Making The Morning Line

[stark]

So, what does it take to be a good morning line maker at a premier meet?

A good handicapper?
A good insider?
A good race caller???

The reason I ask is because I just saw that Travis Stone is going to hang up his binoculars used for calling races and instead do the morning line for the upcoming Saratoga meeting.

Would Larry Collmus make a good morning line maker, or Trevor Denman, both excellent race callers, but morning line makers?

Just thinking outloud that maybe NYRA missed the boat on this one and should've given the task to their in-house expert Andy, no?

[curtis]

So, what does it take to be a good morning line maker at a premier meet?

A good handicapper?
A good insider?
A good race caller???

The reason I ask is because I just saw that Travis Stone is going to hang up his binoculars used for calling races and instead do the morning line for the upcoming Saratoga meeting.

Would Larry Collmus make a good morning line maker, or Trevor Denman, both excellent race callers, but morning line makers?

Just thinking outloud that maybe NYRA missed the boat on this one and should've given the task to their in-house expert Andy, no?

Handicapping the public is at least as important than handicapping the horses.  For example, if the ML maker is doing their job a horse like California Chrome will be listed lower than his relative chances because he's going to be over bet and the ML is supposed to reflect what the final odds will be not necessarily what the odds should be.  This is not to say he shouldn't be favored in all races in the foreseeable future.  A guy like your good friend thinair, makes his own odds relative to what he is betting and he's banking it isn't going to match the public.  So Stone gave up the Churchill gig? 

[BaroqueAgain1]

I know Andy gives his opinion based on who he thinks he should bet, but I suspect that he is fully capable of understanding who the public is going to bet. IMHO, he'd be a fine ML odds maker.

[Senator L]

You can make your own ml, just add in the take out usually 15 -20 percent
so your numbers add up to 115 or 120 percent.
there are some really good explanations on some of the websites

[curtis]

I know Andy gives his opinion based on who he thinks he should bet, but I suspect that he is fully capable of understanding who the public is going to bet. IMHO, he'd be a fine ML odds maker.

Any decent handicapper makes some sort of a morning line so in that respect, he would be more than capable.  I think his worth to NYRA is doing what he's doing.  Good morning line makers are like officials in team sports, the better they are the more unknown they are.

[stark]

A bad morning line can be the horizontal players best friend. 

Nothing quite like being alive in a P4 to a M/L 12/1 shot that should've been 7/2, and in fact is, when the actual race comes up!

As for announcers doing the ML, the best I know of is Ed Burgart @ Los Alamitos, but that's a loooong way from Saratoga!

Good luck to Travis, the eyes of the racing world will have his work under a microscope until proven worthy!