The bad beat thread got me thinking about other memorable races I've had in my days playing the ponies. In particular, was a harness race I played at Northville several years ago. My track buddy and I were down to our last few dollars after enduring a difficult session and decided to handicap a race at Northville. My friend and I decided to play the #4 horse and were getting 2-1 or so as the 2nd choice.
Race goes off. The
rockets to the lead and appears to be running nicely on the front end. Meanwhile, I notice the
horse clip one of the pylons and its laying in the middle of the track. The
horse never challenged continues to lead the field into the short stretch run...My friend and I look at each other and high five we've got this! Then...we watch in horror the 4 horse who at this time is leading by 3-4 lengths and a sure winner is unable to see a
PYLON on the track from earlier when the
horse clipped it going into the stretch the first time. The driver runs over the
PYLON and goes off stride. The longshots behind him catch up to him and pass him for 1st and 2nd. Shortly after the wire the track announcer apparently called the stewards or some supervisor. Almost speaking in tongues, he began quickly announcing a long series of numbers too long to be a phone number and may have also called for a track operator. 3 minutes go by with an inquiry then no change.
My Friend: "Did a piece of the track cause us to lose that race?"
Me: "Yes it did. How bad is it when that happens. How come they couldn't pick the
PYLON up when the horses were in the backstretch?"
My Friend: "It would make too much sense."
Me: "Let's vow never to play this dump ever again."
Trifecta pays bananas and my friend and I hit the door. We vowed to never play Northville again.
