A Little Story from the Westgate Racebook
 

It was 2015. My wife and I were on our honeymoon. Since I was half of the marriage, of course it was in Vegas.

It was the middle of July, in that break between Belmont and Saratoga. At the time you could get a free drink ticket for, I believe, a $25 racing wager at the Westgate Race and Sportsbook. So I was enjoying some afternoon harness track like Monticello or Harrah's Philly with big place bets to get a few free drinks in what must have been a.m. hours in Vegas.

As we sat down, I was annoyed by someone's TV nearby. The audio was definitely at 100 - how rude, right? We almost moved or left altogether. Turns out, a couple carrels away from us was an elderly husband and wife. He had mobility issues and seemed to be mostly blind. She was reading to him (quite loudly) the past performances to a track I don't recall. I believe it was harness - She'd say the horse number, name, driver, trainer, quarter calls, times, etc. - everything - basically an audio version of the PPs. She'd repeat herself on a few occasions at his request until he called out a bet that she went up and placed. I recall him winning more than he lost.

My wife and I were touched to be witnesses to this act of love and connection, and smiled together thinking it could be some future version of ourselves in 50 years. We moved on when the teller reminded me after a few drink tickets that the house didn't exactly have in mind rapid succession place bets for free drinks at the bar.

Making our way across the casino, we dodged timeshare salespeople to catch a few songs from a fat Elvis, who was a fantastic singer. But we'll always remember that old couple from our first trip together in sin city.

Great Story!!! Thanks for sharing that with us at PA. Love stories like that. There is a older gentleman that comes in from time to time at my local OTB. He orders a scotch neat and sits there studying notes that i swear most be older than him. Marks all his entries on his ledger pad with a sharp #2 pencil and just places Win bets all day. I catch myself just watching him go over his notes and scribbles that he has made over the years and it always makes me smile to see that

Great story.

I played 5 or 6 races on a Friday morning at Mirage a few years back. Caught 14 drink tickets on less than $400 in wagers. Last time I went up, he said how many more do you want? Lol

That was a heartwarming story and it brought a smile to my face. Until I realized that even a blind man can pick more winners than I can.

Several years ago an acquaintance of mine was at a Breeders Cup event at a local casino. He got a little bold and said that he was a much better handicapper then me when we talked about the upcoming Saturday races. I told him that handicapping was mostly arbitrary but if he wanted we could have our own contest and the stakes would be $100 to the winner. I even gave him an advantage ( so he thought ). I wasn’t even going to handicap and the rules were we had to bet 2.00 to win on three horses each race. His advantage ( again so he thought) was that my selections were made drawing the numbers out of a hat. Halfway through the card the contest wasn’t even close. It was an easy hundo for me. Even if you don’t bet I encourage everyone to try this sometime and be astonished how randomly selecting winners actually pays off.

For most Breeders' Cups, in addition to my regular handicapping/wagering, my wife and I have each picked a number and a jockey (ones who have mounts in most races) - so I might have 4 and Irad, and she has 2 and Rosario over the two days. Obviously sometimes we wind up doubling up.

Has made for some fun times and kept her more interested than she might have been otherwise.