Teach
06-04-2017, 11:22 AM
Good morning. A sunny Sunday morning it is here west of Boston. Another day of racing at “Beautiful Belmont Park”. I’m now gonna recap my picks, and how they did, from yesterday’s card.
Race One:
My top pick, the 3, My Uncle Al, finished third; yet my third and fourth selections finished first and second. If you had boxed my four horses in the first race, you would have hit a $2 exacta that paid $85.50 and a $2 tri that paid $227.50.
Race Two:
My top pick, 8, Blenheim Palace finished in a dead-heat for win. The horse paid $2.70.
Race Three:
I struck out in the third race.
Race Four:
Nothing in race four.
Race Five:
My top pick, the 6, River Date, finished second. My second choice, the 7, won. If you had boxed the 7-6 in a $2 exacta, it paid $11. If you boxed my first three picks in the tri, a $2 ticket came back: $20.20.
Race Six:
My top pick, the 5, Volatility Index, won. The horse paid: $5.80. The 5-2 exacta (2 was my second choice) paid $19.60. A straight 5-2-4 tri paid $50.
Race Seven:
My longshot “special,” New York Song popped, it paid $15. The 10-4 exacta (four was my second choice) paid: $48.20.
Race Eight:
My second choice, the 6, won.
Race Nine:
My second pick won; my top pick finished second. If you had boxed the exacta, it paid: $23.40; if you had boxed the tri, it paid: $51; if you had boxed a .10 super, it paid: $7.98.
Race Ten:
I got “skunked” in the finale.
Looking back on yesterday’s card, I’d like to compliment track announcer Larry Collmus on his excellent race-calling. I particularly enjoyed his enunciation of a horse in the sixth race named: Rimanisempreforte. Larry rolled his “r”s, perfectly. I should know. My son-in-law, Mario - he speaks both fluent English and Spanish - was originally from Camaguey, Cuba, home of the tinajones. These are clay pots that capture water.
All this reminds me of an incident involving my own announcing experiences. Only my incident had a different twist. Turn the clock back some thirty-five years to the early-to-mid 1980s. I was then in my early 40s. I was teaching high school history. At that same time, I was also hired to be publicity director, harness racing tip-sheet handicapper, and back-up race announcer at Foxboro Raceway. Talk about “burning the candle at both ends”.
Well, I would call the first race three or four times a week. That was because the regular race announcer was a Providence, RI TV newscaster. On weekdays, he couldn’t make it up to Foxboro in time to call the first race, thus I called it. “Pacers now leaving the paddock for the post parade…”
Anyway, I’m calling the first race one weekday evening. It’s about three weeks into my employment at the track. As I remember, I was calling an exciting race in which two pacers had broken away from the rest of the field. They had just paced by the three-quarters pole. I’ll pick up the call as best I remember it. “Three-quarters in 1:31.1. They’re rounding the far turn and heading for the top of the stretch. They’re neck-and-neck, head-and-head…and Susan Knight is lookin’ Magnificent Marcy (pause-emphasis) right in the eye!” (I once heard Chicagoland’s Gil Levine make that same call). Well, the ding-dong duel continued right to the wire. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you which of the two horse won.
When all was said and done, the regular announcer appeared up in the booth. I was about to hand the announcing duties over to him when the announcers- booth phone rang. I picked it up. “Announcer,” I said. The switchboard operator/receptionist said there was a man sitting at “The Table” in the clubhouse who wanted to talk to me. I replied, “O.K., I’ll be right down.” At this point, I should mention that “The Table” (better called a round-table) was reserved for high-rollers. I suppose in Vegas they’d called them “whales”.
Well, I arrive at “The Table”. There’s one man sitting there (usually there were as many as five or six bettors). I’d put this man in his 50s. I stand in front of the table. “You sent for me,” I said. The man says, “Sit down.” I sit down. He then says, “Ya know people spend big money betting on these races.” He then adds, “What’s this ‘lookin him right in the eye’?” He continued, “I’d advise that you don’t do that, again.” Frankly, I thought the next thing out of his month might be: “Nuotare con I pesci!” But, that was it. I got the picture. So much for being what I call, “artsy-craftsy”.
I'll be back, later.
Race One:
My top pick, the 3, My Uncle Al, finished third; yet my third and fourth selections finished first and second. If you had boxed my four horses in the first race, you would have hit a $2 exacta that paid $85.50 and a $2 tri that paid $227.50.
Race Two:
My top pick, 8, Blenheim Palace finished in a dead-heat for win. The horse paid $2.70.
Race Three:
I struck out in the third race.
Race Four:
Nothing in race four.
Race Five:
My top pick, the 6, River Date, finished second. My second choice, the 7, won. If you had boxed the 7-6 in a $2 exacta, it paid $11. If you boxed my first three picks in the tri, a $2 ticket came back: $20.20.
Race Six:
My top pick, the 5, Volatility Index, won. The horse paid: $5.80. The 5-2 exacta (2 was my second choice) paid $19.60. A straight 5-2-4 tri paid $50.
Race Seven:
My longshot “special,” New York Song popped, it paid $15. The 10-4 exacta (four was my second choice) paid: $48.20.
Race Eight:
My second choice, the 6, won.
Race Nine:
My second pick won; my top pick finished second. If you had boxed the exacta, it paid: $23.40; if you had boxed the tri, it paid: $51; if you had boxed a .10 super, it paid: $7.98.
Race Ten:
I got “skunked” in the finale.
Looking back on yesterday’s card, I’d like to compliment track announcer Larry Collmus on his excellent race-calling. I particularly enjoyed his enunciation of a horse in the sixth race named: Rimanisempreforte. Larry rolled his “r”s, perfectly. I should know. My son-in-law, Mario - he speaks both fluent English and Spanish - was originally from Camaguey, Cuba, home of the tinajones. These are clay pots that capture water.
All this reminds me of an incident involving my own announcing experiences. Only my incident had a different twist. Turn the clock back some thirty-five years to the early-to-mid 1980s. I was then in my early 40s. I was teaching high school history. At that same time, I was also hired to be publicity director, harness racing tip-sheet handicapper, and back-up race announcer at Foxboro Raceway. Talk about “burning the candle at both ends”.
Well, I would call the first race three or four times a week. That was because the regular race announcer was a Providence, RI TV newscaster. On weekdays, he couldn’t make it up to Foxboro in time to call the first race, thus I called it. “Pacers now leaving the paddock for the post parade…”
Anyway, I’m calling the first race one weekday evening. It’s about three weeks into my employment at the track. As I remember, I was calling an exciting race in which two pacers had broken away from the rest of the field. They had just paced by the three-quarters pole. I’ll pick up the call as best I remember it. “Three-quarters in 1:31.1. They’re rounding the far turn and heading for the top of the stretch. They’re neck-and-neck, head-and-head…and Susan Knight is lookin’ Magnificent Marcy (pause-emphasis) right in the eye!” (I once heard Chicagoland’s Gil Levine make that same call). Well, the ding-dong duel continued right to the wire. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you which of the two horse won.
When all was said and done, the regular announcer appeared up in the booth. I was about to hand the announcing duties over to him when the announcers- booth phone rang. I picked it up. “Announcer,” I said. The switchboard operator/receptionist said there was a man sitting at “The Table” in the clubhouse who wanted to talk to me. I replied, “O.K., I’ll be right down.” At this point, I should mention that “The Table” (better called a round-table) was reserved for high-rollers. I suppose in Vegas they’d called them “whales”.
Well, I arrive at “The Table”. There’s one man sitting there (usually there were as many as five or six bettors). I’d put this man in his 50s. I stand in front of the table. “You sent for me,” I said. The man says, “Sit down.” I sit down. He then says, “Ya know people spend big money betting on these races.” He then adds, “What’s this ‘lookin him right in the eye’?” He continued, “I’d advise that you don’t do that, again.” Frankly, I thought the next thing out of his month might be: “Nuotare con I pesci!” But, that was it. I got the picture. So much for being what I call, “artsy-craftsy”.
I'll be back, later.