Posted on 2/12/2008 4:48:22 PM

Horse Betting Action – Real and Spectacular

By Brian Mulligan

Seinfeld fans all have their favorite bits, but one of the most popular was the scene when Jerry had Elaine pose in the sauna with actress Teri Hatcher to try to ascertain if an attractive part of her anatomy was real.

Hatcher, as the character Sidra, was left with the final line, ‘they’re real and they’re spectacular’.

Which brings us to this new puzzle facing horse bettors throughout the land, synthetic surfaces and one way a player can try to get an edge is to identify which sires excel on those surfaces.

According to Equibase, the leader in that division is not fancy. He’s not an A.P. Indy an In Excess or a Distorted Humor but a prolific little secret named Bold Executive.

The diamond in the rough has several times been leading sire in Canada and he was a bargain yearling himself at 33 grand. He won stakes short and long and is now towering over the field as a synthetic sire.

In 2007 he had 77 winners and 62% of them, 48 to be exact, won on all-weather surfaces. He had 4 stakes winners, and all 4 won on the synthetic and his all-weather earnings more than doubled the second place sire Tiznow. Bold Executive’s starters earned over $3.4 million on the all-weather, which accounts for 80% of his total earnings.

It may not been simple to find Bold Executive offspring in California or New York, but as the spring unfolds and outposts like Emerald Downs and Hastings get rolling, look for his offspring to one again thrive this year.

Three sires, A. P. Indy, Bertrando and Stormy Atlantic were all in close pursuit of Tiznow for that second all-weather spot.

But cagey horse wagering can look to some hidden gems that are far from household names.

Bold N’ Flashy boasted 56 winners last year and 39% won on the all-weather and 62% of his success was on the fake stuff.

California horse bettors have long known that Unusual Heat excels with turf runners but he also has done very well thank you on the synthetic. He had 59 winners last year and 25% won on the synthetic. Astute bettors can look for trainer Barry Abrams to have a field day in 2008 with the synthetic gold mine on the West Coast.

Along those same grass-intriguing lines comes Silver Hawk. He was a super runner on grass but has excelled with his runners on the all-weather. He only had 10 of his offspring race on the synthetic last year but 4 cashed.

California sire Swiss Yodeler, known for his great speed and for passing it on, popped at 21% on the all-weather last year.

The one sire that clever horse bettors can try to cash on since he is not a popular name is Tribal Rule. He had 5 stakes winners in 2007, three won on the synthetic and 48% of his winners succeeded on the synthetic.

Even if a horse bettor is not attuned to pedigree or breeding, now is the time to start paying attention to it on the synthetic because like it or not, this is the future.

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