Mark E. Ripple, born August 30, 1967 was an American money manager, expert horse racing handicapper, and author of ''Handicapping the Wall Street Way''. He was frequently sought after to pen articles, having written for ''American Turf Monthly'', ''The Horse Jockey'', CBS, and ''Southern Gaming Magazine''. He has been featured in ''American Turf Monthly'' and Motley Fool, and has been a featured financial commentator for CBS ''Market Watch''. Mark has given lectures at numerous colleges including the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Hudson Valley Community College Hudson Valley Community College is a public community college in Troy, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). Although about eighty percent of the students are from the Capital District, the remainder are from other par ...

, and

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

Career

Thomas James Associates

After graduating from Hudson Valley Community College as a President's List Student, Ripple commenced to further his studies at Rensselaer Polythechnic Institute until he was recruited as New York State's youngest

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

, at age 21, by Thomas James Associates of Rochester, New York. He spent one year at the fledgling firm and was drafted by

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

Merrill Lynch

While at Merrill Lynch, he held a variety of responsibilities in sales management, in both debt and equities, as well as product risk management, and investment banking.

Prudential Bache

Ripple has also worked in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of

Prudential Securities Prudential Securities, also formerly known as Prudential Securities Incorporated (PSI), was the financial services arm of the insurer, Prudential Financial. In 2003, Prudential Securities was merged into Wachovia Securities, a division of Wacho ...

Incorporated.

PVR Investment Holdings

Ripple continues to invest for a very select group of clients with his British-Canadian partner, PVR Investment Holdings.

''Handicapping the Wall Street Way: Picking Xtra Winners at the Track''

In 2005, Ripple authored a ground-breaking piece of work on

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

handicapping Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which th ...

''Handicapping the Wall Street Way''
shows how Ripple successfully applies theories learned from 20 years in the securities investment game to horse racing. Ripple based his theories on market inefficiencies. The odds on a horse or a stock's price is normally very efficient, because the public sets the prices and gives correct values. We see this when odds-on favorites finish in the money more often than not, and blue chip stocks steadily rise in value over time. Clearly, this is a slow way to turn a profit. However, irrational behavior by the betting public, be they stock investors or horseplayers, will cause inefficient markets. He uses the parallel of the

dot-com boom The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...

of the late 1990s and the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

with a

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

on the line to demonstrate the most extreme examples of market inefficiency, and how taking a contrarian approach can lead to profitability. Investors who bought dot-com shares at the height of the boom and horseplayers who bet on

War Emblem War Emblem (February 20, 1999 – March 11, 2020) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Background War Emblem was bred by Charles Nuckols Jr. & Sons in Kentucky. His sire was O ...

Funny Cide Funny Cide (foaled April 20, 2000) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He is the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He was an immensely popular horse and remai ...

, and

Smarty Jones Smarty Jones (February 28, 2001) is a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and came second in the Belmont Stakes. Background Born at Fairthorne Farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the horse was n ...

at the Belmont all took a loss on their wagers. One angle of betting that other race handicapping books rarely touch on, but is always discussed by financial advisors, is risk management, prescribing a betting strategy corresponding to the level of risk the bettor is willing to take. With greater risk, there is a corresponding greater potential profit but with the trade-off of more money that can be lost. Ripple was the first to use a simple questionnaire to determine what level of risk the reader is comfortable with, and then the reader can implement the corresponding betting strategies. Ripple recognizes that it is not "one size fits all" and has tailored strategies to reflect this.

Philanthropy and personal life

Ripple was also Co-Founder of the Elizabeth K. Ripple Memorial Scholarship Fund, founded in honor of his sister, which provides scholarships for students attending Hudson Valley Community College's Respiratory Therapy Program. He died from complications of liver disease on December 17, 2010 in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Bibliography

*
Handicapping the Wall Street Way
'

References

External links

Seven Lucky Tips for Making a Better Kentucky Derby BetHandicapping the Wall Street WayHandicapping Sprint Races at the Track
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ripple, Mark American financial businesspeople American gambling writers American male non-fiction writers American stock traders American investors American money managers American sportswriters Horse racing writers and broadcasters Living people Year of birth missing (living people)