As the temperatures drop and the temptation to dip into some warmth inducing whiskey builds, players that need action to get through the night can look to Turfway Park for challenge and potential value.

Horse bettors that can sustain the chilly environment can dabble on the synthetic hoping to feed those Christmas Clubs.

When they first installed the Polytrack at Turfway it was very difficult to wire a field. It took time for the trainers and riders to adjust to the new surroundings and often times they were tentative in making decisions.

Things have changed a bit as horses could go wire to wire at the meet last winter and often times speed became value.

This is kind of bizaro world for horseplayers as speed generally gets over bet.

Just like at most tracks, horse bettors have to know the guys behind the scenes, the trainers, in order to get an edge and there are some guys in Kentucky that almost always have an ace up their proverbial sleeves.

One guy that has to be watched is Frankie Brothers. He didn't send out a lot or horses in the early weeks of the meet but he won with 2 of his first 3 starters and at a solid 9-2 average price.

Brothers, who learned under Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg, has always been good with young stock and must be respected with debuting three-year-olds this stand.

There were also several other trainers that have made the most with little stock. Clifford Wilkinson won with 3 of his first 9 starters and is more potent with horses going a route of ground.

Identical records of 3 winners from 4 starters were posted by trainers Eduardo Caramori and William Denzik.

Good things come to those who wait and bettors can wait for Larry Baker Jr. to bring his horses back. He is very adept at runners off a vacation and he won with 3 of his first 8 starters at the Turfway meet last winter.

To get a handle on how good and how fast a race actually was players can turn to the Beyers pars to be used as guidelines.

Since the surface never changes, theoretically, Beyer pars figure to be pretty consistent this meet as in 2007.

One of the biggest drops in the sport is going from a maiden special weight race to a maiden claimer and that is reflected in the Beyers.

The par Beyer for a MSW was a 74 last year and for maiden claimers from $7,500 to $8,900, the Beyer par is only 51.

Jump up to a maiden $15,000 or maiden $20,000 seller and the Beyer only escalates to a 59 number.

Without going through the entire spectrum of claiming races, horse bettors should know that from the low end of a $5,000 seller to the high end claimer at $50,000, the Beyer pars will range from 68 to 89.

Once horseplayers start seeing Beyers at Turfway from 86 to 89, they should know that these are the best horses on the grounds outside of the stakes runners.

Pay attention early in the meet for post-position bias and take an extra look at horses that figure to get the lead, but will likely be overmatched because of a lack of class.