June, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Maryland Jockey Club TV Analyst Francois Launches ‘Deep Dive’ Handicapping Video Show

Maryland Jockey Club television racing analyst Kali Francois recently launched a detailed and in-depth handicapping show on Learnhorseracing.com and its “Learn Horse Racing” channel on YouTube.

The Learn Horse Racing videos offer viewers a peek over the shoulder of some of the best handicappers in the game as they handicap a race. It's a highly annotated, deep dive into every detail of how top handicappers decipher past performances and what handicapping tools they utilize.

The first two published episodes feature noted public handicappers and racing personalities Andy Serling and Jessica Paquette, with radio host and handicapper Steve Byk and Craig Milkowski of Timeform US scheduled next.

“We wanted to do something really different, educational, and I think important for the horse racing and horse wagering industries,” said Francois who is also a jockey and was a rider for top trainers including Todd Pletcher & Gai Waterhouse. “We wanted to fill a detailed educational niche that no other show or racing podcast is doing.”

The episodes feature detailed, annotated notes on past performances and other handicapping tools of just one race, so the audience can learn in detail the tools and methods the experts use to handicapping a race.

Co-created by Francois and Maryland-based Thoroughbred racing stable owner Marty Carmichael, the duo is hoping the show will prove beneficial to newcomers and experienced handicappers alike.

“We see all these big name handicappers make their picks, but rarely do we see their methods,” said Francois. “The learning curve for handicapping is steep, so hopefully this helps new people in the game, and even the experienced players are interested to see exactly how Andy Serling deciphers the forms.”

“We're hoping our show stands out as evergreen educational content that will last for years,” she said.

The post Maryland Jockey Club TV Analyst Francois Launches ‘Deep Dive’ Handicapping Video Show appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Logan Cormier Unscripted: ‘I’m Not Afraid Of Dying. I’m Just Afraid Of Not Being Able To Ride’

A pivotal scene in the acclaimed film Jockey was, for the most part, unscripted. According to Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, it was the 42-year-old Louisiana-born jockey Logan Cormier who helped bring the scene to life.

Leo Brock, Cormier's character in the film, is critically injured and in the hospital. He is visited by the main character, Jackson Silva, played by Clifton Collins, Jr., and director Clint Bentley encouraged the two to improvise the scene.

Cormier, many times injured over the course of his career, also has experience with returning to the saddle after a 16-year hiatus that included a nine-year stint in jail for crimes linked to serious drug addiction. He'd never played a role on screen prior to Jockey; instead, Bentley brought Cormier into the role simply because the rider had already lived it.

Cormier was able to improvise the pithy, dramatic line that sticks with viewers: “I'm not afraid of dying. I'm just afraid of not being able to ride.”

“That was not scripted – that was just them [Cormier and Collins] finding the emotion of that scene,” Bentley told TRC. “You think about somebody who'd never been in front of a camera before … how much raw talent does he have to deliver a performance like that in that scene?

“Forget a first-time actor. Even if you are working with just a day player, a side actor who comes in—that's a really hard scene to do. I cannot overstate what an incredible job he did at getting that emotion across.”