“Do I need to quit the game?” That was the question Justin Dew asked himself recently after reading Mike Maloney’s book, “Betting With an Edge.” Dew, 42, enjoyed the book but was simply overwhelmed by the amount of work – sometimes more than 80 hours a week – that Maloney put in. “Reading the book was an eye-opener,” said Dew, who qualified last weekend for the Keeneland Challenge via DRF Tournaments. “I knew there were people out there who were better prepared than me, but I didn’t realize the full extent of it. “You see a lot of the same names on leaderboards over and over. Those players don’t have magic wands, they work harder than most. You shouldn’t put money down unless you have an edge of some sort.” Dew has spent the last few months thinking about what his edge is. Like many players, Dew started off playing in contests with a desire to not embarrass himself as opposed to trying to win. This is not typically a great idea – the best players often find themselves at the very top or the very bottom of the leaderboard – and it’s to Dew’s credit that he’s won a decent amount of money despite a flawed approach. He cashed in the 2017 Wynn Tournament, finishing seventh, and built a bankroll of $25,000 in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, not enough to participate in the prize pool but still a nice chunk of change. “After each of those contests, I was thrilled,” Dew said. “I was just happy I could compete on that level and left thinking that I could do even better in the future.” But how to get that future? After being momentarily intimidated by the Maloney book, Dew became inspired. He’s worked in sales for years, but he’s decided for his next gig to do something different. He’s trying to turn his passion for racing into a job. Sometime this summer, he’ll be starting an educational racing fan site at lonespeed.com. “Honestly, I don’t know exactly what it’s going to end up being,” he said. “The idea is that we’ll throw a lot of stuff against the wall and see what sticks.” The goal will be to entertain, educate, and inform horseplayers, with an emphasis on attracting younger players who hopefully will be drawn to racing through sports betting. “I believe racing is the best bet there is,” he said. “Betting a football game and risking $11 to win $10, how do you really find an advantage? There’s so much information out there, and people watch every minute of every game. Casino games are even worse. You may have a winning Friday or even a winning month, but in the long run, you’re going to lose.” Racing, on the other hand, rewards players who are disciplined and put in the work. “Horse racing has a great story to tell,” he said. “If you put in the work and become proficient at handicapping, you can find plenty of horses that should be 4-1 that are 8-1. Get good enough at finding those, and you can make a profit.” Dew believes that launching the site and working in a racing milieu will allow him to devote more time to the game he loves and make him a better player. “If I want to take my game to the next level, I have to do more,” he said. “The new business will keep me more involved. And when I’m being held accountable, I’m a little sharper. I need to make sure what I’m saying is right on.” Dew knows this from emailing friends his thoughts on various races over the years and from the time he spent blogging back in the day at kentuckyderby.com. One of the people he met back then will be helping him on the new site: Michelle Yu. Dew said: “I’m heading out to Del Mar in a few weeks to play in the Del Mar contest and shoot some stuff with Michelle. It will be a podcast/video cast, and I want to call it ‘Who Dew Yu Like?’” He doesn’t know what the next stop on his contest tour will be after that, though he knows he’ll be at Keeneland in October, courtesy of DRF Tournaments. “I’m really looking forward to another trip to Lexington,” he said. “A bad weekend at Keeneland is better than a good weekend anywhere else.”