Las Virgenes

As projected, Golden Doc A won the Las Virgenes, gamely holding off Lovely Isle by a length. Sent off as the 3/2 favorite, however, she didn't offer any value in tournament play, paying $8 on a $2 Win/Place wager.

So here is the day's tally - picked both winners, but returned $0 because neither delivered enough value to play in a tournament. Conversely, had I played them both and wagered a total of $8, I would have returned $14.40, for a net profit of $6.40 and an ROI of just over 1.75:1...an ROI that if carried over two days and 30 races would have placed me 2nd in the 2007 DRF National Handicapping Championship.

I'm not convinced going 'by the book' is necessarily the way to go, at least not after my first week playing under tournament conditions.