When people deal in large amounts of dollars the common theme is to take the sure bet, or investment as they would say, and, just as important, to get the safest return of principle as possible. The ever famous words of Mark Twain, “I am more concerned about the return OF my money than the return ON my money” was probably penned after a deep recession and holds true in these trying times. During this deep recession, one of the deepest in a generation, everyone has been hit in some fashion or other.

The poor lost jobs, benefits and mobility. The rich lost huge sums of capital in real estate, business operating profit and bottom line wealth. The wealthy have been decimated in a very large scale but it’s only relative to the percentage of what was lost. But when the percentages are put into real dollars it has some startling effects on an individual. The tendency is to become more conservative and more concerned with getting what was lost back as well as preserving their balance.

When the economy is slow the wealthy “wheelin’ and dealin’” tends to become a game of  who can sit on one’s hands the longest. In property ownership, like horses for example, the opportunity to get high breeding fees are great when times are good and slim when times are bad. However, the prospect of a great return on a quality horse is still available at some major race tracks. The sale values of new thoroughbred stock has dropped by 40% to 60% from several years ago, whereas purses of graded stakes only fell off 10% to 20%. When the money in the barn dries up, you have to take it to the track. This is just one of the reasons we are seeing the classiest of thoroughbreds staying in the racing game a little longer than usual.

Economists recently declared the recession was officially over in June of last year. And I really don’t know what flavor of Kool Aide they were slurping with unemployment continuing to rise, GDP flat, retail sales stagnate, real estate values declining and consumer confidence in the tank. But this week we see a new indicator; The Rachel Retirement Factor …. this wealth indicator is showing a positive sign! Frankly, I would rather see Rachel Alexandra run for the next several years and even go head to head with Zenyatta and Blind Luck a time or two but I digress.

The fact that this great horse is moving from the race track to the pen can only mean one thing in economic terms, ie. the recession is definitely over! Speculation on breeding is coming back and the value of breeding is on an upturn. We might not clearly see it just yet but it’s there! The smart money has spoken. If Rachel can make more bottom line profit in the barn than on the track, then the wheels of the economy are beginning to turn and we as a nation are coming back. Let the good times roll!

Lately there have been articles popping out of nowhere about the new movie that hasn’t been released yet, “Secretariat”. How these select few came to see the unreleased event is another story. My observation has been that the worst critics of the movie are, unbelievable so, horse race fans.

The same people who say horse racing needs a spark, like a triple crown winner or a decrease in the take out by regulators or give-aways and promos etc. etc. are some of the worst critics of the movie “Secretariat”.

Sure, there are some misplaced facts and some incorrect sequences and some omitted ditties. But, as I used to tell my kids when they got all bent out of shape after a flick, “It’s just a movie”.  Yes, a movie, not a documentary with every date and event sequentially placed to perfection. Don’t forget that the REAL story unfolded over a ten year plus span, and is now to be on display in less than two hours. It’s a movie, to entertain and enlighten and help us escape into another world.

If it’s facts and detail you want, read some of the books written about Big Red, like Secretariat: The Making of a Champion  by William Nack or Secretariat by Raymond G. Woolfe, Jr. or watch the video, The Life & Times of Secretariat, an American Racing Legend.

In a few weeks most of us will be going to our nearest movie house to see Disney’s new movie about this truly great thoroughbred. And as you stand in line to get your $10 coke & corn…. repeat to your self “It’s just a movie, it’s just a movie, it’s just a movie” and go in there and enjoy the show.

This is great entertainment! And it will be great for the sport for which we love!

I’ve often wondered why most old black and white photos of sports spectators depicted a throng of humanity dressed to the nines in the 1920′s and up to the 1950′s. Men would don a suit and tie and top it off with a fedora or a straw hat also known as a boater. Some went with a vest or even a bow tie to mix things up a bit. The typical woman’s wear usually consisted of a summer dress and possibly a sun hat or a bell shaped cap also known as a Cloche hat.

Whatever the particular style, the one thing for sure was people looked nice. Some of the reasons that the trend of the time was so formal, especially the 20′s and 30′s, was Hollywood and professional sports. Movies other than westerns and war movies depicted well dressed characters. From Charlie Chaplain and Mary Pickford to the Marx Brothers to Bogart and Ingrid Bergman …. most scenes were filmed in a dapper garb. Women were also dressed for the ball, unless they were on a boat or a horse or camping. Another influence in style was the sports figures. For example, on the local theater newsreel, Babe Ruth was always dressed in a coat and tie when not in pin stripes, as well as the great boxers of that time, Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey.

After WWII the trend continued until around the late 50′s when casual became the fashion. The dressed up look in men went from dark suit, tie and hat to the loud colored leisure suit to the bold colored coveralls to jeans and t-shirts to today’s typical male spectator in a sweat suit or an un-tucked t-shirt, multi-pocketed shorts partially covering leg that shouldn’t be seen in public, flip-flops or crocks and a baseball cap turned backwards. And woman’s fashion has “de-evolved” too but not nearly as drastic as the typical male neanderthal sports fan.

There are many who still respect the sport and others enough to look and act respectable. To the many men and women who do so, thank you for making the sport more enjoyable.

What’s my point? Well, the point is more of a question, and that is, why do some of our race goers have to look like such slobs at the track? Could we dress just a little nicer? I know we have nice threads somewhere in our closet… but why don’t we wear them out in public? If horse racing is the “Sport of Kings” then why are there so many kings dressed like peasants?

Thank goodness some tracks have dress codes in certain areas of the grandstand. Some, like Keeneland, even have different degrees of such codes like sport coat in one and collared shirt and dress pants in another. I’m in favor of the “casual look” as much as anyone else but there is a big difference in casual and pig-sty sloppy.

Someone once told me that you should always dress for success…. well, that must explain why so many of the slobs at the track are tearing up so many of their tickets.

When transacting a wager there are several mindset choices to use. Some of those mindsets include, bet for fun, bet to hit the big payoff or bet to be in the action just to name a few. But the mindset concerned here is the horse player who looks to horse race wagering as a serious means to make a profit i.e. a business.

In the investment world the aggressive trader as well as the individual investor uses tools to keep losses to a minimum. Tools are available to sell stocks automatically when they drop to a certain level and other investment tools that go up in value when the market goes down. These tools are used to “hedge” against losses or big market moves and are sometimes referred to as “insurance”.

Even in blackjack a player can use insurance to lighten a loss when the dealer shows an ace. Buying such insurance, although not recommended, can limit the player’s losses if the dealer in fact has a twenty-one.

In racing, however, once the bet is placed there is no getting out or changing after the gate opens. You can’t sell your ticket at a slightly lower amount at the quarter pole when your horse is getting passed down the stretch. But there is a way to help lessen the loss if the horse finishes 2nd or a long shot finishes in the money ahead of your winning choice. The “PLACE” bet can be used as a hedge or insurance to help protect the bettor from the big loss.

As a “WIN” bettor, I believe I can break even with 3 to 4 winning tickets per 10 races. For instance, in a 10 race card with $20 win bets per race totals $200. Hopefully the average payoff of a win bet is, let’s say $8… so 3 wins =$240 and a net profit of +$40 for the day.
I have also noticed that during the course of the day several of my picks will finish 2nd or I will see value in a horse I believe will finish in the money. Now just for example, if 3 of my picks finish second and three win, then if I’m making an additional place bets that would be a total of 6 races where I’m collecting on place bets and that should help offset the losses on the 7 races that I did not hit the winner.

Let’s go through a couple examples of how this would work. Let’s say you bet $20 to win and $10 to place on Horsefeathers in the first race. He wins and pays $7 to win and $4.00 to place. Your win total is $70 and your place take is $20 which is $90… you bet $30 so your net profit is $60. Nice.

But what if Horsefeathers finishes 2nd? Then your bet would still have been $30 but the $20 collected on the place bet has your net loss only $10 instead of the whole $20 that you would have bet to win.

Insurance with the place bet only pays off ONLY if the horse or horses you bet on comes in first or second. Remember that all your winners will pay off on your insurance bet if you have them to place. The insurance won’t help you if your picks comes in 3rd or lower.
But that’s the risk we take with any insurance – it’s there to protect us from the major losses. Furthermore, the show bet would not be beneficial since the reward of a show bet is not enough to offset the risk.

If you can keep your losses to a minimum then you can PLACE your profits to the maximum.