LIFE. He is now 70 (fighting cancer) and still finds a way. The game has changed dramatically in the past 4 0r 5 years. More and more 30% trainers. Just look at the overall handle numbers. I don't believe him.
I might be the only one that doesn't believe him. A True gambler know what the other reasons might be. He says "partly because of health issues. What's the other part. I have a Uncle that has fought CANCER HIS ENTIRE LIFE. He is now 70 (fighting cancer) and still finds a way. The game has changed dramatically in the past 4 0r 5 years. More and more 30% trainers. Just look at the overall handle numbers. I don't believe him.
Horse racing is not what it once was...
Post a Comment