years ago at sulfolk downs , i used to see the guy called "tony the tout". he walked around with his binoculars every day and touted people on horses to bet. if they won, he came back to them and was looking for a handout. if they lost he went looking for new guys to fetch. he was good at what he did, he never worked a day in his life and had a tan. when sulfolk became a dead entity he moved his tack to the souther florida circuit, hialeah, calder and gulfstream. he died about 5 years ago.
the old days at gulfstream were filled with groups of people, downstairs in the clubhouse there was a boston contingency, a chicago mob, and new york cheesecake guys. i hung out at the top of the escalator next to the $50 window with jimmy the greek. i always wore shorts, and i got knicknamed "shortpants", but there were lots of knicknames at the track like "jerry the roach" or "jimmy the weasel" or "harvey one eyes"
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