European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 9, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Nagging decisions at the race track touting tipsters by Hugh Mulligan associated press Wohlk Fox was defining his profession with a pleased puff of Cigar Speed to spare breezed Home by three lengths to take the second race at the fair grounds in new i put out a selection not a tout he his advice this time rewarded clients with a payoff on a parimutuel which provided some Solace for their missing the daily double when Leaky roof caved in a Furlong from the finish in the first in a tipster not a insists Les interrupting his Job description to peddle his Blue Sheet for to a lady in a Cadillac convertible entering the tracks grandstand i dont take gratuities when my Choice which in this race Chicovic Park finished third behind Speed to ruining his daily double forecast after Bank on Jake won the opener As he Back in the turf the posh est Section of the Fox employed a Dou ble negative to emphasize one invariable in the Laws of Equine probability you can pick some of the winners some of the but you cant pick All of the winners none of the a Damon Runyon once Analysed the skills of hot horse is a Guy who goes around a race track giving out tips on the if he can find any body who will listen to his especially and a tout is nearly always if he is not he is by no Means a but a and is respected by one and including the for knowing so much about the the dozen or so professional prognosticate who work the tracks around Louisiana under such names As hard the Black Speed the jailbird have the uncanny according to a recent study of their futuristic Art in psychology to process Large amounts of unfamiliar information and to think in a inter Active manner using novel and complicated sets of in conclude research professors Stephen Ceci Fri tipster Allan Lacombe with a racing form and a handful of Money at a new Orleans of Cornell and Jeffrey Liker of the University of Michi we doubt that any professionals including Sci Bankers and businessmen engage in a More intellectually demanding form of decision making than these expert none of which came As any Surprise to Fox and Kap who number business men and an occasional priest among their they also seem to meet Runyons criterion of being respected by one and including the track Security guards who regularly seek their its a hard Kaplan detailed the handicappers work ethic As the trumpet sounded for the third there Are 11 races a Day More than any track in the so in looking at 100 horses a trying to evaluate How each horse will perform on the basis of blood past its whether this is a sprint or a distance on grass or on you get a different set of facts and figures thrown at you every to sell a tip you got to prove yourself Day after Day to the people you face on the the results of the third race provided convincing proof that the three hours Kaplan spends studying the racing form each and another hour before were not the Idle doodling of a fast Delano Star and cajun Swanee finished the exact order in which they rolled off Kaplan 30 year old Dick duplicating machine six hours ear tip sheets Are available in a variety of colors and prices the Gold line at triple Crown Best bets at the insider at and for High a two horse parlay at there is also a Sheet which old Man Well into his peddles from the Hood of his Kaplan and on the afternoon when we studied their singular each had four winners and an which rewards bettors for picking horses in the one two order of one of their top three selections finished in the Money in every except the fourth when Fox was shut and yet the Ordinary bettor might have done a bit better sticking with selections in the official track pro As handicapped by mat who at the end of the Day boasted five five second place horses and no All in an amazing performance by pros who make a career of predicting the behaviour of neurotic its safer than playing the Stock which is a suckers observed who numbers several brokers among his on the big Board you can invest at the wrong time in a company that is changing presidents or stuck with a bum product or threatened with a takeover youre taking a bigger Chance with your you never hear of horse players jumping out of windows or horses a College graduate and former elementary school teacher from dabbles in stocks and takes an occasional flutter in the Gold and Silver Market As a sort of mental exercise to keep his intuitive reflexes in i do he but horses Are the real Chal its an ego i  be in this unless i thought i was the with a track record to prove Fox figures that anybody serious about Selling a Sheet has got to come up with four winners a Day to maintain a Kaplan estimates that he picks 30 percent of the my choices Are in the top two Between 55 and 57 percent of the time and in the top three Between 65 and both More than occasionally put their Money handicapper Fox predicting the behaviour of neurotic a photo at the parimutuel window where their tip Sheet Sug but do not bet on every my friends All think in a big bettor and drive a mused lighting up his 10th Cigar of the i drive an 84 Chevy and my biggest bet is 20 any hours player who tells you he is making a living at the windows is in a fantasy neither handicapper puts much Reliance on the weight a horse is a Trainer told me 5 pounds was like a Grain of Sand to a horse in a Fox and Long ago i threw out track Speed will hold up Over mud and in the last 20 years theres been so much improvement in drainage a track could be wet in the first Good by the 6th and fast for the for both Kaplan and bloodlines All the Way Back to a horses great grandsire and great Granddad arc most important in laying Down a line or predicting How a race will be princ Equillo produced nothing but Fox gave an yet during the he stayed on the docks of new Orleans for three Days before being sold in new York for a very modest secretariat was descended from one of his bold rulers line keeps turning out winners look at Seattle shed Row at the fair grounds has and during the 100day meeting More than horses Are in temporary residence before the action moves on to Jefferson the new Orleans nighttime and then to other parts of the neither Fox nor Kaplan uses a computer to keep up with the awesome Load of statistics and Genea logical my head is the Only computer i Kaplan scoffed at the you cant feed 30 years experience into a i had a few customers who stopped buying my Sheet when they got Home com but they All came i am a Fox the electronic ones cant Tell you if a horse is physically or psychologically How he looks in the paddock or parading to the a Trainer named Hal an old mule trader who bred Bern Burgos which beat the great round taught me How to look at a look for signs of lameness or walking dont worry if Hes frothing at the or wringing wet with or acting up in the paddock and biting his that shows some Kelso bit everybody and he was the Best i Ever theres a lot of esp that you cant Call up in a added horse sense in All handicappers is fed by a prodigious Fox remembers the Day John the 9 year old gelding recently again named horse of the broke his Maiden won his first race Here at Jefferson he went off at 6to5 and the next time outre fell the Horsey set does not keep stockbrokers up at Fox likes to get to the track in time for workouts and training in which Young horses Are taught to break from the he drops by the track Kitchen around when jockeys and trainers Are returning from to pick up any information leaking out from the barns to the if a horse is suddenly downgraded from a to a claiming you wonder if somebody is trying to unload and in making his Fox deliberately tries to avoid the favourites and pick horses that will pay the Best if a horses background fits the ill go with an apprentice he but you got to respect the top jockeys include them in your daily double because they have a line to the Best 14 the stars and stripes a photo Les Kaplan peddles his racing tip Sheet to a Driver arriving at the june 1985 4 the stars and stripes Page 15