Sidebar

[Bruddah]

I am not sure this is what you are looking for, but I love relating this experience with Ms. Elsie.

In the early 70's ( I was a youngster then) having saved enough money to take a weeks vacation at Oaklawn and do nothing but play the ponies. I had payed my motel bill for the week, and rationed $100 a day for betting and $10 per day for eating. Not a lot by todays standards, but a small fortune to a young single guy. I was fortunate enough to wrangle a box from a family friend, for the entire week, and felt like nobility.

The first night I spent handicapping until I fell into an exhausted sleep. I awoke feeling, as if, I had every winner, of every race. This was going to be my LUCKY DAY. A horse players dream come true.

When I arrived at my box, I noticed an elderly (80ish) lady in the next box. She introduced herself as Elsie ? (can't remember) and therefore, I referred to her as Ms. Elsie, the rest of the day. She also had a "runner" assigned to place and retrieve her bets. She had a program and nothing else to aid in her handicapping. I thought, poor little old lady will probably lose all her money. To make a long story short, by the 8th race, she had collected a winners ticket on every race. (7 straight winners) Me? I hadn't collected a dime and had $20 left out of my bank roll. All pride gone, I leaned over and asked Ms. Elsie who she liked in the next race. She looked at her program and pointed to 'Times a Movin'. I sprinted up to the betting windows and put $10 to win on the nag. It won and paid $20 and change. Got me even for the day. Naturally, I relied on my new handicapping friend for the final race of the day. She pointed to 'More Coins'. I put my new found $100 to Win on 'More Coins' and he won, the last race of the day. Within 2 races Ms. Elsie had taken me from almost broke to over a grand winner. Enough to pay for my entire vacation and bets at the track.

By now, I was convinced Ms. Elsie was the head of a betting syndicate, which probably knew the winner of every race. I was destined to be a Millionaire, just by sitting next to the old girl. I asked her how long she had been playing the horses and how could she possibly handicap 9 winners in a row. She told me it was the first time she had ever been to the track. The box belonged to her son in law and daughter. As a matter of fact, they were coming down the aisle to get her and they were going home. She also told me, she didn't know what all the fuss was about, in picking a winner. She had collected on 9, $2 winning tickets.

Today when I go to the track, I still look for Ms. Elsie, 40 years later.