Why PARX by Bill V

[mnl97]

I just ran across this thread by Bill. Found it very touching and worth posting again.

Why Parx by Bill V.pdf

Originally Posted by Bill V.

This question of why do you like Parx so much was recently asked in a private message. I thought I would answer it here.
My answer is really a 6 act play

Act 1 Night

When I first started to learn the methodology I had a great teacher
and friend, Richie P. I also had all the one on one mentoring I wanted in phone calls to Doc. What I did not have was self confidence and I had very low self esteem

Lets flash back to 1997. I was just getting used to Pace Launcer 4
It was the first program I purchased from the methodology,
Synthesis was the program of that time. Yet after my interview with Mary Sartin and then with Doc, They told me since I new very little about handicapping Synthesis might be overwhelming for me.

Since PL4 was a hand entry program I soon looked for a track with smaller fields, I was first taught by doc to enter a line for every horse in the race and then hide horses that did not rate first second or third on about 4 different
screens - this was the way he helped me before he taught the same
principle which became the primary line score.

Anyway my lack of confidence and self esteem actually led me to Philadelphia
Park as it was called then. I learned while doing races at the Meadowlands.
simocast. Every body would gather around all the monitors at the Meadowlands when the big tracks like New York California and Gulfstream were running, this was way before internet betting so the Meadowlands was very crowded and noisy. I felt so bad about losing the little money I had and my self esteem was so bad I felt like nothing around everybody else. Those people who were rooting on the winners made me feel even worse.

Act 2 She's The One

Eventually I notice that when a race was being run at Philadelphia Park
very few other people were interested. I often watched races with 4 5 and 6 horse fields alone in front of the monitor all by myself. I liked the fact that I could watch the races alone and the small fields interested me, It was easy to hand enter the pace lines for the small fields. I have always been a little off the wall about rooting for the underdog, I began to enjoy winning because of my teachers,and hard work. I also was determined to win at Philly because it was "my" track.
Phiily Park was a good track to learn from because they ran year round.
They ran a nice mix of 5 sprint distances. and 3 route distances
They also ran on the dirt and turf.
Doc was supportive in my desire to work races from Philly because he said
that based on the races I worked with him and my betting records Philly offered better value as a whole over the New York smart tracks.
Things were really improving for me, by now I had upgraded 4 steps to Validator 2. I was winning and now downloading was available.
I spent a couple of hundred dollars a year downloading every card everyday
Philly Park ran races.

Act 3 Jungle-land

Anybody here seem my old friend One day the bottom feel out. My best friend no longer came to the Meadowlands. I was all alone. Just before this sad day I had started to look at other tracks, As I recall the last memory I had of my friend he and I were sitting no longer in the clubhouse, but now in the $3.00 room upstairs off the clubhouse level, and I had won a big turf race at Fairgrounds, Once my friend was gone,things went very bad, I soon lost all my confidence I would not call Doc, without the money I was winning I went broke, things were so bad I knew was eventually going to get evicted, so I actually used to practice being homeless, I actually spent nights outside in the middle of the winter on my apartment stair well to get used to being homeless.
I wanted to kill myself but instead I decided that my family still loved me.
I would just kill the person I had become. I remember sitting at my fathers kitchen table and him crying as I told him how bad things had got. I begged him to not blame himself, I promised him I would pick myself up,So In my mind
I committed suicide.

Act 4 Thunder Road

I made cassette of Bruce Springsteen's songs Born to Run, Badlands and Thunder Road I played those sounds constantly I had lost contact with Doc
after he got sick but somehow I found out his home address and contacted Mary Sartin.She allowed me to speak to Doc, I told Doc about what had become of me and how sorry I was.

I told my mom and dad and I would start using the methodology again.
I set up my dad with my copy of Validator on his computer. He asked me to teach him. and he said he wanted to do races from Philly because he said I was so good at that track. I once again downloaded Philly- Parx everyday. With my Bruce music as my soundtrack I spit in the face of the badlands.
I was motivated, I soon was back to the Meadowlands were I made new friends and revisited my old friends at the table. I no longer went into the $3,00 room.

Act 5 Racing In the Streets

I met a man standing at the gate at 7.00 am one Saturday morning
at the Meadowlands. Even though the gates did not open till 11.30
I used to wait in line and talk to Gene.. He used to ask me who I liked at
Philly in the first race, Each week I would tell him my choices for the first race
and then the next week he would tell me how he won using my picks.
I once again was the Philly guy, Once I gave a man who I did not know my
top 4 BLBL horses. I found out the man boxed them and won a $3000 trifecta
I was traveling down Thunder road, I was approached by another stranger one Saturday and he told me if I give him my picks he would make the first bet and if we won he would make all the bets for us as partners. I won the biggest exacta, trifecta and pick 3 in my life all on that card. We swept the card except I just went with his picks in the maiden races.
I won over $1000 and got out of a big hole. I only looked at one track Philly Park and once again I downloaded every card and worked every race
for practice. My friend Gene saw an amazing transformation in my self confidence. Gene has passed so he probably hangs out at the heaven racetrack with Doc and Jimmy, Before he died he told me "Bill your not the man you are when you walk into the track , you are the man who is driving home after you leave the track", I lived those words. It became more motivation to always be on the way home a winner.

Act 6 Born To Run

One day I got a phone call. My friend was back. He too was a new man. life was great once again I told him I spoke to Doc and was playing parx
I also had a idea about a website about the Sartin methodolgy
VDC Messenger was not only the name of that website it was also the name of the my very own company VDC Messenger delivery service.
Soon after the start of VDC messenger and just before Pace and Cap
With my friend once again by my side we watched Smarty Jones show the world what a "philly" horse could do. I had come full circle. I never will forget those days months and the beginning of my time with the methodology.
Philly Park became PARX and the casino made for bigger purses and bigger fields. I still think of myself watching those 4 horse fields all alone
when ever I download and watch races from Parx

Its the track I love. Its a big part of my life.

"For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside, that it ain't no sin to be
glad your alive, I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me i wanna for one place I wanna spit in the face of these Badlands"
Bruce Sprinsteen

[Michael]

An enjoyable read. Thank you.

[Michael]

Us newbie's could learn from that, re the fields with being small, that way we won't get to much information going into our heads at once, get going with the small races then go to the bigger meetings when you become more adept at using the methodology.
That's what I'm doing anyway.
Again thanks for putting it up.

[Lt1]

Parx is my main track to play simply because it provides races for older horses on the dirt. These races are bread and butter races. I find these races have less variables to deal with like races with many FTS or turf races with a bunch of unknown factors. Also I only play 1 track a day, so I have a good track model by surface and distance, so I know what factors win there and other tracks I play. As far as field sizes I find them to be acceptable for play and betting. I believe it is a good track for a newer member to cut their teeth on.
Tim

[mick]

Several years ago, before his final illness, Bill contacted me about writing a book. He knew I had written several and asked for my help. I told him I would be glad to read what he wrote and offer comments and constructive criticism.

He wanted to tell the story of his relationship with Doc Sartin and of his friendship with RitchieP and others at the Meadowlands where they had gathered. He wanted to write it as a novel and I suggested that he first write a factual narrative of events. It's much easier to simply write down your recollections. He insisted that it had to be a novel though and after I read a couple of chapters, I realized why. While he had dealt with and largely overcome the emotional and psychological issues he mentioned in his post, the flesh, so to speak, was still too raw and tender. Writing the story as a novel would help him keep it at arm's length.

I think he sent me three chapters which I read and commented on before they stopped coming. What he shared with me was okay and certainly pretty good for someone trying it for the first time. Writing is hard work though and I've always assumed the wind just went out of his sails. Either that or he had begun to suffer from the health issues that eventually took his life and the energy and strength required were no longer there.

Frankly, I wish he had been able to carry on and write his story. It would have had a happy ending and Bill needed that. It also would have given us a close and personal glimpse of Doc Sartin. I've always found it odd that the only people who seem to write about him are his detractors while the many people who loved him remain silent. I wish some of them would step forward but it's probably not going to happen. Say what you will, but the man changed the game and Bill knew him almost like a son knows a father.

[Lt1]

Another thing I like about there are no talking heads spouting their opinions as to why a can't win or is a mortal lock that may cause one to waiver on their capping choices.
Tim

[Lt1]

Well put Mick.
Tim

[mick]

Thank you, Tim.

[gandalf380]

that was Bill to a T. He was able to lift himself up because he saw positives where others saw negatives.

[Ted Craven]

Thanks Mike for digging this up, and Mick for elaborating on Bill's attempted self-bio. It is nice to read while the memories ares till fresh.

I took the liberty of including Bill's original post as a quote in the opening post above.

Ted