azibuck
07-22-2003, 12:35 PM
This guy does it all at one track--Sunland. The whole article is too long to post, so I've edited it. You can read the whole thing by following the link below.
"I consider myself -- and I think along these lines because I have to -- a predator. There's a lot of money out there. It's being bet smartly. Most of the time, it's being bet foolishly.
http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/sports/todaysstories/20030722-139060.shtml
Local horseplayer continually beats odds
Sam Aselstine
El Paso Times
Art of the deal
Who: Art Canales.
Occupation: Professional horseplayer.
Where: Primarily at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino.
Biggest winner: $82,000 twin trifecta in 1990.
Family: Wife, Connie; children ages 21, 12 and 8.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"One of the worst things that can happen in life is to win a bet on a horse at an early age."
-- Danny McGoorty, longtime gambler
SUNLAND PARK -- Art Canales didn't heed the advice of lifelong pool hustler and gambler Danny McGoorty, whose interestingly seedy existence made for fascinating stories but an extremely difficult, dangerous and sad life.
While McGoorty was dying of cancer in 1970, the 20-year-old El Pasoan Canales was beginning to formulate and perfect the detailed horseplaying theories that have enabled him to survive and, in fact, thrive for 33 years in one of the toughest occupations imaginable.
Canales' fascination with the horses began in 1959, during a trip to Sunland Park Racetrack on its second day of operation. After seeing a gray horse he liked, the 9-year-old convinced his dad to let him wager a dime on Madera's Dream.
Canales' father covered the other $1.90 of the win bet and the rest, as they say, is history.
"He showed me the ticket, we saw the race, the horse won and the fascination, the curiosity, the power, the lure, the attraction began," said Canales, whose only job in his 53 years is that which he lists on his W2 form: horseplayer.
Canales says he has never failed to have a winning year since beginning his vocation full-time in 1969, adding he's had an income in excess of $100,000 in all but two of the past 13 years.
"I'll keep doing this as long as I can pull in six figures a year because I can't afford not to," he said of the cost of raising children and enjoying the finer pleasures of life.
Canales developed a knack for picking winners at the dog races in Juárez while majoring in civil engineering at UTEP in 1969. His grades slipped as he gradually spent more time each night across the border than with his studies.
Eventually, Canales flunked out. His parents found out.
"We went to my bedroom. I moved my drawer out and (underneath) I had $4,000 there," said Canales, by that time fully aware of what he wanted to do for a living. "I was 19 years old. I didn't have a job. My dad says, 'Where did you get this?'
"I said, I made it at the dog races.
"My mother said, 'You stole it. That's a hellacious amount of money. How did you make that amount of money?'
"Remember when I told you I was going to study with Richard at his house? Well, I was at the dog races.
"'No, no, no,' my mom said, 'He's lying.'
"My dad said, 'You better be telling me the truth.' "
Canales took his dad to the Juárez track every day. The son showed the father his methods, how effective they were, and "after three months, he had no doubt that I had earned that money the hard way."
The hard way, indeed.
Canales steadily increased his knowledge of wagering, and the amount he bet. By 1973, he was betting $500 a day at Sunland and another $500 a night on the dogs in Juárez.
His biggest days at the track: an $82,000 twin trifecta winner at Ruidoso in 1990 and an $81,000 winner there two months later.
"I wake up whenever the hell I feel like it," Canales said of a daily routine that then includes coffee, a detailed rundown of every race at one track, lunch and the wrap-up of his four-hour pre-track study session where he decides which bets he will make.
"He has a tremendous ability to concentrate on the horses, even with the kids around," Connie Canales said. "It's like living with a magician. He makes money from nothing."
Canales' ability to sift through reams of information and add to it with his discerning eye are rare talents. His theories are tried and tested at Sunland and the best tracks in the country. There are many theories, but all come after one, he says: limit your losses.
Those losses won't exceed $1,500 a day, Canales says of his cutoff point each card.
Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino General Manager Harold Payne said of his No. 1 customer. "One thing he's so smart about is, he picks his spots. Sometimes, you've got to know it's time to go to the buffet."
There's also a time, Canales says, to jump in with both feet.
"The trick is to know the difference between the race you shouldn't be betting and the race you should be betting seriously more money," he said.
"If you are a good professional handicapper and you like a horse out there that's paying a lot, hey, get money out of both pockets and go for it. Don't bet the odds; bet the horses with the right odds."
"A gambler must have the killer instinct. If you're a gambler without that killer instinct, the ability to take control of the situation, you're just another ... gambler," he said.
"I consider myself -- and I think along these lines because I have to -- a predator. There's a lot of money out there. It's being bet smartly. Most of the time, it's being bet foolishly.
"I'm a predator and, to me, they're giving money away. I've got to go out there and find out how to grab that money.
"And I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to try."
"Art's had a nerve bypass," Sunland Park track Director of Publicity Eric Alwan said with a chuckle of Canales' steely nerves.
"You have to learn to handle your emotions," Canales said. "Your emotions can ruin you. I'm serious. You have to control your emotions, or else kick yourself in the ass, you're not going to succeed."
The 1980s were a time of unprecedented success for Canales.
"The '80s were the best. There was oil money in the Odessa, Midland, West Texas area," he said. "They were selling barrels of oil and West Texas was buzzing with money. They came here without knowing how to read the form, without knowing how to do anything and betting huge amounts. They would make the situation so beautiful and so lucrative. I was betting horses that were paying $12 that should have been paying $5 on a daily basis.
"The sport has changed, because all that is left now, is the survivors."
"I do not call myself a gambler. I am a professional horseplayer," Canales said. "I don't play cards; I don't play dice because I'm tired of catching people cheating. If you have the eye, you're going to catch people cheating. Can I play cards? Absolutely. Better than anyone. But I don't want to deal with that nonsense."
Instead, Canales deals with what he knows and, to a greater degree, can control. He bets one card only each day so he can keep as many variables -- weather, jockeys, trainers, etc. -- as possible consistent.
He applies his theories and his theories alone, "because they're better than anyone else's."
Canales' theories fall within two major groups: handicapping and wagering.
Many gamers, he says, can pick the winners, but have little clue what makes most sense next.
"Here's the winner. We all know that," he said. "Now, we have to play the other game: gambling. How do you make money from that winner? How do you get the most out of that knowledge you have?"
Canales has been hired by the Sunland track to impart his special knowledge in the form of seminars during the next live racing season, which begins in November.
"He's going to spearhead a series of informational seminars the likes of which we've never seen before," Alwan said of Canales' talks.
"He not only knows who to bet, he knows how to bet," Payne said of Canales. "He knows how to put the key horses in the key positions. He also does other things that are a little different from traditional handicap seminars. He can tell you who not to bet. He can tell you who to throw out."
Canales has taken this inexact science, predicted the outcomes about as well as can be done and even elevated it to an art form.
"If you think horse racing is black and white, think again. Horse racing is gray," he said.
"If horse racing was easy, or if it was black and white, we would have grandstands that were standing room only.
"If you go to any racetrack and you're studying the racing form and want to spit, you don't even have to look forward. You just go ahead and spit. You're not going to hit anybody.
"Horse racing is very tough."
Which just reinforces the remarkable nature of Canales' success.
"It's all possible because of one thing. I had the dream, the wish," he said. "God gave me the power through selective reasoning, thinking, deduction, analytical abilities, to make it happen.
"Why I landed on a racetrack, I don't know. But I think it was predetermined and it was out of my control."
"I consider myself -- and I think along these lines because I have to -- a predator. There's a lot of money out there. It's being bet smartly. Most of the time, it's being bet foolishly.
http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/sports/todaysstories/20030722-139060.shtml
Local horseplayer continually beats odds
Sam Aselstine
El Paso Times
Art of the deal
Who: Art Canales.
Occupation: Professional horseplayer.
Where: Primarily at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino.
Biggest winner: $82,000 twin trifecta in 1990.
Family: Wife, Connie; children ages 21, 12 and 8.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"One of the worst things that can happen in life is to win a bet on a horse at an early age."
-- Danny McGoorty, longtime gambler
SUNLAND PARK -- Art Canales didn't heed the advice of lifelong pool hustler and gambler Danny McGoorty, whose interestingly seedy existence made for fascinating stories but an extremely difficult, dangerous and sad life.
While McGoorty was dying of cancer in 1970, the 20-year-old El Pasoan Canales was beginning to formulate and perfect the detailed horseplaying theories that have enabled him to survive and, in fact, thrive for 33 years in one of the toughest occupations imaginable.
Canales' fascination with the horses began in 1959, during a trip to Sunland Park Racetrack on its second day of operation. After seeing a gray horse he liked, the 9-year-old convinced his dad to let him wager a dime on Madera's Dream.
Canales' father covered the other $1.90 of the win bet and the rest, as they say, is history.
"He showed me the ticket, we saw the race, the horse won and the fascination, the curiosity, the power, the lure, the attraction began," said Canales, whose only job in his 53 years is that which he lists on his W2 form: horseplayer.
Canales says he has never failed to have a winning year since beginning his vocation full-time in 1969, adding he's had an income in excess of $100,000 in all but two of the past 13 years.
"I'll keep doing this as long as I can pull in six figures a year because I can't afford not to," he said of the cost of raising children and enjoying the finer pleasures of life.
Canales developed a knack for picking winners at the dog races in Juárez while majoring in civil engineering at UTEP in 1969. His grades slipped as he gradually spent more time each night across the border than with his studies.
Eventually, Canales flunked out. His parents found out.
"We went to my bedroom. I moved my drawer out and (underneath) I had $4,000 there," said Canales, by that time fully aware of what he wanted to do for a living. "I was 19 years old. I didn't have a job. My dad says, 'Where did you get this?'
"I said, I made it at the dog races.
"My mother said, 'You stole it. That's a hellacious amount of money. How did you make that amount of money?'
"Remember when I told you I was going to study with Richard at his house? Well, I was at the dog races.
"'No, no, no,' my mom said, 'He's lying.'
"My dad said, 'You better be telling me the truth.' "
Canales took his dad to the Juárez track every day. The son showed the father his methods, how effective they were, and "after three months, he had no doubt that I had earned that money the hard way."
The hard way, indeed.
Canales steadily increased his knowledge of wagering, and the amount he bet. By 1973, he was betting $500 a day at Sunland and another $500 a night on the dogs in Juárez.
His biggest days at the track: an $82,000 twin trifecta winner at Ruidoso in 1990 and an $81,000 winner there two months later.
"I wake up whenever the hell I feel like it," Canales said of a daily routine that then includes coffee, a detailed rundown of every race at one track, lunch and the wrap-up of his four-hour pre-track study session where he decides which bets he will make.
"He has a tremendous ability to concentrate on the horses, even with the kids around," Connie Canales said. "It's like living with a magician. He makes money from nothing."
Canales' ability to sift through reams of information and add to it with his discerning eye are rare talents. His theories are tried and tested at Sunland and the best tracks in the country. There are many theories, but all come after one, he says: limit your losses.
Those losses won't exceed $1,500 a day, Canales says of his cutoff point each card.
Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino General Manager Harold Payne said of his No. 1 customer. "One thing he's so smart about is, he picks his spots. Sometimes, you've got to know it's time to go to the buffet."
There's also a time, Canales says, to jump in with both feet.
"The trick is to know the difference between the race you shouldn't be betting and the race you should be betting seriously more money," he said.
"If you are a good professional handicapper and you like a horse out there that's paying a lot, hey, get money out of both pockets and go for it. Don't bet the odds; bet the horses with the right odds."
"A gambler must have the killer instinct. If you're a gambler without that killer instinct, the ability to take control of the situation, you're just another ... gambler," he said.
"I consider myself -- and I think along these lines because I have to -- a predator. There's a lot of money out there. It's being bet smartly. Most of the time, it's being bet foolishly.
"I'm a predator and, to me, they're giving money away. I've got to go out there and find out how to grab that money.
"And I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to try."
"Art's had a nerve bypass," Sunland Park track Director of Publicity Eric Alwan said with a chuckle of Canales' steely nerves.
"You have to learn to handle your emotions," Canales said. "Your emotions can ruin you. I'm serious. You have to control your emotions, or else kick yourself in the ass, you're not going to succeed."
The 1980s were a time of unprecedented success for Canales.
"The '80s were the best. There was oil money in the Odessa, Midland, West Texas area," he said. "They were selling barrels of oil and West Texas was buzzing with money. They came here without knowing how to read the form, without knowing how to do anything and betting huge amounts. They would make the situation so beautiful and so lucrative. I was betting horses that were paying $12 that should have been paying $5 on a daily basis.
"The sport has changed, because all that is left now, is the survivors."
"I do not call myself a gambler. I am a professional horseplayer," Canales said. "I don't play cards; I don't play dice because I'm tired of catching people cheating. If you have the eye, you're going to catch people cheating. Can I play cards? Absolutely. Better than anyone. But I don't want to deal with that nonsense."
Instead, Canales deals with what he knows and, to a greater degree, can control. He bets one card only each day so he can keep as many variables -- weather, jockeys, trainers, etc. -- as possible consistent.
He applies his theories and his theories alone, "because they're better than anyone else's."
Canales' theories fall within two major groups: handicapping and wagering.
Many gamers, he says, can pick the winners, but have little clue what makes most sense next.
"Here's the winner. We all know that," he said. "Now, we have to play the other game: gambling. How do you make money from that winner? How do you get the most out of that knowledge you have?"
Canales has been hired by the Sunland track to impart his special knowledge in the form of seminars during the next live racing season, which begins in November.
"He's going to spearhead a series of informational seminars the likes of which we've never seen before," Alwan said of Canales' talks.
"He not only knows who to bet, he knows how to bet," Payne said of Canales. "He knows how to put the key horses in the key positions. He also does other things that are a little different from traditional handicap seminars. He can tell you who not to bet. He can tell you who to throw out."
Canales has taken this inexact science, predicted the outcomes about as well as can be done and even elevated it to an art form.
"If you think horse racing is black and white, think again. Horse racing is gray," he said.
"If horse racing was easy, or if it was black and white, we would have grandstands that were standing room only.
"If you go to any racetrack and you're studying the racing form and want to spit, you don't even have to look forward. You just go ahead and spit. You're not going to hit anybody.
"Horse racing is very tough."
Which just reinforces the remarkable nature of Canales' success.
"It's all possible because of one thing. I had the dream, the wish," he said. "God gave me the power through selective reasoning, thinking, deduction, analytical abilities, to make it happen.
"Why I landed on a racetrack, I don't know. But I think it was predetermined and it was out of my control."