With nine of ten races complete at Saratoga and Del Mar’s eight-race card yet to start, we are at the literal, if not figurative, halfway point of Day 1 of the Wynn Handicapping Challenge.
This is one of the only contests anywhere that offers no scoring updates during the day. On a day when no big longshots have won (not shocking given that just one track has been in play thus far), I think the net effect of the “information gap” has been to keep everyone in a relatively positive frame of mind, and to encourage players to “stick to their games” rather than panic and stretch for longshots.
Chances are someone out there had both the 8-1 winner and the 26-1 runner-up that came in earlier at the Spa. And perhaps seeing that score posted would be demoralizing to those of us who haven’t fared well as of yet. But since that might not be the case, optimism is still in large supply here at the Wynn.
And considering all of the downs that we horseplayers deal with in between the ups, being able to stay in a positive frame of mind can’t be a bad thing.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself.