Although Crushing The Cup was developed as a "stand-alone" publication, it’s focus is to explain the "theory" behind picking Cup winners in each race. It’s written months before the big event and, as such, spends little time discussing current contenders for each race.

However, we found that hundreds of readers would call us around Cup day to see if they were properly applying the "theory" to the actual horses entered. As such, we developed The Crushing Zone, the author’s race-by-analysis of the pre-entered starters for that year’s Cup.

The Zone is not a tout sheet! Repeat, it’s not a tout sheet which will provide you with the first three finishers in each race. Our readers want to make their own final selections. However, The Zone will point out which starters qualify on the key factors in each race. At the end of each analysis, we provide a table which separates the field into three categories: (1) The Crushing Zone; (2) The Gray Zone; and (3) Pretenders.

Crushing Zone starters possess many of the traits evident in previous winners of that race. Most of the race favorites will likely fall into this category, but so will a few well-meant longshots. Horses that fall into the Gray Zone possess some of the characteristics of previous race winners but still have a few holes in their past performances. We leave it to your imagination to integrate the Gray Zone types into your wagering strategies. The higher the price on a Gray Zone horse the better the appeal.

Pretenders just don’t have enough positive characteristics for us (or you) to take them seriously. Some of these horses will be supported by the uninformed. We will be betting against them not because they can’t win, but because they don’t match up to the patterns of previous winners.

click here for more information on The Crushing Zone (under construction)