What got you started????

[cj]

Originally Posted by Tom

I got Ainsle's books and booklets and copied down ALL the rules, plus factors - all 57,000 of them - into a little note book.
I would take an hour to do one race, checking off each and every rule and then adding the plus factor and adding the pace ratings.

Talk about FREE PPs, I would go FL every day at 3:00, when the gates opened and they let you in free for the last three races. I would scour the trash cans to find any Forms or partial form I could find, take them home, and work the races, usually NYRA and FL. A LOT of times, I could never find results!

This was in the 70s...very limited data out there - only what you could salvage from the trash!

I remember doing that at Laurel, waiting until after the cutoff to get in for free. I also would go there just to buy a form sometimes for the next day. They'd let me in free when I said I just wanted a paper, I'd buy the Form and walk out. It never failed on the way out I'd get asked at least three times..."You done with your book?"

[AMPHAR]

Thunder Gulch 1995 Derby and Keeneland.

Went to derby infield. Friend had Thunder Gulch and explained how he chose that horse watching him run or not run in the Bluegrass vs. Florida Derby.

So I started handicapping by trying to find and being able to tout the derby winner.

[cj]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

It's funny how recalling events in our past, appear to be nothing more than mere happenstance....Everything exists for a reason, at a specific time and place, to help us decide what our life's journey will be....It's not just blind luck or coincidence.

Wise decision making is what determines our destiny....

This is so true of many things in life. I could even say that about my wife of now 26 years. I met her at NCO Leadership School. I was asked to go at least five times prior and never had any interest. Then one day at work I was having a crappy day, was fed up with something or other, and was asked to go. I said screw it, four weeks away from this place sounds grand, so off I went to Dover, Delaware and the rest is history.

Humble brag...I also won the John Levitow award for that class, shocking all those who knew me at my home base and which did wonders for my Air Force career.

What Is The ALS John Levitow Award?

The John Levitow award is named after the lowest-ranking enlisted Air Force member to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam. The Levitow Award is the highest award presented at Airman Leadership School, awarded to only the top one percent of each graduating ALS class, presented in recognition of leadership and scholastic achievements. The Levitow Award is a combined instructor and peer-nominated process.

[Augenj]

It was the early 70's and I was a mainframe computer operator working my way into programming by taking a COBOL class. A fellow operator challenged me to write a program for the horses, Hollywood Park being nearby. It was a primitive program using speed and finish only. I dry ran it for a couple of days and it showed profit. I was getting interested now.

The only way we could bet was to rush over there for the 4th race for the $5 exacta bet. It was almost always a sprint race on the dirt, a very fast dirt surface. Surprisingly, we were hitting $5 exacta boxes a couple times a week. Then one day, a $5 exacta box bet won $1,327.50, a fortune at the time. I had three tickets on it, one for me, one for another operator, and another for a group of operations people. Suddenly, I knew it all, unfortunately.

I would come back to earth after that when I bet whole cards on Saturdays. Hindsight would tell me later that dirt sprints on very fast surfaces are not the same as the many other distances and surfaces. Jockeys, trainers, class, workouts, pace, etc, also mattered. Decades later, personal computers were finally fast and big enough to do a proper analysis on large data bases downloaded from the Internet. It's been a humbling journey.

[jay68802]

When I was a young kid (6 or 7), my father was a teacher at a local college. Not being paid much, they took turns babysitting with the teacher that lived across the street. One weekend me and my younger brother would go stay at the neighbors for a day. The next weekend it would switch. When we went to the neighbors, our friend would load the two oldest kids up and take us to Fonner or Aksarben. At first, I loved it cause we would try to scam the waitresses out of free popcorn and pop. Later got into the horses and their names.

[coachv30]

Love reading these stories!!

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by jay68802

At first, I loved it cause we would try to scam the waitresses out of free popcorn and pop.

Speaking of pop....Thought you might like this.

YouTube

[jay68802]

TY.

[mountainman]

My parents began taking me to the races when I was eight. At 10, I was very familiar with the "Morning Telegraph" and an avid handicapper. By 12, I was placing my own wagers, and at 15 or 16, staying up all night to research angles that popped into my head. I would classify Tom Ainslie as having had the most profound influence on me, and I couldn't BEGIN to count the books on handicapping that I've read.

By my early 20's, I had made my rep as something of a prodigy and was commissioned to handicap for some very tough guys whose names ended in vowels. One or two of those guys became like brothers to me. You wouldn't believe the stories I could tell about that period in my life.

At 30, I became a racing official-which, believe me, given my questionable alliances and history, raised lots of eyebrows. But I ignored the naysayers and made my bones working as an ast racing sec, racing sec, placing judge, identifier, clerk of scales, paddock judge, claims clerk, and drf chart caller. etc..etc..etc..

In addition I have done some 40,000 races as an official track-oddsmaker, weighted perhaps 300 stakes races, written complex headings for 1 or 2 breeder's cup preps, blogged on the official track-website, and authored 10 or 12 pieces for Horseplayer Magazine, which once named me one of America's top ten tv analysts.

TV commentary offers very, very, few positions, but hordes of handicappers aspire to those jobs-which makes it an unrealistic goal for young handicappers. In fact, tons and tons of horseplayers want desperately to get on tv-and lots approach me for advice. Forget it, I tell them, opportunities are too rare. And in-house shows are slowly, but inexorably, going the way of the buffalo. And once you are put forth on tv as a purported expert-get ready to duck. Suddenly, EVERYBODY is smarter than you and could do a better job.

My break, however, to do tv came in 1998 when supplying Chris Lincoln, via fax, with info on our upcoming wv derby, for which I am chief recruiter. When the great man arrived -espn would cover that year's running-for our derby- draw/ lunch, he walked to the podium and proclaimed that he had found his co-host for the telecast, and that Mnr employed a true racing expert.

All the company brass were present, and that moment changed my life.

A day or two before that first tv appearance , however, my mom died. So on derby nite I was a mess and couldn't stop crying. Chris Lincoln found me quietly sobbing in my office, a 10th grade dropout who had never so much as given a speech in school, nervous, heart-broken, riddled with self-doubt, and emotionally unfit to go on air.

He comforted me, lifted me, boosted me. And then simply said: "Let's go talk some racing."

So we did. And I just never stopped. LOL..

[coachv30]

Originally Posted by mountainman

My parents began taking me to the races when I was eight. At 10, I was very familiar with the "Morning Telegraph" and an avid handicapper. By 12, I was placing my own wagers, and at 15 or 16, staying up all night to research angles that popped into my head. I would classify Tom Ainslie as having had the most profound influence on me, and I couldn't BEGIN to count the books on handicapping that I've read.

By my early 20's, I had made my rep as something of a prodigy and was commissioned to handicap for some very tough guys whose names ended in vowels. One or two of those guys became like brothers to me. You wouldn't believe the stories I could tell about that period in my life.

At 30, I became a racing official-which, believe me, given my questionable alliances and history, raised lots of eyebrows. But I ignored the naysayers and made my bones working as an ast racing sec, racing sec, placing judge, identifier, clerk of scales, paddock judge, claims clerk, and drf chart caller. etc..etc..etc..

In addition I have done some 40,000 races as an official track-oddsmaker, weighted perhaps 300 stakes races, written complex headings for 1 or 2 breeder's cup preps, blogged on the official track-website, and authored 10 or 12 pieces for Horseplayer Magazine, which once named me one of America's top ten tv analysts.

TV commentary offers very, very, few positions, but hordes of handicappers aspire to those jobs-which makes it an unrealistic goal for young handicappers. In fact, tons and tons of horseplayers want desperately to get on tv-and lots approach me for advice. Forget it, I tell them, opportunities are too rare. And in-house shows are slowly, but inexorably, going the way of the buffalo. And once you are put forth on tv as a purported expert-get ready to duck. Suddenly, EVERYBODY is smarter than you and could do a better job.

My break, however, to do tv came in 1998 when supplying Chris Lincoln, via fax, with info on our upcoming wv derby, for which I am chief recruiter. When the great man arrived -espn would cover that year's running-for our derby- draw/ lunch, he walked to the podium and proclaimed that he had found his co-host for the telecast, and that Mnr employed a true racing expert.

All the company brass were present, and that moment changed my life.

A day or two before that first tv appearance , however, my mom died. So on derby nite I was a mess and couldn't stop crying. Chris Lincoln found me quietly sobbing in my office, a 10th grade dropout who had never so much as given a speech in school, nervous, heart-broken, riddled with self-doubt, and emotionally unfit to go on air.

He comforted me, lifted me, boosted me. And then simply said: "Let's go talk some racing."

So we did. And I just never stopped. LOL..

Really inspiring...great story!!

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by mountainman

My parents began taking me to the races when I was eight. At 10, I was very familiar with the "Morning Telegraph" and an avid handicapper. By 12, I was placing my own wagers, and at 15 or 16, staying up all night to research angles that popped into my head. I would classify Tom Ainslie as having had the most profound influence on me, and I couldn't BEGIN to count the books on handicapping that I've read.

By my early 20's, I had made my rep as something of a prodigy and was commissioned to handicap for some very tough guys whose names ended in vowels. One or two of those guys became like brothers to me. You wouldn't believe the stories I could tell about that period in my life.

At 30, I became a racing official-which, believe me, given my questionable alliances and history, raised lots of eyebrows. But I ignored the naysayers and made my bones working as an ast racing sec, racing sec, placing judge, identifier, clerk of scales, paddock judge, claims clerk, and drf chart caller. etc..etc..etc..

In addition I have done some 40,000 races as an official track-oddsmaker, weighted perhaps 300 stakes races, written complex headings for 1 or 2 breeder's cup preps, blogged on the official track-website, and authored 10 or 12 pieces for Horseplayer Magazine, which once named me one of America's top ten tv analysts.

TV commentary offers very, very, few positions, but hordes of handicappers aspire to those jobs-which makes it an unrealistic goal for young handicappers. In fact, tons and tons of horseplayers want desperately to get on tv-and lots approach me for advice. Forget it, I tell them, opportunities are too rare. And in-house shows are slowly, but inexorably, going the way of the buffalo. And once you are put forth on tv as a purported expert-get ready to duck. Suddenly, EVERYBODY is smarter than you and could do a better job.

My break, however, to do tv came in 1998 when supplying Chris Lincoln, via fax, with info on our upcoming wv derby, for which I am chief recruiter. When the great man arrived -espn would cover that year's running-for our derby- draw/ lunch, he walked to the podium and proclaimed that he had found his co-host for the telecast, and that Mnr employed a true racing expert.

All the company brass were present, and that moment changed my life.

A day or two before that first tv appearance , however, my mom died. So on derby nite I was a mess and couldn't stop crying. Chris Lincoln found me quietly sobbing in my office, a 10th grade dropout who had never so much as given a speech in school, nervous, heart-broken, riddled with self-doubt, and emotionally unfit to go on air.

He comforted me, lifted me, boosted me. And then simply said: "Let's go talk some racing."

So we did. And I just never stopped. LOL..

Don't you EVER stop...the game is in dire NEED of guys like you. And, please...do some more WRITING.

[Overlay]

The quantitative/statistical/value-oriented side of handicapping always had the most appeal for me, initially sparked by Bill Quirin's Winning at the Races in the late 1970's. (However, I have also always greatly admired -- and envied -- individuals who can accurately forecast the winning chances of a horse or the outcome of a race through analysis of equine body language or physicality.)

[PressThePace]

Originally Posted by mountainman

My break, however, to do tv came in 1998 when supplying Chris Lincoln, via fax, with info on our upcoming wv derby, for which I am chief recruiter. When the great man arrived -espn would cover that year's running-for our derby- draw/ lunch, he walked to the podium and proclaimed that he had found his co-host for the telecast, and that Mnr employed a true racing expert.

All the company brass were present, and that moment changed my life.

A day or two before that first tv appearance , however, my mom died. So on derby nite I was a mess and couldn't stop crying. Chris Lincoln found me quietly sobbing in my office, a 10th grade dropout who had never so much as given a speech in school, nervous, heart-broken, riddled with self-doubt, and emotionally unfit to go on air.

He comforted me, lifted me, boosted me. And then simply said: "Let's go talk some racing."

So we did. And I just never stopped. LOL..

I've spoken with Chris Lincoln more than a few times....great guy!. Always a class act and loves horse racing!

Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing.

[cj]

Originally Posted by PressThePace

I've spoken with Chris Lincoln more than a few times....great guy!. Always a class act and loves horse racing!

Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing.

I met Chris Lincoln at the Alabama Derby in 1987. He couldn't have been a nicer guy to someone that was really just a kid at the time, only 19. I used to love his recap shows every week on ESPN.

[MrBill]

I was invited to go to Detroit Race Course with a friend of for Kentucky Derby day in 1995. I decided to go and had never wagered on a horse in my life. It was a lot of fun and I managed to win a pick 3 for 381.00 as well as hitting a long shot horse that paid 31.00 dollars. If I would have lost I probably would have never went again. The track was only about 10 minutes from my house so I started to be a regular there. I miss the days of having a track right by my house. I know you can bet with simulcasting easily, but back then racing information was available in the newspapers. I kept close notes and results from DRC and have never done as well as I did back then. Gerald Bennett (now at Tampa) was one of the best trainers in Detroit those days.