Rxlawyer at NTRA Championship!

[Ted Craven]

Gary,

I must tell you your experience in Vegas has been an eye-opener for me in the 'psychology' department (hmmm, where have we heard about the importance of Factor 'P' before...). It must be exactly like any other skilled athlete or practitioner preparing for a top-level competition, be it Olympics, a chess tournament or a spelling-bee: you've got ALL the requisite skills, even in your sleep as you put it, you've performed superlatively in lesser competition, yet faced with the massed collection of all the other really talented competitors, the 'little professor' can kick in and attempt to convice you that 'you're not really as good as all these other luminaries', or worse, when the natural distribution of judgement mistakes or racing luck goes against you, you permit the doubt in your abilities to start to cloud the normal confidence.

I suspect that's why many top level competitors have trainers in their retinue, and some trainers devoted solely to mental/emotional conditioning, engaging you in regular exercises (even during the heat of competition) to help revisualize and actualize the experience you already have of how demonstably comptetent you really are, if you can just bring it to bear NOW!

Gary, thanks for giving it such effort, not only this weekend but all along leading up to it. Thanks for helping me visualize an accomplishment I know I myself am comptetent for, or can easily become competent for with the simple focus and 'hard' effort using the analytical and the mental tools we talk about in this community.

It has been an inspiration!

On to the next race!

Ted

[Bob Cochran]

Congratulations Gary, just for getting there. I placed 26th in the 2004
Tournament. It was a breathtaking experience. I had exactly the same feelings you stated in your previous notes.

The first time you go, you might go to the introductory assembly. You get a
chance to meet all the players and maybe have a cocktail or 2.

I went straight to my room and began handicapping the next day's races.
Some of the players came to the contest hung-over from the nite before.
Big mistake. You are not there to socialize.

I plan to go to the next one. Some of the things i learned from the first
one are:

After i recieve my materials for the contest, go straight to my room(alone)
and begin to select my optional races .

Once I select the optionals, i will work on the mandatory races.
Having finished this, i will work on the "matchup" races provided.

I will get the scratches as early as possible, and mark my final selections.
If I have 2 horses which can't be separated, I will bet the highest PTO.

I will not purposely look for "longshots", but will seek value.

I will place my wager for the tournament, walk around, or leave the area.
No socializing.

I will avoid looking at the leaderboards, thereby putting added pressure on myself.

Once you look at the board , and see which position you are in after each race, you might have a tendency to "press"

The biggest mistake I made was looking for longshots in the mandatory races.
Most were won by the medium price to chalk horses.

The best time for socializing is at the awards presentation dinner. That was a lot of fun.

Again, congratulations Gary for just being there. Maybe I will see you there for the next one.

BobC

[shoeless]

Gary's bio

[Rxlawyer]

To All:

I really appreciate all of the comments and well wishes. My best dream is that several of us can make it to the BIG ONE next year. At the awards dinner when Ken Massa was awarded second all I could hear was chants in the crowd for HTR. Well, next year I hope to hear the same chants for RDSS. Lets all work to make it there next year.

Gary

[Ted Craven]

Gary,

You are very kind, and it gives me great inspiration to deliver my project as soon as I can so I can see what will become of it!

Ted

[Rxlawyer]

Ted:

I can tell you, as a person who has tried most other programs including HTR, that RDSS has the potential to become a superstar. I am using it regularly and I go to the track frequently so I think I can make a fair judgment on the potential of the program. The program is coming along beautifully! Keep up the great work!

Gary