And so far profitable
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Well I mentioned to you in the other thread where I began my degenerate gambling at 14, at 17 I found the ponies at the track near my house. My buddies father was a full time pony player, so we would go with him and learn. So shady stuff happened, but we were on the periphery, but I could smell some of the fixes. He made money, as well as a few others who traveled the country, following different track seasons.
This was in the 70’s, so before computers. One guy I knew did a very exhaustive mathematical study of sulky races. He went back a few years and analyzed results, and found if you just did a baseball on the inside 4 horses, you would average over 10k in winnings over the course of the series. No need to look at horses, breeders, trainers, etc. He figured out that the inside poll positions were somewhat favorable, that even long shots would come in more often than not, if they started on the inside. That was my first interdiction to a real professional gambler. Ignore the rush, and bet the odds. It was a valuable lesson I had to learn over and over for awhile, but finally got it.
My pony career ended when his dad and many of the pros said to put it all on this one horse in a quarter horse race. No way to lose, unless the horse tripped or broke a leg, and it wasn’t the favorite so good odds. I was 19 and put most of my available cash on win and place, just to back up my win bet. A place would have broke me even. Horse broke its leg 20 yards from the finish, over a length in front, and rolled over the line in 3rd I believe. they came out and shot it, before they used to hide the fatal shots. That race killed my gambling addiction too, kept the very expensive tickets in my wallet for at least 15 years after, just to look at and remind me there are no sure things…
Have fun, I do remember loving getting that racing forum paper and pouring through it for hours on end the day before, then watching the tote board looking for betting irregularities, before going to that window and making my best guess… Have fun, I hope to go back one day and teach my kids about how not to gamble…
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Beginners luck. My brother is in to betting the ponies, me not so much. We’ve had some great times hanging around, though. And it’s not like he has a problem.
I usually pick a favorite in an exacta box. I barely know what I’m talking about, but that box bet has worked out for me.
I lived in San Mateo about 3/4 of a mile away from Bay Meadows. The father of a kid down the street from my house was a jockey and would give us a hot tip every once in a while on which horse was going to win. A friend of his would place bets for us at no commission and we would walk away with an $80 to $300 payout on a $2 to $20 bet.
I distinctly remember a time when I was 16 years old that we got a tip on a horse that was the favorite and I bet $200 to win $320 and it came through. That was a ton of money in 1981. My girlfriend definitely enjoyed having dinner at the spinning Equinox restaurant in the Hyatt Regency for the prom that year.
The next year’s prom dinner at Dal Baffo in Menlo Park was paid for with a similar bet.
Just gotta know the inside information.
I used to live a mile from a dog track in Florida. My bet was a heavy dog inside on a wet track. Biggest loss was on what I thought was a sure sign of a winner. During the parade pre race the dog came out stretched, took a dump, then took a leak on the gate as he walked by and laid down behind the gate. I thought hell, that dog knows all the psych moves and behaves like a swimmer before his qualifying heat. Damn dog was 3 bodies behind within the first 2 seconds of the race and finished DFL by 50 yards. No matter what the sport animal racing has its dark underbelly. If you want to do something nice adopt a greyhound off the track. Good dogs those ones can be.
Never bet the ponies, but did dog racing a few times. Never walked away with much if any profit.
Beginners luck. My brother is in to betting the ponies, me not so much. We’ve had some great times hanging around, though. And it’s not like he has a problem.
I usually pick a favorite in an exacta box. I barely know what I’m talking about, but that box bet has worked out for me.
Not beginner’s luck. I bet trifrcta and superfecta boxed. Hitting one covers the day and since I’m going to drink beer in the sun if I lost every bet part of the entertainment costs