NEW VLT MACHINES ARE HERE! Check out our new VLT machines in the Clubwest Gaming Lounge. Open daily from 10 a.m. through 1 a.m.

Entry fee: $25. Bankroll: $60. Place 10 ($2 WPS) wagers on any North American harness or thoroughbred race that takes place on the contest day. You must have a Manitoba HPI account to participate. Deadline to enter is 4 p.m. today (Friday, December 9). Entry form. Rules. Current Handicapper of the Year standings.

Earn 1% cash back on all eligible wagers during our 12 Days of Christmas Cash Back Special. Wager a minimum of $1,000 during the above time period and receive a maximum of $100 cash back. ($2.10 payouts are not eligible.) You must opt-in at HPIbet.com to be eligible for the promotion and all wagers must be placed on your HPI account.

HAPPY HOUR - Daily from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close

The Club West Dining Room and Lounge is open daily at 10 a.m. until 1 a.m. for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and beverages. Our menu includes favourites such as chicken wings, pizza, chipotle mozza burger (pictured), steak sandwich or bacon and eggs plus much more! See the full menu here.

FRIDAY STEAK SPECIAL - $24.95 - 8 oz. top Sirloin charbroiled and seasoned with our smoky dry rub. Served with vegetables and choice of mashed potatoes or french fries. Served from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

PRIME RIB SATURDAY SPECIAL - $29.95 - Our signature Certified Angus Prime Rib (8 oz.) served with vegetables and choice of mashed potatoes or french fries, horseradish and Yorkshire pudding au jus. Served from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

With the Handicapper of the Year Title on the line in the final Player’s Choice Handicapping Tournament this Saturday, entrants will be looking for any edge they can get, but where?

There really is only one place left to look.

The information available in the Daily Racing Form and Equibase programs is valuable and required, but everyone has it. While everyone digs into that data for hidden pieces of information in different ways, their final answers are normally similar, and the public correctly predicts the favourite over 30 percent of the time.

Horses with higher numbers generally run better than horses with lower numbers. Horses with higher pace figures generally get the lead. Classier horses usually run better than their working-class counterparts. No edges there. And trouble in the comments is often taken for gospel and overplayed.

Did the horse really get left in the gate? How many lengths did it cost him? Was he a speed horse that needed the lead, or a come-from-behind type? You need to know. Does the “blocked” comment really mean anything? What did the horse do after being blocked? And was he really blocked? What did it cost him?

There’s only one way to find out, and really only one serious edge left in the racing game – watching replays. Computers can’t do that.

If you’re a casual weekend player, you likely only have enough time to go back and watch a few replays for your contenders, or those flagged in the trouble lines, but if you really want to gain an edge on the crowd, you're going to have to use a system like the one Andy Beyer described in his book, The Winning Horseplayer.

Beyer used a notation system that included stages of the race, the pace, types of trouble, positions on the track and track biases. After every race he’d mark his program with the appropriate comments on each horse, and when he handicapped the races for a card maybe 2-3 weeks later, he’d pull out all his programs and look back at his notes on every horse that was entered.

Nowadays you can enter your notes into online platforms such as HPIBet.com and Formulator, but you still need a good notation system.

Not only does Beyer's system give you a knowledge edge with regards to the horses and the track biases, it also allows you to spot discrepancies between your notes and the information in the official charts and past performances.

Did a horse make a rush between calls? That might not show up in the past performance lines. Was the horse in a vise on the turn and unable to get out, while not in any noticeable trouble? That likely won’t be in the chart or the past performance lines either.

G - Gate

FT - First Turn

B - Backstretch

T - Turn

E - Entering the Stretch

S - Stretch

Duel - A horse fighting for the lead

Stalk - A horse stalking the early pacesetters

Move - A horse accelerates strongly

MIHP - Move into a hot pace (not good)

Inherit - A horse takes the lead from tiring rivals

Slo - Slow break from the gate

Rush - Horse rushes into contention

Steady - Mild trouble caused by lack of running room

Check - Serious trouble that stops a horse’s momentum

Alter - Horse is forced to alter course sharply

NP - No Push. The jockey is not asking the horse to run at some stage of the race

Stiff - The jockey has not asked his horses to run at any stage of the race

V - Vise. A horse in heavy traffic without being in noticeable trouble

GP – A horse in good position with no rivals inside or out

Rail - Innermost position

2,3,4,5,6-P - Horse widths from the rail

GR Good Rail

GR+ Very strong good rail

BR Bad Rail

BR+ Very strong bad rail

S Speed favouring Track

S+ Very strong speed favouring track

C Track that favours closers

It means you should go to the bank.... kidding! Maybe.

It means the horse broke two lengths slow, rushed up in the 7-path into the first turn, was in a vise on the final turn and faded on a track with very strong speed-rail bias.

Do you think this horse might run better next time? And what are the chances of finding a horse with a trip like this or similar? They’re out there. Every day. And the above information isn’t always in the past performance lines or the charts. But it might be…

In your programs.

"Barney Penny, my brother Dan and me around 1966. Barney was part of the gate crew at Assiniboia Downs and a wonderful man." ~ Patti Ragen Schwisow. Thanks for posting and sharing Patti! See more on Facebook at Assiniboia Downs Backstretch Memories.

Beverly Park has won more races than any horse in North America this year and more races than any horse has in a year since 2011. The 5-year-old is a true iron horse, with 13 victories from a staggering 28 starts this year, at almost a dozen different tracks, while earning $271,868 ($512,970 lifetime). And he has Canadian connections! More from Jennifer Morrison at the Canadian Thoroughbred here.

Canterbury Park Preparing Shorter Racing Season

Canterbury Park is preparing for a shorter horse racing season this year as a deal between the park and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is reaching its end, also forcing the track to plan for smaller purses in the 2023 racing season. More from Pechanga.net here.