Mark Ripple was an American

money manager Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified inve ...

, expert horse racing handicapper, and author of ''Handicapping the Wall Street Way''. He was frequently sought after to write articles, having written for ''American Turf Monthly'', ''The Horse Jockey'', CBS, and ''Southern Gaming Magazine''. He was featured in ''American Turf Monthly'' and Motley Fool, and had been a featured financial commentator for CBS ''Market Watch''. Mark gave lectures at numerous colleges including the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, Hudson Valley Community College, and

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

Early life and education

Ripple was born August 30, 1967. After graduating from Hudson Valley Community College as a President's List Student, Ripple commenced to further his studies at

until he was recruited as New York State's youngest

investment banker Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by unde ...

, at age 21, by Thomas James Associates of Rochester, New York.

Career

Thomas James Associates

He spent one year at the fledgling firm and was drafted by

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

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 Incorporated.

PVR Investment Holdings

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

Bibliography

*
Handicapping the Wall Street Way
' In 2005, Ripple authored a ground-breaking piece of work on

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, 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 bas ...

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 t ...

''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 (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Intern ...

of the late 1990s and the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

with a Triple Crown 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 and was later exported to Japan as a breeding stallion. Background War Emblem was bred by ...

, Funny Cide, 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 ...

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 West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

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 Horse racing writers Living people 1967 births