LutherCalvin
09-20-2003, 09:57 PM
I had the opportunity to use my free racing pass at Arlington Park today. I got to the park five minutes before post and rushed to the machine to place my bets for the Daily Double. I hubcapped my pick in the first race with my three top choices in the second, grabbed my tickets, and went outside as the horses were loading in the post. I felt the adrenaline rush in my system as I watched my horse, #7 Katie's Kalling (a 3-2 favorite) win by a head bob over #3 Jaguar City (who I had figured to be the primary competition). That's a good omen, winning the first race, I thought. Then I thought "Damn, I should have played the Exacta." I had written my top three choices 3-6-7 on my downloaded and printed Daily Racing Form . Well at least I'm in good shape for the double- or so I thought. I examined my tickets and realized I had looked at my top three horses in the first race instead of the second when I played the Double. So instead of a 3-8-10 in the second half of the double I had coupled my first race winner with 3-6-10. I looked at the horse I mistakenly didn't play, Suspicious, who had the top Beyer in his last race. I mulled over buying insurance by betting on the nag I didn't have in my double. "You know that horse is gonna win," I thought to myself, "No, I got a good shot with my two other picks, and besides I'd be betting against myself," I went outside to watch the race. One of my horses, Better Place, led all the way until the final sixteenth until he was collared by- you guessed it- Suspicious, the horse I had left out of my Double bets. I just shook my head knowingly. I looked at the numbers I had written down for the second race and realized that I had the exacta again but had not played it. In races three and four I decided to play the Exactas but had only one half of the combination in both races. I was disgusted and thought to myself, "If I don't win the next race, I'm leaving." I looked at my pick in the fifth race, Be Factual, and saw that he was an odds-on choice on the tote board. "Damn," I thought to myself," I ain't gonna play that horse." He was the sole speed in the race, but I noticed that the distance of the race was a furlong further than he had ever traveled before. "False favorite", my mind screamed. I looked at the Form. Only one horse, Lighthouse Lil, a closer at 3-1 had even went the mile and 1/8 distance and had finished evenly in that race. The filly had won her last race in closing fashion. The next to last race Lil had lost to the present 3/5 favorite, Be Factual, but had made up 6 and 1/4 lengths in the stretch in a race that was a furlong shorter. I played Lighthouse Lil to win, doubling my prime bet. The race ran according to form. Be Factual, the only speed, led from start to late stretch. I watched Lighthouse Lil trail the field as the crowd oohed at the tremendous daylight lead that the 3/5 favorite had. Then Lil made her move with Carlos Marquez urging her on. I marveled as she ran with her tail perpendicular to the ground and began to chew up the turf. I was strangely confident as I watched her mow down the 3/5 favorite as the crowd collectively groaned. "I love this game," I thought as I collected my winnings. After all was said and done, I had lost forty cents for the day. Just another day at the races.