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What was playing on the radio 50 years ago?
My Way
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1958 Studebaker
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Here's a $20 quiz to warm you up, folks! Yup, to celebrate The  Insider's second birthday and mark
the coldest day of the year (statistically Jan. 19), I'm challenging
you with a little quiz below.
The first 10 correct entrants receive $20 to play the races this
weekend, a weekend sizzling with hot action including (1) free $1,000 poker Friday (2) a "beat Stretch"
seminar Saturday morning which everyone is invited to attend and (3) the first horseplayer
tourney of the year beginning noon Saturday.
You'll
also notice a slight tweaking of The
Insider as it begins its third year. I'm centering headlines now to make
it easier for you to spot items of interest as you scan down the
page. Let the fun begin....
$20 QUIZ
Email your answers to theinsider@assiniboiadowns.com
1. What name was chosen for the filly in
The Insider's "name the
filly" contest last January?
(a) Cutie Pie (b)
Winnie the Slew (c) Seattle Up (d)
Slew the Dragon
2. What famous race is referred to as
"the race that stops a nation?" (a)
Belmont Stakes (b)
Manitoba Lotteries Derby (c)
Melbourne Cup (d) Kentucky Derby
3. Horse owner Gretchen Jackson made
this comment ("Grief is the
price we all pay for love") about what horse? (a)
Curlin (b) George Washington (c)
Barbaro (d)
Jimmijazz
4. Who won the Downs' Triple Crown Challenge
contest in the spring? (a) Jack Robertson (b)
George Carlin (c) George Bilous (d)
Rob Atras
5. What was the second-last state in the
U.S. to begin common-pooling
with Canada? (a)
New Jersey (b)
California (c)
Alaska (d) Florida
Rules: The first 10 to email the correct
answers to theinsider@assiniboiadowns.com will receive $20 in betting vouchers to use at the
track this weekend. Winners will be emailed tomorrow. Only one entry
per email address and one entry per family please. All answers are available in past Insider columns archived on the Downs website here.
FRIDAY FUN
Free $1,000 poker begins
 Texas
hold 'em returns to the Clubhouse Friday
evening where 10 players will get to compete for $100 in wagering
vouchers and the top two players will win a seat into the grand finale
in March where the top prize is a cool $1,000 cash. How to get in? You know the drill: Predict "show" horses in
races three to
five
at Sam Houston, then scream your lungs out to get them into the
money. And be sure to play the
show parlay at the window; I hate to hear the whining when someone
tells me how much money they would have made had they done so. A little CAN grow into a lot.
SIZZLING SATURDAY
Come out for seminar at 11 a.m., tourney at noon
"Beat
Stretch" seminar: You've been asking for it....and here
it is: The first horseplaying
seminar of the year will be this Saturday at 11
a.m.
in the usual place, the Finish Line banquet hall. Everyone is welcome, of course, and
coffee and rolls will be served.
Blogger Glen "Stretch" Sirkis is my guest speaker. His topic: "A winning day at the races
starts with a game plan."
For added fun, bring your best bet of the day. If your best
bet makes more money than Stretch's best bet Saturday afternoon, you'll
be awarded $5 and, of course, be able to boast forever about your
superior handicapping skills.
We'll also discuss other great plays and, if you'd like, we can
put together a group pick-6 or pick-4 ticket. See you there!
Player’s
Choice Tournament: It's the first of the year beginning
at noon in the Clubhouse. Sign up at Assiniboia Downs or at any
OTB by 9 p.m. tomorrow (Friday). Whoever increases his/her bankroll
the most, betting $2 win/place on 12 races, wins $500. More.
Death
by Golden
Gate: Predict winners at this northern Cal track Saturday
afternoon. If you're the last
person standing, you get $100 in wagering vouchers. Congratulations to Norm Fraser who survived last
Saturday's game to race five to beat 20 contenders.
WHAT NEXT FOR SANTA ANITA?
Will Australian "polymers" help track drain?
Dithering
continues at Santa Anita on what to do with its undraining
Cushion Track which had necessitated three days of race
cancellations. The absence of
rain is giving management some breathing room and now, instead of
re-installing dirt as originally planned, there are tentative plans to
add polymers to make Cushion drain better. These polymers apparently are used to
good advantage on Australian tracks.
These
polymers would be added during a four-day period following the track's
important Sunshine Millions day Saturday, Jan. 26. That's the day the best California and Florida breds
race. Today, the California
Horse Racing Board is expected to release Santa Anita from its original
mandate that forced Santa to install a synthetic track. In other words, Santa will be free to
do whatever it wants to do.
Amen!
"MY MOST
MEMORABLE MOMENT"
"She almost
fainted!"
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Errol
Bryant
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Veteran
mutuel seller Errol Bryant
recalls a summer day in the late 1970's or early 1980's when "a
lady, likely from out of town, came up to me and asked 'What should I bet?' I said 'Just bet numbers.' She bet a $2
straight triactor. I saw two of
her horses were the longest shots on the board and didn't stand a
snowball's chance in hell but I wasn't about to get her to change her
bet. I watched the race and
nearly fell off my stool when the horses finished in the exact order of
her ticket. I don't know who was
more excited--she or I. She
asked me: “Did I win? "
He said he told her it appeared she had won $4,400 "but then Doug (the photo runner at the
time) said it was $44,000! She
almost fainted and we had to call security." Looking back, he said he is so glad
he hadn't said anything to her about looking at the odds on her
selections.
QUICK BITS: Two weeks ago, Lyle
was playing Santa Anita's pick-4 with his partner, Krys, in his familiar
seat in the front row of Race Book carrels. Tomorrow, it's his funeral and
racetrack regulars are in shock.
Lyle, 73, a magistrate in his native Trinidad and a one-time Winnipeg teacher, apparently
succumbed to complications from pneumonia ......
Los Alamitos race track in S. Cal. has decided to
discontinue common-pooling with Canada for the time being .... Readers
have advised that Polo Park race track, the
predecessor to Assiniboia Downs was a 6-furlong track and not a
half-mile track as stated in a recent Insider. Whoops! Thanks for the correction.
TIP O'THE WEEK: Being right more rewarding than money
A
big cash score can make you happy, of course, but I find something else
more rewarding: Carefully
reading the conditions of a race to arrive at the most likely
winner. The trickier the
conditions, the more rewarding the feeling you get when your horse
wins. An obvious example is to
note that a horse is dropping from a non-winners
of three lifetime condition into non-winners of two. But, in harness racing especially,
there are much trickier conditions to tie your brain in knots. E.g.
Non-winners of $1,000 in last 5 starts and permutations of
this.
Suggestion: Even if you don't play harness races,
read the conditions of a few harness races and see the horses you would
select. You may, as I do, find
it intoxicatingly enjoyable to ferret out a horse that may look
terrible in its past performances but is the best fit to the
conditions--and see that horse sweep the field and win.
DELICIOUS DINING: German cuisine tonight
Put away the can opener and head out to the Terrace Dining
Room at the Downs tonite
between 5 and 8
p.m. for all-you-can-eat famous Germanic dishes as well as a nutritious
salad bar and a wide dessert selection for only $14.95. Menu.
While you're out, sign up for Saturday's horseplayer tourney and
get ready for tomorrow's "show parlay challenge" to get into
poker by picking up a Sam Houston program. Next Thursday’s Theme:
International cuisine. Phone 885-3330 to reserve.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
U.S. holiday on Monday
New
meet begins tomorrow: Oaklawn (Arkansas) at 1:05 p.m.
Monday
is Martin Luther King Day in the U.S.: That means prime
racing beginning with Aqueduct at 11:30 p.m.
Tour
d' Champs, the countdown to the Kentucky Derby, begins in nine
days--Saturday, Jan. 26-- Sunshine Millions Day with top Florida and
California breds. Get your Tour d' Champs card (available
at the Race Book) stamped to win a trip to the Breeders' Cup.
See
you Saturday at 11!
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