A Day at the Races

So, I went to Arlington Park last Saturday.  I haven't been out there in a few years.  Lately, when I had the urge to play the ponies I've been firing up the PC and using xpressbet.com and/or youbet.com.  Jonnell was out of town so I headed on out to the track.

I ended up acting the high roller part & I bought a clubhouse seat in a box with a TV.  It was expensive, at $12, which was on top of the $7 admission fee, but I really liked being outside in the sun and still being able to watch the races at Saratoga.

A crazy thing is Arlington has free wifi.  When I was growing up in NY, it was illegal to make a phone call from the track.  Now you can gamble online while you play the ponies.  I guess the track no longer is worried anyone has their own horse racing book.

I made one big mistake on Saturday, I bet with a teller for one race.  It was the third race at Saratoga and I ended up hitting the 12:1 winner and the exacta.  As I was walking up to the window I noticed that the teller screwed up my win bet.  His mistake cost me $66.  Yeah, it was also my fault since I didn't check the tickets before I left the window, but come on, how hard is "$5 to win on the 5". So I used the betting machines for the rest of the day.  They are much nicer than they were the last time I went to the track.

The craziest thing that I saw was the 7th race at Saratoga.  An 88:1 shot won, a 20:1 shot came in second, a 30:1 shot (or so) came in third and another longshot came in fourth.  The race had the largest triple and superfecta prices I have ever seen:

14	Slambino	Channing Hill	179.00	70.00	23.60
13	Blazing Dynamo	Alan Garcia		21.60	11.60
8	Key Event	Rudy R. Rodriguez			16.00
Also ran: 3 - Holiday Trip , 12 - Teide , 1 - Broadway Producer , 11 - Whata Ya Mean , 7 - Yario (IRE) , 5 - Baron Von Tap , 9 - Prussian , 2 - Ketchikan , 10 - Elchase
Scratched horses: Pennington , Sir Lowry , True Resurgence , Russian Sage
Wager Type		Winning Numbers		Payoff
$2 Pick 3		10-3-14 (3 correct)		7,838.00
$2 Daily Double		3-14		1,588.00
$2 Exacta		14-13		2,565.00
$2 Superfecta		14-13-8-3		1,523,188.00
$2 Trifecta		14-13-8		105,914.00

So, how did I do?  I ended up $25, which was disappointing but still better than losing.  I spent a lot more than $25 to win that money, though.  Getting in to the track & the fancy seat cost $19.  The fancy seat came with waitress service & I spent $27 on food and drink.  Add in the cost of 4 gallons of gas, too.

I enjoyed my day at the track.  I'll probably head back out more now.  If I was a pro, though the math is totally against playing live.  It just costs too much to go, even if you get free admission.  The cost of food will kill you. 

Next time I will take pictures :)