That's a wrap...

Well, the Canterbury spring/summer meet came to a close on Monday with someone housing the pick 6 for size at nearly 28k. I went 4 of 6 in hopes of a closing day inflated consolation payout. Overall the meet presented mixed results. Handle was down against the prior year, but attendance was up for the 11th straight year.

The jockey and trainer project I was working on proved to be too large and ambitious for me to get it done before the meet was over, so I punted. In fall, I turn my play toward Hoosier, Turfway and Remington. I'm attempting to do the trainer/jockey project on the Remington meet thus far so that it can actually prove useful information that can be used on the rest of the meet. Posting race picks will be more infrequent, but one sheet weekly is probably about right. I'll also have a series of postings leading up to the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Monmouth on October 26 and 27. Expect picks to be posted October 25.

Also, the NFL season kicked off last night and I'll be taking looks opportunities to capitalize on NFL point spreads and totals. Last year I won with just over 60% of my picks. Anyway, let's take a look at a couple of opportunities for this weekend...

Pittsburgh -4 1/2 @ Cleveland
Generally, I dislike playing the road favorite. Too many weird things happen on the road. However, Pittsburgh is the superior team in this one. Cleveland is pretty much a mess and the pressure is on to perform this season. They may win 6 or 7 games, but I think they get handled in this one. Pittsburgh -4 1/2

Tennessee @ Jacksonville O/U 38
Early in the season the defenses tend to have the upper hand on the offenses, typically leading to week 1 and 2 games staying to the under. It started last night with the total staying under the 53 1/2 total. Last season, only 4 week 1 games went over 40 total points. Both of these teams have good to great defenses and neither have standout offenses. Give me the under 38.

New York Giants @ Dallas O/U 44
This is a play on the same trend. Also, mix in Romo's struggles against the Giants in his brief career as a starter and I think you have all the makings of a 20-10 kind of game. Under 44.

If sports gambling were legal in my state, these would be my three plays of the weekend. I'd play them all for 1 unit and parlay the trio for 1 unit as well.

To recap:
Pittsburgh -4 1/2 for 1 unit.
Jacksonville/Tennessee Under 38 for 1 unit.
NYG/Dallas Under 44 for 1 unit.
3 team parlay of the above for 1 unit.