The Track Philosopher

In June of 1954, Mona Best went to Epsom Downs Racecourse in Epsom, UK and won big on the feature race, The Epsom Derby, with a 33/1 ML longshot called Never Say Die.  She won so big that she took her winnings and bought an old mansion with 15 bedrooms and an acre of land sold by the West Derby Conservative Club.

Mona had the idea of turning the property into a club similar to the 2i’s Coffee Bar in London’s Soho district which she had seen on TV. Her idea was to call it “The Casbah” and was intended as a “Members Only” club for her son Pete (does that name ring any bells?), his brother Rory and their musician friends. After a few years of remodeling and painting she opened her club.  She charged a half a crown (about .30 cents) for the annual membership and sold soft drinks, snacks and cakes to her patrons. Mona Best was ahead of her time as she even had an espresso coffee machine.

She began playing records on her simple sound system with big 3″ speakers and later let local bands use her Casbah to play live.  On her opening night featuring a live band, a problem arose. The band scheduled to play spent so much time and energy decorating and promoting the show that they were unable to play, so at the request of a young friend George Harrison,  Mona was asked to go with another band. Not wanting to upset her 300 plus membership, she went with the other group named “The Quarrymen”.

Eventually The Quarrymen would play there 7 times in 1959 and after the group became “The Beatles” with only John, Paul and George they appeared 37 times from 1960 to 1962. She would pay the boys 15 shillings an evening which was equal to just over a dollar a piece! The rest is history as “The Beatles” went on to play larger venues and built up a huge following in England and even in Germany.

After “The Beatles” became known throughout Europe in late 1962 Mona Best turned the club into a tourist attraction. So, one might be led to believe that without the winnings from that Epsom Derby bet, “The Beatles” might not have ever had an outlet to play and, therefore, polish their stars.

Which goes to show that most major successes comes with hard work and a little luck…. so Never Say Die!

“The Spa”
Saratoga Springs, NY

Saratoga Race Course opened in Saratoga Springs, NY on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. It is typically open for racing from late July through early September. The race course has two well-known nicknames — The Spa (for the nearby mineral springs), and the “Graveyard of Champions” (for the upsets that have occurred there, including Secretariat).

The grounds at Saratoga Race Course contain several unique features. Patrons can get close up views of the horses being led to the paddock as the path from the stables runs through the picnic grounds. There is a mineral spring called the Big Red Spring in the picnic grounds where patrons can partake of the water that made Saratoga Springs famous. A gazebo is a prominent feature on the infield and a stylized version of the gazebo is part of Saratoga Race Course logo.

Saratoga Race Course is rich with tradition. A lake in the middle of the track contains a canoe that is painted annually in the colors of the winning stable for that year’s Travers Stakes winner. Also, prior to each race a bell is hand rung at exactly 17 minutes prior to scheduled post time for each race. This is to call the jockeys to the paddock.

“Where the Turf Meets the Surf”
Del Mar, CA

Del Mar Race Track is an American Thoroughbred horse racing track at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in the seaside city of Del Mar, California, 20 miles north of San Diego. Operated by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, it is known for the slogan: “Where The Surf Meets The Turf.” It was built by a partnership including Bing Crosby, the actor Pat O’Brien, Jimmy Durante, Charles S. Howard and Oliver Hardy.

The first Bing Crosby Handicap was held at Del Mar in 1946 and that same year the Sante Fe Railroad began offering a racetrack special bringing spectators, bettors and horses to Del Mar from Los Angeles. Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s the track became the Saratoga of the West for summer racing. The track had large purses for many stakes, over half of which were won by the legendary jockey, Bill Shoemaker.

The track has a one-mile main dirt track and a seven furlong turf course. The meet runs during the summer at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and can stable more than a thousand horses. Del Mar is known for its tan stucco grandstand located directly in view of the Pacific Ocean.

Your Bucket List

If you enjoy the sport of kings and love to spend a summer afternoon at the track then put these two venues on your bucket list and get planning. Whether it’s at “The Spa” in upstate New York or “Where the turf meets the surf” in sunny Southern California you will be in for a special treat indeed.

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.

While you listen to Sinatra sing “Luck Be a Lady”, enjoy the thoughts about that unknown fickle friend we all love to be around:

Financial success is hard work with a lot of luck! — The Track Philosopher

Luck never gives; it only lends. – Proverb

Luck sometimes visits a fool, but it never sits down with him. – German Proverb

When God throws the dice are loaded. – Greek Proverb

No one is luckier than him who believes in his luck – German proverb

Luck never made a man wise. – Seneca

Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast. In the stream where you least expect it, there will be fish. – Ovid

If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky? – Stanislaw J. Lec

Men of action are favored by the Goddess of luck. – George S. Clason

Good luck has its storms. – George Lucas

I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike? – Jean Costeau

Better an ounce of luck than a pound of gold. – Yiddish Proverb

Throw a lucky man in the sea, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth. – Arab Proverb

Diligence is the mother of good luck. – Benjamin Franklin

Men have made an idol of luck as an excuse for their own thoughtlessness. – Democritus

The champion makes his own luck. – Red Blaik

Nobody gets justice. People only get good luck or bad luck. – Orson Welles

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men. – E.B. White

Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get. – Ray Kroc

All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck — who keeps right on going — is the man who is there when the good luck comes — and is ready to receive it. – Robert Collier

Everything in life is luck.- Donald Trump

Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit. – R. E. Shay

The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. – Wilson Mizner

Fortune favours the bold. – Terence 190-159 BC

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered. – William Shakespeare

Luck is not chance-It’s Toil-Fortune’s expensive smile Is earned. – Emily Dickinson

Fortune always will confer an aura of worth, unworthily; and in this world
The lucky person passes for a genius. – Euripedes

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn. -Anonymous

So the next time you’re at the track or the casino…

take lady luck with you.

If you’re planning on watching the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, the first Saturday of May, make sure you pick up a bottle of Kentucky bourbon and some fresh mint to make your own mint juleps.

Mint Julep Recipe (makes 1 serving)

4 fresh mint sprigs

2 1/2 oz bourbon

1 tsp powdered sugar

2 tsp water

Muddle mint leaves, powdered sugar, and water in a collins glass. Fill the glass with shaved or crushed ice and add bourbon. Top with more ice and garnish with a mint sprig. Serve with a straw.
The mint julep is well-known as the traditional beverage of the Kentucky Derby, a position it has held since 1938. Each year almost 120,000 juleps are served at Churchill Downs over the two day period of the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.
The mint julep originated in the southern United States, probably during the eighteenth century. U.S. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky introduced the drink to Washington D.C., at the Round Robin Bar in the famous Willard Hotel during his residence in the city.
No matter where it came from or what brand of bourbon is used it is a refreshingly cool, outdoor summer beverage for spring at the race track but give someone you know whose not drinking your keys to keep you safe and your wallet to keep you from betting it all on that horse you just saw trot by because you liked the braided tail.

To say that Keeneland’s races are hard to handicap or calculate, or that winning there, from a bettors point of view, with any consistency is about average are both extreme understatements. There are more variables at Keeneland Race Track than there are loosing tickets laying on the concrete down by the rail after the ninth race.

Keeneland’s schedule is so short that horses are coming and going all the time in the barn area. At most, horses will race only once while at Keeneland and only a handful will race two times. The vast majority of horses are flown in or trucked in for the few days preceding the race and maybe a couple days afterward, but it’s just for the one race. And where are they coming from? Everywhere!

On any given day you can go down the list of entrants in a random race and see a compilation of venues that could make one think they’re reading a Travel Log of Great American Race Tracks. And every one of those tracks has it’s own personality, it’s own variables like density and feel of the turf or dirt which makes comparing very difficult. And raises questions like, “Is a mile at 1:39 at Saratoga faster or slower than that same 1:39 mile at Arlington?” And to make matters worse, most of these dirt runners have limited experience with Keeneland’s poly track or any artificial surface for that matter. And some are going to benefit and some are not, but which one? Only the horses know for sure and they’re not talkin’.

Another factor is the size of the field. Keeneland, in most cases, has a full field of 9 to12 horses. Many would say that diminishes the bettors chance of winning. However, I believe that it works to the handicappers advantage in that those extra horses add to the pot for the winner. It’s not unusual at Keeneland to bet on a 4-1ML and collect $20 on a $2 bet because most of the money drifted elsewhere.

And jockeys, trainers and owners, oh my! In Keeneland’s 18 day meet there is little time to catch jockeys or trainers on a winning streak or see the development of a jockey/trainer combo to help give the bettor an edge. And, because the Keeneland fall meet is so close to the Breeders’ Cup and to Churchill Downs’ fall meet, many jockeys and trainers are heading north to Louisville to get settled in even before Keeneland is officially over. And before you know it, “You are seeing names of jockeys you aint never seen before!”

To help prove my point about the difficult nature of Keeneland’s races I pulled up a study that appeared in the DRF earlier this year and the two major tracks with the least number of favorites winning are Del Mar and Keeneland. These tracks showed about a 30% win result for favorites. Whereas, Suffolk, Lone Star and River Downs, with meets almost 3 times as long, are at a whopping 42% win rate. Despite the difficulty I wouldn’t change a thing about Keeneland and I accept it as the ultimate challenge that it is.

There are a couple of sure bets at Keeneland and both pay off handsomely. One is that they will never run out of good Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. And the other sure bet is that they will serve you the most delicious Bread Pudding you will ever taste.