Pony Up

I hit Bay Meadows with 4M and the old man this past Friday. No, I wasn’t telecommuting. I took the day off and went up to SF to pick up my father. We met up with 4M in the clubhouse. They closed the Turf Club for the day, either for a private party or because they saw us coming. As long as we weren’t in the grandstands with the hoi polloi, we were happy. We are snobbish handicappers.

I used to goof around with some of my former co-workers about going to the track on the days I work from home. One of the guys, whom we’ll call Shawn, since that’s his name, was the guy who gave me the most grief. So running in the first race was a horse called “Don’t Tell Shawn”. I couldn’t resist and put a ten spot on his nose to win. He did and paid out $33. I also picked the right horse to show in the 6th race, which netted me $48. That paid for all my other losing bets.

My dad scoured the Daily Racing Form, much as he did when I was a young man in need of guidance. 4M used another method, based on the opening odds vs. the odds before post time. I studied their methods closely and worked to come up with a winning synthesis. By the 7th race, we were of one mind and all put our money on the 5 horse. Right out of the gate, the 5 horse’s jockey got thrown. The jockey was OK and the 5 came in first, but gosh darn it, it doesn’t count if there’s no rider.