Favorite Racetrack Moments (or worst)

[EMD4ME]

A thread about your favorite, 1, 2, 5, 100 racetrack moments.

To start it off:

I'll start this off with a "worst" moment.....You might not notice it but I am a humble guy. Hate people with ego's who are incapable of self humility or learning....

1996 A young pup has first car. 2 racetrack degenerates talk him into a trip to the old Keystone Park. He says ok.

On the way he (meaning me ) pays for all tolls, puts $10 bucks in the gas tank and off we go....

Young pup gets off to a rocket start but the problem, you see, IS.....it's the new era of simulcasting and this bottled up young pup figures theres sooooo many tracks that I can exploit. Let's crush them ALL!

After walking in with $200, young pup has $1400 or so in 2 hours. After attacking the dozen or so tracks available, young pup is now tilting at $400-$500.

He finds his 2 racetrack degenerates and asks, how are you doing? They both say we're still fighting, we have AMMO. Young pup asks if they will keep money for tolls and gas as young pup covered all that getting there (and drove his car).

They tell him, we left money in the car. NO WORRIES YOUNG PUP!

Young pup continues on his trek to Tilt Town. Yes, Tilt Town, not Thistle Down or Tinsle Town.

It's 8 p.m. Track empties out and young pup has exactly .20 cents left.

SRU, I know what you're thinking: DIME SUPER TO BAIL OUT. We didn't have that back then.

Young pup finds 2 racetrack degenerate acquaintances and says : I'm tapped, whenever your ready.

1st guy says: I'm broke. Whenever you're ready.

2nd guy says (in a smirk as he finds this hilarious-as he has ZERO life): I bet my last nickel.

Young pup says: Let's go but before we do let me ask you. How much did you leave in my car? 1st guy says: 2nd GUY, HOW MUCH DID YOU LEAVE IN THE CAR????????

2nd Guy: Laughing like a dork degenerate loser. Nothing.......I was kinda hoping this would happen as I don't want to go home.


Well after I chased him and punched him 10 times in the back and face (to teach him a lesson) and after 1st guy smacked him silly.....we had a dilemma to overcome.

It cost about $8 bucks in tolls to get home. And WE NEEDED another $6-$8 in gas....

I had or have never begged for money in my life SO the ultimatum was made.

Guy #1: You either beg the remaining 50-100 people here for a .25 each or I rip your clothes off and you walk home naked.

3 hours later, he had about $15 in dimes, nickels and quarters.

I made him pay the gas attendant with the change and had him turn the change into dollars at some point.



I learned a lot on that trip....NEVER AGAIN!

[Redbullsnation]

Favorite: AP's triple crown/BC
Worst: Barbaro's pullup at Preakness

[Tape Reader]

Brooklyn, fifty+years ago. Five kids at the candy store. We get a “reliable” tip. We decide to pool our resources and send the best fence climber in to make the bet (Aqueduct).

We are all outside in the parking lot and could see at the last turn that our “sure thing” was drawing away.

Matty, Matty, did you get the bet in? No. The horse took a shit approaching the gate so I didn’t bet. (RIP, Matty, great Guy.)

[Mandrake]

Favorite, Carl Nafzger Francis Genter winning derby.
Worst, California Chrome nitwit owners losing Belmont.

[DeltaLover]

The one I remember best (having a grand on her nose definitely serves as a memory boost )

[Shemp Howard]

Penn National opening night 1972.

Rudy Turcotte burning up all the hick's cash as the beaten favorite multiple times.

Its been downhill ever since for that dump and is now the favorite home of gypsies, tramps, and thieves who only live once.

[Lemon Drop Husker]

My best track memory is the 2003 Kentucky Derby.

"My" numbers and research had the 12/6/5/4 as the end result.

Funny Cide was 13/1.

I had a silly $24 Super Box ticket that I offered up to my friends that were tagging along for the "day at the races", with 4/5/6/12. We all pitched in $6 clams.

As it ends, and after touting Funny Cide to the entire table who bought in, it was a very memorable stretch run.

Some stiff signed the Super, we split $2,400, and everybody had Funny Cide at 13/1. IF not a hero, I was one for 1 single day.

It wasn't a huge score, but to make well over 30 people more than happy at the day at the races,hell yeah, it was a great great day.

[ReplayRandall]

It's 1990, I'm sitting in a nice booth, with 6 of my best friends in Vegas, at the Old Barbary Coast. Muggsy Muniz comes by to make sure we're being taken care of. We're all having a great time betting the Breeders' Cup from Belmont Park, the joint is packed and louder than I've ever heard it. There's a great race going on, the Distaff, and down the stretch they come!....it's Bayakoa, neck and neck with........Go For Wand........I still get choked-up talking about it, a scar that will never fade from my horseplayer's heart...

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Royal Spouse trained by Mack Miller winning the first race at Saratoga at 12-1 on Whitney day 1971, and then Mack Miller's Protanto at 8-1 winning the Whitney. First time I ever bet at the track and I had both.

Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont.

An anonymous and cheap horse named Hoosier Rob running second at 78-1 at Fort Erie but providing the inspiration for my original contribution to handicapping called The Condition Sign.

Affirmed, Alydar, Nasty and Bold in the 1978 Travers.

Forego willing himself by Honest Pleasure in the 1978 Marlboro Cup, perhaps the greatest race I've ever witnessed.

Thunder Gulch in the 1995 Derby at 25-1.

Monarchos, Invisible Ink, Congaree making up the trifecta in the 2001 Derby.

[Tall One]

Couple faves, one tragedy, and the one that saved me..

1-Alysheba's Derby. Almost went down at the top of the lane, steadies himself, ears go up, McCarron gets him pointed straight, and gets into him with that wicked right hand whip. Lasting impression on a 13 year old kid.

2) 1989 Preakness. Loved Easy Goer. Enough said. Loved..LOVE. He's my avatar on the Twitter machine.

3) 1990..I was at Keeneland watching the simulcast when she broke down. And I don't need to go further.

4) AP Indy's Belmont and BCC wins. The big guy running with his head low, making up tons of ground on the turns of Belmont and Gulfstream, me screaming through the TV screen from home for Delahoussaye to stay low and not fall forward. Tears of joy still flow free when I watch, or think about these two races. Reason is, AP brought me back to the sport I love because after Go For Wand, I thought I'd never get it back. Im going to Lanes End end of this month to see my friend in his paddock. He doesn't know what he means to me, and the happiness he brought back. He soon will though.

Nice topic, EMD. Thanks for letting us put a couple things up.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

One I forgot to mention.

Risen Star in the 1988 Preakness. I was playing in a hockey tournament in Chicago and on Friday night I dislocated my shoulder. If you've ever had a major joint dislocation, it is seriously painful, and I left the hospital with Valium and Percodan. Saturday the team had games in the morning, but we had the afternoon off so I convinced some of the guys to head out to Maywood because I had a good thing in the Preakness. So we're out at this small harness track and I tell everyone to bet Risen Star, despite having my arm strapped to my torso and being spaced out on the drugs. Risen Star wins at $15.60 and one of the guys who had never bet a horse race is so excited he slaps me on the back and I about go through the roof. Great party at the hotel that night.

[zico20]

I have two very memorable experiences that changed my life. The first was when I was 19. I was leaving Fairmount at 11:30 at night. I was the last one out of the track. I was the only one left on the parking lot except one other car. I noticed that the guy was having trouble starting his car. I had around 1200 bucks on me. I debated for 5 minutes to help the guy or not. I was afraid I was going to get robbed. I decided to help him. We could not get his car started. I wind up driving him eight miles to the nearest hotel. Saw him a week later and we hit it off handicapping. 28 years later and we still go to the track together, one of the best decisions I have ever made at the track.

Second one was when I was 22. I took my future wife to be to the track on our first date. I was up around 60 dollars going into the last race and she had a couple of winners, betting two dollars of course. Last race she likes a horse because it was gray. I didn't like it at all. I was going to key a horse on top with five others for 20 bucks in the tri. Instead, I put her horse on top with the six horses I liked. I told her if she wins she would win a lot of money. Yes, you guessed it, the damn gray horse, at 14-1 I believe, won and keyed a 1150 dollar tri. She walked away with 575 dollars. She offered me half but I turned it down. I told her I would not have bet that horse if the horse himself told me he was going to win. She did pay for a late dinner we had. The rest is history.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Originally Posted by zico20

Second one was when I was 22. I took my future wife to be to the track on our first date. I was up around 60 dollars going into the last race and she had a couple of winners, betting two dollars of course. Last race she likes a horse because it was gray. I didn't like it at all. I was going to key a horse on top with five others for 20 bucks in the tri. Instead, I put her horse on top with the six horses I liked. I told her if she wins she would win a lot of money. Yes, you guessed it, the damn gray horse, at 14-1 I believe, won and keyed a 1150 dollar tri. She walked away with 575 dollars. She offered me half but I turned it down. I told her I would not have bet that horse if the horse himself told me he was going to win. She did pay for a late dinner we had. The rest is history.

Nothing like barely dodging the IRS window. Your ticket may have been the one that kept the tri under $1200.

[ultracapper]

June 1982. I'd only been playing about 3 weeks, Memorial Day being the first time I'd ever been to the track. This girl I knew, who would become my girlfriend about 8 months later, and my wife 2 1/2 years after that, are at Longacres. They only have $5 exactas in the 6th and 10th races. At this time, I'd never bet an exacta, only show bets mostly, across the board when I felt real brave. The 6th is coming up. We are doing what we called handicapping at that time. I like the 6 horse, which happens to be grey. She likes the 9, another grey. She's leaving to go to the window, and as she's walking away, she says "It's gonna be all grey". My very first experience at quick thinking at the track. Her horse is like 24/1, mine is 15/1. I run after her. "Hey Brenda, let's each put in $5 and box the exacta?". She has to think it over because another $5 is hitting both of us pretty hard. I mean, that's a beer and a half at that time. But she says, OK. Don't have to tell you what happened. $2350 exacta. She let's me sign. What a sweetheart.

Couple years later. Last race goes off, and I'm sitting in this section with about 10 tables or so. I'm the only one there, except on one of the tables, is a baby. Yes, like about 2 months old. In one of those hand baskets you carry babies around in. There is NOBODY in sight, in every direction, except me and this baby. I'm pretty buzzed by now, and I'm not sure what to do. So I sit there for like 10 minutes. Nothing. Nobody. Just me and this little baby. I'm kind of shitting now. Did somebody desert their baby at the track? I don't know what to do. Another few minutes pass, and nobody comes into the section I'm sitting in. No employees, no people, nobody. So I finally figure I have to leave. They're cleaning the place up and they're going to close, and I can't just leave this baby here. So I pick it up, and head to the teller windows. Nobody behind the counters. I go downstairs looking for an employee, anybody. Finally go up to the counter where I've been buying beer all day. Tell the gal, hey I found this baby up in the "corner" (Everybody knew what you meant by the corner in the north grandstand at Longacres). All the sudden we hear this guy screaming his head off, and a gal screaching to beat hell. They're screaming "We forgot our baby. Has anybody seen our baby?" The gal behind the counter I'm standing at yells to them. They come running over. The gal yanks the baby from me, and the guy gets up in my grill......and punches me. "WTF" he's yelling at me as I'm flat on the ground.

That was a great day at the track. I won a $3800 settlement about 9 months later.

[Stillriledup]

Every day I've ever been to a racetrack was my favorite moment. Every day was a new and fresh challenge, nothing like getting to the track really early and taking in the sights and sounds, planning the days strategy in your head, mapping out some exotic tickets, being at the paddock before the first race knowing Race 1's horses are coming out soon with a coffee in hand.

I actually love being at tracks in pouring rain or other elements also and I enjoy when the place is empty. I would prefer it to be packed for the sake of the game, but if it's empty I'm going to enjoy having the 'run of the place', off weather never bothers me if I'm there live.

The worst moments are racing tragedies and bad beats and or DQs, you never get used to that stuff.