Another Day In Paradise

We got to the off-track site at Santa Anita today around 10:15. My dad and I picked a table in the Pavilion, adjacent to the bar area and across from the HRTV set. I've never seen HRTV so I didn't recognize any of the commentators, but about an hour before the first race at Hollywood I caught a bit of the programming inside the food court and the male anchor looked terribly sweaty as he gave his take on Curlin to the viewing audience with his female co-anchor next to him. I guess he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, but don't we all.

The betting crowd was slowly trickling in by 11. The pavilion is a funny place. Out of nowhere a buzz can erupt out of a small crowd betting a race at a track in some faraway place. Like today, the feed from the Santiago, Chile course was popular. The feed was fuzzy and dark and the horses ran backwards around the oval across what looked to be weeds. At one point I looked up at the tote board feed from the place and saw that a 50-1 shot had $8 bet to place on him. There really are plenty of tracks to choose from these days.

I was playing exactas at Churchill and Belmont and nearly won on a couple of my early bets. By the time the first race at Golden Gate rolled around I realized how stupid it was to try to successfully handicap races at three tracks simultaneously and I decided to concentrate on Hollywood Park and if I had time, Golden Gate.

"You don't have to bet every race, you know," my dad relayed.
"Yeah, I know, I'm only making small bets though," I winked back. I don't get to the track nearly as much as I'd like so when I do I feel like I need to hit the ground running, fast.

I hit an exacta in the morning that payed around $81 for the $2 bet. It was either at Churchill or Belmont. I'm not sure now. It was all such a blur. I'm thinking it was Belmont since I seem to recall the TV monitor showing the race was behind our table but I'm just not sure.

I hit an exacta for about $29 at Hollywood and nearly hit one for $40 and change at Golden Gate. The problem was that I bet a 2-3 box instead of a 2-1 box, which I had intended to bet. The guy in front of me in line was betting individual 10-cent superfectas and driving me nuts to the point of distraction. I began concentrating on him and forgot who I was going to bet. Then I switched lines and ended up behind a guy that was betting his Pick 6 ticket as he handicapped the races. By the time I got to the machine I bet 2-3.

I got back to my table and looked at my ticket and after a glance at the program realized I had placed the wrong bet. I looked up at the monitor and the horses were almost loaded into the gate and the graphic read "0 minutes to post". Darn. There was no time. I looked at my ticket and thought, 'oh well'. The 2-3 was a long shot exacta. I told my dad that I made the wrong bet but that if it hit I would be a rich man. I watched the race and to my horror the exacta I meant to play hit.

Two guys at the table next two us were back and forth with each other all day. One of the guys was always telling the other guy things like, "I should have boxed it." The other guy would just laugh at him. One such exchange took place after a race:

"I told you we could have boxed it. Throw the 8 into the super!"
"You didn't say that."
"Yeah I did, it would have cost us $1.20 each!"

In the 6th at Hollywood a guy at our table had the exacta and trifecta nailed in the stretch with some big bets - like various $50 and $100 bets - until the 4-horse, Legendary Mud flew from the clouds and won, closing like mad to take the 7 furlong dash. Man. Legendary Mud was the only horse I bet that finished in the money. The guy at our table lost a lot of money on that race but after much lamentation, said that he can't complain much because he gets lucky a lot.

After another race, a regular in the pavilion, the unofficial mayor of the place, came up to our table and relayed his wager from the last race:

"Students of the game," he addressed us. "I was telling these guys I liked the 4 and the 7. I knew the 1 would be there. Where were the 4 and the 7?" We all shrugged. "Did any of you guys like the 4,7? Nope, we all shook our heads. "I shoulda talked to guys before the race!" He laughed and walked off.

I got some of it back later on an exacta at either Golden Gate or Hollywood and nearly hit a trifecta at Golden Gate toward the end of the day. Rounding the turn for home two of my horses were well clear. Well clear. The top two were in the bag. It was just a matter of my third place horse finishing third in the 7 horse field. The favorite, on top of my trifecta, won by double digit lengths and it was almost as many back to the third place horse, who incidently wasn't the one I played.

The walk-out race was the 9th at Hollywood. Maiden claimers at 6 furlongs, 15 horses in the field. Anybody's race. I played an exacta box and some 10-cent nonsense. My dad hit the 10-cent super. The 10-cent bet payed 111.57.