Santa Anita "Showvivor" starts Friday, Sept 27

Santa Anita "Showvivor" starts Friday, Sept 27 Not much EV here, but it's free and it's amusing. I've entered about 4 of these and finished tied for 2nd once, collecing $600+. You pick one horse each day in any Santa Anita race to finish no worse than 3rd. If successful, you go on to the next day. Last one standing wins. Here are the rules: [url]https://showvivor.santaanita.com/comprules.pdf[/url] You have to register by 12:45pm PST tomorrow (Friday the 27th!). Prizes are $3K, $1.5K, $500. --Dunbar

I registered. Was straightforward and had no problems. The horses have no odds. Where is the best place to get approximate odds? My system of picking the horses with sports themed names hit a major snag in the 4th race with Da Bears, Papa Turf and TouchdownWilson all running in the same race.

Frank, you can get morning line odds under "Entries" at the DRF For today the link is, it's: [url]https://www.drf.com/race-entries/SA/USA/2013-09-27/D[/url] My early strategy is pretty simple. Look for a morning line odds standout in one of the races with the fewest entries. Today there's one race with 7 horses and all the rest have 9 or more. There's a 9-5 horse in the first race (the #7). There's also a 2-1 horse, making the 9-5 not as much of a "standout" as I'd prefer, but with all the other races so crowded, it's an easy pick. There are over 6000 players to start with. But they will drop off in droves. More than half will be gone in 2 days. Players try to get too cute, and many will forget to pick altogether. --Dunbar

You can also go to - - [url]https://www.equibase.com/[/url]

2/3 of entrants are out after 1st day on what I considered a no-brainer. Today looks similar. The only 7-horse 6th race has 2 strong contenders. Going with Marketing Mix. The 6-5 fav in the the 9-horse 2nd race, Southern Sunrise, is another logical choice, and would probably be my pick there are any scratches from that race. --Dunbar

In case anybody got in this contest and is still alive...there are two early scratches in the 3rd race, leaving just 5 in the race. Normally a race has to have 7 horses to be eligible for the contest, but that only applies to how the race was initially drawn. If horses scratch, the race is still eligible. If you select a scratched horse, you're assigned the post-time fav. A 5-horse race is generally a whole lot more attractive than a 7-horse race. You only have to beat 2 horses to survive. Camp Victory looks like the obvious choice now. I picked a scratched horse and will get the favorite. It the fav is not Camp Victory, there's probably a good reason. --Dunbar

Out - my Sunday horse is still running - good luck to you - -

Well, turns out Camp Victory could only beat one if his 5 rivals, not the 2 I needed to advance. So I'm out, too. I wasn't thrilled about backing a horse that had been running in Grade I races earlier this year and was now being offered for sale in a claimer. Often means an active problem. But put in a sharp workout last week. And only needed to beat 2 horses... I wasn't the only one fooled. Someone claimed the horse for $50K. And 288 players fell out of Showvivor with me. --Dunbar