EPTThere is something special about going to the track though, you get to feeling more connected to the sport in a way that plugging away at $20 dollars in a penny slot machine just doesn't quite give you. You start to recognize names of horses, get a bit of a feel for how they run, and decipher the odd, often cryptic jargon that peppers the day's program and get in touch with your track, and the kind of races you enjoy. This, as opposed to, "repeat bet," well shit, I guess I lost again, but I sure am happy about that 20 cents I won on the last spin.
![[image loading]](http://bringmethenews.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/canterbury-park11.png)
My local track Canterbury Park, just a skip and a hop to the south of the cities. Interestingly enough this track has fewer favorites that win than the national average, which while it is frustrating to see a 40/1 odd horse come in against your much more reasonable bet, it is exciting
I first started going last Summer with my older brother, for the most part it was a bit of bonding and an excuse to do a bit of day drinking that his then fiancee, and my girlfriend couldn't get terribly bothered about. Realistically, we pissed away a lot of money. The track is fun, but as I mentioned there is a bit more of a learning curve to everything from the language to finding your footing as a horse player. We started, betting to win most races, with incremental success, and eventually developed a bit of a taste for what are termed exotic bets, which are in essence less simple criteria to collect on your winnings.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Fwg5ZDB.png)
This guy paid off fairly well, the horse was at least 10 lengths from the nearest contender, it was a bit of a blow out
This last Friday, I took home one of my better paydays to date, playing mainly exotics, but to give a bit more detail into these bets, I'll describe them a bit more below:
- 1. Win- This should be self explanatory
2. Place- First or second
3. Show- First-third
4. Exacta- Pick 1st and 2nd place in order
5. Trifecta- Pick 1st-3rd in order.
6. Superfecta- Pick first 4 horses in order.
7. Pick 3(4)- Pick the horse that comes in first in X number of consecutive races
"Boxing" your bets for 4-6 means you don't have to pick the exact order, just the horses but lessens your potential winnings considerably.
First race I was at the track, I arrived with 10 minutes to post, a decent time to place a bet, and collected $40 on a ten dollar box exacta, a nice start. The middle of the day I couldn't hit my exacta but I was hitting one off horses to win, something which kept the beer flowing most of the night. I mention the timing of the bet, because two things irk me most while I am at the track. The first is people really celebrating favorites who win, and the second is people who bet five races out with no consideration to the odds.
The first sounds a bit off, but these horses are often coming in at 1-1 or less for the odds, which means on a two dollar bet, you'll get back $2.40, woo hoo. Like Artosis described Leta's face after two raxing, I think it was a Zerg, and coming out of the booth looking like he had done something really clever, these people parade about the stands. The second is just a bad idea, and it ties into the former, odds change up into the moment the race begins; horses drop out of the race (for which you receive a refund) but you can just get some really shit odds on horses if you jump the gun on betting. A quote from Charles Bukowski always stuck with me and it was written about the track specifically:
Wherever the crowd goes, run in the other direction. They're always wrong.
I was doing alright, a bit ahead and the track had paid for most of my beers, my brother for a few as well, so all in all a good night, but at the last race of the night, I I hit a much less likely exacta, for which my $10 bet paid out $104, putting me well over what I came in with. After that, live racing was done, and I went into the card club to watch my brother piss away money at the blackjack table while glowing like a goddamn idiot. It was brilliant.
If you have live racing where you are from, I would encourage you to go out and try your hand, it is an amazing way to spend a Sunday afternoon, a far and away more entertaining and less depressing than your average casino trip (Provided you stay away from the Off Track Betting areas, or where people are playing multiple tracks around the country that place is a bit much for newer players.) Just do me a personal favor, and if you are going to the track, and it isn't a top tier, joint, leave the bow tie and derby hat at home. Your average Sunday does not the Kentucky Derby make.
Thanks for the read TL.
