The speed boys

[Harvhorse]

Does anyone have any stories about the speed boys? I once worked with Phil Rosenbaum who was a sales manager for a viny company. I never knew than that he was one of them. I can not turn up any reffference to them at asll. Would love to hear some stories about there exploits and scores.


__________________________________________________ _______________
"life is 6/5 against"
D.R.

[46zilzal]

I heard that Woody Stephens was amongst this group

[Harvhorse]

That makes sense as they were originally from Ky. I think they wer rulde off the ky. tracks so they came to NY

[Overlay]

Originally Posted by 46zilzal

I heard that Woody Stephens was amongst this group

Here's an article from the Sports Illustrated archives:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...14/5/index.htm

[lamboguy]

lou smith used to give these guys 15 seconds to call the break at rockingham. it was funny watching them because all they could do was punch out $50 tickets, and they didn't have television screens infront of the tellers back then, so a guy would yell out the number with the top of his vocal cords. these guys went all over the place to call the break, one meet in pimlico the speed never won a race and they went clean.

[Pell Mell]

I remember them operating at MTH. in the fifties. There was a guy standing on a folding chair with a pair of glasses. Another guy was stationed at the $100. window and the teller was in their pocket. When the gate opened and if their horse broke on top, the guy on the chair would give the signal and the teller would punch as many tickets as possible before the machines locked. Anywhere from 2-5 tickets could be punched.

[lamboguy]

i watched the speed boys for years, they had their good days, but truthfully they are not as good as the guys playing the breaks today. these guys today never make mistakes, they always get the horse that got the lead going into the far turn. alot of times i see that the guys today are actually calling the horse that breaks 2nd and 3rd alot. i think they have a cance feature as well something the speedboys never had, and they can punch in more money today.

[senortout]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

i watched the speed boys for years, they had their good days, but truthfully they are not as good as the guys playing the breaks today. these guys today never make mistakes, they always get the horse that got the lead going into the far turn. alot of times i see that the guys today are actually calling the horse that breaks 2nd and 3rd alot. i think they have a cance feature as well something the speedboys never had, and they can punch in more money today.

Didn't I read somewhere that you'd quit betting since it was all fixed, and crooked, anyways!

[offtrack]

A Bing search uncovers old NY State court appeals of the Jule Fink vrs the Jockey Club, throughout the fifties. Seems they didn't want a gambler to have a trainer/owners liscense.

When I lived in Dunkirk NY in the seventies, I met a man I recall named Leo. He claimed to have been one of the team involved in the Speed Boys group. I usually ran into him in Saratoga also, when he came up to visit Jerkins and Stevens stables.
He often mentioned Chicago as his home base at one time.

[Harvhorse]

Thanks for that link it was very interesting. I have a book written by J. Fink, think I will rereadt it now.

[Fastracehorse]

Originally Posted by Overlay

Here's an article from the Sports Illustrated archives:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...14/5/index.htm

And gr8 read.

fffastt

[macdiarmida]

lamboguy and Pell Mell, whoever you're talking about, those aren't Jule Fink's Speed Boys. Not enough money played, for one. One thing that Fink & Co. did was hand time races and probably did splits, too, at a time when nobody else was using comparative race times.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by senortout

Didn't I read somewhere that you'd quit betting since it was all fixed, and crooked, anyways!

they can do all the after the bell betting they want sir and would not effect me for one red cent. a matter of fact i make sure i am betting opposite the after the bell players. when i bet win i try to bet the horse that is nowhere near the pace so my prices always go up.

[Pell Mell]

Originally Posted by macdiarmida

lamboguy and Pell Mell, whoever you're talking about, those aren't Jule Fink's Speed Boys. Not enough money played, for one. One thing that Fink & Co. did was hand time races and probably did splits, too, at a time when nobody else was using comparative race times.

I know they were know as the Cincy speed boys. Also, if they wanted to bet a lot more money they would have to do it before the gate opened. These guys didn't want to bet unless their horse broke on top so the bets had to be made in a few seconds.

[Cratos]

Originally Posted by Overlay

Here's an article from the Sports Illustrated archives:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...14/5/index.htm

Thanks for publishing the link because it provided a great read about Woody Stephens