I Got the Horse Right Here

Each summer Sean and I accompany friends, Jerry & Basha, to horse racing at Woodbine Raceway.  

I love racing.  I grew up near Roosevelt Raceway, and we'd go as teens to watch the trotters.  I've been to the races at Saratoga, and now, we head to Woodbine.  It's a lovely evening.  Year one we won over $200, after deducting our bets.  Year two it was somewhere between $150-200.  This year luck was not with us, but we spent a whole lot more time laughing.

We get to Woodbine in time for a drink and to relax a bit before the first race.  As we peruse the the racing form, Sean & I try very hard to remember how to read it.  We look at the stats.  We look at the comments by the professionals.  I look at the names of the horses & the colors the jockeys wear.  I would often bet on the name or color alone.  

This year we tried to use the stats.  Luck was definitely not a lady tonight.  We won on three tickets, none paid very much.  In fact, on the last ticket ($6.00) we won $4.60.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, we won and lost on the same ticket!

Still, for a night out, it was wonderful.  This year's collection of horses were not impressive, to say the least.  The best I could say about most of them after reading the comments of the professionals was, "meh."  However, it made for a very funny evening reading the comments, a total lack of inspiration in these animals as they were shifted to lower and lower levels to try and win.  Still, with all in the same class, we saw some great racing.  There were five photo finishes.  Two of these ended up being a dead heat to show.  (That's third place for all you racing neophytes.)  One horse, Bare Humor, in the fourth race won at 50:1 odds.  Once I was sure my bet was losing, I was thrilled to cheer on the  50:1 long shot.  It doesn't get better than that. (Well, maybe if I'd bet on him. He paid out $110.70 on a $1 bet to win.)

All in all, Sean and I spent less than $30 for an entire evening out, including betting every race.  We laughed (very hard) at the extreme unimpressedness of the horses (yes, I did make up that word), and spent a lovely evening with friends.  

The hope and plan is to head back in the fall with the kids.  I'd love to take them to the paddock, or to watch a turf race standing at the rail.  These are beautiful, powerful, noble creatures that make me marvel at God's creation.  The betting is fun too.  Next time I'm going back to my sure-fire horse picking method.  I'm betting on the jockey wearing blue and silver or maybe the bold choice of purple.  Can do.