Competitions 2024 Spring Horse Racing Championships

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Hawthorn
#1
With the demise of the popular SC Racing competition in recent years, I thought I would run a tipping competition over the same period this year to help fill a bit of that gap. It is definitely not the same, but I'm hoping this ends up being equally enjoyable.

This will cover 12 major race events across the Spring, with the first event (held tomorrow) a trial event which will not count towards overall standings, but will give everyone a chance to formulate a strategy for future race days. The events to be included are:

30/9: Epsom (Trial)
7/10: Turnbull Stakes
14/10: Toorak Handicap and The Everest
21/10: Caulfield Cup
28/10: Cox Plate and Spring Champion Stakes
4/11: Victoria Derby and Golden Eagle
7/11: Melbourne Cup
9/11: VRC Oaks
11/11: Champion Stakes

How this will work: Pick ONE horse from each race from the lists I will provide for each event. If the horse you select wins, you will get the amount of points listed in the WIN column. If your horse runs second or third, you will get the amount of points listed in the PLACE column (half the amount of points for a win). Horses will be listed in order of favouritism, with the favourite worth 1 point for a win, the 2nd favourite 2 points etc. This will be based on the odds at the time I looked up the field, not the final odds before the jump.

All selections will need to be sent to me via PM prior to the first race of any day. Any late scratchings after you have entered your tips are just bad luck - there will be no replacement selections or late selections accepted, as it could happen to anyone. Points listed in my tables are final - scratchings after I post the horse list will not affect the points on offer. I will try to list the fields for each event at least 24 hours prior to a race where possible, however it will be up to you to confirm if there are any late changes with emergencies/scratchings etc.

The main event of each day (the event listed in the table above) will be worth DOUBLE points, this will reward good selections in the key events. Points scored will be accumulated across all races, with the person with the most points after the final race on Champion Stakes day being declared the winner.

Happy to answer any questions you may have, however I think it'll be fairly straight forward.

Races for the first event to be held tomorrow (Saturday 30/9) at Randwick are:

Race 1: Midway

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Race 2: Keeneland Gimcrack Stakes

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Race 3: Arrowfield Breeders Plate

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Race 4: Bisley Workwear

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Race 5: Catanach's Jewellers Dulcify Stakes

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Race 6: Darley Flght Stakes

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Race 7: Precise Air Premiere Stakes

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Race 8: Tab Epsom (DOUBLE POINTS)

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Race 9: James Squire Metropolitan

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Race 10: City Tattersalls Group

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Please PM me your selection for all 10 races prior to the start of the first race at 11:55 AM Australian Eastern Time. No late selections or changes will be accepted after the first race starts, even for races later in the day. Points from this event will NOT be counted in the overall competition, tomorrow is just a chance to give everyone a go to see if you are interested and to test tipping strategies etc. With the short notice of this competition and the AFL grand final being held tomorrow, I thought it fairer to start the competition with the Turnbull Stakes event instead.

If you prefer to post your selections here, they will be accepted if they are posted prior to the first race, however it is probably not the best move strategically, as everyone can see them.

Good luck everyone and I hope you enjoy this.
 
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Hawthorn
#6
Just over 3 hours to go to enter for the first event, if you want to have a trial run before next week.
 
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#8
Have you had much interest ?
Not as much as I would like to see, but I am hoping it will pick up a bit after the Grand Final. There's only 4 entries so far, but I expected a low turn out today which is why I held off on this week counting. I'd really like to see at least double that as a minimum for a competitive competition, and I am hoping there should be enough here interested in the racing for that to happen once it kicks off for real next Saturday.
 

Rowsus

Statistician
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#13
Think with the scoring system it's better not to pick the favourites.
I think you'll need to average around 1.3-1.5 points/race to do well, which means picking the fav is counterproductive.

Just a suggestion, but starting the points at say 3/1.5 instead of 1/0.5 would mean you'd need to average around 1.7-2.0/race to do well, and makes the favs a consideration. As a general rule of thumb, favs win 30% of the time, and place another 30%. If someone went 10 favs, they'd currently score around 4.5. Under a 3/1.5 starting system they'd score 13.5, which is still below the 17-20 required to be very competitive.
 
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#14
Apologies if there are any errors here, I will double check later on, but if I did make a mistake with your selections, please let me know.

Selectons:

Race 1
State of America: tso
Extreme Freedom: toxic
Celestial Fury: kennychao
Whisky Wisdom: Rowsus
Go Troppo: Professor (5 pts - 3rd)

Race 2
Invincible Madison: tso, Professor
Celestial Bling: Rowsus, kennychao (2.5 pts - 2nd)
Alinea: toxic

Race 3
Scampi: tso, toxic
Volatile: kennychao
Straight Charge: Rowsus (1.5 pts - 2nd)
Highness: Professor

Race 4
Unspoken: tso, toxic (2 pts - 1st)
For Valour: Professor, kennychao
Highlights: Rowsus (3.5 pts - 2nd)

Race 5
Tom Kitten: tso, toxic (0.5 pts - 3rd)
Pushy: kennychao (1 pt - 2nd)

Cafe Millenium: Professor
Tannhauser: Rowsus

Race 6
Tiz Invincible: tso, toxic, kennychao
Tropical Squall: Professor (4 pts - 1st)
Tutta La Vita: Rowsus (2.5 pts - 3rd)


Race 7
Think About It: tso, kennychao (1 pt - 1st)
Hawaii Five Oh: Professor, Rowsus (2.5 pts - 2nd)

Mazu: toxic

Race 8
Pounding: tso, toxic, Professor
Rediener: kennychao (12 pts - 1st)
Democracy Manifest: Rowsus

Race 9
Just Fine: tso, toxic (1 pt - 1st)
Benaud: Rowsus, kennychao
Cleveland: Professor

Race 10
Airman: toxic (2 pts - 1st)
Recommendation: tso, kennychao
Pizarro: Professor
Wategos: Rowsus (4 pts - 2nd)
 
Last edited:
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Hawthorn
#15
I think you'll need to average around 1.3-1.5 points/race to do well, which means picking the fav is counterproductive.

Just a suggestion, but starting the points at say 3/1.5 instead of 1/0.5 would mean you'd need to average around 1.7-2.0/race to do well, and makes the favs a consideration. As a general rule of thumb, favs win 30% of the time, and place another 30%. If someone went 10 favs, they'd currently score around 4.5. Under a 3/1,5 starting system they'd score 13.5, which is still below the 17-20 required to be very competitive.
I'll definitely consider this, I did think I might have underpriced favourites by a bit. Just as well this is a trial event I guess which will enable corrections like this to happen before it starts next week. I did put this together fairly quickly, so I'm sure there's ways to improve it.
 
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