Revamped "Showvivor" at Santa Anita

Revamped "Showvivor" at Santa Anita Santa Anita is starting another Showvivor contest on Dec 26. It's very different from what they've been doing the past few years. In the past, you made a pick every day until one of your picks failed to finish in the top 3. Then you were done. The usual 6000 entrants dropped quickly to a couple of hundred. The whole contest was over in a month or so. With the new format you are never eliminated completely, and the contest drags on for 6 months. If you miss, you can start a new streak the next day. There are other ways to win besides having the longest streak of winning show bets: [COLOR="#0000FF"]Longest Show Streak - Correctly select a horse to finish no worse than third on consecutive live race days. If the entrant's selection does not finish first, second, or third the entrant can start a new streak on the next day. If the entrant fails to make a selection, the streak is still alive, but credit will not be given for that day. Longest Win Streak - Correctly select a horse to win on consecutive live race days. If the entrant's selection does not finish first, a new streak can be started on the next day. If the entrant fails to make a selection, the streak is still alive, but credit will not be given for that day. Most Total Wins - Select the most winners between the dates listed above. Most Total Places - Select the most places between the dates listed above. (Horses that finish second only) Highest Win Payout - The entrant that selects the horse with the highest win payout between the dates listed above.[/color] There's no entry fee. Here are the prizes: [COLOR="#0000FF"]Longest Show Streak: $5,000 Longest Win Streak: $2,000 Most Total Wins: $1,000 Most Total Places: $1,000 Highest Win Payout: $1,000[/COLOR] I don't like this format nearly as much as the old one, but it's a much smarter format from Santa Anita's perspective. Here's the URL for entry: [url]https://showvivor.santaanita.com[/url] --Dunbar

>>I don't like this format nearly as much as the old one, but it's a much smarter format from Santa Anita's perspective.

At least they've upped the prize money to $10K. I'm going with the #5 in the 2nd race, but the #1 in the 3rd was tempting.

[QUOTE=Dunbar;59221]At least they've upped the prize money to $10K. I'm going with the #5 in the 2nd race, but the #1 in the 3rd was tempting.[/QUOTE] Both were winners

It looks like "only" 3768 people made picks yesterday. I'm surprised there weren't more. Any guesses for what the over/under on the "highest win payout" should be? 8 players already logged a $36 payout yesterday. I'm guessing it'll take over $100 to win that category. Obviously I don't want to spend a lot of time or money on a tourny like this. I don't have an active DRF subscription. So, my strategy is pretty simple: 1. Give preference to races with the fewest number of entries. 2. Look for a heavy fav. 3. Prefer races that are not "maiden claiming". Today, the #2 in the 5-horse 3rd race, an MSW, fits that bill. I'll leave the highest win payout to other players. --Dunbar

My Friday choice also

Horse finished 2nd yesterday, abruptly ending my win streak at 1, but adding to my "most places" category! Today, the very obvious 3-5 fav in the 2nd, #6, San Onofre. --Dunbar

My horse finished 1st yesterday. 1654 other players picked the same horse. The next most popular was picked by just 215 players. It looks like about 3350 players made picks yesterday. The Leaderboard shows the top 101 players in each of the 5 categories. Ties are listed alphabetically. My 3-for-3 in show picks puts me in a tie with thousands of other players--the alphabetical list of 3-for-3's ends at #101 "askulsky". Even 3-for-3 wins isn't very special. #101 in that alphabetical list is not even out of the "c"s. The only category where having 3 means something is "Total Places"-- Only 6 players managed to have their horses finish 2nd on all 3 days. Highest win payoff has risen to $43.60, shared by 4 players. That would be the easiest category to try for, timewise. Just look for a 50-1 horse in the ML. Failing that, a 30-1. I grew up in South Florida, and the Miami Herald had a lot of horseracing coverage. One contrarian sportswriter got tired of everyone's "Best Pick", so set out to deliver a "Worst Bet" each day of a Hialeah or Gulfstream meet (I don't remember which). Going into the last day he was something like 0-50. As a "special treat" for his readers, he posted Worst Picks for each race on the last day. One of them came in, spoiling his perfect record, and it was big enough to make him a winner for the meet. My pick for today is Race 3, #5, Scarly Charly. --Dunbar

Scarly Charly finished 3rd on Sunday, ending my win streak at 1 in a row, but keeping my show streak alive at 4. A lot of people must have dropped by the show-streak wayside, because the 101st alphabetical player going 4-for-4 is in the "c"'s now. After a couple of dark days, SA resumes racing tomorrow. The 1st two races have the fewest entries. There's a 4-5 horse in a field of 5 in Race 1. But it's a Claiming race, and very heavy favs in claiming races are problematic, something that was 1st made clear to me when Stanford Wong got interested in horseracing in the 80's. The logic is, if the horse is such a lock to win a race with a $16K purse, does it make sense to sell it for $12K? Still, the fav only has to beat 2 horses to keep the show streak going. The 6-horse 2nd race has a 9/5 fav, Govenor Charlie. This horse last ran in the 2013 Preakness, after setting a record in a minor Derby Prep earlier in the year. But being off 7 months and the fact even his best speed figs don't dominate the competition will keep me off him. So, still looking for a pick.

Considered passing on today's card, but going with Setsuko in the the 7-horse 5th. Spent way too much time thinking about this today. 10 minutes is too much. When my show streak ends, I'll probably switch to the no-brain-required Highest Win Payoff category. --Dunbar